Objections

In Chapter 2 Paul told the Jews that a Gentile Christian was more Jewish than an unsaved Jew (2:26-27). Many of the Jews would not have liked that. In fact, some who heard Paul preach wondered if Paul thought there was any advantage to being Jewish. There were two things the Jewish people cherished:

The written Law

The mark of circumcision

The Gentiles had neither of these. Yet they were saved. Many early Jewish Christians wanted Gentiles to embrace Judaism along with Christianity. Paul preached hard against that idea. In Romans we will see Paul use rhetorical questions to prove a point. These questions were probably objections to his teaching he had heard.

3:1; 3:31; 6:1; 6:15; 7:7; 11:1

In 3:1-8 we see Paul facing one of the objections to his teaching head on.

v. 1 Two questions asked:

What advantage is it to be Jewish?

What is the value of circumcision?

“What advantage” Imagine Jewish people saying this. “I guess we’re nobody!” They took pride in being Abraham’s offspring. They had been told their whole lives they were a special people.

“What is the value of circumcision?”

Consider the pain/risk of circumcision.

Consider the mockery the circumcised faced by Gentiles (especially children).

Some may say “You mean we’ve been doing all this for nothing?”

Circumcising our children

Staying away from certain foods

Keeping holy days

Not working on the Sabbath

When Paul told them these things would not save them, they were offended. They reacted foolishly by throwing up their hands and saying, “What’s the point?”

v. 2 “Much in every way” Paul says there is great advantage to being Jewish. He only gives one reason. “To begin with” means this is the chief reason.

“the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God”

The entire OT was written by Jewish men.

Luke (Col. 4:11) is the only Gentile author of the New Testament.

When God spoke to the world, He chose to use the Jewish race to do so. The advantages they had because of this are:

1) The great privilege it was to be used by God to record Scripture.

2) The salvation that resulted from it. When Paul wrote Romans there were far more Jewish people in heaven than Gentiles. In the OT we see very few saved Gentiles.

3) The blessings that fell upon the families and the nation when they kept the Word.

4) The understanding they had of God because of the Scriptures.

Paul mentions more advantages in 9:5-6. We will deal with those when we get there.

If receiving the Word of God were the only advantage it would be enough. The Gentiles had only received general revelation. God gave the Jews special revelation. This was a great advantage for them.

v. 3 “What if some were unfaithful?”

There were many Jews who were unfaithful. An entire generation died in the wilderness. Paul just rebuked many of the Jews in Rome for their unfaithfulness (2:17-24). Now we come to the main problem with the Jewish mindset in Paul’s day:

Many Jews believed God was obligated to save them regardless of their faithfulness. They might point to the Abrahamic covenant (Genesis 12). Jesus dealt with the same problem as did John the Baptist. The religious leaders thought their connection to Abraham guaranteed them a home in heaven.

Some were arguing if God did not save them then God would be unfaithful to the covenant He made. They failed to understand parts of the covenant are conditional. In fact, God’s faithfulness requires that He judge sin. To prove his point he quotes David in verse 4.

v. 4 “by no means” This is a ridiculous thought. To think that God is unfaithful to His covenant because He judges sin is awful. Salvation has always been contingent upon faith and repentance. If Jews were lost it was because they did not believe.

“Let God be true though everyone were a liar”

God has always had His critics. The Jews who accused God of being unfaithful were liars. Paul says it doesn’t matter what these men say. In fact, he says if every man in the world testified against God, they would all be found as false witnesses.

Think of all the liars that testify against God today:

If God were real, He would show Himself.

If God were love no one would suffer.

If God punishes sin, He must be evil.

God isn’t the president.

We don’t get to vote on Him.

He doesn’t take polls.

Paul quotes Psalm 51:4

David was repenting over his sin with Bathsheba. He admitted that God is just in punishing sin. God is justified in His actions against sinners.

Paul took these accusations seriously because God does. To say that God was unfaithful to His Word because He rejected sinful Jews was an attack on His character. Be very careful what you say about God. Be careful even if many people agree with you. The Word is the standard.

v. 5 Notice the “I speak in a human way” at the end. Paul is careful with his words. He doesn’t want to be like the people He is warning. He makes it clear he doesn’t believe what he is saying, he is using the words of his critics to make a point.

Some had argued using human logic that the sin of the Jews highlighted the righteousness of God. The Gentiles could now see how righteous God is because He even punishes His own people! If the sin of the Jews made God appear more righteous, the argument was, God should be happy! He shouldn’t punish the faithless Jews, He should reward them. The argument went so far as to say if God benefited from the sin of unbelieving Jews, then it would be unrighteous for God to punish them.

Imagine someone burning down your house then saying you should thank them because insurance bought you a new house.

Imagine someone saying you should thank them for killing your child because you had a large life insurance policy on the child.

Their thinking was the epitome of “The ends justify the means.”

v. 6 “By no means!” Again (4:1)

Paul argues if this were the case then God couldn’t judge anyone. Scripture clearly teaches that God is just. If God is just, sin must be punished. Jews are not exempt because they are Jews. If they were, God would not be just. He would be partial (2:11).

v. 7-8 Paul lists two more objections:

If God’s truth abounds to His glory by my lies, why am I condemned?

If God brings good out of evil, why am I condemned for doing evil?

These Jewish me were putting words in Paul’s mouth. He never said these things. These men were using human logic and philosophy to twist the Word of God.

Paul says these men would be condemned justly for what they were saying.

Let’s simplify what Paul is saying.

1) God will judge all sinners who have not come to Christ.

2) We do not glorify God by sinning.

Thoughts to Consider

1) The Christian should be prepared to be misrepresented.

Sin- If you loved people, you would accept them.

Salvation- a serial killer goes to heaven while a good Buddhist goes to hell.

2) Those who take sin lightly are likely unsaved, regardless of their heritage.

3) Beware of arguments that make sense humanly speaking but contradict Scripture.

4) Beware of a theology that offers a hope rooted in your heritage.

Illustration: Baptizing babies, church membership, dedication, laying on of hands and prayer/prophesying