John and Jenny Fulton

Are You Really Just a Sinner?

By John Fulton 

I hear it all the time from Christians – they are just sinners, incapable of doing good. They emphatically tell me that all mankind are sinners, all incapable of doing good. They boldly declare how awful they are in the presence of a vengeful God. But are they right or maybe just very, very wrong? Is their perspective based on the mind of God and the weight of Scripture or is their perspective based on a twisting of God’s Word rooted in the mind of Satan, a twisting meant to take that which was meant to bring life and instead turn it into something that brings death?

The goal of this article is to explore those questions, define the meaning of ‘sinner,’ explore the traits of a righteous man, and just maybe change the reader’s perspective on who you really are in the sight of God.

“There is None Righteous”

The foundational scripture for the perspective that we are all just sinners is taken from Romans, Chapter 3. “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; as it is written, ‘There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one’” (Romans 3:9-12, NASB95).

At face value, and when taken by itself and freed from the greater context, the meaning of that scripture seems pretty definitive. Paul asks the people he’s writing to if they are better than another group. He then declares no, all people are the same, all are under sin, all are sinners and incapable of doing good. The case is clearly open and shut. The Christians who definitively declare their sinfulness are right. Case closed. 

Or is it?

In Romans 3, Paul quotes from two Psalms (14 and 53) that are virtually identical and that declare the following: 

“The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; There is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one. Do all the workers of wickedness not know, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon the Lord? There they are in great dread, for God is with the righteous generation. You would put to shame the counsel of the afflicted, but the Lord is his refuge. Oh, that the salvation of Israel would come out of Zion! When the Lord restores His captive people, Jacob will rejoice, Israel will be glad” (Psalm 14, NASB95).

What is key in the Psalm that Paul is quoting is to recognize there are two groups of people. There is the fool, also referred to as “the sons of men” and “workers of wickedness.” There is also God’s people, referred to as “my people”, “righteous generation,” and “afflicted.” The fool does not represent all of mankind, it represents a subset of it that has specific traits. This group is distinct from God’s people who they are seeking to destroy. It is the fools, those who say there is no God, who are sinners incapable of doing good. That does not include His people, those afflicted by the sinners, the righteous generation. Paul knew this, and we’ll highlight this when we return to the context of how he’s using this Psalm. He knew there were two groups of people mentioned in the Psalm; he was not referring to all mankind. But before returning to what Paul says in Romans and discovering what it means to be a fool and say there is no God, before delving into the traits of a righteous man, the afflicted, God’s people; let’s first take a look at the definition of a sinner.

What is a Sinner?

The place to understand this word in the Old Testament is the beginning of Proverbs where it is written, “My son, if sinners entice you, Do not consent. If they say, ‘Come with us, let us lie in wait for blood, let us ambush the innocent without cause; let us swallow them alive like Sheol, even whole, as those who go down to the pit; we will find all kinds of precious wealth, we will fill our houses with spoil; throw in your lot with us, we shall all have one purse,’ my son, do not walk in the way with them. Keep your feet from their path, for their feet run to evil and they hasten to shed blood” (Proverbs 1:10-16, NASB95).

Here again there are two distinct groups of people: the sinner and the innocent. Or to connect with the Psalm as Paul does in Romans, we now have the sinner, known as the fool, the sons of men, and the workers of wickedness; and God’s people, known as the innocent, the righteous generation, the afflicted, and His people. From the Psalm and Proverbs we can see that sinners have the following traits: they work to entice God’s people into joining them in sin (“Come with us” they say), they look to devour and swallow up, to destroy God’s people, they chase after evil and sin to do it, and they seek to end the lives of those who don’t join them.

So, do you pursue evil and seek after sin, or do you pursue God? Do you seek to entice others to join you in sin and if they will not join you in committing sin, you seek to destroy their lives? Do you deny God and have no fear of Him? If so, you are a sinner. If not, then you are not. Committing a sin from time to time does not make you a sinner. Actively pursuing sin, seeking to entice others to sin, and working to destroy those who rebuff you does. The Old Testament is very clear on this.

Who is the Fool and the Sinner?

So, what is Paul actually saying in Romans 3? He would clearly have understood that Psalm 14 talks of two different kinds of people. He would have known the distinction that prevails throughout the whole Old Testament of those who seek after God and those who don’t.  And he clearly does here in Romans. At the end of Chapter 1 and through Chapter 2, he’s been establishing who in the Psalm is the fool and the sinner. They are men who know the truth of God, for God made it evident to them, but suppress it. Knowing God, they do not honor Him or give thanks to Him. They pursue and seek after all kinds of abominable and sinful acts. They also rejoice and actively support others they see and know are violating the ways of God.

