Romans 3

Romans 3:1

3:1 Paul continues the subject of the guilt of the Jews in the first eight verses of this chapter. Here a Jewish objector appears and begins to cross-examine the apostle. The questioning proceeds as follows: OBJECTOR: If all you have said in 2:17-29 is true, then what is the advantage of being a Jew and what profit is there from circumcision? 3:2 PAUL: The Jews have had many special privileges. The most important is that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. The OT Scriptures were given to Jews to write and to preserve, but how have the people of Israel responded to this tremendous privilege? On the whole, they have demonstrated an appalling lack of faith. 3:3 OBJECTOR: Well, granted that not all Jews have believed, but does this mean that God will go back on His promises? After all, He did choose Israel as His people and He made definite covenants with them. Can the unbelief of some cause God to break His word? 3:4 PAUL: Certainly not! Whenever there is a question whether God or man is right, always proceed on the basis that God is right and every man is a liar. This is what David said, in effect, in Psa_51:4 : The complete truthfulness of all You say must be defended, and You must be vindicated every time You are called into question by sinful man. Our sins only serve to confirm the truthfulness of God’s words. 3:5 OBJECTOR: If that’s the case, why does God condemn us? If our unrighteousness causes the righteousness of God to shine more gloriously, how can God visit us with wrath? (Paul notes here that in quoting these words, he is using a typically human argument.) 3:6 PAUL: Such an argument is unworthy of serious consideration. If there were any possibility of God’s being unrighteous, then how could He be fit to judge the world? Yet we all admit that He will judge the world. 3:7 OBJECTOR: But if my sin brings glory to God, if my lie vindicates His truth, if He causes man’s wrath to praise Him, then how can He consistently find fault with me as a sinner?3:8 Why wouldn’t it be logical to sayPAUL: Let me interrupt to say that some people actually accuse us Christians of using this argument, but it is a slander. OBJECTOR: Why wouldn’t it be logical to say, Let us do evil, that good may come?PAUL: All I can say is that the condemnation of people who talk like that is well-deserved. (Actually this last argument, stupid as it seems, is constantly leveled against the gospel of the grace of God. People say, If you could be saved just by faith in Christ, then you could go out and live in sin. Since God’s grace superabounds over man’s sin, then the more you sin, the more His grace abounds. The apostle answers this objection in chapter 6.) 3:9 OBJECTOR: Are you saying, then, that we Jews are better than those sinful Gentiles? Or the question may be, according to some versions, Are we Jews worse than the Gentiles? The answer in either case is that the Jews are no better and no worse. All are sinners. That leads up to and parallels the next question in Paul’s presentation. He has shown that the heathen are lost; the self-righteous moralists, whether Jews or Gentiles, are lost; the Jews are lost. Now he turns to the question: Are all men lost?The answer is, Yes, we have already charged that all people are under the power of sin. This means that Jews are no different from Gentiles in this respect. 3:10 If further proof is needed, that proof is found in the OT. First we see that sin has affected everyone born of human parents (3:10-12) and then we see that sin has affected every part of a man (3:13-18). We might paraphrase it as follows: There is not a single righteous person (Psa_14:1). 3:11 There is no one who has a right understanding of God. There is no one who seeks after God (Psa_14:2). If left to himself, fallen man would never seek God. It is only through the work of the Holy Spirit that anyone ever does. 3:12 All have gone astray from God. All mankind has become corrupt. There is not one who lives a good life, no, not one (Psa_14:3). 3:13 Men’s throats are like an open tomb. Their speech has been consistently deceitful (Psa_5:9). Their conversation flows from poisonous lips (Psa_140:3). 3:14 Their mouths are full of cursing and hatred (Psa_10:7). 3:15 Their feet are swift to carry them on missions of murder (Isa_59:7). 3:16 They leave a trail of ruin and misery (Isa_59:7). 3:17 They have never known how to makepeace (Isa_59:8). 