What Advantage Has The Jew (Romans 3:1-8)
INTRODUCTION:
Last week we looked at a passage where Paul spoke specifically to the Jews, to his own countrymen who were like him before he met Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus. We learned that the Jews looked at themselves as superior to the Gentiles and they gloried in this, that they were God’s chosen people, chosen out of all the nations to be in a covenant with God, to receive the Law from God, to have the sign of the covenant in their bodies. Because of their covenantal ties with God they believed that they were safe from God’s wrath and judgment. Paul showed them that being born a descendant of Abraham, knowing God’s Law and being circumcised did not assure them a place in heaven, did not assure them that they would escape God’s wrath and punishment. The blessings of being Jewish made them more accountable for obedience to the Lord. Paul pointed out that the true Jew is one who has had the circumcision of the heart, done by the Holy Spirit and he is a Jew inwardly by faith and his praise comes from God.
After having demolished the two things which the Jews trusted in, the Law and circumcision, that they thought would keep them safe from God’s wrath and judgment, the apostle knew that he would face some strong opposition from the Jews who were reading his letter. The truths that Paul is writing about in this letter he had taught many times before in many places in the Roman empire, because of this he knew the charges that his Jewish readers in Rome would confront him with. Anticipating these charges Paul sets out to answer them. Self-righteous Jews would not stand by if they felt that their supposed security through the Abrahamic covenant and their man-made legalism was being attacked. Paul knew from confronting Jews throughout his ministry that they would charge Paul with teaching against the chosen people of God, teaching against the promises of God to His chosen people, and teaching against God’s righteousness. In Romans 3:1-8 Paul confronts these three charges against him. Let’s pray and then read our passage.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bible to Romans 3:1-8 our passage for this morning. Paul continues to speak to the Jews, answering these three objections against him. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 3:1-8,
“Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, ‘That You may be justified in Your words, And prevail when You are judged.’ But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 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.” (Romans 3:1–8, NASB95)[1]
PAUL CHARGED WITH TEACHING AGAINST GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE (Romans 3:1-2)
Paul’s Jewish opponents often charged him with teaching against God’s chosen people, teaching that God’s calling of Israel to be His chosen and special people was without meaning. If this charge were true, it would mean that Paul blasphemed the very character and integrity of the Lord. But because Paul had shown them that knowing the Law and claiming to be a teacher of it when you do not follow it yourself, and keeping Jewish rituals such as circumcision do not make you a righteous Jew in the eyes of God, then Paul’s Jewish readers would ask, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?” (Romans 3:1, NASB95)[2] They knew the Scriptures that told them they were a special people, that they were God’s chosen people. The Old Testament was full of such passages, for example Moses wrote in Deuteronomy 14:2, “For you are a holy people to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” (Deuteronomy 14:2, NASB95)[3] This is just one example early on in the history of the nation, and this same idea is repeated throughout the Old Testament.
Because of the many passages in the Old Testament that speak of Israel’s unique calling and blessing, many Jews believed that being a Jew made them acceptable to God. Paul had pointed out to them in last weeks passage that this was not the case, it was through the Spirit of God working in the heart through faith that made the true Jew acceptable to God.
But Paul wants his Jewish readers to understand that the advantage to being Jewish was great in every respect. Just being Jewish would not bring salvation, but it did include many benefits that the Gentiles did not have. Later in this letter Paul will list many of these benefits, but here he lists only one, possibly he planned to list more as he writes, “First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.” (Romans 3:2b, NASB95)[4] Paul’s point is that the Jewish people were entrusted with the very words of the one and only true God, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe. This phrase “oracles of God” refers to the entire Old Testament, not just what the Jews called the Law. God had entrusted to the care of the Jews the revelation of Himself and His will, this for them was a great privilege, but with great privilege comes great responsibility. The Jews, however, focused on the privileges but gave little thought to their responsibility. Over the centuries beginning with the Babylonian captivity and up through Paul’s day the Jews respect of the rabbinical teachings, traditions, and interpretations had come to far outweigh the reverence or respect and honor that should have been accorded for God’s written word. Much of God’s Word was ignored, especially anything that was negative or that spoke of judgment for breaking the law. Jesus during His lifetime on this earth told them that they did not know the Scriptures. In John 5:39 Jesus said to a group of unbelieving Jews in Jerusalem, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;” (John 5:39, NASB95)[5] If they would have truly searched and believed the Scriptures they would have recognized that Jesus was the Son of God, the promised Messiah and Savior, because Jesus is the focus of both the Old and New Testaments. But instead they preferred to follow the traditions and teaching of the rabbis and elders over the “oracles of God” which would have led them to the Savior.