Paul, in Chapter 2, tells us clearly who the fool is and what it means to say there is no God. To say there is no God is not to be an atheist, or agnostic, or to utter in one’s mind or out loud, “There is no God.” It is to know the oracles of God, to pass judgement on those who practice evil, and most importantly, to then turn around and do the same evil with no expectation of judgement. The fool, the one who says there is no God, is the self-proclaimed Christian who declares they are covered by the blood of Christ and that Jesus is Lord and then heartily pursues a life of sin and evil knowing full well that God desires them not to do so.

The fool in Chapter 3 is the Jew who, having the Old Testament and the oracles of God given to them first and directly, judges the non-Jew and yet pursues the very evils they judge others over, all while declaring the wrath of God will not fall upon them for they are circumcised. This is the sinner and the fool, and this is how one declares there is no God.

In Romans 3:9 (“What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;”), the word translated in the NASB95 translation as “better,” carries the meaning of “having beforehand,” and it fits into Paul’s argument in chapter three as a more appropriate meaning than “better.”  For here he is specifically arguing with the Jewish reader, those who, having the oracles of God first, having circumcision, think they are better than the sinner, which in the Jewish world at that time had reduced in meaning to simply “one who is not a Jew.” Paul is saying in this passage, are we who had knowledge of God before the others somehow better, somehow free from God’s condemnation upon those who know His ways but not only don’t follow them, but pursue sin? To which his obvious answer is no; Jew, Christian, atheist, all who know God’s ways but expect no punishment to fall upon them for knowing His ways but choosing to actively pursue other activities is a sinner, a fool. These are the ones who are incapable of doing good. These stand in contrast to the afflicted, the innocent, the righteous; to whom we turn in a bit.

The great sin of Judah, Israel, and later Jews that lead to the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel, the Kingdom of Judea, and the destruction by Romans was knowing the oracles of God, knowing the commands of Yahweh, and saying in their hearts that Yahweh will bring no destruction upon us for we are His chosen people. They called on Him for goodies and blessings while simultaneously rejecting all that He asked of them to do and be. They pursued other gods, idols, sins and idolatries and they told God He had to be on their side for they were His chosen people. As it says in many places in Scripture, “They declare peace, peace, where there is no peace.” But Yahweh says, “All the sinners of my people will die by the sword; those who say the calamity will not overtake us” (Amos 9:10, NASB95). See here, how He again segregates out a portion of Israel as sinners and declares what it means to be such. He doesn’t say all of My people are sinners, but the sinners of My People, the ones who declare, because He chose us, calamity cannot befall us.

And that which the Jews did, so many Christians do today. The verbiage has changed, but the heart and spirit have not. Now the claim is, “I’m covered by the blood, and all my debts are forgiven. I have declared that Jesus is Lord and professed before the congregation. I have been baptized; God now must see His Son and not me, no matter how I live. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t matter how I live, for He now sees His son; there will be no consequences, no matter what I pursue.” As was the sin of the Hebrews, the Jews, so is the sin of the Christian, and these are truly the fools and sinners. But as with the Psalm, the passage from Amos, the proverb quoted, and numerous places throughout Scripture, this is not all the Jews, Hebrews, Christians, …, only those who reject the sovereignty of God and declare to Him how He must deal with their rejection of His call to holiness, purity, and the pursuit of His ways in order to do whatever they please.

Given what has been written so far regarding Jews and Christians, one may say it is better to be an atheist, an agnostic, or to follow some other faith. May it never be, for as Yahweh said, “It will come about after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on the male and female servants I will pour out My Spirit in those days” (Joel 2:28–29, NASB95). The Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost was poured out on all mankind. All know His ways, and all who know and reject His ways, who say that God is impotent and powerless and will not punish them for following an evil path, who encourage others and cheer them on as they cheat, steal, commit adultery, etc.; are fools and sinners in like manner. As Paul said, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks [the entirety of humanity in Paul’s world] are all under sin” (Romans 3:9, NASB95, brackets added).

Who are the Righteous Ones?

Much has been said about the fool and the sinner, but now it’s time to move on to His people, the afflicted, the innocent, those whom Yahweh calls righteous. Who are these people, for throughout the Old Testament, Psalm after Psalm, Passage after Passage clearly refers to them as existing as people distinct from the fool and sinner. How is the righteous one described?

Hebrews 10:38 says, “But My Righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him” (NASB95, emphasis added), while Hebrews 11:1-6 says, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he would not see death; and he was not found because God took him up; for he obtained the witness that before his being taken up he was pleasing to God. And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (NASB95, emphasis added).

We learn much here regarding what it means to be declared righteous by God. First you must live by faith. You must have in your heart an assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. You must be fully assured, for example, that God created the universe out of nothing, assured that Christ lived, died, and was resurrected, and assured that those things God has said to you are as real as if they already are. He has said you can be righteous, therefore you already are if you pursue His ways and reject the path of the fool and sinner.

