Sermon Tone Analysis

Wenstrom Bible Ministries

Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom

Thursday October 4, 2007

www.prairieviewchristian.org

Romans: Romans 3:6-God is Not Unrighteous Since How Will He Judge the World

Lesson # 77

Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:1.

This evening we will continue with our study of Romans chapter three.

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.

In Romans 3:4, Paul emphatically answers his rhetorical that he posed to his Jewish audience in Romans 3:3 and declares that God will be vindicated in His judgment of men.

Last evening we noted Romans 3:5, in which Paul poses another question to the unsaved Jew that rejects the idea that God is unrighteous for exercising His righteous indignation against Jewish unbelievers if their unrighteousness makes conspicuous God’s righteousness.

This evening, we will note Romans 3:6 in which Paul emphatically rejects the idea that God is unrighteous and responds with another question that rejects the idea, asking the rhetorical question as to how could God judge the world then?

Romans 3:1, “Then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the benefit of circumcision?”

Romans 3:2, “Great in every respect.

First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God.”

Romans 3:3, “What then?

If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?”

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.’”

Romans 3:5, “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.)”

Here is the corrected translation of Romans 3:1-5:

Romans 3:1-6, “Therefore, what is the advantage of being a Jew?

Or, what is the benefit of circumcision?

Great in every respect!

Indeed, the primary one that they were entrusted with the declarations by God.

So then, what if-and let us assume for the sake of argument some did not believe, then will their unbelief render inoperative God’s faithfulness?

No! Absolutely not!

God must be acknowledged as true but each and every member of the human race a liar.

Just as it stands written, for all of eternity, ‘that You will be acknowledged as righteous by means of Your pronouncements so that You will be victorious while You are undoubtedly being accused of injustice.’

But, if-and let us assume for the sake of argument our unrighteousness does cause God’s righteousness to be made conspicuous.

What then is the conclusion that we are forced to?

Is God unrighteous, while inevitably exercising His righteous indignation?

(I am speaking according to human viewpoint.)

No! Absolutely not!

For how will God condemn the unsaved inhabitants of the cosmic system?”

Now, let’s look at in detail Romans 3:6.

Romans 3:6, “May it never be!

For otherwise, how will God judge the world?”

“May it never be!” is the strongest negative Greek expression emphatically denying any possibility or thought of God being unrighteous while exercising His righteous indignation upon Jewish unrighteousness.

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!

“For” is the conjunction epei (e)peiv) (ep-i), which is employed as a “causal” conjunction introducing a statement that presents the “reason why” God can never be considered unrighteous for exercising His righteous indignation upon Jewish unbelievers.

“How” is the interrogative particle pos (pw~$) (poce), which is used in a rhetorical question that rejects outright the inference that God is unrighteous for exercising His righteous indignation upon Jewish unrighteousness.

“Will judge” is the verb krino (krivnw) (kree-no), which means, “to distinguish between good and evil, right and wrong,” and by implication, “to pass judgment upon someone or something as evil or wrong after weighing the evidence and without reservation,” hence, “to condemn.”

“The God” is the articular form of 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 (John 1:18).

The definite article preceding the noun theos indicates that the Lord Jesus Christ is in view here since the article indicates that God is “well-known” to Paul’s unsaved Jewish readership since he is referring to the God who manifested himself to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God the Father rewarded the resurrected impeccable human nature of Jesus Christ for His voluntary substitutionary spiritual death on the cross by bestowing upon Him the sovereign rulership over all creation and every creature and the power and authority to conduct the Great White Throne Judgment of all unbelievers.

Philippians 2:5-6, “Everyone continue thinking this (according to humility) within yourselves, which was also in (the mind of) Christ Jesus, Who although existing from eternity past in the essence of God, He never regarded existing equally in essence with God an exploitable asset.”

Philippians 2:7, “On the contrary, He denied Himself of the independent function of His divine attributes by having assumed the essence of a slave when He was born in the likeness of men.”

Philippians 2:8, “In fact, although He was discovered in outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by having entered into obedience to the point of spiritual death even death on a Cross.”

Philippians 2:9, “For this very reason in fact God the Father has promoted Him to the highest-ranking position and has awarded to Him the rank, which is superior to every rank.”

