Sermon Tone Analysis

Welcome!

Good Morning!

So glad to see all of you here this morning.

Challenge

Internalize the word: “always be prepared to explain the hope you have in Christ.”

By taking the word of God into your very inner-person, his light guides your witness to the world.

Reading Assignments

Romans 3:21-26

Introduction

As we approach today’s text it is clear that Paul begins a summary and application of the prior arguments that began in 1:18.

The opening questions we encounter today parallel the style and form of 3:1-8, but draw forward his main arguments that God’s wrath justly falls on both Gentiles (1:18–32) and Jews (2:1–3:8).

Everyone is “under sin”.

So I think it is appropriate before we move on into the next sequence of arguments next week, to point out from 1:17–18 how God’s righteousness is dependent upon the revelation of his wrath.

In the same way as God’s promises secure our deliverance through his judgment (not from it), so divine judgment is the vehicle by which his promises are secured.

Israel’s failure to believe the divine oracles does not abrogate the faithfulness of God, but rather establishes it through his faithfulness to judge rightly.

There exists some contention between God and humanity as to who is speaking the truth.

God’s charge that human beings are “liars” is proven true through Israel’s disbelief.

But because of God’s goodness, he will ultimately overcome even their unbelief, which is the theme of Rom.

9–11.

So the triumph of God necessarily takes place in the context of human sin (3:4).

If God is going to save the world, he must do it through fallen people and deal with human corruption through his righteous judgment.

So the whole of Paul’s argument up to this point is summarized in this statement, in which our confession of guilt (1:18–2:29) confirms the word of God that has pronounced us all guilty of sin (3:1–8).

Now Paul will prove this conclusion with Scripture (3:10–18) and apply the principle to Jews (3:19–20).

Given this setting, we remember that Paul has acknowledged the tremendous ongoing advantage of the Jewish people in 3:1–3, which stimulates the question we now deal with today: “are Jews any better?”

Their advantage is not in righteousness but in their proximity to Christ.

So the answer that he gives is not intended to retract what he said just previously, but to guard against the conclusion that God’s gifts to the Jews give to them any advantage in God’s judgment.

Everyone is under sin.

And to be "under sin" means not only "to be a sinner", but also to be a helpless slave to the power of sin (cf.

6:15–23).

Exegesis

When we look at how this summary progresses, we’ll see a series of short questions from which Paul’s conclusions arise.

And the significance of these questions can be as easy to miss as their meaning is difficult to translate.

We have one standalone question: “what then?”

Which tells us that Paul is summarizing and essentially asks “what are we to make of our situation?”

This question is followed in Greek by one passive verb: “advantage”.

What’s quite telling is that depending on how one translates this verb, Paul is either asking “are Jews any better off because of their advantage?”

Or, when translated passively - which matches the form of the Greek verb - one might translate this as “are Jews in a worse position than Gentiles?”

So the question is calling for a final assessment about the condition of the Jews.

And Paul’s answer fits either sense of this question, depending on whether or not the Jews felt that Paul’s argument might suggest either their “superiority” or “inferiority”.

The phrase “what then?” (τί οὗν) is translated in conjunction with the following verb: "What then do we plead in our own defense?"

So we need to read this summary as answering the burning question, “what defense do we have on our behalf?”

Paul uses passages — mostly from Psalms 14, 5, 140, 10, and 36, along with Isaiah 59 — in a three-tiered structure:

3:10–12

3:13–14

3:15–18.

You’ll want to look down in your Bibles and follow with me.

3:10 essentially functions the thematic header, to which 3:18 returns in conclusion; 3:11–12 describes the general universality of human sin with a series of five synonymous repetitions that there are none righteous

3:13–14 describes the sinfulness of human speech

3:15–17 focuses on sins of violence, concluding that the human depravity and suffering depicted in these verses arise from the lack of a fear of God mentioned in 3:18

Most telling about the meaning here is how the second and third sections, by focusing on various parts of the human body, convey the idea that not only are all people sinners, but every part of every person is involved in sin.

The Whole World Guilty

I suppose by this point it’s become clear how the logical and theological implications of the gospel are not flattering to our self-perception.

God has pronounced the whole world guilty and made the case that our conduct is indefensible.

And we do not like to hear this.

We look at our life and those of the people we love, and we see some good.

We want to defend ourselves, but God warns us not to try because if we do, we will become guilty of suppressing the truth to cover our unrighteousness.

