# 11:10-14-11

Romans 3:1-9
In his letter to the Roman assemblies, Paul has been establishing that both Gentiles and Jews are
unrighteous, and will come into condemnation in Gods final judgment. Paul made his case quite easily
against the Gentiles, as their sins were overtly apparent. But Paul knew that the Jews would resist the
thought that they were just as sinful as the Gentiles, and would be judged on an equal basis to them.
Through their religion of Judaism, the Jews allowed themselves to be deceived into thinking that they were
good people good enough for God. All religion promotes that deception; it creates a false sense of
security about a mans eternal destiny.
But religion can never make a man good enough for God. Why not? Because religion deals with the outer
man rites, ceremonies, good works. But meanwhile, the inner man remains unchanged; he is just as
unrighteous as ever.
Man looks at the outside; but God looks at the heart (1 Sam 16:7). And what God sees is that the heart of
the Jew is the same as the heart of the Gentile. Theyre both sinners, treasuring up for themselves wrath in
the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God (Rm 2:5).
Paul understood that Jews must be disarmed of the false security their religion gave them. In chapter 2, we
have seen that Paul systematically destroyed the three key features by which the religious Jew thinks that
God will spare him in the judgment: his heritage, as a Jew; his possession of the Law; and his physical
circumcision.
The religious Jew actually assumed that since he was a member of the nation that God made for Himself,
by physical birth, that God would save Him or at least show leniency in judging him. But Paul made it
clear that, as a perfectly just and impartial Judge, God could not do that.
And the Jew also thought that, as long as he intended to keep the Law, that was good enough. But Paul
pointed out that a man must keep every part of the Law, at all times, in order to be justified before God; he
could never break the Law, even once.
And finally, the Jew thought that, having been physically circumcised, having taken the sign of the
covenant in his flesh, was his induction into the covenant, and its blessings. But Paul makes it plain that in
this, the Jew is gravely mistaken. An outward symbol is valueless for a man, unless he embraces the
meaning of the symbol.
Paul speaks here for the first time of the circumcision of the heart, in the Spirit; the idea is to hearken to
what the Spirit says, as He glorifies Christ to the man. And it is the man who believes the Spirits witness
receiving the circumcision of Christ (Col 2:11) who is saved from judgment.
Having disarmed the Jew from his religious defenses as to why God should spare him in judgment, Paul
has left the Jew on the same ground as the Gentile under condemnation for their sin, before a holy and
righteous God. And as we continue with the letter into chapter 3, we will see that Paul anticipates the
reaction of the Jew to this most unwelcome news.
Well read through the part of the letter that well be covering today.
[Romans 3:1-9]

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In chapter 2, we saw that Paul structured his argument as if he were talking to a Jew; and he posed
questions to this Jew: Do you think you will escape the judgment of God? (2:3); Dont you know that
God is delaying judgment on you for now, so you have time to repent? (2:4); You who teach another do
you not teach yourself? (2:21); Do you dishonor God through breaking the Law? (2:23); Wont a
Gentile who keeps the Law be accepted by God, and wind up being your judge? (2:26-27).
Now, as Paul continues with his letter, he again poses a series of questions. But instead of Paul questioning
the Jew, it is as if the Jew is now questioning Paul raising objections to Pauls argument, in chapter 2.
The Jew is trying to poke holes in Pauls argument; trying to find a weakness, a failing in it. Why?
Because he is looking for a loophole, through which he can escape Pauls dreadful conclusion: that the Jew
is equally subject to the wrath of God, just as the Gentile is.
Why does Paul include this in his letter? Because he knows the mind of the religious Jew; he had one of
those minds at one time, before he had the mind of Christ! He knew that the Jew, just like any sinner,
would try to deny his sin; to excuse it away; even to rationalize it, with his relative standard of
righteousness, through his religion.
