Romans 3:1-8This is one of the hardest passages in the Bible to wrestle with and to follow, so stay with us and pray with us as we try and ascertain and explain the flow of Paul’s thoughts here.
Vs.1 – Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
The point so far in Romans has been that Jews and Gentiles are both wicked and both need the gospel and God gives His own righteousness freely to those who trust His Son. Paul will now tackle the imaginary yet inevitable objections some would likely have to his teaching. This first one is a fair question, especially after the scathing rebuke Paul had just handed down.
If this is true, that some Jews aren’t really Jews, and that some Gentiles can become Jews, in the spiritual sense, and that this spiritual sense is what counts, a circumcision of the heart, even if they are not circumcised in the flesh, then what does this do to the Jew, why does it matter at all? Romans 2:11 – Isn’t Paul calling into question the entire Old Testament idea of the Jews as God’s chosen people? Is Paul saying that the Jew’s advantages weren’t really advantages? Doesn’t that call into question the whole Old Testament? If Paul's gospel does that, can it stand?
Vs.2 – Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
So what is up with this? Paul gives an answer to question number one here in verse two. He stops short of a more full explanation, but he gives us more in Romans 9:4-5. Here he just tells us that the Jews had a real advantage in that they had the Word of God, which for them were the 39 books of the Old Testament. So Paul is saying that they did have advantages, and based on what he says later he does say that the Jews are a special people. However, he also has been saying that they are dying in unbelief, so again, what gives? This question, however, assumes that it is either one or the other, either security as covenant people or destruction. This points to a tension between God’s righteousness and our responsibility that Paul continues to highlight here.
Speaking of tension, here we are as Paul explains that having the Word of God is an advantage, and it is in a passage that is difficult to mine for food, in a sense, but we must. Amos 8:11 – we have the Word and we had better use it before we lose it. God has been faithful to give it to us, but we must receive it or it will do us no good. That is why we must wrestle with this text, and not skip or surface over it, as many might be doing, or twist it, as some do (2 Peter 3:16). There’s something here worth diligently striving for, and it isn’t cotton candy, but it will truly satisfy. Passages like this help us to understand why we need the Spirit to help us understand God’s revelation (1 Corinthians 2:14 – this doesn’t mean we don’t also think hard – 2 Timothy 2:7, 15).
Vs.3-4 – What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."
Here Paul answers question number two. He quotes Psalm 51:4 – our sin is against God, and He is right to judge us. David knew that his being Jewish wouldn’t save him. Cosmic treason – every sin, as David said, is ultimately sin against God.
Paul’s point is that it is about individuals, and just because some are unfaithful does not mean that God is not faithful. Still, God is right and just in His actions, even if He was to condemn everyone, which He does (vs.9 / 11:22 / Galatians 3:22). 2 Timothy 2:13 – Our unrighteousness serves to further illustrate the righteousness of God. This leads to question number three.
Vs.5-6 – But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
Paul now answers the objection of those that would take the truths he is proclaiming and then say something like, “if we are just a pawn then how can God punish us?” “If my sin brings Him glory, and He uses my weakness to show His strength, why am I guilty?” “Doesn’t this make Him unjust?” This is definitely an argument you hear a lot today. That is why Paul says he speaks as a man, because he knows the depravity of the human heart in opposition to God.
The people Paul was addressing all conceded the fact that God was going to judge the world, and that some would make it and some wouldn’t. The Jews of Paul’s day figured that God would condemn the Gentile for his sin, but save the Jew despite his sin. Paul easily dismisses this objection by pointing out the fact that we know God is going to judge the world, and so obviously He cannot be unrighteous in doing so, so the objection is self-refuting. If what they said were true, God could judge no one. Lets further illustrate this using scripture.
Acts 2:23 – even though your sin magnifies His righteousness this doesn’t mean you weren’t or aren’t wrong for doing it. Today we scream for justice, and God will be just, but we just don’t want Him to judge us according to His standard. That is what the real problem is, and our word games won’t change that.
