S214-030908 Ro 3
Alêtheia Christian Fellowship ~ 3/09/08 ~ Romans 3
Paul told us in chapter one no gentile could enter Heaven. He told us in chapter two that no Jew that did not perfectly keep the Law could enter Heaven. In the first half of Chapter three Paul is going to make certain that everyone realizes no one can perfectly keep the law and so therefore we are all condemned.
If God is fair He will utterly destroy every person.
First, Paul must explain what the Law and the Jewish Nation were for – if not righteousness.
Romans 3:1&4 ~ 1Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? 4May 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.”
Monumental – every portion of the Bible Old and New was written under the authority of a Jewish Prophet or Apostle – The Covenants were to and through Jews – Jesus was a Jew.
The Bible doesn’t say that in past times… The promises of God to the Nation of Israel stand active and certain.
Proven by the fact that the nations failure can’t cause God to lie!
The advantage of being a Jew is God still has unfulfilled promises that the Jewish failure will not negate.
Romans 3:5-8 ~ 5But 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.) 6May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8And 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.
God will be true to the Jewish Nation because He will be true to His character.
The Jew would say, if God is shown to be righteous because we erred then how can He condemn us? Our error brings out God’s grace.
Same thing today – God can’t condemn me because I’m no worse than anyone else. IF God is fair He will destroy us all! Never heard the Gospel…
Blaspheme! Who do you think you’re talking about?
Romans 3:9-18 ~ 9What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; 11there is none who understands, there is none who seeks for God; 12all have turned aside, together they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.” 13“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, 16Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17and the path of peace they have not known.” 18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
No person is better than another from God’s perspective. God cannot justify the Jew because they try to keep the Law and condemn everyone else.
The Old Covenant is quoted to demonstrate that from God’s perfect standard…
1- No one seeks the real God.
2- No one is capable of knowing the real God.
3- No one does good, let alone is good! to the real God.
The scope is narrowed to show the truth of the general charges…
13“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”
The way we prove we deserve God’s wrath is our talk.
We covered the topic in our study of James
James 3:6-12 ~ 6And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison. 9With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; 10from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.
People say I heard from God or God showed me…
But what God said is contained in His Word.
Bad company corrupts Good character.
The Bible from cover to cover condemns gossip. Proverbs 20:19 ~ Do not associate with a gossip.
Doubt, voice, heart, action.
15“Their feet are swift to shed blood, 16Destruction and misery are in their paths, 17and the path of peace they have not known.” 18“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
God must establish a true way to accept men.
Cast doubt on another’s character and Christianity and ministry – Diminish the prestige of another – you have no fear of God!
Romans 3:19&20 ~ 19Now 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; 20because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.
Now we clearly see the purpose of the Law.
The plan of God…
1- Demonstrate through Adam the nature of man to distrust God.
2- Demonstrate the rapid corruption apart from God.
3- Noah – the twin concepts of wrath and grace.
4- The unilateral Covenant.
5- Bondage to establish a nation.
6- Exodus and the Law
7- Sacrificial system to cover failure
8- Exile because even sacrifice won’t work
9- Final Sacrifice for all people
Romans 3:21-23 ~ 21But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
God’s love and His honor can be seen. All lawbreaking is paid in full – the law has done its job.
Jesus is the Law now.
Romans 3:24-26 ~ 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Now God can demonstrate that He was always righteous and that He did not ignore sin, but rather allowed it to build until He could demonstrate His love!
24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
Justified = dikaio>w = Dee-kai-ah-oh = being made right. Legal term meaning judged righteous, i.e. exonerated.
Redemption = ajpolutrw>siv = apah-lew-trō-sis = Market term for purchasing a slave out of slavery to another.
propitiation = iJlasth>rion = he-loss-tay-ree-on = Temple term for satisfying Godly justice and wrath.
26bSo that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
God’s justice and mercy, His righteousness and His grace.
Romans 3:27-31 ~ 27Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. 29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. 31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
The Law is Jesus through faith in Him – move on to Grace.
The Law shows us sin – if you fully understand that – move past the Law to Grace! And thank God every day!
Thank God by allowing Him to fellowship in your heart producing the evidence of relationship by obeying Him.
If you Love me you will obey me – this I command, that you love one another.
Love is not negative, but positive!