Romans 3

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==romans 3:1-3======

1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?
2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.
3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?

“I have to say, with Paul, ‘What if some did not believe?’ It is no new thing; for there have always been some who have rejected the revelation of God. What then? You and I had better go on believing, and testing for ourselves, and proving the faithfulness of God, and living upon Christ our Lord, even though we see another set of doubters, and another, and yet another ad infinitum. The gospel is no failure, as many of us know.” ---Charles Spurgeon

==romans 3:4======

4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:
“That You may be justified in Your words,
And may overcome when You are judged.”

The phrase “every human being shown up as a liar” is from Ps 116:11. God will remain faithful (true) to his promises even if every person is a liar (faithless, unreliable).
The phrase “so that you will be justified in your words and will prevail when you are judged” is taken from Ps 51:4. Another translation is: “so that you will be justified in your words, and that you might triumph when you judge.” In that verse David confesses his sin with Bathsheba and pleads for forgiveness. The section quoted by Paul describes God’s righteousness in judgment. Any judgment upon David would be just. Up to this point in the chapter Paul has focused on God’s promises of salvation. He now notes that God is also faithful to his promises when judging the disobedient because God’s word promises judgment for disobedience, not just blessing for obedience (cf. Neh 9:32-33).-Biblical Scholarship

==romans 3:5-8======

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just. What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?

Here Paul tells us in no uncertain terms that the Christian life will always be fundamentally different from other attempts at morality. To suggest one do evil so that some good may come, even the good of divine mercy, is slanderous and worthy of condemnation. As followers of Christ there is no true evil which is pardonable so long as there is some greater good in sight. One may not “crack a few eggs” in order to make an omelette, utilizing wicked means for otherwise noble ends. This is not to say that the ends of the Hitler oath were noble! But, we can assume that Franz’ ends, had he signed the oath, would have been. So why didn’t he?
The true Christian cannot do or support that which is intrinsically evil so that good consequences may result, regardless of how tempting those consequences might be or even how objectively good they might be. As such, this posture will always put the faithful Christian at a disadvantage to those who are worldly-wise. For while the Christian may desire the same end as the non-believer, the Christian will be bound by conscience to go about it only in ways that align with the will of God. --Anthony Costello

Jack Wellman

When I was witnessing to a stranger the other day, he was convinced that he was a pretty good person, but compared to whom? Compared to his own ideas of what is good and what is bad. God’s idea is that we need to be perfect, having the required righteousness of Christ. I reminded him that none of us are really good, not even one of us (Rom. 3:10); it’s just that we’ve been forgiven by a very good God. He said, “Well, at least I’m not a murderer,” but I told him that each of us will have to stand and give an account for what we’ve done in this life (Rom. 14:12; 1 Cor. 5:10) and that God will not say, “Well, compared to your neighbor there, you’re a pretty good guy.” No, we will stand alone, and God won’t say, “Okay, I’ll wait until you find someone who’s worse than you and then judge you according to how bad they are.” Try that in a court of law. I can guarantee that it won’t work.
Paul said that not only is it foolish to compare ourselves with others, but we dare not even try to classify ourselves in a certain standing before God based upon what we think (2 Cor. 10:12a). Jesus said that we must be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matt. 5:48) and that our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees (Matt. 5:20), so that presents a problem. Nothing sinful or imperfect can even enter heaven (Rev. 21:27). We must compare ourselves to the model of Christ and not others, and that’s a pretty high bar to reach, but there is a solution. For those who have repented and trusted in Christ, they will be seen as having the same righteousness as Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). Problem solved. - Jack Wellman; Rhetorical Jesus; Do You Compare Your Life To People Around You, or to Me? 10.8.23

There is value in Jewishness, but that value is not found in the Jew himself. It is found in the God who chose him. Particularly, it is found in the “oracles of God,” the Scriptures, which the Jews were entrusted with. The oracles of God are the promises of God. Throughout the history of Israel, God gave them promise after promise. But the promises were all pointing to one thing – the coming of the Messiah. If the Jews ignore the Messiah, they ignore the Scriptures. They prove themselves unfaithful. -Dave McLemore

