THE DEFENSE RESTS
Romans 3:1-20
The
setting is that of a courtroom. For the
past two chapters, Paul has been building a case against mankind. He started with the pagan Gentile, showing
that because of his innate knowledge of God, he is
responsible for his rejection of God and for his idolatry. Then Paul moves to the Jew, concluding that
he is no better than the pagan when he knows to do right but does not.
At
this point, we are given five questions for the defense - five arguments which
might be leveled against Paul’s harsh stance.
QUESTIONS
FROM THE DEFENSE
QUESTION
#1: WHAT ADVANTAGE HAS THE JEW?
Of
what use is it to be a member of a church?
That’s a rather relevant question today.
I hear a lot of people, many of whom even claim to be Christians who
think poorly of joining a church.
After
all, church membership doesn't save you.
It doesn’t make you more spiritual.
It is what is on the INSIDE that counts, isn't it? It is not the letter, but the spirit that is
important.
Paul
deals with this issue in Romans 3. He
has just gone to great lengths to show that being a member of God's
1. The Question: Then
what advantage has the Jew? Or what is
the benefit of circumcision? (Romans 3:1).
If being a Jew did not save and did not give one an
increased standing in the presence of God, then what good is it?
We can take the same question and apply it to the
church. If church membership does not
save and if baptism does not save, then why should anyone belong to a church
and be baptized? Or more pointedly, is
there any benefit to an unbeliever in being raised in a church?
2. The Answer.
Having read what Paul said in the previous chapter on
how it is the spirit which is important, we would expect him to say that being
a Jew is of no advantage at all and the circumcision is without benefit. But he does not say this. To the contrary, he answers...
Great in every respect. First of all, that
they were entrusted with the oracles of God. (Romans 3:2).
While being a Jew does not save, it DOES carry with it
a great benefit. It was to the Jews that
the Scriptures were entrusted. When God
spoke, He did not speak to everyone equally.
He did not speak equally in every language - He gave nearly all of the
Old Testament in Hebrew. Each one of the
writers of the Old Testament (with the possible exception of Job) was a
Jew. This was a great blessing. It meant that the Jew had ample opportunity
to learn about God.
The same is true within the church. A person who grows up in the church is not
necessarily saved, but such a one DOES have amply opportunity to hear the
message of the gospel. This is because
he happens to be in the one place where the gospel is the most vigorously
preached. It is true that you can hear
the gospel anywhere. But the one place
you are likely to hear it above all others is in the church.
QUESTION
#2: IS GOD UNFAITHFUL IF SOME DID NOT
BELIEVE?
The
next argument centers around God's faithfulness. It goes like this: God made promises to the Jews. He said that He would be their God and that
they would be His people. But Paul has
just shown that they are not accepted by God simply on the basis of their “Jewishness.” Doesn’t
this make God unfaithful to His covenant promise?
1. The Question: What
then? If some did not believe, their
unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? (Romans 3:3).
|
The question is phrased in
such a way to expect a negative answer. |
God’s covenant was made with the descendants of
Abraham. But being a child of Abraham
was in itself no guarantee of receiving the covenant promises. Faith was also necessary. And the fact that some did not believe did
not mean that God was unfaithful when they did not become partakers of the
covenant.
There is a principle here. It is that God has no spiritual
grandchildren. You can read in the Bible
about His children, but you will never see anything about His grandchildren. He doesn’t have any. You are either His child or else you have no
part of Him. There are no second‑generation
Christians.
One of the great evangelists of the 19th century was
D. L. Moody. He preached the gospel in
the
2. The Answer.
May
it never be! Rather, let God be found
true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “That you may be
justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged.” (Romans 3:4).
The fact that there are some of Abraham’s descendants
who do not believe is not an indictment against God. To the contrary, it is man who is
indicted. God’s nature is not impacted
by our failure. Even if every one of us
were found to be liars, God would still be true.
QUESTION #3: IS GOD STILL RIGHTEOUS WHEN OUR
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS MAGNIFIES HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
1. The Question.
But
if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we
say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in
human terms). (Romans 3:5).
When God judges our sin, the fact of our sin
demonstrates the righteousness of God.
Here is the principle. Light is
light in proportion to how much you have seen the darkness. Have you ever been in a very dark room and
then someone turned on a very bright light?
That bright light seems to shine all the more brightly.
God’s righteousness shines all the more brightly when
it is contrasted to our unrighteousness.
But this brings us to a question.
Does this put God into an alliance with our sin? Does this mean that God is in league with
sin? Not at all! He is in control of all things, including
that which is sinful. But this control
does not make Him the direct author of sin.
The fact that our sin shows the righteousness of God to be all the more
righteous does not mean that He is in league with sin.
