EXPOSITORY THOUGHTS ON ROMANS CHAPTER 3
(Quotes from Scripture are taken from the NEV)
1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
So Paul asks the obvious question after considering the Jews in the light of the New Covenant, where God now looks on the inward heart of a person. Also, the whole basis on which God deals with the sinfulness of believers has changed in the light of the reality that Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away sin, and then rising again from the dead to show that He has the mastery over death and hell.
But the Jews are not to be written off altogether. Paul acknowledges their heritage and their history in their experience with God. They were the ones who saw the great miracles of God when He delivered them from Egypt and the things that happened when they entered the promised land. The Old Testament is the written record of the things that God did and said with the Jews. The reference to this is Psalm 147:19
"He declares His Word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel."
And Malachi 4:4: "Remember the law of Moses, My servant, which I commanded him on Mount Horeb to give to all Israel, the statutes and the ordinances."
The Jews were entrusted with the Ten Commandments which God wrote on tablets of stone with His own hand. They were the custodians of the Law of God for many hundreds of years. These laws enshrined the standards of God and the set Jewish nation well apart from the pagan nations around them.
Therefore, the Jews are not written off altogether by the coming of the Gospel of Christ and the Gentiles being included in God's plan of redemption and salvation for mankind.
3What if some did
not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?
4Not at all! Let God be true, and
every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."
Paul's position is that although some in the Jewish nation did not have faith, this does not mean that God will not fulfill His promises to Israel. It is implied here that there is something more in the mind of God for the Jewish nation. We don't quite know what at this stage. But the point is, that if God has made promises to the whole nation, He is not going to allow the faithlessness of some determine the future of the whole group. God's faithfulness is based on the unshakeable foundation of His Word, and the failure of some to rely and trust in that Word for their lives and conduct does not change God's overall will for the group.
Paul places his complete reliance on God's word, above any word that comes from any other person. He sees the reality of God as being more important and believable than what anyone will try and make him believe. When he says that every man is a liar, he is not implying that people deliberately set out to deceive others. He is making a comparative statement. If the ideas and notions of man are put up against the Word of God, the difference in believability is so great that the truth of God is so "true" that even the most accurate ideas and statements of men are like lies.
This is important when comparing the studies of man even when they are backed up by the best of empirical research. Academic "truth" depends on it being backed up by evidence, mainly from others who have written on the same topics. To do a PhD, a candidate must read every other piece of literature written by every other academic who has studied the same topic. This is to ensure that the candidate has the complete breadth of knowledge about the topic under study. Then, his thesis must contain material that has not been dealt with in the same way before; but at the same time, he needs to justify his statements by what evidence he can produce to show that his view on the topic is justifiable. Therefore, a PhD can take five years to produce, and once accepted by the academic community, the candidate is accepted as an expert in the topic.
Paul says that what the Word of God may say on that topic may be so true that it would even make the PhD "expert" to be a "liar" in comparison to it. This shows that even what is absolutely true from the standpoint of "sense knowledge" (the knowledge that comes through our five senses), when compared to what is true from God's standpoint, is treated as untrue. This means that the truth contained in the Word of God will always supercede truth that is gained through sense knowledge.
Paul quotes from the Old Testament Scripture, in Psalm 51:4, to prove his point.
"Against you, You only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in Your sight; so that You are justified in Your sentence and faultless in Your judgment."
Notice that Paul does not quote the Scripture directly, but interprets it out of its natural context to underline the point that he is making about God's truth being absolutely true and right.
5But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
Paul continues to develop his point about the faithlessness of some in the Jewish nation not causing God to abandoned His faithfulness to the whole nation. We have all heard the excuses of some sinners who reject the Christian church because of the "hypocrites" in it. They are judging the whole church by the inappropriate actions of some of its members. God does not have this attitude. He knows that it is not the whole church which is at fault if there are some members who cannot lives lives that reflect the testimony of being at true Christian believer.
The paradox is this: that our sinfulness makes the Righteousness of God much more prominent. When we are confronted with the law and statutes of God, we see our sin and unrighteousness more clearly. Paul is using this principle to say that God is not being unjust when He punishes sinners. God has to have some basis on which to judge the world. This is why the Law of God has been given to Israel. This Law sets out the standards by which men and women must live and conduct themselves. If they keep the Law, then they are justified by their keeping of the Law. If they fail to keep the Law, then God is fully justified in condemning and punishing them; and there is no one who can say that God is unjust in doing so.
Paul gives the example of a sinner saying that if his sin enhances the truthfulness of God, then it is unfair that he should be judged as a sinner, because he is actively showing the holiness and righteousness of God through his sin. Paul then takes that argument to its extreme and suggests that such a person might say, "let's carry on sinning and sin even more so that good may result from our sinful actions." Paul states quite clearly that the condemnation for those people are deserved. They are the ones who broke God's Law, and therefore they deserve to experience the wrath of God and punishment from Him.