3:18 They have no respect for God (Psa_36:1). This, then, is God’s X-ray of the human race. It reveals universal unrighteousness (3:10); ignorance and independence toward God (3:11); waywardness, unprofitableness, and lack of any goodness (3:12). Man’s throat is full of rottenness, his tongue is deceitful, his lips are venomous (3:13); his mouth is full of swearing (3:14); his feet are bent on murder (3:15); he leaves behind trouble and destruction (3:16); he doesn’t know how to make peace (3:17); and he has no regard for God (3:18). Here we see the total depravity of man, by which we mean that sin has affected all of mankind and that it has affected every part of his being. Obviously every man has not committed every sin, but he has a nature which is capable of committing them all. If Paul had wanted to give a more complete catalog of sins, he could have mentioned the sins of sex: adultery, homosexuality, lesbianism, perversion, bestiality, prostitution, rape, lewdness, pornography, and smut. He could have mentioned the sins associated with war: destruction of innocents, atrocities, gas chambers, ovens, concentration camps, torture devices, sadism. He could have mentioned sins of the home: unfaithfulness, divorce, wifebeating, mental cruelty, child abuse. Add to these the crimes of murder, mutilation, theft, burglary, embezzlement, vandalism, graft, corruption. Also the sins of speech: profanity, suggestive jokes, sensual language, cursing, blasphemy, lies, backbiting, gossip, character assassination, grumbling, and complaining. Other personal sins are: drunkenness, drug addiction, pride, envy, covetousness, ingratitude, filthy thought-life, hatred, and bitterness.

The list is seemingly endlesspollution, littering, racism, exploitation, deceit, betrayal, broken promises, and on and on. What further proof of human depravity is needed? 3:19 When God gave the law to Israel, He was using Israel as a sample of the human race. He found that Israel was a failure, and He correctly applied this finding to all of humanity. It is the same as when a health inspector takes a test-tube of water from a well, tests the sample, finds it polluted, and then pronounces the entire well polluted. So Paul explains that when the law speaks, it speaks to those who are under the lawthe people of Israelin order that every mouth, Jew and Gentile, may be stopped, and all the world be brought in guilty before God. 3:20 No one can be justified by keeping the law. The law was not given to justify people but to produce the knowledge of sinnot the knowledge of salvation, but the knowledge of sin. We could never know what a crooked line is unless we also knew a straight line. The law is like a straight line. When men test themselves by it, they see how crooked they are. We can use a mirror to see that our face is dirty, but the mirror is not designed to wash the dirty face. A thermometer will tell if a person has a fever, but swallowing the thermometer will not cure the fever. The law is good when it is used to produce conviction of sin, but it is worthless as a savior from sin. As Luther said, its function is not to justify but to terrify.

Romans 3:21

D. The Basis and Terms of the Gospel (3:21-31) 3:21 We now come to the heart of the Letter to the Romans, when Paul answers the question: According to the gospel, how can ungodly sinners be justified by a holy God?He begins by saying that the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law. This means that a plan or program has been revealed by which God can righteously save unrighteous sinners, and that it is not by requiring men to keep the law. Because God is holy, He cannot condone sin or overlook it or wink at it. He must punish it. And the punishment for sin is death. Yet God loves the sinner and wants to save him; there is the dilemma. God’s righteousness demands the sinner’s death, but His love desires the sinner’s eternal happiness. The gospel reveals how God can save sinners without compromising His righteousness. This righteous plan is witnessed by the Law and the Prophets. It was foretold in the types and shadows of the sacrificial system that required the shedding of blood for atonement. And it was foretold by direct prophecies (see, e.g., Isa_51:5-6, Isa_51:8; Isa_56:1 Dan_9:24). 