Introduction
We left off last week where Paul tells the Jews that their knowledge of the law and having the sign of the covenant, circumcision, is of no value without obedience.
We see their utter failure trying to keep God’s laws in their own strength.
But the kind of complacent attitude we see in these unbelieving Jewish people is the same attitude we see in religious people of our day.
As I mentioned last week, religious people like to claim that they know God’s law and that they agree with God’s law and they too decry how bad things are getting in our society.
Yet they do not obey God’s law.
They also claim to have gone through certain religious rituals, like the Jews who claim to have gone through circumcision, which is the sign of the covenant.
But their external acts do not match what is in the heart.
So there is no value in the outward sign except that they are guilty of hypocrisy.
If we are really reflective, we realize that there is a level of hypocrisy in everyone.
Everyone is guilty.
We all have a level of inconsistency between what is on the inside and what is on the outside.
So what is the solution?
It is not that we resolve to do better, to be better versions of ourselves.
Paul also showed us that that is absolutely impossible.
Therefore, what we need to live a life pleasing to the Lord is God’s supernatural grace that enables us to obey Him.
The way we receive that is by putting our faith in Jesus and His finished work on the cross. God then gives us His Spirit who dwells within us to transform us from the inside out.
We did not finish the last sentence in 2:29 last week, which says “His praise is not from man but from God.”
How does this sentence relate to what Paul had said previously?
The same Holy Spirit that enables us to obey the law will also reward us at the end of the day.
The word praise refers to one aspect of the reward that believers will receive from God.
They are given “glory, honor, immortality, eternal life, peace (2:7, 10), and here, praise from God.
Remember that on the last day all the secrets of man will be known (2:16), we often think of negative secrets, but this also refers to good secrets.
We can so easily crave the praise of man, and it is right to offer praise, we probably don’t do it enough, but for the receivers of praise, we have to seek the praise of God and not of man for the simple fact that first, we ought to be God pleasers and not man pleasers.
Two, that ultimately we stand before God to give an account and it is what He thinks that matters, not what man thinks.
Third, if we are expecting and anticipating man’s praises, we will be sorely disappointed when man does give it, but God will never disappoint us.
Moving into Romans 3:1-4, verse 1 opens with questions.
In fact, there are nine questions in the section of 3:1-8.
With the opening question in v. 1, Paul is most likely addressing a common question arising from the Jews in his frequent teachings in the synagogue.
What we have in v. 1 are very appropriate questions given what Paul previously said in chapter 2.
That being the case, he then has the opportunity to clarify what he said earlier on in ch. 2.
So given what we went through in ch. 2 last week, it does seem that the Jews have no advantage, and it does seem that circumcision has no value.
In fact, it seems like being a Jew becomes a liability!
So, given what Paul has been arguing for up to this point, we would kind of expect him to answer this question with a “No!” but that is not what Paul would say.
I. The Jews Do Have Advantage (Romans 3:2)
Paul’s answer is: Much in every way!
So does this answer contradict what Paul said earlier?
It is important that we understand the point of his argument back in ch. 2.
Paul’s point is that while the Jews have the advantage of having the law and the sign of the covenant, they have failed to obey God and therefore they too stand condemned before Him.
Yes, they have the law, but have they kept the law?
It is in the keeping of the law that is what matters. In other words, the knowledge of the law and circumcision are insufficient.
That argument doesn’t contradict what Paul says here.
He says that the Jews have much advantage in every way. Paul’s reply is absolutely consistent with OT Scripture.
He will only mention the most important one here, but later in Romans 9:4-5 he will list many more: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. 5 To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen.”
A. They Have the Oracles of God (3:2b)
That’s later, but here “to begin with,” he says that the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
Whether “to begin with” starts a list that Paul will add to later, or whether that means that Paul is beginning with the most important advantage the Jews have, we have to agree that being entrusted with the oracles of God is a supreme privilege given to the Jews.
The word “oracle” is logion, which is closely related to “word” (logos). This word appears 4x in the NT (Acts 7:38; Rom 3:2; Heb 5:12; 1 Pet 4:11).
Let me show you how it is used in one of the references in Acts 7:37-38.
The oracles are living because it comes from a living God.
Because God has chosen these people to be His, He has a relationship with them and it includes speaking to them.
Therefore oracles refers to divine utterances and in the Greek translation of the OT, it is frequently used to refer to God’s words to his people and that He has given them promises.
It signifies that God has spoken to His people and has entered a special relationship with them.
