The Epistle of Romans

Chapter 3

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? 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.”

As we begin chapter 3, two questions arise. What advantage has a Jew had over a Gentile, and what does it profit to go through the ceremonial circumcision?

First of all, a Jew's claim to fame is they were entrusted with the whole revelation of God, meaning more was required of them. They were the fewest of the people over the Gentiles, yet God still chose them, separated them unto Himself, giving them the Law of Moses, and spoke to them through His prophets. By obeying the Law of Moses, circumcision then brought blood, and blood was shed for the forgiveness of sins according to the Law. 

The Jews were entrusted with the very words of God, giving them a greater responsibility over the Gentiles. The Gentiles, however, not having the voice of God or the Law of Moses given to them, cannot be responsibility for what they don't know. Looking back at chapter 2, we learned that all men know of God, as He has shown Himself to all mankind. For those not knowing about God, God has still revealed Himself everywhere and God always looks at the heart and judges each person accordingly. As such, those who never knew of God, God judges them under a different law than those of the Jews or Christians.

Even if some of the Jews were unfaithful or did not believe God, that does not take away from God's faithfulness toward His chosen people. The Jewish Scriptures claim that God is true, even if every man were a liar. Truth is truth! That can be seen over and over again because God has proven Himself faithfulness toward His chosen people throughout the Old Covenant. What He said would come to pass, even to those who refused to believe in Him. Even if God were put on trial, He would win. Then at the end - at Judgment Day, what God has said all along will come to pass, no matter how unfaithful man has proven himself to be. Each will be judged by the very Law God has given them. 

A Jew should take boast in God choosing them, because it was God Who chosen them, not the other way around. As such, a Jew should be grateful to God in choosing them and as such, follow after Him according to the Laws given to them and the words of the prophets spoken by God to them. 

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 some affirm that we say Their condemnation is just. 

Oh, but then, there will be some who rhetorically and foolishly would say that their sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God really is. Taken to an extreme, it would be those same people who would attempt to self-justify their own sins by saying "how can God condemn us as sinners if our evil points out God's truthfulness and brings Him more glory? Why then should we be punished?" Is God unjust Who inflicts wrath? Absolutely not! For those who say such things deserve to be condemned  for God has revealed Himself to all mankind, and He is the judge of everyone's heart. So then, how will God judge the world?

All Have Sinned

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.”

So then, are the Jews better off than the rest of mankind? No, not at all, meaning everyone has fallen short of God's glory - both Jew and Gentile are under the power of sin before God. From the fall of the disobedience to God through Adam and Eve, mankind has sinned against God. For 2500 years, long before the Law, there was no such things as Jew or Gentile, just races of people who were disobedient toward God. Yet, God still revealed Himself to everyone. Even through the flood of Noah and the rebirthing of a new people, the Holy Scriptures tell us that no one is righteous - not even one person. Everyone sins before God. No one is truly wise, nor seeking God. Everyone have turned away from God, becoming useless, and no one does good, not a single person.

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; ¹⁷ And the way of peace they have not known.” ¹⁸ “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

The unrighteous mouth is foul, ready to lie and deceive. Snake venom drips from their lips, full of cursing and bitterness. They rush to she blood and destruction and misery always follows them. Because they have no fear of God, they will never know peace.

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.

For those living under the law are responsible to the law. Its purpose is to keep people from making excuses and to show the entire world that no one is righteous, being guilty before God. The Law shows us how sinful we are and no one can fully obey it. 

God’s Righteousness Through Faith

²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 

²¹ But now God has shown us a way to be made righteous beforr Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets. Whether we are Jew or Gentile, we are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, ²⁶ to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

For everyone has sinned - we all fall short of God’s standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through His Son Christ Jesus when He freed us by shedding His blood for us from the penalty for our sins. God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for our sin. Because of this,  People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood for the remission of our sins. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He makes sinners right in His sight when they believe in Jesus.

Christ took on our punishment

²⁷ Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. ²⁸ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 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. ³¹ Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

God is the God of the Jews and the Gentiles. Therefore, boasting by keeping the law of works is totally useless. Whether one is circumcized  or not circumcized, God considers righteousness "the circumcized" on the grounds of trusting and the uncircumcized through that same trusting. We are simply justified by faith - faith in Christ Jesus alone.. Our acquittal is not based on obeying the law, but on a new and better law, and that is the Law of Faith.  Do we then forget about the Law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith, do we truly fulfil the Law. 

See you again in chapter 4