3:22 Verse 21 told us that this righteous salvation is not obtained on the basis of law-keeping. Now the apostle tells us how it is obtainedthrough faith in Jesus Christ. Faith here means utter reliance on the living Lord Jesus Christ as one’s only Savior from sin and one’s only hope for heaven. It is based on the revelation of the Person and work of Christ as found in the Bible. Faith is not a leap in the dark. It demands the surest evidence, and finds it in the infallible word of God. Faith is not illogical or unreasonable. What is more reasonable than that the creature should trust his Creator? Faith is not a meritorious work by which a man earns or deserves salvation. A man cannot boast because he has believed the Lord; he would be a fool not to believe Him. Faith is not an attempt to earn salvation, but is the simple acceptance of the salvation which God offers as a free gift. Paul goes on to tell us that this salvation is to all and on all who believe. It is to all in the sense that it is available to all, offered to all, and sufficient for all. But it is only on those who believe; that is, it is effective only in the lives of those who accept the Lord Jesus by a definite act of faith. The pardon is for all, but it becomes valid in an individual’s life only when he accepts it. When Paul says that salvation is available to all, he includes Gentiles as well as Jews, because now there is no difference. The Jew has no special privilege and the Gentile is at no disadvantage. 3:23 The availability of the gospel is as universal as the need. And the need is universal because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everybody sinned in Adam; when he sinned, he acted as the representative for all his descendants. But men are not only sinners by nature; they are also sinners by practice. They fall short, in themselves, of the glory of God. EXCURSUS ON SIN Sin is any thought, word, or deed that falls short of God’s standard of holiness and perfection. It is a missing of the mark, a coming short of the target. An Indian whose arrow fell short of its target was heard to say, Oh, I sinned. In his language, the same word was used to express sinning and falling short of the target. Sin is lawlessness (1Jo_3:4), the rebellion of the creature’s will against the will of God. Sin is not only doing what is wrong but the failure to do what one knows to be right (Jam_4:17). Whatever is not of faith is sin (Rom_14:23). This means that it is wrong for a man to do anything about which he has a reasonable doubt. If he does not have a clear conscience about it, and yet goes ahead and does it, he is sinning. All unrighteousness is sin (1Jo_5:17). And the thought of foolishness is sin (Pro_24:9). Sin begins in the mind. When encouraged and entertained, it breaks forth into an act, and the act leads on to death. Sin is often attractive when first contemplated, but hideous in retrospect. Sometimes Paul distinguishes between sins and sin. Sins refer to wrong things that we have done. Sin refers to our evil naturethat is, to what we are. What we are is a lot worse than anything we have ever done. But Christ died for our evil nature as well as for our evil deeds. God forgives our sins, but the Bible never speaks of His forgiving our sin. Instead, He condemns or judges sin in the flesh (Rom_8:3). There is also a difference between sin and transgression. Transgression is a violation of a known law. Stealing is basically sinful; it is wrong in itself. But stealing is also a transgression when there is a law that forbids it. Where there is no law there is no transgression (Rom_4:15). Paul has shown that all men have sinned and continually come short of God’s glory. Now he goes on to present the remedy.

3:24 Being justified freely by His grace. The gospel tells how God justifies sinners as a free gift and by an act of unmerited favor. But what do we mean when we speak of the act of justifying? The word justify means to reckon or declare to be righteous. For example, God pronounces a sinner to be righteous when that sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the way the word is most often used in the NT. However, a man can justify God (see Luk_7:29) by believing and obeying God’s word. In other words, he declares God to be righteous in all that God says and does. And, of course, a man can justify himself; that is, he can protest his own righteousness (see Luk_10:29). But this is nothing but a form of self-deception. To justify does not mean to actually make a person righteous. We cannot make God righteous; He already is righteous. But we can declare Him to be righteous. God does not make the believer sinless or righteous in himself. Rather, God puts righteousness to his account. As A.

T. Pierson put it, God in justifying sinners actually calls them righteous when they are notdoes not impute sin where sin actually exists, and does impute righteousness where it does not exist.A popular definition of justification is just as if I’d never sinned. But this does not go far enough. When God justifies the believing sinner, He not only acquits him from guilt but clothes him in His own righteousness and thus makes him absolutely fit for heaven. Justification goes beyond acquittal to approval; beyond pardon to promotion. Acquittal means only that a person is set free from a charge.