Philippians 2:10, “In order that in the sphere of this rank possessed by Jesus every person must bow, celestials and terrestrials and sub-terrestrials.”

Philippians 2:11, “Also, every person must publicly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord for the glory of God the Father.”

The Lord Jesus Christ Himself declared to the Jews that the Father had given Him authority to judge the living and the dead (John 5:22-29).

Psalm 9:8, “And He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity.”

Ecclesiastes 3:17, “I said to myself, ‘God will judge both the righteous man and the wicked man,’ for a time for every matter and for every deed is there.’”

Ezekiel 18:30-32, “Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, each according to his conduct,’ declares the Lord GOD.

‘Repent and turn away from all your transgressions, so that iniquity may not become a stumbling block to you.

Cast away from you all your transgressions which you have committed and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

For why will you die, O house of Israel?

For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone who dies,’ declares the Lord GOD.

‘Therefore, repent and live.’”

Acts 17:22-34, “So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, ‘Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects.

For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you.

The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’

Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man.

Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.

Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to sneer, but others said, ‘We shall hear you again concerning this.’

So Paul went out of their midst.

But some men joined him and believed, among whom also were Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Damaris and others with them.”

Romans 3:6, “May it never be!

For otherwise, how will God judge the world?”

“The world” is the noun kosmos (kovsmo$) (kos-mos), which refers to the unsaved inhabitants of the earth who are enslaved to the old Adamic sin nature and to Satan and his cosmic system.

In Romans 3:6, the noun kosmos refers to the inhabitants of the earth arranged in tribes and nations or peoples (Acts 17:26; John 3:16; 1 Cor.

4:9; 1 John 2:2; 2 Pet.

2:5).

There are two figures of speech contained in this expression.

The first is “synecdoche of the whole” where the world is put for the persons in all parts of it and the second is the “metonymy of the subject” where the world is put for its inhabitants.

So in Romans 3:5-6, Paul is saying that God is not unrighteous for exercising His righteous indignation upon unrighteousness Jews if their unrighteous serves to make more conspicuous God’s righteousness since how could He judge the world?

God would be barred from judging the world if He were unrighteous.

This thought is ridiculous since He is their Perfect, Holy Creator and so He would not be unrighteous or unfair for exercising His righteous indignation upon unsaved human beings.

The fact that God is the Creator of man in and of itself gives Him the right to exercise His righteous indignation upon disobedient and sinful creatures.

Unbelievers will “not” be judged according to their sins at the Great White Throne Judgment since Jesus Christ died for all men, Jew and Gentile and for every sin that they have committed-past, present and future.

The unbeliever will be judged according to their self-righteous human good works, which do not measure up to the perfect work of the impeccable Christ on the Cross (Rev.

20:11-15).

Revelation 20:11-15, “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.

And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The unbeliever goes to the lake of fire because of his rejection of Christ as his Savior since 1 Timothy 2:4, John 3:16-17 and 2 Peter 3:9 clearly indicate that God desires all men to be saved, thus, He has made provision for all men to be saved through the Person and Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

Those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior will be thrown into the eternal Lake of Fire forever and ever at the conclusion of human history.

The sins of the unbeliever are never brought up since Christ died for all their sins and instead their self-righteous works that do not measure up to Christ perfection will be used to condemn them to the eternal lake of fire.

Romans 2:9, Revelation 20:12 and 21:8 make clear that the lake of fire is not a place or state of nothingness or unconscious existence, as is the Hindu Nirvana but is the place of everlasting torment, the place of eternal spiritual death or separation from God.

Revelation 21:7-8, “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The fact that unregenerate man will receive eternal condemnation in the lake of fire forever and ever is a righteous judgment since as sinners they can never be justified before a holy God and have rejected God’s only provision for sin, which is the Person and Finished Work of Jesus Christ on the Cross.

God who is holy and cannot tolerate sin is justified in throwing His creatures into the lake of fire for rebelling against Him but also God, who as to His nature, is love, did everything He could to prevent any of His creatures from going to the lake of fire forever and ever for their rebellion against Him.

The fact that God did not immediately deposit all mankind in the lake of fire for their disobedience is incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures and desires none of them to go to the lake of fire.

The fact that God the Father sent His Son into the world to become a human being to satisfy His righteous demands that the sin of men be judged is also incontrovertible evidence that God loves His creatures.