But now Paul has stripped away all of those cover-ups from the religious Jew, leaving him as an exposed
sinner before his righteous Judge. So what is the natural response of the sinner, to this? Is his natural
response to admit that he is guilty? No; its to disprove his guilt; to prove that Pauls argument cannot
possibly be right. And the religious Jew would attempt to trump Pauls argument by bringing his own
perception of God into it.
So Paul anticipates this response of the religious Jew to what has already been said by posing some typical
objections that the Jew would raise and then Paul gives his response to those objections knocking them
down, one by one until there is only one conclusion possible which we find in verse 9.
Lets look at these objections, one by one.
v. 1-2 So here is the first question of the religious Jew to Paul, and then Pauls response. The Jew wants to
know what the benefit is in being born a Jew, and being circumcised.
Why is he asking that? Because the religious Jew believed that by being born a Jew, the physical seed of
Abraham, and by taking the sign of the covenant in his flesh physical circumcision he entered into
Gods covenant with Abraham, thereby becoming one of the people of God, by which he was saved so he
believed.
But Paul had just made it clear in his letter that being born a Jew and being circumcised do not benefit the
Jew in terms of saving him from judgment. So the Jew wants to know, if these things dont save him
from judgment, what is their purpose? This would seem a reasonable question; but behind it is an attempt
to disprove Pauls argument.
It was God who had called out Abraham from all the other nations, to make the nation Israel for Himself; to
be His people. And it was God who had given Abraham the sign of the covenant between them,
circumcision. For God to have done these things means that there must be a purpose to them. If it is true
that God only does good (Ps 119:68), then what God did must produce a benefit.

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The Jew can only see one benefit; that these things would justify him before God. If, as Paul says, that is
not so, then the Jew asks Paul to name the benefit of these things. If he cannot, then being a Jew and being
physically circumcised is meaningless; God called Abraham out for no purpose, at all. And that is not
possible.
But, Paul indicates there is benefit to being a Jew, and being circumcised much benefit. Paul will go
into greater detail later in this letter concerning the advantages of being born a Jew (Rm 9:4-5), but at this
point, he states the chief benefit that to the Jews were committed the oracles of God. The Greek word for
oracles comes from the word for orator. It means divine utterances. In this context, it refers to the
words of God to His people; His revelation to them.
Now, what was Paul speaking of, here? If Paul merely meant the Law of Moses, he would have used the
term Law or letter, as in chapter two; but instead, he chooses this unique expression, the oracles of
God, to communicate something more. Paul is looking at the whole body of Scripture here, that was given
to the Jews; the Law and the Prophets; the entire OT. Those are the words of God; His revelation to Israel.
Paul said that the oracles of God were committed to the Jews; that is, the OT Scriptures, Gods divine
words, were entrusted to them. By whom? By God the One who spoke those words. And this, said Paul,
was the chief advantage of being a circumcised Jew.
So we must ask the question, how is this an advantage? Because it gave the Jews a special, detailed
revelation of God, in these words that He gave them.
Now, what are words without their meaning? Just a string of letters, right? Its in the meaning of words
that their value, their power is found.
Turn to John chapter 5. Jesus had healed a man on the Sabbath, which provoked a confrontation with the
rulers in Jerusalem. Jesus clearly presented Himself as the Son of His Father in heaven, which the rulers
rightly recognized as a claim to being God.
Jesus then showed that this statement concerning Himself, as God, the Life-giver and the Judge, could be
confirmed for his listeners through no less than five witnesses: John the Baptist, the works of Jesus, the
Father Himself, the Scriptures, and Moses. We will be looking at what Jesus said about the witness of the
last three: the Father, the Scriptures and Moses.
[John 5:37-40, 45-47]
v. 37-40 Jesus said that the Father has borne witness to Him. Now, the Father is spirit (Jn 4:24). How then
could the Jews have heard the Fathers voice? In the words of their Scriptures, that He gave to the Jews;
theres the Fathers voice, speaking to them. And what did He speak to them about? Their Messiah.
