Romans 3.30-One God, One Way of Salvation-Faith in Jesus Christ
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday December 9, 2007
Romans: Romans 3:30-One God, One Way of Salvation-Faith in Jesus Christ
Lesson # 109
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 3:19.
Tuesday evening we studied Romans 3:27 in which Paul teaches that the law or the principle of faith in Jesus Christ in order to be justified before God excludes human merit and pride.
Wednesday we noted Romans 3:28, in which Paul teaches that justification is by means of faith in Jesus Christ, independently of actions produced by obedience to the Law.
Thursday evening we studied Romans 3:29 in which Paul teaches that God is not the God of the Jews only but also the God of the Gentiles as well.
This morning we will note Romans 3:30 in which Paul writes that the God who justifies both the Jew and Gentile through faith in His Son Jesus Christ is one.
Let’s read Romans 3:19-31 and then concentrate on verse 30.
Romans 3:19, “Now 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.”
Romans 3:20, “Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.”
Romans 3:21, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”
Romans 3:22, “Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction.”
Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Romans 3:24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 3:25, “whom 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.”
Romans 3:26, “for 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.”
Romans 3:27, “Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.”
Romans 3:28, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”
Romans 3:29, “Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also.”
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
Romans 3:31, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”
Let’s look at verse 30 in detail.
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
“Since” is the conjunction eiper (ei&per) (i-per), which is employed with the indicative mood of the verb dikaioo, “will justify” in order to explicitly convey a protasis of a first class condition that indicates the assumption of truth for the sake of argument.
In Romans 3:31, the apodasis is introduced explicitly with the inferential use of the conjunction oun, “then.”
The basic relation that the protasis has to the apodasis is “evidence-inference.”
In the protasis that appears in Romans 3:30, Paul presents the evidence that both Jew and Gentile are justified by means of faith in Jesus Christ.
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
Then, in the apodasis that appears in Romans 3:31a, Paul infers from this evidence by asking the rhetorical question if this evidence renders inoperative the Law.
Romans 3:31a, “Do we then nullify the Law through faith?”
In Romans 3:31b, Paul answers this rhetorical question emphatically negating any idea that justification through faith in Jesus Christ renders inoperative or useless the Law.
Romans 3:31b, “May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”
Paul is making an induction about the implications that this piece of evidence suggests in order to refute his opponents who were the Judaizers who claimed that Paul rejected the Law.
The idea behind the first class condition is not “since” but rather, “if-and let us assume for the sake of argument, then...”
This would encourage Paul’s Jewish audience to respond and come to the conclusion of the apodosis since they would have to agree with him on the protasis that faith in Jesus Christ does not render inoperative the Law but rather upholds it.
The fact that faith in Jesus Christ upheld the Law is clearly presented by Paul in Romans 3:21-26.
In this passage, Paul teaches that through the Law comes an awareness of sin and that the sinner has fallen short of the glory of God.
However, the Law also predicted that God would provide a Savior, which Paul proclaimed was Jesus of Nazareth who demonstrated He was the Messiah by rising from the dead.
Therefore, in Romans 3:30, Paul is employing the first class condition as a tool of persuasion with his Jewish audience.
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
“One” is the cardinal number heis (ei!$), which means, “one and the same” and indicates that there is not a God for the Jew and one for the Gentile since He is the Creator, Judge and Redeemer of all men, thus both groups are under His authority.
The statement in Romans 3:30 that there is one God would get the attention of Paul’s Jewish readership since it is a reference to Deuteronomy 6:4, which was read at the beginning of every synagogue service.
Deuteronomy 6:4, “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one!”
1 Corinthians 8:5-6, “For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him.”
1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.”
Ephesians 4:1-6, “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.”
Romans 3:30, “since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
“God” is the noun theos (qeov$), which refers to God the Father since Romans 3:24-26 teaches that He is the member of the Trinity that declares the sinner justified as a result of exercising faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
“Will justify” is the verb dikaioo (dikaiovw) (dik-ah-yo-o), which refers to God declaring a person as righteous as He is as a result of God imputing or crediting to that person His Son’s righteousness, the moment they exercised faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.
This word dikaioo refers to the doctrine of “justification,” which by way of definition is a judicial act of God whereby He declares a person to be righteous as a result of crediting or imputing to that person His righteousness the moment they exercised faith in His Son Jesus Christ.
Consequently, God accepts that person and enters that person into a relationship with Himself since they now possess His righteousness.
“The circumcised” is the noun peritome (peritomhv) (per-it-om-ay), which is a designation for those members of the human race who are descendants racially of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and members of the nation of Israel and thus, denotes nationality distinguishing the Jew from the Gentile.
“The uncircumcised” is the noun akrobustia (a)krobustia) (ak-rob-oos-tee-ah), which stands in contrast to the noun peritome, “circumcision” and denotes the state of being uncircumcised and is a designation for the Gentiles.
“Faith” is the noun pistis, which refers to the non-meritorious system of perception of placing one’s “trust” or “confidence in” the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ and His spiritual death on the Cross.
“By faith” is composed of the preposition ek (e)k), “by” and the genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$), “faith” and is used in relation to the Jews.
The preposition ek with the genitive form of pistis functions as a marker of means constituting a source and the noun pistis is a “genitive of means” indicating that faith in Jesus Christ is “the means constituting the source by which” God the Father justifies the sinner.
“Through faith” is composed of the preposition dia (diaV) (dee-ah), “through” and the articular genitive feminine singular form of the noun pistis (pivsti$), “faith” and is used in relation to the Gentiles.
The preposition dia with the genitive form of the noun pistis indicates that faith in Jesus is the “instrument” or “means” by which the sinner will be declared as justified by God.
Paul chooses to use the preposition ek in relation to the Jews and dia in relation to the Gentiles because he is emphasizing with his Jewish readership that justification is accomplished by means of faith in Jesus Christ as constituting the source of justification.
The reason he is emphasizing source with the Jews and not simply instrumentality or means as he does with the Gentiles is because the Jews attempted to be justified by means of actions that are produced by obedience to the Law with emphasis upon these works or actions as constituting the source of justification.
Therefore, Paul uses ek in relation to the Jews rather than dia since Paul is refuting the concept of seeking to be justified by the works of the Law or actions produced by obedience to the Law.
He refutes this since the Law demanded perfection, which sinful humanity has no capacity to do.
In Romans 3:30, Paul’s use ek not only because he wants to emphasize with the Jew the means of justification, faith in Jesus Christ but that this means constitutes the source of justification.
In fact, in Romans 3:20, Paul uses the preposition ek with genitive form of the noun ergon, “actions, works” and states that sinful humanity will never be justified by means of actions produced by obedience to the Law (as a source of justification).
Romans 3:19-20, “Now, we know for certain that whatever the Law says, it speaks for the benefit of those under the jurisdiction of the Law in order that each and every mouth may be silenced and in addition all the unsaved inhabitants of the cosmic system may be demonstrated as guilty in the judgment of God. Because each and every member of sinful humanity will never be justified in His judgment by means of actions produced by obedience to the Law for through the Law there does come about an awareness of the sin nature.”
Remember, in Romans 3:30-31, Paul is directing his comments to his Jewish audience, emphasizing with them that there is not a God for the Jew and one for the Gentile since He is the Creator, Judge and Redeemer of all men, thus both groups are under His authority.
This preposition ek is a reminder to the Jew that justification is not only by means of faith in Jesus Christ but that this faith in Jesus Christ constitutes the source of justification.