Romans 3.4-Unregenerate Humanity Will Acknowledge God as Righteous and True
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Tuesday October 2, 2007
Romans: Romans 3:4-Unregenerate Humanity Will Acknowledge God as Righteous and True
Lesson # 75
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:1.
Last Thursday evening, we studied Romans 3:1, and in this verse, the apostle Paul asks two direct questions of his audience.
The first direct question pertains to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:17-24 regarding the Jew’s false security in his racial heritage and anticipates the objection of the Judaizers.
It asks the question: “If the Jews are just as worthy of eternal condemnation as the Gentiles since their racial heritage cannot save them, then what advantage is there to being a Jew?”
Romans 3:1, “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision?”
The second direct question pertains to Paul’s teaching in Romans 2:25-29 regarding the Jew’s false security in circumcision and anticipates another objection of the Judaizers who were champions of circumcision (Acts 15; Philippians 3:2).
It asks the question: “If the Jews are just as worthy of eternal condemnation as the Gentiles since circumcision cannot save them, then what advantage is there to being circumcised?”
In Romans 3:2, Paul answers his own question in order to anticipate the objections of the Judaizers by writing that the primary advantage of being a Jew was that God had entrusted the Old Testament Scriptures to the care of the Jews.
Romans 3:2, “Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.”
Sunday morning we noted Romans 3:3 in which Paul poses another question to his readership and answers this question as well, teaching that Jewish unfaithfulness does not render inoperative God’s faithfulness.
Romans 3:3, “What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?”
This evening we will study Romans 3:4 in which Paul employs an emphatic negation to further reject the idea that God’s faithfulness is rendered inoperative by the unbelief of some Jews and also declares that God will be justified in His judgment of unregenerate humanity.
He will also teach that unregenerate mankind will be forced to acknowledge that His judgment of them is righteous when they accuse Him of injustice for sentencing them to the eternal lake of fire forever for rejecting Him as Savior.
Romans 3:4, “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.’”
“May it never be!” is the strongest negative Greek expression emphatically denying any possibility or thought of God’s faithfulness being rendered inoperative as a result of the unbelief of some Jews.
God’s faithfulness is the expression of His perfect character and integrity and thus, cannot be rendered inoperative by any negative decision on the part of His creatures since His faithfulness depends on Him and does not depend upon men.
The expression me genoito literally means, “may it never come to pass” but in order to convey accurately the idiom of the Greek into the English language, the best expression would be “Absolutely not!
“Let…be” is the verb ginomai (givnomai), which is used in relation to God and denotes His character being “recognized” or “acknowledged” for what it truly is, faithful!
“God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to the second member of the Trinity, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ who manifested and represented the Trinity before men and was the member of the Trinity who made the promises to the patriarchs and the nation of Israel.
He will also be conducted the Great White Throne Judgment of all unbelievers in history and will therefore be the recipient of this acknowledgment.
“True” is the adjective alethes (a)lhqeV$), which refers to the function of God’s faithfulness in being true to His promises or true to His Word.
In Romans 3:4, the adjective alethes means, “true to one’s word” since in context Paul is addressing the objection of God’s faithfulness being rendered inoperative because of the unbelief of some Jews.
Therefore, the adjective alethes denotes God being true to His unconditional covenant promises to the patriarchs and the nation of Israel throughout history, which demonstrates His faithfulness.
The continued existence of the nation of Israel despite her unbelief in her Messiah Jesus Christ demonstrates God’s faithfulness to His unconditional covenants to Israel.
The four unconditional covenant promises to Israel: (1) Abrahamic (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:16; 22:15-18; 26:4; 28:14; 35:11; Ex. 6:2-8) (2) Palestinian (Gen. 13:15; 15:18-21; 26:3-5; 28:13-15; 35:12; Ex. 6:4, 8; Num. 34:1-12; Deut. 30:1-9; Josh. 1:2-4; Jer. 32:36-44; Ezek. 11:16-21; 36:21-38) (3) Davidic (2 Sam. 7:8-17; Psa. 89:20-37) (4) New Covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; cf. Heb. 8:8-12; 10:15-17).
There are seven great features that are distinct in each of these unconditional covenants to Israel: (1) Israel will be a nation forever. (2) Israel will possess a significant portion of land forever. (3) Israel will have a King ruler over her forever. (4) Israel will have a throne from which Christ will ruler, forever. (5) Israel will have a kingdom forever.
Facts about the unconditional covenants to Israel: (1) Literal (2) Eternal (3) Unconditional (4) Made with a covenant people Israel (Rm. 9:4; Eph. 2:11-12).
If Israel were destroyed because of her past disobedience and rebellion, or the unbelief of some Jews, then none of these seven features could ever be fulfilled and God would be unfaithful.
The fact that these covenants are eternal and unconditional in nature guarantees the fulfillment of these covenants as well as the national existence of the nation of Israel demonstrating God’s faithfulness resulting in the vindication of His integrity.
Also, the absolute perfection of God’s character, which is His holiness, guarantees the fulfillment of His promises to the patriarchs and Israel.
The fulfillment of these unconditional covenants to Israel does not depend on the continued obedience of Israel but rather the holiness of God from which, God is faithful to His promises.
Micah 7:20, “You will be true to Jacob, and show mercy to Abraham, as you pledged on oath to our fathers in days long ago.”
The fact that God’s character is absolute perfection and that one of those attributes is veracity guarantees that it is impossible for God to lie and thus will always be true to His Word or promises (Hebrews 6:9-20).
Also, God must be acknowledged as true to His promise of offering eternal life as a gift to unregenerate humanity through faith in His Son Jesus Christ who is the true God and eternal life incarnate since He fulfilled His promise by sending His Son into the world to die in the place of mankind.