We also see that a righteous man must believe that God is, that He actually exists, and that He rewards those who seek Him. This is a righteous man, and the author of Hebrews goes on to give a long list of people who fit this definition. Here he specifically declares Able righteous and joins the long list of others specifically called righteous throughout the Bible (see Can Man be Righteous before God).

Note what isn’t included in the definition of what makes a man righteous. Nowhere does it declare that the righteous man is without sin nor occasionally continuing to sin. This is why Ecclesiastes 7:20 can say, “Indeed, there is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins,” and why John, when talking to the saints and righteous ones says, “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us” (John 1:10, NASB95). Scripture does not declare that a righteous man has made a public confession of Christ as Lord, or been baptized, or done a whole myriad of other requirements for righteousness that have been laid down by men. No, a righteous man believes God exists (he is no fool), believes God rewards those who seek Him (he doesn’t say with his mouth God exists and then pursues a life of sin), and he is assured with complete confidence that an invisible God has done all that He and His Son are declared to have done. Finally, the righteous one lives by faith; he is fully assured that God will do what He says He will do. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, NASB95).

Do Our Actions Matter?

Before concluding, one more point needs to be addressed, and then one last question posed in the introduction that has yet to be touched, needs to be answered.

First, one final point. The reader who has come this far, particularly one steeped in the doctrines of the church, will say, “The author is not right, for if I profess Christ as Lord, then I am covered in the righteousness of Jesus, and if I walk in sinful ways it’s because I am nothing but a sinner, possessed by a sin nature, incapable of any other course; but the price Jesus paid and the blood that covers me is my ticket into heaven. But Yahweh says otherwise?”

“Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ Hear now, O house of Israel! Is My way not right? Is it not your ways that are not right? When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and dies because of it, for his iniquity which he has committed he will die. Again, when a wicked man turns away from his wickedness which he has committed and practices justice and righteousness, he will save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all his transgressions which he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. But the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not right.’ ‘Are My ways not right, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are not right? Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you. Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! For why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord God. ‘Therefore, repent and live.’” (Ezekiel 18:25–32, NASB95).

“But wait,” it will be said, “that is the Old Testament, the era of the vengeful God. Christ died on the cross and changed everything. God does not judge and see my deeds, how I respond to Christ, how I do or do not walk in His ways. He sees the righteous deeds of Christ.”

But what does Scripture say? What does the New Testament say?

“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10, NASB95).

And

“If you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay on earth;” (1 Peter 1:17, NASB95).

And

“And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds” (Revelation 20:12, NASB95).

And on and on it goes. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible shows us a God who wants you to walk with Him, to walk in His ways and be part of the righteous generation. A God who looks at your heart and what you are seeking, not at a perfect track record of never stumbling. A God who forgets your past deeds if you truly turn in your heart and repent and seek Him but will equally forget all your good deeds if you take on a heart of arrogance and pride and pursue evil (become the fool). So, while the day is still called today; believe in Him, walk with Him, place your hope in things not seen, and know that He rewards not the flawless, not the sinless, but those who seek Him, and believe He rewards those who do.

Where does their Perspective Originate?

To end, one question was asked in the introduction that has not yet been addressed. That question was, “Is their perspective (all mankind are sinners and fools) based on the mind of God and the weight of Scripture or is their perspective based on a twisting of God’s Word rooted in the mind of Satan, a twisting meant to take that which was meant to bring life (relationship with Yahweh) and instead turn it into something that brings death (separation from Yahweh)?”

Hopefully, by now it is clear that their perspective is not the mind of God, but a twisting of God’s commentary on a subset of humanity (the fool, the sinner), to instead apply to all. Who this twisting comes from is clear in Job where it says, “Dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake. Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: ‘Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!’” (Job 4:14–19, NASB95).

The spirit, Satan, that caused Job’s friend to tremble and be filled with dread put forth the idea that man cannot be right before God, cannot be pure before his Maker and is just a sinner (See Can Man be Righteous before God). The idea that we are all just sinners is a twisting of God’s Word, a twisting to apply what God declares of some, to instead apply to all.

You Can Be Righteous

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

One can be righteous before God, we are not all just sinners, and you can walk with God.  You have a choice, the opportunity to be one of His People, part of the Righteous Generation. Just believe God exists, that He blesses those who seek Him, and have hope in what you haven’t seen. Do not be the fool, do not seek after evil and work to get others to join you. Set your heart on God and know that even if you do follow Him, you will sin from time to time, and that’s actually okay. But don’t become arrogant, set your heart on evil, and say, “because I believe in God, He will not punish me for pursing a path of evil.”

The choice is yours.

Other Articles by John Fulton

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*Cover Image by Jeff Jacobs from Pixabay

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