9What shall we
conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge
that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
10As it is written:
"There is no one righteous, not even one;
11there is no one who
understands,
no one who seeks God.
12All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one."
13"Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit."
"The poison of vipers is on their lips."
14"Their mouths are full of
cursing and bitterness."
15"Their feet are swift to shed
blood;
16ruin and misery mark their
ways,
17and the way of peace they do not
know."
18"There is no fear of God before
their eyes."
Paul then makes the discussion more personal. The use of "we" includes himself in what he is suggesting. After putting the questions, he is going to give his conclusion to the points that have been raised. Paul is a Jew, therefore he is saying, "Are we Jews any better than anyone else?" His answer is clear and straight: "Not at all!". He is saying that Jews and Gentiles are all in the same boat concerning their sinfulness before God. It doesn't make any difference, both Jew and Gentile stand equally condemned before God because of their failure to measure up to God's Law. Paul supports his view by quoting Old Testament Scripture, firstly in Psalm 14:2,3:
"The Lord looked down from Heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any who understood, dealt wisely and sought after God, inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him of vital necessity. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy; there is none that does good or right, no, not one."
Paul then quotes Psalm 5:9:
"For there is nothing trustworthy or steadfast or truthful in their talk; their heart is destruction; their throat is an open sepulchre; they make smooth and flatter with their tongue."
And Psalm 140:3:
"They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent's; adders' poison is under their lips. Selah."
Also Psalm 10:7:
"His mouth is full of cursing, deceit, oppression; under his tongue are trouble and sin."
Then Isaiah 59:7, 8:
"Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths and highways. The way of peace they know not, and there is no justice or right in their goings; they have made them crooked paths; whoever goes in them does not know peace."
And lastly Psalm 36:1:
"Transgression speaks to the wicked deep in his heart. there is no fear or dread of god before his eyes."
When we compare Paul's quotes with the actual Scriptures, we can see that Paul has used the parts of the references to underline his points. He is making a thumbnail sketch of the condition and attitude of the person who is living in sin and rejection of God. The person is in rebellion against God. It is not just a matter of doing naughty things because they are more fun to do than to live a godly life; these are things that are done directly against God Himself. The sinfulness mentioned here is a series of deliberate acts, knowing full well that God is there, but going ahead and sinning anyway. Why is this so? Because the sinfulness in buried deep in their hearts. This is why they cannot follow the Law of God; it is because they do not want to.
Paul is saying that this is condition of us all. There is no one in this world who has escaped being in this condition, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. Through this, he is demolishing the Jew's argument that because they were entrusted with the Laws and Statutes of God through Moses, that they are somehow favoured over everyone else in regard to sin and righteousness. Paul is saying that Jew and Gentile are all in the same boat when it comes to deserving judgement and condemnation from God.
19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
It is easy for those who are Jews to say that the Gentiles are the sinners and are condemned before God, but Paul is saying that what he has quoted from the Scripture as part of the Law of God firstly applies to those under the Law, that is, the Jews. Therefore, if the condition of the Jews, who are God's chosen people, is totally sinful, then the attempts by Jews to justify themselves cease. There is nothing they can say that could ever justify themselves before God. The Law was given to their trust, and yet they still broke it; therefore God is being totally fair when He decides to judge and condemn them. If not, then any Gentile coming up for judgement may say, "I may deserve the condemnation, but Your own chosen people have received Your Law more clearly than I have, yet they have broken what they know to be true and right; therefore they are just as sinful as I am, even more so because they sinned against their own knowledge of the truth. It is therefore unfair and unjust of You to condemn me and let those people go unpunished."
Paul is making it clear to all that the Jew under the Law will be punished in the same way as the Gentile outside of the Law, because both have sinned equally. This should have the effect that any voice that would rise up and question the integrity of God in judging sinners would be totally silenced.
It is quite clear then that the whole world is accountable to God, because the whole world has falling into sin. It is not a matter of outwardly keeping to the rules, Mosaic or moral, because the sinfulness is embedded into the heart of man, Jew and Gentile, so that they cannot keep the Law at all no matter how hard he tries.
Paul quite clearly says that God will not declare anyone righteous in His sight by observing the Law. Therefore, trying to get right with God by keeping a set of outward rules is a futile thing, because no matter how hard a person tries to do so, God will not declare them righteous in any case. In the New Covenant, the Law has a different function: to show people their sinfulness.
If it were possible for Old Covenant people to be righteous before God by keeping the Law, they would have not need to offer further sacrifices for their sin; but they did, on a regular basis. The existence of sacrifices for sin clearly shows that trying to keep the Law was insufficient for achieving right standing with God. Therefore, even in the Old Covenant, the main function of the Law was to show the people their own sinfulness, and this motivated them to go and offer sacrifices for their sin so that they could receive temporary covering.