How could the Jews have seen the Fathers form? In the pictures of Messiah, contained in the words of
their Scriptures; the types and symbols, in the OT.
To see Jesus is to see the Father (Jn 14:9). But these Jews had never heard the Fathers voice, nor seen the
Fathers form. The words were just words to them to be scrutinized, analyzed, memorized, even revered
but not believed in, and seen with the eyes of the understanding.

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So the words had no meaning to them, and therefore no power for them, to deliver them to Jesus, that they
might have Life everlasting (Gal 3:24). They saw the words; but they were unwilling to see the One that
the words spoke of.
Skip down to verse 45.
v. 45-47 Here, Jesus is expressing a similar thought to what weve seen with Pauls argument to the Jews.
Paul had said that the Law would be like a witness for the prosecution against the unbelieving Jew in the
day of judgment. Jesus is saying Moses will accuse the Jews; another way of saying the Law of Moses.
When the unbelieving Jews are judged according to their deeds, rather than them being justified by the
Law, they will be condemned by it.
Notice what Jesus says about Moses. Now, Moses wrote the Pentateuch the first five books of the OT
Scripture. Jesus says that Moses wrote about Him. What is Jesus referring to? To all of the pictures of
Messiah contained within the Pentateuch.
We can think back to the coverings of skin, for Adam and Eve (Gen 3:21) to the gospel in the stars, that
the LORD shared with Abraham (Gen 15:1-6); to the covenant sacrifices, that confirmed Abrahams
inheritance (Gen 15:7-21); to the sign of the covenant, circumcision (Gen 17); to the tabernacle service in
the ceremonial Law (Ex 25-30) just to name a few.
This is what Jesus is referring to, in saying, if you believed Moses, you would believe Me.
In addition to the types, the OT Scriptures contained prophetic words concerning the Messiah. Turn back
to Luke chapter 24.
After Jesus rose from the dead, He came to His disciples and breathed on them, imparting the Holy Spirit to
them collectively, who would guide His Body of believers into all truth (Jn 15:13). The Jesus proceeded to
open up the eyes of their understanding to their Scriptures.
[Luke 24:44-48]
v. 44-45 In naming these three the Pentateuch, the Prophets and the Psalms Jesus was encompassing all
of the OT Scripture that had been given by the LORD to Israel. All contain prophecies of Messiah in His first
coming, which were fulfilled by Jesus, as He showed His disciples.
v. 46-48 Thus it is written. What Jesus was saying is that these things were written in the Jews
Scriptures concerning Him, prophesying of Messiahs death as mankinds substitute for the remission of
sins, and His resurrection to impart to them everlasting Life. The witness of the Scriptures, together with
the disciples eyewitness, would complete the testimony to the world showing Jesus to be their Savior.
[Return to Romans 3]
These are the oracles of God the OT Scriptures which were entrusted to the Jews, which could benefit
them. And how would the Scriptures do that? As Jesus had shown the rulers, by believing into the One
they were all about their Messiah, Jesus.

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Paul would later write of Timothy that from childhood, Timothy had known the Holy Scriptures that
would be the OT Scriptures which were able to make him wise for salvation through faith which is in
Christ Jesus (2 Tim 3:15). But apart from believing to see, the words of Scripture have no true meaning,
for a man; they are just words with no power to save.
This is the chief advantage that the nation of Israel was given above all the other nations Gods words; the
OT Scriptures. Now, just as an aside, you might ask, why wouldnt God have given this special, important
revelation to the Gentiles, also?
We have to remind ourselves of mankinds history. The families of Noah had rejected the true and living
God at the tower of Babel. There, they changed the glory of incorruptible God the Christ, as seen in the
gospel in the stars into an image made like corruptible man and other created creatures (Rm 1:23). That
was Gods original revelation, concerning Himself.
Because the families of Noah had rejected God, God had to set them aside for a time for He would not
override their freedom to choose. And during this time, God called Abraham out from the idolatrous
nations that sprang up from those families, and made a nation of him.