==romans 3:9-16:

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;
“The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;

Just in case his audience was not clear, Paul spares no hard truths in giving a description of humanity; there is no one righteous, not even one. Paul quotes Old Testament passages from the Psalms and Isaiah (verses 10-18) to describe what being under sin’s power looks like. No one can do even one thing to satisfy God’s standard of righteousness. Without an accurate knowledge of our sin, we will never come to know the greatness of God’s grace. We will not accurately see the gospel as good news if we don’t see that it is impossible to seek God and understand Him on our own. We often mistakenly see the good that we do as being in the same category as God’s righteousness. It’s like trying to spend monopoly money at the grocery store. Our good works are “fake money” before God’s throne. God requires true righteousness, available only through faith in King Jesus. Paul has used the first three chapters of this letter to build his case against all of humanity. All are accountable to God (no one is autonomous), all are guilty of countless wrongs and all are without any works that merit God’s declaration of righteousness. -Bluemont Church

Several Scriptures support the doctrine of Total Depravity. In Romans 3:10-12, the Apostle Paul writes, “There is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” Similarly, in Ephesians 2:1-3, Paul describes us as being “dead in our trespasses and sins” and were by nature “children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” Other passages that support Total Depravity include Psalm 14:1-3, Psalm 51:5, and Jeremiah 17:9.Numerous Protestant theologians throughout history have defended Total Depravity. John Calvin, one of the most influential Reformed theologians, argued that “The whole man is overwhelmed, as it were, with a deluge of vices” and that “the mind, because of its corruption, cannot think, will, or do anything but what is sinful” (Institutes of the Christian Religion, II.2.19). Similarly, Jonathan Edwards, an 18th-century Puritan theologian, wrote that “every man is a sinner by nature, and so is in a state of total moral corruption” (Original Sin, p. 29).
Total Depravity has been compared to a dead tree. Namely, a tree cannot produce good fruit unless it has a good root system. Similarly, humans cannot produce spiritual actions when they are spiritually dead. That is, Total Depravity argues that humanity’s nature has been corrupted by sin to the extent that it is incapable of producing spiritual actions (e.g., seeing the Kingdom, repenting, and trusting in Christ) apart from the grace of God (John 3:3; John 6:44). In other words, without God’s intervention, humans are like dead trees, unable to produce spiritual fruit. --Relearn.org 3/28/23

==romans 3:17-20:

17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

The self-deception of the Jews is reminiscent of Hans Christian Andersen's story of the "The Emperor’s New Clothes" for like that emperor (who actually walked out with no clothes), the Jews also imagined themselves to be "clothed" as it were with a righteousness acceptable to God, when in fact they were quite "naked" in this regard (cp the church at Laodicea - Re 3:17, 18-notes). They were deluded by their misdirected, futile focus on religious works all the while missing a real relationship with the Creator.

==romans 3:21:

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

The word "without" is a very very strong word in the Greek. It means "absolutely apart from." It is the same word used in Hebrews 4:15, speaking of Jesus Christ, "in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin," absolutely apart from sin. Law has nothing to do with this righteousness; it is not a legal righteousness in any sense of the word.

God does this without sacrificing His righteousness. The gift of God is a righteous standing with Him. God did it out of love. God loves the sinner. Romans 5:6-8 says, "For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

It is important to keep in mind the law could demand perfect righteousness, but it was powerless to produce the perfect righteousness that God demands. The reason is because man is sinful at the very core of his nature. Depraved sinful man can not produce righteousness in God’s sight no matter how many laws he passes.

