2:27 Won't the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfills
the law,
judge you, who with the letter and circumcision are a transgressor
of the law?
3:3 For what if some were without faith? Will their lack of faith
nullify the faithfulness of God?
3:4 May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a
liar.
3:7 For if the truth of God through my lie abounded to his glory,
why am I also still judged as a sinner?
3:8 Why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm
that we say),
"Let us do evil, that good may come?" Those who say so are
justly condemned.
The
Advantage
of the Jews
Rom 3:1,2 What advantage, then, is there
in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much
in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the
very words of God.
By "first of all" he means "primarily". Today those raised
in a Christian household have this same advantage if not
more so. The advantage being access to the Word of God - the
Bible. In fact given the internet such is more so worldwide than
in the past. But with greater access come greater
accountability. Though Jews have largely failed in their
stewardship of the Word of God, let us Christians not fail in
our stewardship of the Word of God. Paul writes, "we have been approved by God
to be entrusted with the gospel, even so we speak, not as
pleasing men, but God who tests our hearts." 1Th 2:4
But concerning the Jews, Jesus, himself being a Jew, said to the
Jews of his day, "Fill up,
then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers! You snakes!
You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to
hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and
teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you
will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And
so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been
shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood
of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the
temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come
upon this generation. "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill
the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have
longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her
chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your
house is left to you desolate." Mt 23:32-38 Though such
rhetoric we hear from the Jewish messiah would be categorized
today as anti-semitic, and yet the prophets themselves used such
rhetoric throughout the Old Testament. The problem was the Jews
were largely circumcised on in flesh and not in heart, and did
not have the Spirit.
Paul says, "Watch out for
those dogs, those men who do evil, those mutilators of the
flesh. For it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship
by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put
no confidence in the flesh— though I myself have reasons for
such confidence. If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put
confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the
eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin,
a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for
zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness,
faultless. But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss
for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a
loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ
Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I
consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ" Php 3:2-8
God is Not Accountable for Misbehavior of His People
Rom 3:3,4 What if some did not have
faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God’s faithfulness?
Not 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." (Ps 51:4)
"Hear, O heavens! Listen, O
earth! For the LORD has spoken: "I reared children and brought
them up, but they have rebelled against me." Is 1:2 God is not
accountable for the behavior of his people. In fact the quote
from Ps 51 is from a prayer that King David said after he had
committed murder and adultery. "Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in
your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and
justified when you judge." Ps 51:2-4
Now, lest there be those who misinterpret this to mean the
unbelieving Jews are automatically saved, "Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to
God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can
testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their
zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the
righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish
their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness." Rom 10:1-3 and there are
many like verses even that which I quoted previously concerning
the Jewish religious elite, "How will you escape being condemned to hell?" Mt 23:31b And likewise of
alleged Chistians, "If we
are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself." 2Tim 2:13. There is no
guarantee of salvation for those who don't remain faithful.
Stupid Objections
Rom 3:5-8 But 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.) Certainly not! If that were so, how
could God judge the world? Someone might argue, "If my
falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his
glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" Why 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.
Apparently these kind of hypothetical questions were floating
around in Paul's day as also today, though they are not well
thought out. For example the first claims that God would be
unjust in exercising justice. For what is justice but to judge
the wicked. Would not God be reckoned unjust by not judging the
wicked? The human argument is by analogy that light is seen most
clearly in a dark room. And the response by analogy is that
light would not be light at all if it did not dispel darkness.
So if God did not exercise justice, there would be no contrast
between God's righteousness and our unrighteousness. And
likewise with regards to the second objection concerning truth
and falseness.
Conversely one could say that God's righteousness brings out our
sinfulness more clearly by way of contrast. But does that mean
that by doing so God is condoning sin? Paul asks this question
rhetorically of Peter, "If,
while we seek to be justified in Christ, it becomes evident
that we ourselves are sinners, does that mean that Christ
promotes sin? Absolutely not!" Gal 2:17
Concerning the phrase "Let us
do evil that good may result", this is a slanderous
accusation not uncommonly made against Christian theology
concerning salvation. For example such people would misread Paul
in his saying later in Roman
5:20,21 "The law
was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin
increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin
reigned in death, so also grace might reign through
righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord." While it is good for God to deal with sin, it is
not good to sin. While God's grace and justice is revealed by
His dealing with evil, such would not be revealed if God simply
overlooked sin. And, no, God doesn't overlook sin. That is not
the sense in which God forgives sin, else Christ's death would
have been unnecessary to satisfy God's judicial nature.
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