Paul was not teaching against God’s chosen people, rather he was teaching that as God’s chosen people they had great privileges but with those privileges comes responsibility and accountability. Paul was warning them that with the benefits of being God’s chosen people they had responsibility to respond and heed God’s Word, and they would be held accountable for their responsibility and to fail in responding and heeding God’s Word would bring God’s wrath and judgment.
PAUL CHARGED WITH TEACHING AGAINST GOD’S PROMISES (Romans 3:3-4)
The apostle Paul moved from the first charge against his teaching to the next in which he was charged with teaching against God’s promises. If you were to read through the Old Testament and make a note every time you came upon a promise of God to His chosen people you would find them to be very numerous. The Jews charged Paul with teaching that they could not be secure in these promises.
Paul taught that God had never promised that any individual Jew, even if he had a pure lineage from Abraham, could claim that they were secure in God’s promises apart from repentance and faith in God, which we have learned results in obedience from the heart. Our Scripture reading from this morning from Isaiah 55 is an excellent example of an invitation to this kind of obedient faith. Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 55:6-7, “Seek the Lord while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the Lord, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” (Isaiah 55:6–7, NASB95)[6]
Many of God’s promises to His chosen people carried a warning of judgment for sin. Most of the promises were conditional, which means that the people had a condition to fulfill if the promise was to be fulfilled, the condition to be carried out by the people was to be faithful and obedient. The few unconditional promises God made were to the nation of Israel as a whole and not to individual Jews.
Paul could agree with his accusers when they would say, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?” (Romans 3:3, NASB95)[7] God’s faithfulness is not dependent on the belief or unbelief of individuals, God is absolutely faithful to keep His word. Many have tried to show God’s faithfulness by saying that the church has replaced Israel, but this is not true, Israel still has a future in God’s plan of redemption, God will still fulfill His unconditional promises to the nation of Israel. Because Israel rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah during His first advent, God has postponed His promise to redeem and restore Israel as a nation. This does not mean that God has broken His promise with Israel. The fulfillment of that promise is yet future. In chapters 9-11 Paul will expand on this and will make clear that God has not rejected His people Israel but has just set them aside for a time and at this time He is working with Gentiles and believing Jews through the church. When Jesus Christ returns for the church at the rapture, then God will turn His attention back to the nation of Israel. The national salvation of Israel will take place because God’s promises are irrevocable. But because this will certainly happen in the future, it does not give individual Jews today or of Paul’s day a guarantee of being saved presently without faith in Jesus Christ.
The error of those opposed to Paul and charging him with teaching against God’s promises was their belief that God’s unconditional promises to Israel applied to individual Jews at all times. Paul was teaching that the unconditional promises applied to Israel as a whole. His accusers were right in saying that God cannot break His word. If the blessings of a conditional promise did not come to pass it was because the people did not believe and obey the conditions of the promise. Their unbelief, however, could not prevent the salvation which God promised to the nation, cannot prevent the unconditional promises from coming true.
Take this a bit further and contrary to the thinking of most Jews, salvation was never offered by God on the basis of heritage, ceremony, good works or any other basis, salvation is only by faith. God’s faithfulness to His promises will not be nullified by someone’s unbelief, rather that person’s unbelief will keep him from the inheritance of God’s kingdom. God’s kingdom will still come and when it does the nation of Israel at that time will be saved.
Answering this question if unbelief can nullify the faithfulness of God to keep His Word, Paul writes, “May it never be! (Romans 3:4a, NASB95)[8] This phrase was the strongest negative expression that could be made in Greek and most often meant that what was being negated was an impossibility. Paul was saying that it was impossible for God to be unfaithful in His promises or any other way. Faithfulness is one of the attributes or characteristics of God, it is who He is.
Paul goes on, “Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar,” (Romans 3:4b, NASB95)[9] if every person throughout the history of the world declared God to be unfaithful, God would be found true and faithful, and every person would be found a liar. Paul then quotes Scripture to support what he is saying, and he quotes from Psalm 51, a psalm of David when he was repenting for his sin of adultery with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah. Paul quotes from the Greek translation of the Old Testament and writes, “as it is written, ‘That You may be justified in Your words, And prevail when You are judged.’” (Romans 3:4, NASB95)[10] Because God is perfect in all He does and faithful in all He does, and the fact that He is the measure of goodness and truth, His Word is its own verification, if He has promised something it will come to pass, God will be justified in His words. Man might seek to judge the Lord with his sinful, perverted justice, but God will prevail, He will be true, and man will be found to be a liar. Paul does not teach against the promises of God for His chosen people but understands that conditions must be fulfilled for conditional promises, and that the unfulfilled unconditional promises for the nation of Israel as a whole will be fulfilled in the future because God is true, and God is faithful to fulfill His Word. Again, the fault falls on the unbelief of the Jew not being responsible for the privileges he possesses.
