Sermon Tone Analysis

Romans 3:1-8.

"Called into Righteousness"

Safe Haven Community Church.

Sunday August 21st, 2022.

Romans 3:1-8.

Then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way.

To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful?

Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4 By no means!

Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written, "That you may be justified in your words, and prevail when you are judged."

5 But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6 By no means!

For then how could God judge the world?

7 But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?

8 And why not do evil that good may come?-as some people slanderously charge us with saying.

Their condemnation is just.

(ESV)

Hans Christian Andersen's story of The Emperor's New Clothes is timeless because of its humor and because of the point it so aptly makes.

In the story a certain emperor was very fond of appearances and clothing (Sounds like a certain Prime Minister I know).

So, when certain clever philosophers (actually they were con men) offered to weave him a rare and costly garment, he was quite receptive.

He especially liked their promise that the garment would be invisible to all but the wise and pure in heart.

The delighted emperor commissioned his new clothing at great cost, and the con men sat before the empty looms and pretended to be weaving.

Soon the emperor's curiosity became such that he sent his chief minister to see how things were going.

Seeing no cloth on the busy looms, and not wanting to be thought unwise and impure in heart, the official returned with a report about the fabulous beauty of the cloth.

After a time the weavers asked for more money.

Again, the emperor became impatient, sending his second chief minister, who returned with an even more enthusiastic report.

Next the emperor went himself.

Though he too saw nothing, he did not want to appear stupid, so he proclaimed the clothing excellent and beautiful.

He even gave the weavers medals.

Finally, on the day set for the grand parade, the con men dressed the emperor in his nakedness and then skipped town.

As the emperor paraded before his people au naturel, the whole populace joined in praising his beautiful new clothing, lest they be thought of as fools and knaves.

Thus, the absurd parade continued-until in a moment of quietness a child was heard to say, "The emperor has no clothes!"

At once everyone knew the truth, including the emperor.

One innocent but honest remark by a small child who did not know enough to keep his mouth shut stripped away the hypocritical pretense of the entire nation.

The Emperor's New Clothes is such a great story that we use the term proverbially to describe a common tendency: We remain quiet while a fallacy is being promoted to which everyone is subscribing, because we do not want to be thought of as fools.

As we approach the third chapter of Romans, we must keep in mind that it well describes the condition of the Jews whom Paul has just been addressing.

The Jews imagined themselves to be clothed with a righteousness that was actually nonexistent.

They were duped by a misleading religious confidence.

So, Paul, like the little boy, stripped away their layers of delusion.

They believed that because they possessed the Word of God they were safe.

They saw themselves as guides to the blind, correctors of the foolish, teachers of the immature.

But Paul undressed them, proving that having God's Word is no guarantee of life.

Paul also stripped away their errant confidence in circumcision, showing that religious affiliation does not save one from God's judgement (Hughes, R. K. (1991).

Romans: righteousness from heaven (pp.

70-72).

Crossway Books.).

As he undressed his fellow Jews, he also undresses us, stripping away our misleading confidence in having God's Word and our "right" affiliations.

For all humanity, Jew and Gentile alike, true righteousness is a matter of the heart!

"... a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code" (Rom.

2:29).

That is why in Romans 3:1-8, the Apostle Paul counters false belief to show how someone is Called into Righteousness.

This call changes three things that we can see here It changes one's understanding of their 1) Relationships (Romans 3:1-2), 2) Responsibility (Romans 3:3-4) and their 3) Righteousness (Romans 3:5-8)

When someone is Called into Righteousness it changes their:

1) Relationships (Romans 3:1-2)

Romans 3:1-2.

Then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Much in every way.

To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

(ESV)

Paul's accusers continually charged him with teaching that the Lord's calling of Israel to be His special people was meaningless.

If that were so, the apostle blasphemed the very character and integrity of God.

Paul knew the questions that some Jews in Rome would ask after they read or hear about the first part of his letter.

"If our Jewish heritage, our knowing and teaching the Mosaic law, and our following Jewish rituals such as circumcision do not make a Jew righteous before God," they would wonder, "then what advantage has the Jew?

Or what is the value/benefit of circumcision?"

Paul has pointed out, being physical descendants of Abraham did not qualify them as his spiritual descendants.

If they did not have the mark of God's Spirit within their hearts, the outward mark of circumcision in their flesh was worthless (Rom.

2:17-29).

Paul's intention here is not to deny that the Jews have privileges that the Gentiles do not have, but to contest the notion that these privileges give to the Jew an advantage in the judgment (Moo, D. J. (1996).

The Epistle to the Romans (p.

181).

Wm.

B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)

Please turn to Matthew 22

Nevertheless, Paul continues in verse 2, the advantage of being Jewish was "much in every way/great in every respect".

Although it did not bring salvation, it bestowed many privileges that Gentiles did not have.

In Matthew 22, in the parable of the wedding feast, Jesus compared the kingdom of heaven to a feast given by a king to celebrate his son's marriage.

In verse 1 we read:

Matthew 22:1-10.

And again Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying, 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding feast for his son, 3 and sent his servants to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come.

4 Again he sent other servants, saying, 'Tell those who are invited, "See, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready.

Come to the wedding feast."

' 5 But they paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, treated them shamefully, and killed them.

7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.

8 Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not worthy.

9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.' 10 And those servants went out into the roads and gathered all whom they found, both bad and good.

So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

(ESV)

* This parable pictures Israel as the first and most privileged guests who were invited to celebrate the coming of God's Son to redeem His people.

But when the majority of Jews rejected Jesus as the Messiah, God opened the door to Gentiles, those whom the king's messengers found along the highways and in the streets.

We can see the guests who attended the feast represent the church, people in general who acknowledge Christ as God's Son and received Him as Lord and Savior.

Back in Romans 3:2, becoming more specific regarding their benefits, Paul said to his hypothetical religious objectors, "You were entrusted with the oracles of God." Logion (oracles) is a diminutive of logos, which is most commonly translated word.

Logion generally referred to important sayings or messages, especially supernatural utterances.

Paul's point was that the Jews were entrusted with the very words of the one and only true God, referring to the entire Old Testament (cf.

Deut.

4:1-2; 6:1-2).

God's revelation of Himself and of His will had been entrusted to the Jews, and that gave them unimaginably great privilege as well as equally immense responsibility.

To be "entrusted" with the divine oracles obviously means more than to be the recipient of them.

Actually, it means more even than to be the custodian and transmitter of them.

What is called for, in the light of the meaning of logia, is faith and obedience (Harrison, E. F. (1976).

Romans.

In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.),

The Expositor's Bible Commentary: Romans through Galatians (Vol.

10, p. 35).

Zondervan Publishing House.).

* As believers in Christ, we are responsible for everything He has revealed to us.