The situation Paul outlines in 2:1–3 is quite dire. What he summarizes in three verses here, he expounds with more detail in the first three chapters of the book of Romans. We were not just generally frustrated by our sin or mired down in the muck of our sin. No, our situation was much worse. We were DEAD in our sin—no heartbeat, decaying flesh kind of dead. Dead people do not make choices. Dead people do not resuscitate themselves. Dead people cannot
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