21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
So, in the light of man's hopelessness in trying to become self righteous by observing a set of Law in order to be made right with God, Paul points us to a way in which we can be made righteous. This righteousness comes from God Himself. He also says that the Law and the Prophets testify to this true righteousness. Paul defines this righteousness: it comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.
Therefore, the focal point to being able to stand before God without any sense of condemnation, because that is what righteousness is, is Jesus Christ. Paul is going to further develop this principle as we work through the book.
There is no difference between the Jew and Gentile in this, because, as Paul has already pointed out, all have sinned and have fallen short of the standards that God has specified as requirements for the righteousness that is acceptable to Him. Justification (being made acceptable to God and being at peace with Him), comes through God's free grace. It is not earned or deserved in any way. But it is not a gift given by God without any price being attached to it. The difference is, that we don't have to pay the price. Jesus has already paid it. Paul says that the justification has come through the redemption that came by Jesus.
The definition of "redemption" is in the same sense that a slave has been redeemed from his slavery and a sum of money has been paid for his freedom. We were once in the bondage and slavery of sin and of the will and purpose of Satan. Through the work of Jesus on the Cross of Calvary, a price was paid for our freedom from that bondage, and we were given our freedom. Because we were set free from the bondage of sin, God was able to justify us and make us able to stand before Him without the consciousness of sin.
Under the Old Covenant, the Jews needed to have yearly sacrifices for the sin. This did not fully justify them before God, but provided a covering for the year. Then they would have had to go an offer another sacrifice for their sin the next year. But after Jesus shed His blood on the cross and rose again, He went up into the heavenly holy of holies and offered up His blood as the final and permanent sacrifice for sin. This sacrifice is effective for those who decide to believe in Him. This is the definition of "atonement". For those who had faith in the permanent sacrifice of the blood of Jesus before the Father in heaven as being the permanent and final sacrifice for them sin, they then had the right to stand before God as totally cleansed and righteous before Him.
This is because God wanted to show His justice, because under the Old Covenant where people sacrificed yearly for their sin, the sin they committed remained unpunished. When Jesus suffered and died on the Cross, the justice of God was shown in that He was finally bringing punishment for the sin that was committed by His people through the ages. The Person being punished was His Son, Jesus Christ. This is what Substitution is all about. Instead of the Jews, and us, being punished for sin, Jesus took our place and received God's punishment instead. Therefore, there is no further punishment for sin for those who believe in Jesus.
But a person has to accept the substitution of Jesus for their sin by believing in Him. If a person rejects Jesus, and refuses to believe in Him, the punishment of God for his sin is still to be expected. So, the substitutionary work of Jesus with regards to escaping the punishment for sin depends on the person's attitude to Christ. There is a condition for being released from the sentence that God imposes upon sinners, as Paul said to the Philippian Jailer, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved."
Some people have asked, "being saved from what?" The answer is here: that the sinner is in a position where he or she is condemned to punishment from God for sin. Jesus has given Himself as the sacrifice for sin as that person's substitute. If the person's believes in Christ, then the substitution takes effect and the person is "saved" from having to receive the punishment. The cell door on "death row" is opened and the prisoner goes free. This is the definition of being "saved".
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
After Paul talks about the justification that comes through faith in Jesus Christ, he asks the question about boasting. The boasting that he is speaking about is the boasting of the Jews who say that they are God's favoured people because they have been entrusted with the Law and statutes of God, that they had a special place with God while the Gentiles were far away from God in their sinfulness. Paul maintains that this boasting is now excluded, because the place of the Jews before God has no longer any advantage for them.
Paul explains the principle under which this is so. He clearly states that observing the law does not make a person justified before God, so that is not the basis on which boasting is excluded. Paul says that it is on the basis of faith. Exercising faith in Jesus Christ makes boasting inappropriate, because the justification before God does not come from anything that we have done. If we were able to achieve justification by self righteousness through our good works by observing the Law, we might have something to boast about. But Paul, in stating that justification comes by faith, makes boasting a non issue.
Paul clearly maintains that a person is justified before God by faith apart from any observance of the Law. He says before that the Law is there to show us our sin; therefore if we exercise faith in Christ and are justified by God through that faith, we are taken out of range of the Law. The Law no longer applies to those who are exercising faith in Jesus Christ for their right standing before God.
Paul challenges his readers by asking the question. "Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too?" He leaves the first question unanswered, and answers the second question in the affirmative. God is the God of the Gentiles as well as the Jews. In the light of this, because there is only one God, the same faith in Christ, whether exercised by Jews or Gentiles will bring God's justification to both.
Paul then asks another question, which has been a bone of contention for many through the ages: Does faith in Christ make the Law null and void? Many have taught that it does, but Paul says definitely not. Even though a person is justified by faith in Christ apart from the observance of the Law, the Law of God defining His standards of attitude and conduct, are upheld. Later on in the book, we will see more clearly how the Law fits in with the Christian believers faith, life and conduct.
[End of Chapter 3]