ROMANS 3: 1-8
OUR ALWAYS TRUE GOD
Most Jews believed that their possession of the law, circumcision, and an outward profession of relation to God, would provide salvation or acceptance before God for them. Paul has just demonstrated that these securities on which most Jews relied are false or could not save. This perspective would evoke strong objections. So at this point Paul defends the indictment of Jewish lostness against the objections of unknown opponents (a diatribe). No doubt he had actually encountered such arguments from Jewish hearers during his missionary preaching. The Jewish arguments contained faulty reasons so that faith and obedience to God's Word could be separated. But true faith always leads to obedience and disobedience demonstrates a lack of faith.
God's Word gives us directions on how to live but many choose to live their own way and fall into sin. When the light of God's judgment shines on their unrighteousness it becomes apparent that their way is wrong. Can these people that live their own way be so privileged because of God's faithfulness that they can be rewarded ... at least for being a bad example of how not to live? Or should evil be done because God can bring good out of it? No, before God a good end does not justifies an evil means or method.
We learn here that no one receives merit for evil [even for being a bad example to others]. God's faithfulness is bound to people who are obedient by faith to His Word. No special immunity will be granted to those who do evil even though God gets glory from showing Himself righteous in His judgment of their fault. For God is always true and He cannot be faithful to the unrighteous no matter who they are or how they think (CIT).
I. THE JEWISH ADVANTAGE, 1-2.
II. God is Faithful Though Man is Unfaithful, 3-4.
III. The Wrath of God is Righteous, 5-8.
Verse 1 is the logical follow-up question to the previous section that addressed Jewish stewardship as responsibility not as partiality. "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?"
What Paul had just written [in 2:28-29] about true Jewish identity and real circumcision [being of the heart] would be shocking to his fellow Jews who believed they had advantage because of their Jewish heritage. No wonder his Jewish hearers rebelled against the gospel.
The New Testament has radically redefined who a true Jew is (2:17-29). If being a Jew spiritually makes you a descendent of Abraham and the fleshly ritual of circumcision does not set one apart for God but only the circumcision of the heart does, is there any advantage (perrison, "overplus, over and above, abundant") to Jew heritage, or value ( pheleia, "advantage") to the physical sign of circumcision? (Ps. 147:20; Isa. 5:5-6; Amos 3:2-3; Mt. 22:1-8; Lk. 13:6; 14:16, 17, 24).
Paul's immediate and direct response to the question concerning Jewish advantage is found in verse 2. "Great in every respect. First of all that they were entrusted with the oracles of God."
Though there is not alternative salvation for the Jews that does not mean they have no advantage. "Great in every way" suggest multiple advantages. Although custodianship of the covenant and the Law did not automatically bring salvation, it bestowed many privileges that the Gentiles did not have. The word "first" (primarily) singles out the most important distinguishing privilege possessed by the Jew, the sacred privilege of being entrusted with the oracles ( diminutive plural of logos) of God (Ex. 19, 20; Deut. 4:8). The oracles of God are the sacred writings of the Old Testament.
What an tremendous privilege and blessing that is. It equipped them to be a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, a corrector to the foolish and instructor to the children (2:19-20). They had God's self-disclosure, the very Words of the all-knowing, all powerful, Sovereign God of the Universe, of the all the ages past and future. They could know this God's purpose, find His revealed will, and claim His promises.
The sacred writing of God with its teachings, commandments, predictions and promises had been entrusted to the Jew. It was given to them that they might accept it by faith, obey it, hold it in high honor, and transmit it to others. What greater advantage in life could one ask for than to possess the writings of God and possess the prophets, priests and scribes whose duty it was to explain, proclaim, and transmit them to the people?
Yet this amazing privilege did not give them special rights to disobey the Word. Privileges implies duties. Honors go hand in hand with responsibilities. Paul returns to the subject of Jewish privilege in Romans 9:1-5.
II. GOD IS FAITHFUL THOUGH MAN IS UNFAITHFUL, 3-4.
The Jews were proud of the Torah, but their response to its message was lacking. Instead of faithfully putting God's Word into action they put it on the shelf as a symbol of their religion. This Jewish lack of faith in God's Word is addressed in verse 3. "What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?"
So "what if we are unfaithful in deed," says the Jew. That does not invalidate the faithfulness of God. Has He not promised to be God to Abraham and his seed (Deut. 10:14-15, 14:2; Ps. 135:4; Isa. 43:21). He has entered into a covenant to grant His people kingdom privileges, has He not? Who does salvation depend on any way? Man or God? If God said He would save the Jew and covenanted and promised to do so in His Word is He being unfaithful when most do not believe?
No, God is faithful to His Word, but faithfulness to the promises is never separated from belief. God is not being unfaithful to His promises, people are (Isa. 55:6-7; Amos 3:2) unresponsive. And when people are unfaithful to promises God would love to keep, the promises become inoperative. God did not say to the Jews, you are a special people therefore you should do what you like. He did say, you are a special people therefore you must do what I like.
Yes, their unbelief made the oracles of God seem untrue, but they were simply inoperative. That does not make God unfaithful to His promise though, its just that they did not fulfill the preconditions.
Verse 4 is the response to comparing the faithfulness of God to the faithfulness of man. "Let it never be! But God must be true though every man is a liar, just as it has been written: THAT THOU MIGHT BE JUSTIFIED IN MY WORDS, AND THOU WILL CONQUER WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED."