Israel was to be Gods witness to the other nations, His servant, who would teach the other nations
concerning Christ. And what would be the teaching manual, for that witness? The special revelation that
God made to Israel; their Scriptures. You can see, then, that God did intend this revelation in the Scriptures
for the Gentiles, also; He was just sending it to them in a new way, through His nation, Israel.
Thats why Paul chooses the word committed here in verse 2. The idea is that of a steward, to whom the
master has entrusted something of value (1 Cor 4:1-2). Israel was entrusted with Gods words, in their
Scriptures. They were to faithfully watch over Gods words, and carefully preserve them; to keep His
words. How do you do that, with words? By taking them in, and believing them.
Israel never fulfilled their role as Gods servant to the other nations (Is 42:18-25), because they never
believed Gods words for themselves in the first place; they had never heard the Fathers voice, nor seen
His form, in Jesus; never seen their Messiah for who He truly was, in their Scriptures. The were not faithful
with what God had entrusted them.
But this goes beyond Pauls point here, which is that Jews had the advantage of having Gods words, in the
form of their Scriptures, and by believing in what God is saying in those words in the meaning they
could come to Christ, and be saved.
So Paul now anticipates a new line of reasoning, by the religious Jew.
v. 3-4 Notice that Paul is speaking in verse 3 about belief; what if some of the Jews did not believe? We
must ask, believe what?
The last time Paul was speaking directly about believing was back at the very beginning of his letter; the
gospel is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes (1:16). Clearly, that was too long ago in
the letter to be directly connected to verse 3 here.
But in verse 2, we have seen that Paul was talking about the words of God; the OT Scriptures, entrusted to
the Jews. The advantage to the Jew was in believing to see the Christ, in their Scriptures.

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Now Paul asks on behalf of the religious Jew, what if some Jews didnt believe in Christ, as revealed in
their Scriptures, to be saved? If God will then judge them for their sins, as Paul suggests, doesnt that mean
that God is breaking His covenant promises to Israel, nullifying them, so that they are without effect?
This second objection is a more clear-cut attempt to disprove what Paul is saying. How could Paul say that
God could possibly be unfaithful to what He has said He will do, concerning Israel? God cannot violate
His own word!
And Paul absolutely agrees with that. Certainly not, is the strongest negative expression in the Greek; it
means thats impossible. Paul is saying that God is always faithful to His word.
Paul carries that idea in the statement that follows: Let God be true but every man a liar. That is, God is
completely trustworthy and reliable, even if every mans opinion of Him were to say different!
If thats so, then how can Paul explain this seeming contradiction? Paul will go into great detail explaining
this later in this letter, in chapters 9-11; but here, Paul just gives one example from Scripture to make his
point, using a most illustrious example: King David. We will look at the psalm Paul quotes here, in a
moment, but I want you to understand what Pauls point is, first.
Gods established His unconditional covenant with Abraham and his seed after him, to be their God, and to
give them the land of Canaan (Gen 17:7-8). This covenant is the everlasting covenant, based on faith in
Christ.
The covenant was established with Israel collectively; but any individual Jew can only become a partaker of
it through believing into Christ. As discussed last week, this is whats pictured in the sign of the covenant
circumcision which each individual must take into their flesh.
So Paul is saying that the fact that God must judge individual unbelieving Jews does not nullify in any way
His covenant promises to Israel, collectively. And God is absolutely in the right in doing this, as He always
is. Paul supports this with a statement of David, found in Psalm 51. Were going back to that, to get the
setting for this quote.
[Psalm 51]
This psalm has a superscript, which is shown in my Bible; Ill read it to you; you may have it, as well.
To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David when Nathan the prophet went to him, after he had gone in to
Bathsheba.
This was during a time when David did not accompany his troops in battle, but remained back in
Jerusalem. Unoccupied with the affairs of state, David got involved in an affair with the beautiful
Bathsheba, who happened to be another mans wife Uriah, who was away fighting Davids battle against
the Ammonites.
