Is it that Israel hadn't heard the gospel (v.18) or that Israel did not understand (v.19)? Neither, obviously. "Their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world." (Ps. 19:4) Besides, it'd be hard to believe that any Jew of that time period would be ignorant enough to not know of a potential Messiah. And the Jews, who prided themselves of knowing the Law, must've understood.
As an aside...
Will people who have not heard of the gospel be condemned? Is it fair? I've been thinking about it lately & I want to address this. When we hear this, we often think that it's unfair for those who haven't heard the gospel to to condemned to hell. But we have to step back and look at the bigger picture. We've "all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". (Rm. 3:23) All have sinned. "All" includes those who haven't heard of Christ. No one deserves to be saved, God saved us purely out of love and mercy. So it's not unfair for those who haven't heard the gospel to be condemned. (But if we really wanted to discuss fairness, it's probably more unfair for us to have known Christ & be saved) As well, non-believers also have consciences. Even if they have not heard the written law, they "show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts". (Rm. 2:14-15)
But finally, Paul pulls out the big guns. "All day long I have held our my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people." (v.21) It's just like what you observed in the children in our church; humans are predisposed to rebellion against God. (Romans, so far, has been very morbid.)
This really shows us how much we need God. We can't even have faith in Him without His help. Like what Pastor Tom told has last Sunday, we need the Holy Spirit to fill us and make sure we don't stray away. Do we have the Holy Spirit in our lives?
Sonia
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