This was the sense reflected by Moses when he told the children of Israel in the wilderness in Deut 4:8 “And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”
This is also communicated by Ps 147:19-20 “He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. 20 He has not dealt thus with any other nation; they do not know his rules. Praise the LORD!
Why did Paul not use the word “Scriptures” to describe what God entrusted to his people of which they ought to be faithful stewards of?
Because the word “oracles” refers to the sayings of God in the OT in which God committed Himself to certain actions in relation to His people. And it is this that Paul will refer to in the next verses.
Application
Like the Jews, we ought to be so thankful that we have the oracles of God.
We too have been entrusted with the oracles of God.
How can we be faithful stewards of the precious oracles that God has entrusted to us?
For one, in a service like this, we seek to give preeminence to the voice of God through the expository preaching of His Word.
Systematic expository preaching is the best method to hear from God; by that I mean hearing from His word when each line of the text is explained, illustrated, and applied.
One of the things that the Reformation recovered was the centrality of preaching during a worship service, rather than the mass.
Even the placement of furniture in a church changed.
The pulpit becomes front and center to signify the central importance of the preaching of the oracles of God.
These are things that we take for granted over 500 years later, but it is the recovery of Sola Scriptura.
B. They Have a Faithful God (3:3-4a)
1. The Jews Were Unfaithful (3:3a)
Here is another question.
What if some were unfaithful?
What if the stewards are unfaithful in what they have been entrusted with?
We have been talking about the sad history of Israel and her rebellion, which has largely continued right up to this present day.
So Paul in v. 2 asserts Jewish advantage, but this is the elephant in the room: the unfaithfulness of God’s people.
“God’s entrusting of the oracles to Israel has not met with a corresponding trust on their part” (Moo).
They were indeed unfaithful.
2. Their Faithlessness Did Not Nullify the Faithfulness of God (3:3b-4a)
The response comes in the form of another question, this time a rhetorical question.
Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
You can see very clearly the faithlessness of Israel contrasted with the faithfulness of God.
What does the term “faithfulness of God” refer to?
It refers specifically to God’s commitment in fulfilling the promises He made to Israel in accordance to the covenant God made with His people.
And God has and is perfectly fulfilling His promises to His covenant people Israel.
On the other hand, the children of Israel have not fulfilled their covenant obligations.
Not only have we seen their history of disobedience described throughout the OT, we also see their rejection of Jesus as Messiah, who is the ultimate and climactic fulfilment of God’s promises to the Jews.
For any human being, the other party’s failure to keep his end of the agreement will result in the whole agreement being nullified.
If one side doesn’t keep his word, why should the other side continue to keep his? That is the case with all kinds of human contracts and agreements.
But not with God.
The faithlessness of the Jews does not nullify the faithfulness of God.
This is a remarkable thing.
God has every reason to nullify His covenant with His people since they have not kept their end of the agreement.
Why should He?
“For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations” (Ps 100:5).
God’s faithfulness is part of His attribute, this is who God is. He will faithfully carry out what He promised.
This is why Paul responded with: By no means! (v. 4).
This expression, translated “by no means,” is actually a double negative in the original Greek, which is a strong negation.
The KJV translates it “God forbid.”
We would say, “Absolutely not!” or “May it never be!” (NASB).
This phrase occurs 15x in the NT, 14x used by Paul, and 10x used in this book. This is the very first of 10x that Paul employs this phrase.
Every time he uses this phrase, he is correcting a logical reasoning that has gone beyond biblical bounds. And therefore, “by no means” should you arrive at that conclusion.
It is a logical human reasoning with an unbiblical conclusion.
In this case, if the Jews have failed to fulfill their obligation, it would be logical for God to nullify His promises to Israel.
But that would go beyond Scriptural bounds because the Bible describes God as a faithful God. Example Ps 33:4 “For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.”
The next sentence “Let God be true though everyone were a liar” once again emphasizes the contrast between the faithfulness of God and the faithlessness of the Israelites.
Now the contrast is between God’s truthfulness and man’s untruthfulness. God is true because God is trustworthy and reliable. He is true to His Word.
God keeps every promise He makes. When His people obeyed God, He kept His promise to bless them. When His people rebelled against Him, He kept His promise to punish them.
God always keeps His promises.
Years after God punished the Jews for their rebellion by removing them out of their land into exile, they acknowledged that what God had done was right.
Listen to these words of the Levites who confessed the sins of the people in Neh 9:32-33: “Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33 Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.”