When Bathsheba was found to be with child by David, David tried to cover up his sin by getting Uriah to
come home and sleep with his wife, but the noble Uriah would not sleep in his house with his wife, while
his fellow soldiers were away sleeping in the open fields.

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So David compounded his sin, sending Uriah back to the battle with a note for Joab, the commander of
Davids troops, ordering Joab to orchestrate Uriahs death by the hand of the enemy. Unwittingly, Uriah
delivered the note for his own execution!
Then, after Uriah was killed, and Bathsheba had mourned for him for a time, David further compounded
his sin by bringing Bathsheba into his house as his wife; and she bore a son to him.
Well, the LORD was greatly displeased with what David had done. And what the LORD did was to have His
prophet Nathan tell David a story which mirrored Davids actions. After David expressed his anger and
pronounced judgment on the man in the story no less than death, in fact Nathan announced, You are
the man! (2 Sam 12:1-7).
David repented of his sin. And the LORD was more merciful in His judgment than David would have been.
As Nathan told him, The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die (2 Sam 12:13).
But there were still some terrible consequences that came to pass as a result of Davids sin; consequences
that David had brought upon himself. Because David killed Uriah with the sword, the sword never
departed from his house; Davids reign was marked by constant warfare.
And because David took another mans wife, adversity came against David from within his own house;
violation of a daughter, violation of his wives; murder of a son; even a sons attempted overthrow of
Davids kingdom all from within his own house.
And finally, because it was known what David did, tarnishing the name of the LORD before His enemies, the
son that was born to David and Bathsheba had to be struck by the LORD, and he died (2 Sam 12:8-14). This
was the LORDs chastening of David, a just retribution for what he had done; and it was a chastening that
served to purify David, in his submission to it.
That submission is reflected in Psalm 51. Were just going to read it through, with a few comments along
the way.
v. 1-4 David recognized that his sin was ultimately against God, and even while asking for Gods
forgiveness and mercy, David recognized that Gods absolute right to judge him for it, and that God would
do so justly. The second part of verse 4 is what Paul quoted in Romans.
v. 5-6 While David acknowledged that he was born a sinner, he also understood Gods plan for him to be
righteous.
v. 7-9 Hyssop was a leafy plant that was used to apply or sprinkle the blood or the water of purification
from a sacrificed animal. Symbolically, it showed the application of the sacrifice to a man to cover his sin,
a vicarious act; the animals death, in the stead of the mans death, for his sin.
This foreshadowed the blood of Christ, which cleanses us from all sin (1 Jn 1:7). So David was appealing
to God to forgive his sins on the basis of his Messiah.
v. 10-11 This refers to the anointing of the Spirit on David as the king, not the indwelling Spirit.
v. 12-15 David is asking the LORD to restore their fellowship, even to relieve his guilty conscience
concerning the murder of Uriah.

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v. 16-17 Notice how David understands that it is not the act of offering sacrifice, but the motive of
repentance that God desires. God looks at the heart.
v. 18-19 Davids thoughts concerning genuine repentance and restoration cause him to think about
Jerusalem, representing Israel as a whole, and he appeals to the LORD to carry out His purposes for the
nation. David recognizes it is the sacrifice of righteousness on the part of the nation a right heart with
God that will be pleasing to the LORD.
[Return to Romans 3]
In the face of the strong retributions that the LORD had pronounced upon David for his sins, David still
declared that the LORD was completely just in His judgments. This is the portion of the psalm that Paul
quotes here.
You may have noticed that the last part of the verse is a little different in meaning. This difference is
because Paul is quoting from the Septuagint; the Greek translation of the OT. The Hebrew can be
translated either way. Instead of saying, when You judge, the Septuagint says, when You are judged.
This supports what Paul has been saying perfectly. Though men may judge God as being unfaithful, God
will prevail as the Judge of all the earth, who does right (Gen 18:25).