Some of this may seem like overkill to you. You may be thinking, “yeah Paul, or yeah preacher, I get it, we all are sinners and we need the gospel and no special privilege will get us out of our problem without His provision”. However, Paul continues on because guided along by the Holy Sprit he knows that people might say that but they don’t believe it. He knows that they will play word games with God, just like the Pharisees tried to twist Jesus’ words, and we try and twist the truth of God. He knows how far men will go in their attempts to derail the truth train to avoid being hit. When we are confronted we will just start using anything we can to try and get out of it. It’s like your kids making up some unbelievable story when they come home with one shoe and no shirt, or you find them up in a tree with binoculars and a slingshot. God isn’t naïve. He isn’t playing your game.
Haven’t you ever run across someone like that? When witnessing they have every excuse in the book, intellectual (ironically), practical (too hard), supposedly moral (that principle against homosexuality is wrong or the God of the OT was a bloodthirsty tyrant, etc.), sociological (the church hurt them or someone they know), or whatever. Well that is why you don’t go there first. Don’t play their game. What you explain to them and get them to see is their sin. Of course, that is what people don’t want to see, and what Paul is confronting here. Oh yeah, they can see it in the world and in everybody else, and cry for justice, but they are “basically a good person”. It is so out of hand that people will go as far as to blame God for their sin, as Paul anticipates here.
Vs.7-8 – But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? --as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Paul restates the objection so as have this imaginary (but all too real) objector take the point to what they think is the obvious conclusion. But the real conclusion is that God is just, not them. “I just don’t understand, and well then, why not just do whatever we want?” People try and spin the sin and say it isn’t what it is. They try and play games with God’s Word twisting it like a pretzel. It is just like when Paul answers the questions about God sovereignty in later chapters. Liken this to the person who when told of God sovereignty they say, “well then why do anything?” All this does is show the wickedness in their hearts not the injustice of God, and as Paul says their condemnation is just. He has shown us how far it goes. Everybody has sin and everyone makes excuses, even the most patently ridiculous kinds like admitting there is a God while still putting Him on trial for His actions. Of course what some people are trying to do is justify in their own minds that there cannot be a God, because they like being blind (John 3:19).
They were slandering Paul’s message. How often do we begin to know some deep truth but on the surface it may seem like a contradictory thing? There is much in the world that reflects this idea. There are things that children just aren’t ready to deal with and yet they are perfectly suitable for those that can handle them like driving a car. Ever known someone who took a little bit of knowledge and it was like the proverbial monkey with a machine gun? It is like those that are educated beyond their intellect and wisdom, they have too much of a good thing. Your kids ever come home from school with some new fact and think they are smarter than you? Responsibility without maturity is disaster; power without respect is dangerous.
Some of God’s truths are necessarily hard and this is why we must study hard (2 Peter 3:16 / 2 Timothy 2:15 / Hebrews 5:13-14). There are those that would try and say “well then if we are justified by faith, if it is a free gift, if we are forgiven of every sin, well then lets live it up right?” Well that is just playing games with God. Yes, God accepts us as we are but He doesn’t leave us there. We haven’t arrived but we’ve left where we were. Sanctification is the fruit of the justification tree. Those that are saved will glorify His name, not give Him blame.
The problem with those that would try and twist God’s truth is that they fail to see the righteousness of God and the beauty of His plan. We need to just admit it, we are unrighteous compared to God, but He in His grace overflowing to us will give us the kingdom. Now even if we were good little boys and girls why would we deserve the power and the kingdom of God? We wouldn’t, and God makes it easy for us to differentiate between Him and us by this vast Creation, because we realize we could not create all this, and we can easily discern that we all stink compared to Him so that we can see we need Him. He illustrates His righteousness by our unrighteousness and His power by our lack of power. But people explain it away by saying that because there is sin that there must not be a God, or by saying He must not be just. Can you now see just how ridiculous that is? God is real and He loves you, so stop making excuses, they are lame. Paul will continue to unravel the mystery of God’s perfect plan to give us, who don’t deserve it, everything. Don’t you see your sin, and don’t you want more than this world has to offer? God is willing to give it all to you, but if you don’t want Him, you are not left with much of an alternative. Don’t play games with God.
Vs.1 – Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
The point so far in Romans has been that Jews and Gentiles are both wicked and both need the gospel and God gives His own righteousness freely to those who trust His Son. Paul will now tackle the imaginary yet inevitable objections some would likely have to his teaching. This first one is a fair question, especially after the scathing rebuke Paul had just handed down.