Justification means that positive righteousness is imputed. The reason God can declare ungodly sinners to be righteous is because the Lord Jesus Christ has fully paid the debt of their sins by His death and resurrection. When sinners accept Christ by faith, they are justified. When James teaches that justification is by works (Jam_2:24), he does not mean that we are saved by good works, or by faith plus good works, but rather by the kind of faith that results in good works. It is important to realize that justification is a reckoning that takes place in the mind of God. It is not something a believer feels; he knows it has taken place because the Bible says so. C. I. Scofield expressed it this way: Justification is that act of God whereby He declares righteous all who believe in Jesus. It is something which takes place in the mind of God, not in the nervous system or emotional nature of the believer.Here in Rom_3:24 the apostle teaches that we are justified freely. It is not something we can earn or purchase, but rather something that is offered as a gift. Next we learn that we are justified … by God’s grace. This simply means that it is wholly apart from any merit in ourselves. As far as we are concerned, it is undeserved, unsought, and unbought. In order to avoid confusion later on, we should pause here to explain that there are six different aspects of justification in the NT. We are said to be justified by grace, by faith, by blood, by power, by God, and by works; yet there is no contradiction or conflict. We are justified by gracethat means we do not deserve it. We are justified by faith (Rom_5:1)that means that we have to receive it by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. We are justified by blood (Rom_5:9)that refers to the price the Savior paid in order that we might be justified. We are justified by power (Rom_4:24 25)the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead. We are justified by God (Rom_8:33)He is the One who reckons us righteous. We are justified by works (Jam_2:24)not meaning that good works earn justification, but that they are the evidence that we have been justified. Returning to 3:24, we read that we are justified through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Redemption means buying back by payment of a ransom price. The Lord Jesus bought us back from the slave market of sin. His precious blood was the ransom price which was paid to satisfy the claims of a holy and righteous God. If someone asks, To whom was the ransom paid? he misses the point. The Scriptures nowhere suggest that a specific payment was made either to God or to Satan. The ransom was not paid to anyone but was an abstract settlement that provided a righteous basis by which God could save the ungodly. 3:25 God set forth Christ Jesus as a propitiation. A propitiation is a means by which justice is satisfied, God’s wrath is averted, and mercy can be shown on the basis of an acceptable sacrifice. Three times in the NT Christ is spoken of as a propitiation. Here in Rom_3:25 we learn that those who put their faith in Christ find mercy by virtue of His shed blood. In 1Jo_2:2 Christ is described as the propitiation for our sins, and for those of the whole world. His work is sufficient for the whole world but is only effective for those who put their trust in Him. Finally, in 1Jo_4:10, God’s love was manifested in sending His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The prayer of the publican in Luk_18:13 was literally God be propitious to me, the sinner. He was asking God to show mercy to him by not requiring him to pay the penalty of his aggravated guilt. The word propitiation also occurs in Heb_2:17 : Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. Here the expression to make propitiation means to put away by paying the penalty. The OT equivalent of the word propitiation is mercy-seat. The mercy-seat was the lid of the ark. On the Day of Atonement the high priest sprinkled the mercy-seat with the blood of a sacrificial victim. By this means errors of the high priest and of the people were atoned for or covered. When Christ made propitiation for our sins, He went much further. He not only covered them but did away with them completely. Now Paul tells us in 3:25 that God set Christ forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith. We are not told to put our faith in His blood; Christ Himself is the object of our faith. It is only a resurrected and living Christ Jesus who can save. He is the propitiation. Faith in Him is the condition by which we avail ourselves of the propitiation. His blood is the price that was paid. The finished work of Christ declares God’s righteousness for the remission of sins that are past. This refers to sins committed before the death of Christ. From Adam to Christ, God saved those who put their faith in Him on the basis of whatever revelation He gave them. Abraham, for example, believed God, and it was reckoned to him for righteousness (Gen_15:6). But how could God do