Romans 3

Romans 3:1

Romans 3:1 : What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? The proud hearted Jew resented any idea that put him on a level with the people of other nations. To the Jew who prided himself on being a Jew and who put stress on outward show it would seem that Paul was seeking to make it appear that there was no advantage in being a Jew and no profit in circumcision. Paul was here anticipating an objection of the Jew. Paul did not give a full answer to such an objection.

Romans 3:2

Romans 3:2 : Much every way: first of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. The Jews had enjoyed many blessings and advantages, including a land of their own but their chief profit or advantage was, that they had been entrusted with the oracles of God. “The oracles of God” included all that we find in what we now know as the Old Testament– having that entrusted to them was the Jews’ chief ad-vantage, their greatest profit. How much greater is our advantage in having also the New Testament. The Jews “received the law as it was ordained by angels, and kept it not” (Acts 7:53).

Romans 3:3-4

Romans 3:3-4 : For what if some were without faith? shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy words, And mightest pre-van when thou comest into judgment. God had promised to bless the Jews. If he failed to bless them, even though they sinned, would he not be false to his promise? Would their lack of faith interfere with God’s promise? But God’s promises are conditional. No matter what theories people may have, we must let God be true, even if we must regard all theories as false and every man a liar. Only in that way can we be justified in our words and prevail when we come into judgment.

Romans 3:5-6

Romans 3:5-6 : But if our unrighteousness commend-eth the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who visiteth with wrath? That this is another objection that a Jew might make is shown by the fact that Paul immediately adds, “(I speak after the manner of men.)” The possible objection is stated in a very cautious way. If man’s sin is the occasion of God’s displaying his plan of righteousness through the gospel, then what shall we conclude? Shall we conclude that God is unrighteous in punishing us for living so as to cause him to make such a display of his righteousness? God forbid, or May it not be so. If it were so, then how shall God judge the world?

Romans 3:7-8

Romans 3:7-8 : But if the truth of God through my lie abounded unto his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? The Jew regarded Christianity as a lie and that Paul’s preaching it made it his lie, and that in forsaking Judaism for Christianity he committed about the greatest sin that a Jew could commit. Paul is here adopting the objector’s method of reasoning. If you justify your sins on the grounds that your sins brought out and displayed God’s righteousness, why condemn me for what you consider my great sin? On that theory, “why not (as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say), let us do evil, that good may come?” If the theory stated in the objection were correct, then the more we sin, the better it would be for us. But Paul adds that the condemnation of such slanderers is just.

Romans 3:9

Romans 3:9 : What then? are we better than they? Are we Jews better than the Gentiles? No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin. To prove that all were under sin had been the object of all that he had said from the eighteenth verse of chapter one. This he had done to prove that all were under condemna-tion and needed the gospel as God’s power to save them. To further establish the sinfulness of man, he quotes extensively from the prophets.

 

“What then? are we better than they?” These are questions a Jew would ask after hearing Paul’s reasoning in the preceding verses. The Jew had so many advantages he would naturally think himself better than others. But he had made such poor use of these advantages that Paul unhesitatingly answers “No, in no wise: for we before laid to the charge both of Jews and Greeks, that they are all under sin.” The Jew had not lived up to the law, and therefore was not justified; the Gentile had also failed of justification, for he had not lived up to the light he had. So far as meriting justification was concerned, neither was superior to the other, for they were all sinners.

Romans 3:10-11

Romans 3:10-11 : As it is written, There is none righteous, no not one; There is none that understandeth, There is none that seeketh after God. Paul gives a number of quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures to prove from their own prophets the sinfulness of the Jews. After making the general statement that none of them were righteous, Paul shows wherein they were sinful.

 

The Jews were great students of their Scriptures, and yet they did not understand. Wherein they had an accurate understanding of the requirements of the law, they failed to understand the significance of the things required. They did not understand that their whole system was temporary and typical. In their estimation the whole system of Judaism was God’s permanent order of things, and they were always to be God’s special people. But Jesus used language about them more pointed than the language Paul quotes “blind guides,” “fools and blind.” To those who were supposed to be especially skilled in the law Jesus said: “Woe unto you lawyers! for ye took away the key of knowledge.” Even the key to a correct understanding of their Scriptures had been hidden in the rubbish of their notions or traditions. Let those who think the Jews had such an accurate understanding of kingdom matters consider what Jesus and his in-spired apostle said about them.