If this is true, that some Jews aren’t really Jews, and that some Gentiles can become Jews, in the spiritual sense, and that this spiritual sense is what counts, a circumcision of the heart, even if they are not circumcised in the flesh, then what does this do to the Jew, why does it matter at all? Romans 2:11 – Isn’t Paul calling into question the entire Old Testament idea of the Jews as God’s chosen people? Is Paul saying that the Jew’s advantages weren’t really advantages? Doesn’t that call into question the whole Old Testament? If Paul's gospel does that, can it stand?
Vs.2 – Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
So what is up with this? Paul gives an answer to question number one here in verse two. He stops short of a more full explanation, but he gives us more in Romans 9:4-5. Here he just tells us that the Jews had a real advantage in that they had the Word of God, which for them were the 39 books of the Old Testament. So Paul is saying that they did have advantages, and based on what he says later he does say that the Jews are a special people. However, he also has been saying that they are dying in unbelief, so again, what gives? This question, however, assumes that it is either one or the other, either security as covenant people or destruction. This points to a tension between God’s righteousness and our responsibility that Paul continues to highlight here.
Speaking of tension, here we are as Paul explains that having the Word of God is an advantage, and it is in a passage that is difficult to mine for food, in a sense, but we must. Amos 8:11 – we have the Word and we had better use it before we lose it. God has been faithful to give it to us, but we must receive it or it will do us no good. That is why we must wrestle with this text, and not skip or surface over it, as many might be doing, or twist it, as some do (2 Peter 3:16). There’s something here worth diligently striving for, and it isn’t cotton candy, but it will truly satisfy. Passages like this help us to understand why we need the Spirit to help us understand God’s revelation (1 Corinthians 2:14 – this doesn’t mean we don’t also think hard – 2 Timothy 2:7, 15).
Vs.3-4 – What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."
Here Paul answers question number two. He quotes Psalm 51:4 – our sin is against God, and He is right to judge us. David knew that his being Jewish wouldn’t save him. Cosmic treason – every sin, as David said, is ultimately sin against God.
Paul’s point is that it is about individuals, and just because some are unfaithful does not mean that God is not faithful. Still, God is right and just in His actions, even if He was to condemn everyone, which He does (vs.9 / 11:22 / Galatians 3:22). 2 Timothy 2:13 – Our unrighteousness serves to further illustrate the righteousness of God. This leads to question number three.
Vs.5-6 – But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
Paul now answers the objection of those that would take the truths he is proclaiming and then say something like, “if we are just a pawn then how can God punish us?” “If my sin brings Him glory, and He uses my weakness to show His strength, why am I guilty?” “Doesn’t this make Him unjust?” This is definitely an argument you hear a lot today. That is why Paul says he speaks as a man, because he knows the depravity of the human heart in opposition to God.
The people Paul was addressing all conceded the fact that God was going to judge the world, and that some would make it and some wouldn’t. The Jews of Paul’s day figured that God would condemn the Gentile for his sin, but save the Jew despite his sin. Paul easily dismisses this objection by pointing out the fact that we know God is going to judge the world, and so obviously He cannot be unrighteous in doing so, so the objection is self-refuting. If what they said were true, God could judge no one. Lets further illustrate this using scripture.
Acts 2:23 – even though your sin magnifies His righteousness this doesn’t mean you weren’t or aren’t wrong for doing it. Today we scream for justice, and God will be just, but we just don’t want Him to judge us according to His standard. That is what the real problem is, and our word games won’t change that.
Some of this may seem like overkill to you. You may be thinking, “yeah Paul, or yeah preacher, I get it, we all are sinners and we need the gospel and no special privilege will get us out of our problem without His provision”. However, Paul continues on because guided along by the Holy Sprit he knows that people might say that but they don’t believe it. He knows that they will play word games with God, just like the Pharisees tried to twist Jesus’ words, and we try and twist the truth of God. He knows how far men will go in their attempts to derail the truth train to avoid being hit. When we are confronted we will just start using anything we can to try and get out of it. It’s like your kids making up some unbelievable story when they come home with one shoe and no shirt, or you find them up in a tree with binoculars and a slingshot. God isn’t naïve. He isn’t playing your game.