These verses are regarding God’s faithfulness in punishing the entire nation, but even for His judgment on individuals, the psalmist says in Ps 119:75 “I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.”
It is very important for us living in this present age to note that God is not done with Israel yet.
There are promises He made to them that are still in the future, and therefore yet unfulfilled.
For example, later in Rom 11:26 Paul says that “all Israel will be saved.”
That certainly has not been fulfilled.
Application
We need to pause here to reflect on our relationship with God.
Perhaps at some point in your life, you made a decision to really dedicate yourself to the Lord in absolute surrender to Him.
You made up your mind to go where He wants you to go, to do what He wants you to do.
That was some time ago, and now looking back, it really wasn’t what you expected.
Some things happened that you weren’t expecting, some difficulty, some affliction, some heartache, some loss and now you feel dissatisfied about the situation you are in and you are in a bind.
You may never accuse God of being unfaithful; you know better than to accuse God of that.
But then again, perhaps you have been tempted to think that God is somehow not good.
Perhaps your situation is very similar to what the children of Israel feel when they were spectacularly delivered out of slavery and the Lord opened the Red Sea for them but now they are in this wilderness and they feel that the Lord has delivered them only for them to die in this desolate place.
The way you feel right now is actually inconsistent with your view of who God is.
In other words, your dissatisfaction and discontentment actually show that deep down, you are dissatisfied with God.
It doesn’t help that the devil tells us lies about God.
He has been doing that since the beginning.
In tempting Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the serpent cast aspersions about God, that He somehow is not good in withholding this fruit from Adam and Eve.
Additionally, your fallen flesh also tells lies about God.
Your flesh accuses God of being unfaithful, and that He does not have your welfare in mind.
In fact, God has somehow betrayed you.
If you allow your flesh to speak to you all the time, you will start to believe the lies and act in a way consistent with the lies. But let God be true though everyone were a liar.
Have you been tempted to believe these lies about God?
Your human logical reasoning has reached an unbiblical conclusion.
May it never be!
What you need is to conform your thinking to what you see in the oracles of God.
God is never unjust or unfaithful.
What you need to do is to speak to your soul and say, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil with me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise Him, my salvation and my God” (Ps 42, 43).
You need to cast yourself more fully on the Lord, and ask Him to transform your inner heart so that you will trust Him when He guides you into places where you least expect to go.
That He is doing all this to grow you into greater conformity into the image of His Son and that all the unpleasantness and discomfort you are feeling right now comes from an infinitely good God who is desirous that you become more and more like His Son.
3. David Illustrates the Faithfulness of God (3:4b)
Paul quotes from Ps 51:4. Ps 51 is the famous penitential psalm which David penned and prayed after the prophet Nathan confronted him regarding his adultery with Bethsheba and murder of her husband Uriah.
David sat on his throne for 9 months and attended tabernacle service in religious hypocrisy before he was confronted and confessed his sin.
The way prophet Nathan approached the King with his sin was to tell him a story.
You can read about it in 2 Samuel 12.
There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had very many flocks and herds but the poor man had nothing but one little lamb. The poor man and his children tenderly and lovingly took care of the little lamb and it ate his food and drank from his cup and laid on his arm and it was like a daughter to the man.
Now the rich man was hosting a traveler and he wanted to be hospitable to him but was unwilling to kill one of his own flock to prepare a feast for the guest and instead took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for his guest.
The passage says that David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man and he said, “As the Lord lives, the man who has done this deserves to die.”
Once again, a person in religious hypocrisy easily finds fault in others regarding much more minor issues but at the same time is ok with the major sin in his own life that his own conscience is crying out about.
It wasn’t until Nathan pointed out: “You are the man,” that he repented.
The entire verse reads: “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment” (Ps 51:4).
So in this context, David has clearly sinned against God, and in seeking forgiveness from God, he acknowledges that whatever judgment God would mete out on David would be perfectly justified by God.
There is no argument against God’s righteous judgment.
So David becomes an illustration that his sin did not nullify the faithfulness of God.
On the contrary, David confessed his sin in order to make clear that God was justified (righteous) in His condemnation of David’s sin.
Conclusion
The right response is to repent and to acknowledge that God is right.
This is the right conclusion to come to when God says you are condemned.
What is needed in order to receive God’s grace is to humbly acknowledge the need for our salvation and that it can only be found in Him and Him alone.
For Personal Reflection
How are you stewarding the oracles that God has entrusted to you
Do you sometimes feel that God has not been faithful to you?
How is David a right example for us in responding to sin in our lives?
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