So Pauls response is that God is still completely faithful to His promises to Israel. That will ultimately be
proven in the last days, when The Lord establishes His kingdom on the earth, with Israel as the head nation,
having believed into Jesus as their Messiah, at last. As Paul will later conclude, and so all Israel will be
saved (Rm 11:26); the whole nation will be born in a day (Is 66:8).
But as Paul had already pointed out, this does not preclude Gods judgment on the unbelieving Jew,
individually, for his sin. And this raises one last objection on the part of the religious Jews, as Paul
continues to voice their thoughts.
v. 5-8 Verse 5 and verse 7 are saying the same thing, in two different ways. Then in verse 8, Paul is taking
this thought to its furthest extreme.
I cant help but think that this objection of the religious Jew, which Paul raises, represents their last
desperate gasp, before admitting that Paul is right. It involves some pretty convoluted reasoning.
Paul has made it clear that the Jew who does not keep the whole Law is unrighteous. And he has also
indicated that, because the Jew is unrighteous, God will judge him. And Paul has further indicated that this
judgment would be fair, and just, on the part of God.
So the religious Jews is saying, Well, if our sin gives God the opportunity to show that He is a righteous
judge, were contributing to His glory. And if were contributing to His glory, then it wouldnt be right for
God to inflict wrath on us. It wouldnt be right of God to judge us for our sin, since our sin makes Him
look good in His rightly judging it as sin. In fact, judging us would make God unjust.
Paul indicates here he speaks as a man, meaning this is what unregenerate men tend to think. Well, this is
seriously flawed reasoning, as Paul shows in fact, its impossible.

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All Jews acknowledge that God will judge the world, in the final judgment. But how can God judge the
world, if He doesnt judge sin? Then it would be true that God was an unjust judge, because He would not
be giving men what they have treasured up for themselves wrath in the day of wrath.
In addition, just because sinners add to the glory of God by showing Him to be a fair judge, it doesnt at all
mean that this should mitigate their judgment. For example, if a man is correctly proven by a judge to have
committed premeditated murder, and if the judge then sentences him in all fairness with the death
sentence does that mean that the murderer should go free, because he made the judge look good, in
judging rightly? You can see this is a desperate argument.
Paul also wants to make it clear that it is an absurd argument. Taken to the extreme, the idea would be, as
Paul says, Let us do evil that good may come; in other words, lets sin more and more; then well
REALLY glorify God! Wow, that is absurd.
Yet Paul uses this moment in his letter to point out that there are some enemies of the gospel in Rome
most likely some of the unbelieving Jews who are claiming that Paul and others, who preach salvation by
simple faith in Christ, are saying exactly that!
How could they think that? Because if men can just simply believe God without having to keep the Law,
and they can just simply be forgiven for their sins, then surely they would just sin all the more the skys
the limit! And meanwhile, God will go ahead and forgive them, so He looks good.
But Paul will indicate later in his letter, thats absurd! And he will explain how the believer has been freed
from sin; and that now, they must no longer let sin reign, but let grace reign through righteousness (Rm
5:21).
Paul concludes by saying, Their condemnation is just. Whose? Although Paul may be speaking of the
slanderers here, I think he is actually drawing a conclusion to the absurd notion that sinners should be
spared judgment because their sin indirectly glorifies God. Paul is saying, No, its perfectly just for God
to condemn them.
Having exhausted the religious Jews objections, Paul now issues his irrefutable conclusion.
v. 9 Paul is saying, are the Jews any better off than the Gentiles, concerning Gods judgment? And
whats the answer? No. As Paul has laid out in the first two chapters, they are both all under sin; sin
rules over them.
And next week, we will see how Paul backs up this statement with a sequence of verses from the Scriptures
the oracles of God.
Reading: Romans 3; Eccl 7:20; Ps 14; Ps 5; Ps 140; Ps 10; Is 59; Ps 36.