2. The Answer.
May
it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? (Romans 3:6).
The fact that God will someday judge the world is
proof of the fact that He is not in league with sin. You don’t judge that with which you have made
an alliance.
There is an important lesson here. It is that the ends do NOT justify the
means. The result of our sin is that God
is glorified. But that does not mean
that men will not be held accountable for their sins. They will be judged, not for the results of
their sin, but for their rebellion in sinning in the first place. This means that the argument, “But it didn’t
hurt anyone,” is invalid when in comes to God’s judgment. Sin is still sin even if it were possible to
sin without hurting someone else.
QUESTION #4: IS GOD STILL RIGHTEOUS WHEN OUR
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS MAGNIFIES HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
This
question is closely related to the last one.
But there is a difference. The
last question had its focus upon the character of GOD. This question has its focus upon the judgment
of MAN.
1. The Question: But
if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still
being judged as a sinner? (Romans 3:7).
The proposed argument is this: If God is ultimately glorified by our sin,
then why should our sin be judged, since to condemn our sin would be to condemn
that which glorifies God?
After all, we have just stated that God IS glorified
by my sin. He is glorified when He
judges my sin and condemns it. When you
look at man’s sinfulness and then look at God’s righteousness, it is seen to be
infinitely righteous. The result is that
there is a way in which our sin glorifies God.
2. The Answer.
And
why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say),
“Let us do evil that good may come”?
Their condemnation is just. (Romans 3:8).
If our sin glorifies God, then why would we just not
say, “I want God to be glorified, so I am going to go out and sin a lot.” Apparently,
there were some who were making this charge against the Christian church. They listened to Paul’s message of salvation
by grace through faith and they concluded, “If God’s grace is magnified by
freely forgiving our sins, then let us go out and make God’s grace even more
magnified by sinning more!”
Such a position is directly opposed to God. Paul will come back to this question in
Romans 6. For now, it will suffice to
say that God is righteous and He calls men to live righteously.
JUDGMENT
PASSED
Have
you ever had someone come to you and say, “I have some good news and I have
some bad news”? I don’t know about you,
but I always want to hear the bad news first so that the good news can cheer me
up.
This
is what Paul does here. He has some bad
news. And the bad news is really
bad. And when you hear how bad the bad
news is, you will be able to appreciate how good the good news is.
That
is the problem with our evangelism. We
are trying to tell people the good news and they don’t realize how good it is
because they haven’t heard the bad news.
The bad news is that we are all under sin. And this sin is a very heavy-handed
taskmaster. It is a power that has
control over our lives. If you are not a
Christian, then you are a slave. You are
in spiritual chains. In this chapter, Paul
catalogues the sinfulness of man.
Dr.
James Kennedy was talking one day to a man who insisted that all men are basically
good. Kennedy asked to see the man’s
keychain. The man showed the chain full
of keys. Kennedy asked, “Why do you have
keys if man is good?”
The
reason that you have keys is because we live in a fallen world. The reason that we have law enforcement
officers is because we also have law breakers.
1. The Conclusion.
What
then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that
both Jews and Greeks are all under sin (Romans 3:9).
|
Martin Luther called this paragraph the most
important in the Bible. |
The conclusion is that every person is sinful before
God. Everyone is guilty. If you have the law, then you are guilty of
breaking the law which you have been given.
If you are without the law, you are guilty of breaking the law that God
has placed in your heart and in your conscience.
If you live a blatantly unrighteous life, you are
guilty. If you live a relatively moral
life, you are still guilty. If you are
irreligious, then you are guilty. If you
are religious, then you are still guilty.
2. The Testimony of the Scriptures.
...as it is written, “There is none righteous, not
even one; 11 there is none who understands, there is none
who seeks for God; 12 all have turned aside, together they have
become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
“Their
throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving,” “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 paths, 17 and the path of peace they have not known. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.” (Romans
3:10-18).
Paul strings together six Old Testament passages to
compose a powerful argument for the universal depravity of all men. Most of these are taken from the Psalms.
|
3:10 |
Statement
of Man’s Sin |
Four times we read the
statement, “There is none...” |
|
3:13 |
Picture
of Man’s Sin |
Man’s sinfulness is said to
affect his...
|
a. Universal Extent of man’s sinful condition.
Four times we read the phrase, “There is none...” There is none who...
(1) Is righteous.
(2) Understands righteousness.
(3) Seeks for righteousness.
(4) Practices righteousness (“does good”).
This brings up a question. Should we take these negations (“none”, “no”,
“not”) in verses 10‑11 to refer to...
m People’s total sinfulness?
m The pervasiveness of sinful
behavior in everyone?