this righteously? A sinless Substitute had not been slain. The blood of a perfect Sacrifice had not been shed. In a word, Christ had not died. The debt had not been paid. God’s righteous claims had not been met. How then could God save believing sinners in the OT period? The answer is that although Christ had not yet died, God knew that He would die, and He saved men on the basis of the still-future work of Christ. Even if OT saints didn’t know about Calvary, God knew about it, and He put all the value of Christ’s work to their account when they believed God. In a very real sense, OT believers were saved on credit. They were saved on the basis of a price still to be paid. They looked forward to Calvary; we look back to it. That is what Paul means when he says that the propitiation of Christ declares God’s righteousness because He had passed over the sins that were previously committed. He is not speaking, as some wrongly think, of sins which an individual person has committed before his conversion. This might suggest that the work of Christ took care of sins before the new birth, but that a man is on his own after that. No, he is dealing with the seeming leniency of God in apparently overlooking the sins of those who were saved before the cross. It might seem that God excused those sins or pretended not to see them. Not so, says Paul. The Lord knew that Christ would make full expiation, and so He saved men on that basis. So the OT period was a time of the forbearance of God. For at least 4000 years He held back His judgment on sin. Then in the fullness of time He sent His Son to be the Sin-bearer. When the Lord Jesus took our sins upon Himself, God unleashed the full fury of His righteous, holy wrath on the Son of His love. 3:26 Now the death of Christ declares God’s righteousness. God is just because He has required the full payment of the penalty of sin. And He can justify the ungodly without condoning their sin or compromising His own righteousness because a perfect Substitute has died and risen again. Albert Midlane has stated the truth in poetry: The perfect righteousness of God Is witnessed in the Savior’s blood; ‘Tis in the cross of Christ we trace His righteousness, yet wondrous grace. God could not pass the sinner by, His sin demands that he must die; But in the cross of Christ we see How God can save, yet righteous be. The sin is on the Savior laid, ‘Tis in His blood sin’s debt is paid; Stern justice can demand no more, And mercy can dispense her store. The sinner who believes is free, Can say, The Savior died for me; Can point to the atoning blood, And say, That made my peace with God.3:27 Where is boasting then in this wonderful plan of salvation? It is excluded, shut out, banned. By what principle is boasting excluded? By the principle of works? No. If salvation were by works, that would allow room for all kinds of self-congratulation. But when salvation is on the principle of faith, there is no room for boasting. The justified person says, I did all the sinning; Jesus did all the saving. True faith disavows any possibility of self-help, self-improvement, or self-salvation, looking only to Christ as Savior. Its language is: In my hand no price I bring, Simply to Thy cross I cling; Naked, come to Thee for dress, Helpless, look to Thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly; Wash me, Savior, or I die. Augustus M. Toplady 3:28 As the reason why boasting is excluded, Paul reiterates that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 3:29 How does the gospel present God? Is He the exclusive God of the Jews? No, He is also the God of the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus Christ did not die for one race of mankind but for the whole world of sinners. And the offer of full and free salvation goes out to whosoever will, Jew or Gentile. 3:30 There aren’t two Godsone for the Jews and one for the Gentiles. There is only one God and only one way of salvation for all mankind. He justifies the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Whatever the reason for the use of different prepositions here , there is no difference in the instrumental cause of justification; it is faith in both cases. 3:31 An important question remains. When we say that salvation is by faith and not by law-keeping, do we imply that the law is worthless and should be disregarded? Does the gospel wave the law aside as if it had no place? On the contrary, the gospel establishes the law, and this is how: The law demands perfect obedience. The penalty for breaking the law must be paid. That penalty is DEATH. If a lawbreaker pays the penalty, he will be lost eternally. The gospel tells how Christ died to pay the penalty of the broken law. He did not treat it as a thing to be ignored. He paid the debt in full. Now anyone who has broken the law can avail himself of the fact that Christ paid the penalty on his behalf. Thus the gospel of salvation by faith upholds the law by insisting that its utmost demands must be and have been fully met.