The response to the possibility that God is unfaithful or unjust is emphatic; by no means! God must be true though every man who ever lived calls Him a liar. His opponents' defense of the Lord's integrity is absolutely correct. God does keep His word. If the oracles of God seem untrue, inoperative, it is not because God is dead or because God is unfaithful. It is because man is unfaithful to God's oracles that God is seen as not keeping promises.
People today are finding God unfaithful to His Word, but Paul knew who the unfaithful are. We may not understand it, or misinterpret it, but God is faithful to His Word. If we would just follow it, God will fulfill it. Anyone who does not think so the Bible calls "a liar."
The statement is supports by a quote from Psalm 51:4 affirming that the truth always prevails is in judgment. When man under judgment admits his sin, as David did in the verses just prior [in Psalm 51], he agrees that God is right in calling us sinners. When we refuse to admit our sin to God, calling Him unjust or unfaithful, we prove how great a sinner we are for the great sin is refusing to acknowledge our sin. This is why God sent the prophet Nathan to David after his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah because David would not confess his sinfulness to himself or to God. His stubborn will demanded that God judge his sin.
III. THE WRATH OF GOD IS RIGHTEOUS, 5-8.
Paul counters a third objection to the doctrine of justification by four questions in verses 5-8. The first question in verse 5 asks if God is unjust because He judges people with wrath. "But if our unrighteousness is (demonstrates) the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is not the God who is inflicting wrath unjust? (I speak according to the natural man)."
Man's unfaithfulness gives God, who is faithful to His promises, the opportunity to show that He is also faithful to His threats. Our unrighteousness gives God opportunity to show us His righteousness by judging us. Since man's unrighteousness brings out more sharply God's righteousness should not the Almighty be happy about man's unrighteousness?
A painter will use a DARK BACKGROUND such as Rembrandt's dark shadows in his "Night Watches" if he wants to explode the light more brilliantly. It is even easy for the godless and immoral person to see sin is wicked when it is dark like rape, murder, robbery. It becomes very obvious that something evil and wicked is wrong with man. Should not we be glad that man's wickedness shows his true condition. Against my evil deeds God's goodness shows brightly. Is wickedness ok because it shows how pure God is? This is how the natural man thinks.
Sin though possesses no meritorious value, even when it forces God to show how righteous He is to us. Unrighteousness does not justify. We must be justified because of our unrighteousness. Even admitting man's obvious unrighteousness does not justify us even though it proves God true.
Man displays amazing ingenuity in justifying himself. If they would just turn their energies to being obedient, instead of corrupting their logic in attempting to justify themselves, great strides for the cause of Christ could be made.
Verse 6 ask us to consider how an unjust God could justly judge the world. "May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?"
What a twisted concept it is to think that evil helps God out. If God condones evil He would not have the integrity to judge the world. Or if punishment is unrighteous how could He judge the world? If God does not keep His threats He is a liar.
People do all kinds of mental gymnastics to justify themselves even if it would make God unrighteous. But God is not going to pat sinners on the back for proving sin is evil. He is not going to let them get away with committing evil because it brings about His good actions
In verse 7 the possible objection of human evil being beneficial because it helps highlight God's glorious goodness is injected. "But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?"
Say that people voted to legalize casino gambling in our state. The proponents arguing that it provides huge profits to help benefit education, etc. Yet when test results come in it shows homes broken up, children unfed, and lives destroyed and it becomes recognized that gambling is bad. God is not going to reward those who instituted it because it proved how evil sin is, is He? It is not logical to do evil then say it is in support of something good or condone it for a good cause.
Believers can not act however the want because they expect to be absolved of their evil or because God is able to overcome the evil acts of man and use them for good and His glory.
In verse 8 the proposal that the end justifies the means is sharply negated. "And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just."
Some poked fun at Paul saying that if it is not by keeping the law that men are saved but by faith, then let us sin and sin some more. Since God forgives our sin let's give Him opportunity to forgive by sinning. The people saying that twisted Paul's words and put their own meaning into them instead of the logical intended meaning. They deserve the judgment they will get. [For to say that God is unfair in condemning sin is to blaspheme the very nature of God.]
Twisting people's words is common still today. That is why it is so important to get things first hand, without the middle man before we draw our own conclusions.
True, Paul preached justification by faith and not works. A person redeemed by faith will not be a person who lives rebelliously, in disobedience to the righteous law of God.
IN CONCLUSION
God will not reward anyone for being a bad example, though some may learn that's not how to do things and live differently. Neither will God reward someone for giving Him a chance to forgive more sin by their sinning more. Justification by faith will never lead the one justified into more sin.
Some may think that they don't have to worry about sin because (1) it's God's job to forgive; (2) God is so loving that He won't judge us; (3) sin isn't so bad - it teaches us valuable lessons, or (4) we need to stay in touch with the culture around us. It is far too easy to take God's grace for granted. But God cannot overlook sin. Sinners, no matter how many excuses they make, will have to answer to God for their sin.
In this age we judge God. We argue whether God exits, or if God is good or if God does evil, or why God allows this or that to happen, and some even curse and deny god. But in the age to come The One True God who is so unlike us will judge humanity out of His perfect nature of truth and righteousness. [James Edwards New International Biblical Com. Romans. 1992. Hendrickson Publ. p. 87]
May each of us do as David did and acknowledge our sin before God. May be this is the night to do just that. Come to Him right now by faith and He will change you inner being and then your outer actions. You come, as the Spirit leads.