The answer is the latter. Total depravity does not mean that everyone
is as bad as they could be. Man is not
so totally sinful that he could not commit any worse sins. When we speak of total depravity, we mean
that every part of man has been infected with sin.
b. The Society of man’s sinful condition.
Verse 12 says that “all have turned aside, together
they have become useless.” There is
a truth here. It is that we do not sin
just as individuals acting alone.
Rather, the sin of one person often provides just enough encouragement
for others, socially connected in some way, to encourage them to sin, too. We often sin in unison. That is why the world likes to see you
sin. The excuse that “everyone’s doing
it” is as old as the garden of Eden.
c. The Anatomy of man’s sinful condition.
Verses 13-18 give us a vivid portrait of the sinner,
focusing upon the various parts of his body to show how they are given over to
sin.
|
Verse |
Anatomical Part |
Activity |
|
|
3:13 |
Throat |
Sins of Speech |
Open grave |
|
Tongue |
Deception |
||
|
Lips |
Poison of asps |
||
|
3:14 |
Mouth |
Full of cursing |
|
|
3:15 |
Feet |
Action Sins |
Swift to shed
blood |
|
3:16 |
Their path |
Destruction and
misery |
|
|
3:17 |
No peace |
||
|
3:18 |
Eyes |
Attitude |
No fear of God |
Every part of this man is seen to be in rebellion
against God. He is a sinner from head to
toe. In one of the Hollywood remakes of
The Three Musketeers, the young hero D’Artangen is
asked about his love for
THE
LAW SPEAKS
Now
we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law,
so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to
God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be
justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. (Romans
3:19-20).
The
scene throughout this chapter has been one of a courtroom. The Judge is the Lord Himself. The accused is all of mankind. The witnesses for the defense have been
frustrated.
Here
is the result of the indictment. It is
that the accused has no excuse. His
mouth is closed. Have you ever known one
of those people who, went confronted with something they have done wrong,
always had an excuse? “Yes, I did that,
but...” However, in this instance, there
is no excuse which cannot be made. And
into this silence, the Law speaks.
1. The Law’s Message.
Now
we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law...
(Romans 3:19a).
The Law’s message is that of a measuring stick. It sets forth the measurement of the
righteousness of God. And it measures
your life according to that perfect standard.
What do you do when you find that you don’t measure up?
·
The worldly
person pretends the measuring stick isn’t there. When that doesn’t work, he tries to break the
measuring stick.
·
The moral person
tries to stand taller and straighter, but is frustrated and eventually gives
up.
·
The religious
person makes his own stick to which he is able to measure up.
2. The Law’s Recipients.
Now
we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law...
(Romans 3:19a).
The Law only speaks to those who are under the
Law. Does this let the Gentiles off the
hook? Not at all! They also have the Law, albeit written in
their hearts. Their conscience bears
witness of the Law that is within them.
3. The Law’s Result.
...the
Law... speaks... that every mouth may be closed, and all the
world may become accountable to God (Romans 3:19b).
I meet a lot of people who want to pass judgment on
God. “If there is a God, then why
doesn't He put a stop to all of this pain and suffering? Why doesn't He stop all of the hypocrisy in
the church?” But there is coming a day
when every mouth shall be closed.
When you are faced with the cold reality of the Law of
God, you are left without a thing to answer on your behalf.
Notice, the purpose of the Law was NOT to save the
righteous. It was to make sinners
guilty. The Law was a hammer that
smashed the self-righteousness of men.
4. The Law’s Helplessness.
...because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in
His sight" Romans 3:20).
The Law was fully able to condemn. But when it came to justifying someone it was
helpless. The Law cannot declare that
someone is righteous unless that person already IS righteous. It cannot make anyone righteous. The only thing that the Law could accomplish
was our condemnation, not our salvation.
5. The Law’s Accompaniment.
...for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
(Romans 3:20b).
The Law tells you what sin is. It points to sin and it says, “Thou shalt not!” It this,
it is like a diagnosis. When you go to
the doctor with a sickness, he runs a series of tests on you and then he gives
you a medical diagnosis. That diagnosis
tells you what is wrong with you. But it
doesn’t heal you. It isn’t designed to
do that. Imagine how silly it would be
to take the doctor’s written diagnosis and say, “Thank you doctor, I’ll take
this diagnosis home and rub it all over my body and I’ll sleep with it and I’ll
eat with it and I’ll read it every day and then I will get better.” That would be ridiculous! A diagnosis is not meant to heal. It is meant to tell you what it is from which
you need to be healed. And the law is
the same way.
The
good news is that we have a Great Physician.
We have a Healer who heals. We
have a Savior who saves. He still makes
house calls. Indeed, He happens to be
knocking at the door of your heart right now.
You can let Him in and be healed of what ails you.
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