Haven’t you ever run across someone like that? When witnessing they have every excuse in the book, intellectual (ironically), practical (too hard), supposedly moral (that principle against homosexuality is wrong or the God of the OT was a bloodthirsty tyrant, etc.), sociological (the church hurt them or someone they know), or whatever. Well that is why you don’t go there first. Don’t play their game. What you explain to them and get them to see is their sin. Of course, that is what people don’t want to see, and what Paul is confronting here. Oh yeah, they can see it in the world and in everybody else, and cry for justice, but they are “basically a good person”. It is so out of hand that people will go as far as to blame God for their sin, as Paul anticipates here.
Vs.7-8 – But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? --as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Paul restates the objection so as have this imaginary (but all too real) objector take the point to what they think is the obvious conclusion. But the real conclusion is that God is just, not them. “I just don’t understand, and well then, why not just do whatever we want?” People try and spin the sin and say it isn’t what it is. They try and play games with God’s Word twisting it like a pretzel. It is just like when Paul answers the questions about God sovereignty in later chapters. Liken this to the person who when told of God sovereignty they say, “well then why do anything?” All this does is show the wickedness in their hearts not the injustice of God, and as Paul says their condemnation is just. He has shown us how far it goes. Everybody has sin and everyone makes excuses, even the most patently ridiculous kinds like admitting there is a God while still putting Him on trial for His actions. Of course what some people are trying to do is justify in their own minds that there cannot be a God, because they like being blind (John 3:19).
They were slandering Paul’s message. How often do we begin to know some deep truth but on the surface it may seem like a contradictory thing? There is much in the world that reflects this idea. There are things that children just aren’t ready to deal with and yet they are perfectly suitable for those that can handle them like driving a car. Ever known someone who took a little bit of knowledge and it was like the proverbial monkey with a machine gun? It is like those that are educated beyond their intellect and wisdom, they have too much of a good thing. Your kids ever come home from school with some new fact and think they are smarter than you? Responsibility without maturity is disaster; power without respect is dangerous.
Some of God’s truths are necessarily hard and this is why we must study hard (2 Peter 3:16 / 2 Timothy 2:15 / Hebrews 5:13-14). There are those that would try and say “well then if we are justified by faith, if it is a free gift, if we are forgiven of every sin, well then lets live it up right?” Well that is just playing games with God. Yes, God accepts us as we are but He doesn’t leave us there. We haven’t arrived but we’ve left where we were. Sanctification is the fruit of the justification tree. Those that are saved will glorify His name, not give Him blame.
The problem with those that would try and twist God’s truth is that they fail to see the righteousness of God and the beauty of His plan. We need to just admit it, we are unrighteous compared to God, but He in His grace overflowing to us will give us the kingdom. Now even if we were good little boys and girls why would we deserve the power and the kingdom of God? We wouldn’t, and God makes it easy for us to differentiate between Him and us by this vast Creation, because we realize we could not create all this, and we can easily discern that we all stink compared to Him so that we can see we need Him. He illustrates His righteousness by our unrighteousness and His power by our lack of power. But people explain it away by saying that because there is sin that there must not be a God, or by saying He must not be just. Can you now see just how ridiculous that is? God is real and He loves you, so stop making excuses, they are lame. Paul will continue to unravel the mystery of God’s perfect plan to give us, who don’t deserve it, everything. Don’t you see your sin, and don’t you want more than this world has to offer? God is willing to give it all to you, but if you don’t want Him, you are not left with much of an alternative. Don’t play games with God.
5 comments:
ugh! Nearly 4 in the morning...what a battle...it is late (early?) and there may be a revision of this upon further review...this has blessed me...
God bless the reading of Your Word and the delivery of this message to our hearts. Amen and Amen.
"supposedly moral (that principle against homosexuality is wrong or the God of the OT was a bloodthirsty tyrant, etc.),"
The one I heard recently. An attempt at (Superior Attitude) “If there is a God he is nothing other than a neighborhood bully, terrorizing those smaller than he is”. Making God responsible for every disaster and horrific act that takes place in their lives. Never seeing His love and mercy shine through, never admitting there might be something larger and more just than themselves.
And at an attempt to show the effects of sin in this world you are met with rolling eyes and deaf ears, at the thought that one event that “might” have taken place thousands of years ago could possibly still effect those of this modern age, full of ever evolving intellectual minds.
2 Timothy 3:7
Amen, thank you
Post a Comment