==romans 3:23-24:

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"

"Justification is an instantaneous legal act of God in which he thinks of our sins as forgiven and Christ’s righteousness as belonging to us, and declares us to be righteous in his sight.” --Wayne Grudem

"Justification is the heart of the gospel" --JI Packer

Early civilizations struggled with the concept of evil. The Greeks believed in generational sin or ancestral sin, and the Old Testament contains similar beliefs, “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.” (Psalm 51:5) The ideas about inherited, tainted nature of humans led to the concept of original sin.
Most human would acknowledge the truth as stated in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Genesis tells the story of sin which separated Adam and Eve from God, but does not name sin as an original sin. Yet, many people believe that the Genesis story supports it. First century Christians did not call a sinful act an original sin. To be clear, they taught that people who bring harm to other people were not following the will of God nor the words of Jesus who gave the gift of redemptive love and forgiveness of sin for the faithful. --Earl Crow

Sinner is a perfectly good word because it speaks to the truth of our fallen states before God. We are not simply wayward, mixed up, hankering for the good life but missing it. We are born in a desperate condition of being sinful with a bent toward the same. There is no one who has the “right” to be free from God’s wrath. If you escape His wrath, it is His choice. The word “glory” (doxa) is used in the New Testament with two distinct meanings. It means (1)reputation, or (2) brightness, especially the brightness or splendor which radiates from the presence of God. The second must be the meaning here. It is the majesty or goodness or God as manifested to men. Jesus Justified: God reckons, or pronounces, or treats as righteous the ungodly who has no righteousness of his own to show. It is faith that is reckoned for righteousness; faith in Christ is accepted instead of personal merit gained by good works.

Jesus was not born of the seed of man. Every man on earth is sinful. Scripture says we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23). If Jesus had been born of a man, then he would have shared in our sin. Jesus was sinless though. He was born of the virgin Mary, but he was begotten of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit

Christ’s sacrifice is redemptive, and through it, all grace is available for you, and sufficient to carry through. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23). All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, that we cannot get to the glory of God no matter what we do. But then grace comes in, and we are saved, “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:” (Romans 3:24). It is this grace of God that brings us into interaction with God. Any time you feel the burden of sin, call upon Him and receive His grace. -WF Kumuy

"Justification is an ‘act of God.’ It is something God does without our help. Further, it is a ‘judicial’ act. God, as the Righteous Judge, is declaring something about us as if in a courtroom setting. In justification, instead of receiving the ‘guilty’ verdict we justly deserve, God declares us to be innocent in His sight on account of Christ’s righteousness being applied to us. When God looks at us now, He sees Jesus” - Greg Meyer; A Student’s Guide to Justification,

==romans 3:25-27:

25whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

==romans 3:28:

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

The subject of Pauls statement is “justification,” a “judicial” act. It means that justice does not condemn, but pronounces him just, or declares herself satisfied, This is the uniform meaning of the word, not only in Scripture, but also in ordinary life. “Justice and justification are matters of the law: they cannot live separated from the law. When Paul makes a statement about the law in terms of justification, he is making a legal pronouncement, or a commentary from, the law of God, the justice of God, about an aspect of the same law.

Romans 3:29-30:
29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,
30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Romans 3:29–30 draws on the fundamental tenet of Judaism: God is one—monotheism. Thus, Jews recited the Shema (Hebrew for “hear,” the first word of Deut. 6:4) every day: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD [Yahweh] our God, the LORD is one . . .” (Deut. 6:4–5).
3. Two covenants are at work in Romans 3:27–31; 4:1–23: the Abrahamic covenant and the Mosaic covenant. For Paul, these two are in tension, and the former anticipates the gospel, the new covenant.

Romans 3:31:
Do we then make void the law through faith? God Forbid: yea, we establish the law

Paul emphatically vindicates the law while denying that sinful man can find anything other than condemnation through the law. Salvation is the vindication of God's law and the manifestation of His mercy. The law stands: its penalty falls on Christ. The law is not made void, it is not abolished. Rather, it is vindicated to its indictment of fallen man, and it is established because Christ redeems us from the curse of the law, its death penalty, to place us under the blessing of the law (Deut 28).