1 John 5:20, “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.”
Those members of the human race who deny that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and therefore reject Him are demonstrated to be liars.
1 John 2:22, “Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”
Romans 3:4, “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.’”
“Every man be found a liar” means that the entire human race are liars when compared to a holy God and speaks of the falsehood of unregenerate mankind who deny that God has been faithful in fulfilling His promises to Israel.
Paul takes this concept from Psalm 116:11.
Psalm 116:11, “And in my dismay I said, ‘All men are liars.’”
The word pseustes alludes to the fact that all men have a sinful nature as he points out in Romans 5:12-19 and thus the word speaks of the total depravity of the entire human race, which Paul has just demonstrated in Romans 1:18-2:29.
In Romans 1:18-32, Paul demonstrates that the Gentiles are unrighteous by virtue of their sinful conduct and failure to worship God in light of God’s self-revelation in creation as well as their failure to obey the moral law inherent within them.
In Romans 2:1-29, he demonstrates that the Jews are unrighteous as well as manifested in their failure to obey perfectly the written Law of God and committing the same sins that the Gentiles committed.
In Romans 3:9-20, Paul summarizes his statements in Romans 1:18-2:29 and teaches the universal unrighteousness of mankind, both Jew and Gentile.
The conjunction kathos, “as” with the indicative mood of grapho, “it is written” signifies that the Old Testament quotation from Psalm 51:4 that is to follow supports Paul’s assertion that the entire human race in comparison to a holy God are liars.
Psalm 51:1-4, “For the choir director. A Psalm of David, when Nathan the prophet came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba. Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are justified when You speak and blameless when You judge.”
In Romans 3:4, Paul quotes David’s statement in Psalm 51:4 that God is demonstrated to be righteous or just in his punishment of his sin against God when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah.
Romans 3:4, “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.’”
“YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED” is the verb dikaioo (dikaiovw) (dik-ah-yo-o), which means, “to acknowledge (God) as righteous.”
The verb dikaioo is used of unregenerate humanity “acknowledging that the Son of God is righteous” when He pronounces judgment upon them at the Great White Throne Judgment for rejecting Him as Savior.
Unsaved Gentiles will be forced to acknowledged that He is righteous for sentencing them to eternal condemnation for rejecting Him as Savior since they have failed to live up God’s perfect holy standards as demonstrated by their sinful conduct (Romans 1:24-31) and their failure to acknowledge Him as God by virtue of what He has created (Romans 1:18-23).
The function of their guilty conscience will also force them to acknowledge that He is righteous since their guilt manifests the fact that they did not live up to the moral code inherent in them.
They will be forced to acknowledge that He is righteous for sentencing them to eternal condemnation for rejecting Him as Savior since He suffered a substitutionary spiritual death in their place so that they would not have to suffer eternal condemnation.
Also, the fact that salvation is received as a gift through faith in Him will force them to acknowledge that he is righteous.
Unsaved Jews will be forced to acknowledge that Jesus Christ, the Son of God is righteous since like the Gentiles, they too failed to live up to His perfect holy standards as demonstrated by their sinful conduct, which mirrored the Gentiles.
They also will be forced to acknowledge that He is righteous since they failed to keep the Law, which demanded perfect obedience since He is perfect.
The function of his guilty conscience will also force the Jew to acknowledge that He is righteous since their guilt manifests the fact that they did not live up to the moral code inherent in them as well as the written form of the Law that was given to them through Moses.
They too will be forced to acknowledge that He is righteous since He suffered a substitutionary spiritual death in their place so that they would not have to suffer eternal condemnation.
The fact that salvation is received as a gift through faith in Him demonstrates His righteousness.
No matter, how you slice it, the human race does not have a case against God and can never accuse Him of being unjust for sentencing them to the Lake of Fire forever since His will was for them not to go there and He did everything necessary at the Cross to secure salvation for them.
Romans 3:4, “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.’”
“IN YOUR WORDS” is composed of the preposition en (e)n), “IN,” which is followed by the articular dative masculine plural form of the noun logos (lovgo$) (log-os), “WORDS” and is the genitive 2nd person singular personal pronoun su (suv), “YOUR.”
The noun logos refers to the charges that God pronounces against the entire human race since Paul is quoting Psalm 51:4 where David acknowledges that the charges that God pronounced against him through the prophet Nathan for his adultery with Bathsheba and murder of her husband Uriah were righteous (See 2 Samuel 12:1-15).
In Romans 3:4, the noun logos functions as a “dative instrumental of means” indicating that God will be acknowledged as righteous “by means of” His charges against sinful humanity since they are just.
The preposition en is a marker of the means indicating that God’s words in the form of His charges against sinful humanity are the “means by which” God will be acknowledged as righteous by men and angels since both will be force to conclude they are just since God has dealt fairly with them.
“PREVAIL” is the verb nikao (nikavw) (nik-ah-o), which is used in a judicial sense referring to God winning a court case against unsaved, sinful humanity when they stand before Him at the Great White Throne Judgment.
“WHEN” is the preposition en (e)n), which is a marker of a specific point in time when the Son of God will be acknowledged as righteous so that He will be victorious in His case with unregenerate humanity.
He will be acknowledged as righteous by sinful humanity “while” He is being accused of being unjust by them at the Great White Throne Judgment.
“ARE JUDGED” is composed of the dative neuter singular form of the definite article ho (o() and the present passive infinitive form of the verb krino (krivnw) (kree-no), which means, “to accuse of injustice.”
The preposition en with the articular form of the infinitive krino denotes contemporaneous time meaning that the acknowledgement that God is righteous and His victory over unregenerate humanity will be “contemporaneous” with the moment they accuse Him of being unjust.