Hi and welcome back to Perspective For Today. On this Memorial Day I’d like to take this opportunity to pay our respects to those who paid the ultimate price for the freedom that we enjoy in this country.
It is only because of their tireless effort and sacrifice that we can have freedom of religion and speech. Without those freedoms this podcast would not be possible. For those that are still serving and those that have served I’d like to thank you for your service.
So, today we are going to continue with our study of Romans. In chapter 2 Paul makes the case that the self-righteous whether Jew or gentile are lost.
As we begin to start chapter 3 Paul continues on with the guilt of the Jews and any possible arguments the Jews might have concerning that guilt.
In the first eight verses it goes back and forth with a Jewish skeptic and Paul. So let’s take a look at this court case with these opening arguments.
Romans 3:1 Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
This objector is saying if Jew and gentile are all treated the same, then what advantage is there to being a Jew?
Paul responds in verse 2
Romans 3:2 Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
The oracles of God refers to God’s word.
The advantage that the Jew had is that they had the word. Yet they took that word and failed to live up to it.
Even today there are many who know God’s word and are scholarly in their understanding of that word.
They can quote you chapter and verse, yet they take that word and pervert it or cherry pick what they choose to believe.
Romans 3:3 What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
This Jew is testing the waters with this question.
There will always be unbelievers. Those individuals who reject the revelation of God. Does their lack of faith cause God to lose faith in us? Paul answers this with a resounding no!
Romans 3:4 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.
Those who reject God are liars.
They refuse to accept that God is sovereign. Yet God’s word is truth and God does not lie. So we who are faithful must continue on in faith that we may prevail on the day of judgment. And that my friends is the God’s honest truth.
Numbers 23:19 affirms that truth. God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Romans 3:5 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.)
Paul makes a point of saying this is a typical human argument this Jew is making.
That if we are unrighteous, God’s righteousness is magnified. So if the righteousness of God is magnified it would be wrong for him to unleash his wrath upon us. It would be unrighteous. At least in the eyes of this delusional Jew. Basically this Jew has made his own little idol. A god of his own creation. A fuzzy warm cuddly God that wouldn’t dare get mad at us for our transgressions. Many of us today do exactly the same thing.
Romans 3:6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
Paul says there’s no way God would withhold his wrath. Our God is righteous. How else is He going to judge the world?
In Genesis chapter 18 Abraham is asking God if he will spare Sodom if there are any righteous left in the city.
Genesis 18:25 Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?
Genesis 18:26 And the LORD said, If I find at Sodom fifty righteous in the city, I will spare the whole place for their sake.
God will always do what is just and what is right.
He will never throw the baby out with the bathwater so to speak.
Romans 3:7 But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
Paul is saying that our sin results in proving God’s righteous sinless nature.
So if our sin brings glory to Him, in a sense, should He really condemn us for it? Boy, ain’t that a stretch.
Romans 3:8 And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Again this crazy distorted thinking is taking all that Paul teaches and making a mockery of it.
By saying that doing evil results in good by magnifying God in the process. This just slanders the teachings of Paul. It’s illogical.
That’s like saying today that you are saved by faith in Christ, then you can go out and live in sin. Since God’s grace trumps man sin then the more you sin the more his grace abounds. But the fact of the matter is that God is repulsed by sin. He abhors it. He does not want it in his presence.
Psalms 5:4 For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you.
Romans 3:9 What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin,
Romans 3:10 as it is written: None is righteous, no, not one;
Our Jewish critic is asking if they are any better or any worse off than the gentiles.
By his own admission the Jews and the Greeks are both under sin, and no one is righteous, no not one.
Psalms 14:1-3 The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. 2 The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. 3 They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.
Romans 3:11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.
There is no one who has a good understanding of God.
No one is seeking after God, but rather seeks after worldly endeavors. If it wasn’t for the Holy Spirit no one would be able to seek God and have a relationship with Him.
1 Corinthians 2:10-11 these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. 11 For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
Well the jury is still out on our court case.
So we are going to take a recess for now. Thank you for listening and I pray that you and your family have a most blessed day.