Paul will offer one final argument for humanity’s guilt based on God’s word - which is the highest authority he can appeal to - before he moves into explaining how God will resolve our guilt and restore us to righteousness, just as he promised to do.

“What then?” (v.

9): This question is asking for the conclusions of the previous arguments, which Paul will provide from Scripture.

And this question also gives us hope, for the conclusions given are themselves not the end; there is more, and this “more” is where the gospel fills in our understanding of God’s salvation that has been long since obscured from our view.

“Are we any better off?” (v.

9): Taken without any interpretive license, Paul is simply asking has anyone gained any advantage or suffered any disadvantage in God’s sight?

At the heart of this question is the very human idea that one person is fundamentally better than another.

We are always looking for ways to stand over others, but the most fundamental truth of the gospel is that no matter how far you try to ascend over others, you are still hopelessly under water, chained there in the dark abyss of death by your sin.

“Not at all!” (v.

9): How is one sinner any better off than another?

Will someone boast, “my crime warrants only 15 lashes before execution, and yours warrants 19!”

“For we have already charged” (v.

9): We find another indicator that Paul is summarizing both of his previous arguments.

And, most importantly, we discover that his two previous arguments are simply two sides of one coin.

This gives us an important clue to the interpretation and application of Paul’s text.

Showing how he wants to apply these arguments.

“That both Jews and Greeks are all under sin” (v.

9): Both arguments run together like the two sides of a double edged sword to the inevitable and lethal conclusion that the whole world is guilty of sin before God.

We don’t like to look this fact in the face, especially when things are going well for us, because that spoils our fun, nor when things are hard, because that overburdens our troubles; basically there is never a good time when we want to come face to face with this reality.

But this is the single most important truth that every person needs to face because this truth deals with what stands between us and God.

Our sin is the essential reality that separates us from God:

In our very human eagerness to avoid dealing with the consequences of sin, just as Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness, we cast aside the most sacred thing of all: our relationship with God.

The sum of Paul’s arguments here can be understood as demolishing our attempts to force our relationship with God on human terms.

We cannot have God and our sin.

And those who attempt to enter his presence, insisting that they are righteous while still sinning will be judged by his wrath.

I understand that what I just said might raise a lot of questions, and that is good, for those will be the questions Paul will works out in his series of arguments from chapters 4 to 8.

“As it is written” (v.

10): Paul will refer to a series of Scriptures, mostly from Psalms and Isaiah, to establish his point that all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory.

This is important to recognize because it gives apostolic recognition to Old Testament use in Christian living.

“There is no one righteous, not even one” (v.

10): To make the arguments that Paul has made, he must ultimately prove them based on the authority of God’s own pronouncement and not mere human reasoning alone.

Otherwise one might say that this is just Paul’s opinion.

For this point, Paul turns either to:

Given the latter’s use in verse 12, it is likely that Paul is drawing from Psalm 14:1, but you will notice that he has interpreted “good” as “righteous” here, since it is impossible to be “righteous” if one is not also “good”.

So this choice to supplement "righteous" for “good” carries the specific nuance of what scholars call “forensic righteousness”; that “righteousness” must be evidenced by good.

So we have no right to stand before God based on our righteousness.

“There is no one who understands” (v.

11): Both the Jewish and Gentile cases to defend their own righteousness demonstrates humanity’s universal ignorance of God.

And this is of chief concern given that we were created in the likeness of God and charged to fill the world with the knowledge of his glory.

Who is going to take the knowledge of God into the world if they are all so ignorant of his ways?

We have already intimated last week how God has been faithful to do exactly this in the person of Jesus Christ even when we were faithless with this charge.

So we have no right to stand before God based on our wise understanding.

“There is no one who seeks God” (v.

11): This is likely drawn from Psalm 14, which reveals the secret unbelief of our hearts, saying “the fool says in his heart ‘there is no God’”.

To defend oneself based on the authenticity of one’s “quest for truth” necessitates a life that is both devoted to the pursuit of God and responsive to divine revelation.

Yet, when we hear God’s divine pronouncement of our guilt, we argue with him, demonstrating that we were not really seeking God, but our own self-interests!

So we have no right to stand before God based on being authentic truth-seekers.

“All have turned away” (v.

12): Blinded by sin to the perfections and loveliness of God, everyone has turned from his way of life to that way of life that leads away from God.