PAUL CHARGED WITH TEACHING AGAINST GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS (Romans 3:5-8)
Paul anticipated a third charge to be brought against him by his Jewish readers in Rome, that he taught against God’s righteousness. They believed that Paul taught that the sins of Israel glorified God, the faithfulness of God was seen through their unfaithfulness. In effect they accused Paul of saying that what God strictly forbids in the Law actually brings Him glory. They believed that he taught that God was using man’s sin to bring glory to Himself. The question they would ask is, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He?” (Romans 3:5a, NASB95)[11] Paul is quick to add to this question that he is not expressing his own thinking. In an immediate parenthetical statement, he writes, “(I am speaking in human terms.)” (Romans 3:5b, NASB95)[12] Paul wants us to understand this question is according to the logic of the natural mind. He wants us to understand that he does not believe this corrupt nonsense. Paul is telling us what charges are made against him.
Again, Paul answers this question with that strong Greek phrase, “May it never be!” (Romans 3:6a, NASB95) We know that God does not encourage or condone sin in order to glorify Himself, Paul says if God condoned sin for His glorification how could he then judge the world for sin. For otherwise, how will God judge the world?” (Romans 3:6, NASB95)[13] Paul’s point is if God judged sin that He condoned, how could that judgment be impartial, righteous, or true?
In the last two verses of this passage Paul restates the false charges that are brought against him in a different way. Paul says you accuse me of saying, “But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?” (Romans 3:7, NASB95)[14] Paul was being charged with teaching that the more sinful and evil a person is, the more it glorified God, the more unfaithful a person is, the more faithful God appeared, the more someone lies, the more this exalts God’s truthfulness. Paul makes clear in his next statement that these are not hypothetical statements that people are accusing him of, he writes, “And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), ‘Let us do evil that good may come’?” (Romans 3:8a, NASB95)[15] The Jews repeatedly charged Paul that his gospel of salvation by grace alone through faith alone undermined God’s Law and also made it okay to sin with freedom and no consequences. In other words, they were saying that Paul was teaching that sin is as acceptable as righteousness, if not more so according to God. They were accusing Paul of rationalizing sin on the basis that it glorified God. Paul will deal with this accusation in greater detail later on in chapter 5. There he will forcefully denounce that he condones any kind of sin. To say that sin brings glory to God thus justifying sin was a vile and phony argument that here Paul states that it is being slanderously said about him and those with him. This was not Paul’s Gospel of grace, rather his Gospel taught that salvation by grace alone through faith alone would produce good works, the person saved by grace would genuinely desire to serve his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul’s response to those who charged him with teaching against God’s righteousness by condoning sin so that good may come was short, but made his point, “Their condemnation is just.” (Romans 3:8b, NASB95)[16] Paul knew that when he stood before the Lord Jesus that these charges against him would be proved false, and he would enter into the joy of his Master, but those who accused Him would have to answer for the false charges and for their unbelief and their condemnation would be just.
CONCLUSION:
What do we take away from this message? I think that there are two truths that stand out to me. We must be careful to never say that the church replaces Israel. God made some promises to Israel that are yet unfulfilled, God has set aside Israel for a time and has focused on the church, the bride of Christ. But once the church is raptured into heaven, God will again turn His focus on Israel to preserve for Himself a remnant through the tribulation, that remnant will turn to Him for salvation when He returns the second time as the conquering King of kings and Lord of lords.
Second, humans are great at rationalizing sin, it is a characteristic of our fallen nature. But we must never rationalize sin on the basis of glorifying God. God does not condone sin, he does not encourage sin. In fact, because God is perfectly holy and righteous, He hates sin and His holy nature demands that sin be judged. The only escape from God’s wrath and judgment against sin is by admitting to God that you are a sinner, a helpless sinner, that you can do nothing to get rid of your sin, but that you believe Jesus did do something about your sin, that He paid the penalty for your sin on the cross, He suffered God’s wrath against sin through His death for you, that He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead, proving your sin was paid for and conquering death forever. When you believe this your sins are forgiven, and you can stand before God justified, you need never fear His wrath and judgment against sin because you have been saved by God’s grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Where do you stand? Guilty and condemned, or forgiven and justified?
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[6]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[7]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[8]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[9]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[10]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[11]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[12]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[13]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[14]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[15]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[16]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995