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There are skeptics out there who think they're all smart for coming up with these witty arguments against God. But you know, there's a pretty good chance the Bible already lists that argument and responds to it when we understand the text.
Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text as an online ministry committed to teaching sound doctrine and exposing the faulty, visit our website at www .utt .com.
Now here's our host, Pastor Gabe Hughes. Thank you, Becky.
Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 8, if you'll join with me there. Then what advantage has the Jew, or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.
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. By no means. For then how could God judge the world?
But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charge us with saying, their condemnation is just.
All right, some deep things that are being said in these eight verses. Amazingly, we're going to try to get through this in less than a dozen minutes. So going back to verse one, then what advantage has the Jew?
Paul is asking a question here that would be the obvious response to what he had said in the verses previous. Going back to what we had talked about yesterday, circumcision is not just something that is done physically on the outside, but it is something that happens on the inside, a circumcision of the heart.
Being circumcised in heart means to cut yourself off from the world and be united instead with Christ. And any person who does that is Israel. Okay, anybody can be a Jew, being circumcised in heart, cut off from the world and united with Christ.
So if anyone can be a Jew, then what advantage has the ethnic Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. Now, that's kind of a surprising answer for Paul to say that, because they were probably expecting him to say, there is no advantage.
No, there is an advantage to being a Jew. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. And that's talking specifically about the Old Testament. If you'll remember back to how the church in Rome got started, this began at Pentecost with Jews from all over the world who had gathered there for that festival.
Peter and the other apostles, they come into Jerusalem, preaching the word in, preaching the gospel in a language that anybody can understand in their own languages. And so over 3000 people were brought to Christ that day and were baptized.
Then they went back to their homes, took the gospel with them and started churches. Some of those Jews who were now Christians had gone back to Rome and they started the church in Rome. So many Gentiles in Rome were then saved by the testimony of those Jewish Christians.
So the Gentiles in the church in Rome became Christians because of the witness of the Jews. They were entrusted with the oracles of God. They got to know the Old Testament scriptures and how Christ fulfilled those scriptures and then came with that testimony to the salvation of Gentiles.
So there you go. There's an advantage to being a Jew. What if some were unfaithful? OK, this is verse three. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? So even though there were Jews that were unfaithful and they refused to trust God, he remained faithful to them and fulfilled his covenant promises with them, particularly the promise that the Messiah would come through the Jewish people, which he did.
So God remained faithful. So again, the question, does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means. In Greek, this is mygenoita. It is the strongest declaration in Greek that one can make in disagreement.
And we'll see Paul make that statement several times over the course of this letter. In fact, he makes it twice in these eight verses, mygenoita, let God be true, though everyone were a liar. Every man is a liar.
God is the one who is righteous and true, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged. And that's specifically talking about God, that he will be justified in his words and he will prevail when somebody tries to accuse him of wrong.
The verse that Paul is quoting here comes from Psalm 51, it's Psalm 51, 4. And this is the psalm that David praised before God after he's convicted by the prophet Nathan, having slept with a woman who was not his wife and then had her husband killed.
So that is a great psalm to do a devotional in. If you need an encouragement to be somewhere else in the scriptures today, read Psalm 51 and meditate on that. That's my encouragement to you. OK, verse five.
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. So Paul is presenting an argument made against the case that he is presenting here.
And likely this is an argument that he has heard before when he presents these hypothetical questions all the way through the book of Romans. It is a response to arguments that have been raised by his opponents.
Oh, well, you're going to preach that? Well, what about this? OK, so basically, here's the argument that Paul is saying his opponents make of him. If repentance is something that happens only by God's grace, because remember, we don't repent by the power of our own will, it is a gift from God.
We read in 2 Timothy 2 .25 that repentance is granted by God. So if the repentance of the Jews happens only by the grace of God, then isn't God unrighteous for God to pour out his wrath on those Jews who did not repent since they would have been unable to respond to God if not by his grace?
He had given them the ability to repent. All right. And Paul's response to that verse six, my good Noita. For then how could God judge the world? In other words, if it is unrighteous for God to judge a Jew because he did not grant them repentance, it is also unrighteous for God to judge the Gentile because he did not grant them repentance.
Now, Paul doesn't really flesh this argument out a whole lot here. He does it a little bit later on when we get to chapters nine through 11. At times through the book of Romans, Paul will present an idea or he'll present a theological argument, let's say, but then he doesn't really expound upon that argument until later on.
And this is one of those occasions. He's got a couple of places here where he's making an argument about Jews and Gentiles that we don't see explained in detail until we get to chapters nine through 11.
So God is righteous. His ways are perfect. And so he does have the authority, therefore, to judge the Jew and the Gentile. And no one can make any accusation against God. And again, we talk about that more when we get to chapter nine, verses seven and eight now.
But if through my lie, God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come? As some people slanderously charges with saying, their condemnation is just.
Some of Paul's opponents were accusing him of preaching a gospel of cheap grace, that Christians can just go on doing evil and then they will be forgiven. And God's righteousness is shown in the fact that grace and forgiveness just continue to be poured out upon them, though they continue to do evil.
Well, Paul is emphatically rejecting such an accusation. In fact, he's calling it slander here. But we, again, just like with the argument that he made earlier, we won't read more about until we get to chapters nine through 11.
This argument he makes here, we won't see more in detail until we get to chapter six. So there are the few basic arguments that have been made. We've given some brief answers to them and we'll see them come up again as we continue to read through the book of Romans.
Now, Paul has been laying out an indictment against all men from Romans 1, verse 18, all the way up to this point and will continue, in fact, all the way to verse 20. We'll talk about that more as we continue our study of Romans next week on Monday.
Here, we have seen Gentiles are under the wrath of God. We've seen that even Jews will be under the wrath of God and God shows no partiality. So how can man be saved? It is only through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Jews and Gentiles both reconciled to God through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And we will explore that some more as we continue our study of Romans next week. God, I love you and thank you for the gift of your son that was sent to save me from my sins.
What a wretched man that I was before Christ came into my life, changed my heart and mind and made me able to repent of my sin and offer right worship before God. Before my words were not acceptable and pleasing to God, only Christ has made me acceptable before my holy Lord and heavenly Father.
And I thank you so much for this gift of grace you have given to me, though I did not deserve it. To the praise of your glorious grace. And it's in the name of Jesus that we pray. Amen.
This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast, or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.
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