 

There is none that seeketh after God. Perhaps no people ever studied the Scriptures more than did the Jews; yet they were not seeking after God. To seek after God is to seek to know and to do his will–to make his thoughts our thoughts and his ways our ways. Pharisees, lawyers, and scribes studied that they might be informed and formally correct, so that they might stand well with their fellow Jews. Instead of seeking to be justified in the sight of God, they sought to justify themselves in the sight of men. Jesus said to them:

 

“Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God” (Luke 16:15).

 

They loved the praise of men more than the praise of God (John 12:43). Such a frame of mind utterly unfitted them for heart-seeking after God. “How can ye believe, who receive glory one of another, and the glory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?” (John 5:44). When a person studies the Scriptures for any other purpose than to know God and to be able to do his will, there is no telling what sort of absurd conclusions he may arrive at. “And let us know, let us follow on to know Jehovah” (Hosea 6:3).

Romans 3:12

Romans 3:12 : They have all turned aside, they are together become unprofitable; There is none that doeth good, no, not so much as one. This, because they did not understand and would not seek after God. To Je-hovah they were not profitable–he could not use them in his plans. But they were not born in that condi-tion, but had turned aside and become unprofitable. None were absolutely good–all had sinned.

Romans 3:13-14

Romans 3:13-14 : Their throat is an open sepulchre; With their tongues they have used deceit: The poison of asps is under their lips. That is a strong figure of speech. From their throats would come words as offensive as the odors from’ an open sepulchre. How expressive of the filthiness of their speech! Deceit was one of the sins charged against the Gentiles. Now the Jews are also charged with the same sin. No dependence can be put in what a deceitful person says. Paul also charges that their words were poison like the poison of asps, that their mouth was full of bitterness and cursing. A deceitful person is a liar for gain of some sort, but he expects everyone to believe him; and if you find out that he is a liar, he becomes bitter toward you.

Romans 3:15

Romans 3:15 : Their feet are swift to shed blood. This expresses their readiness to murder. From the trial of Jesus we learn that even their high court sometimes was eager to murder an innocent victim.

Romans 3:16

Romans 3:16 : Destruction and misery are in their ways. They had come to be a turbulent race. Read what Josephus says took place inside Jerusalem while the Roman army laid siege to that unfortunate city.

Romans 3:17-18

Romans 3:17-18 : And the ways of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes. Had they loved peace, they could have found it. They did not know how to be peaceable. On this point Jesus testified against them. “And when he drew nigh, he saw the city, and wept over it, saying, If thou hadst known in this day, even thou, the things which belong unto peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.” That Jesus here referred to their social and political peace is clear from what he immediately adds: “For the days shall come upon thee, when thine enemies shall cast up a bank about thee” (Luke 19:41-44). They did not know how to be at peace with God nor man. And here is the reason: “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” They had no reverence for God, and therefore no regard for their fellow man.

Romans 3:19

Romans 3:19 : Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it speaketh to them that are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. Here the entire Old Testament is referred to as the law, for Paul had been quoting from various parts of the Old Testament. What he had quoted were, therefore, words directed to the Jews–they were guilty of the crimes mentioned in the quotations. “That every mouth may be stopped.” That all might so feel their guilt as to be unable to answer back or make any defense. The Jews could not deny what their own inspired prophets had said. “And all the world may be brought under the judgment of God.” The Jew readily granted that the Gentile was under the judgment of God, and now Paul proves from the Jew-ish Scriptures that the Jew was likewise under the judgment of God.

Romans 3:20

Romans 3:20 : Because by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight; for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin. Had they kept the law perfectly, they would have been justified by the law; but Paul had proved by their own Scriptures that they had not so kept the law. He had shown them to be guilty of many and grievous sins; “for through the law cometh the knowledge of sin.” That which might have been the means of their justification had, on ac-count of their sins, become the means of their convic-tion. This conviction, this feeling of sinfulness, did not come to them through some direct operation of the Holy Spirit, but through the plain statements of in-spired men.

 

One Point Established. In the portion of the letter that we have considered, Paul showed that the Gen-tile, while relying upon natural law as his human wisdom interpreted it, had plunged into all sorts of sin. He had not even lived up to the law of nature. Paul also showed that the Jew, instead of living up to the demands of the law of Moses so as to be justified by it, had so transgressed the law as to be condemned by it. All, both Jews and Gentiles, were condemned sinners, and were lost, unless some plan could be presented that would make righteous men out of sinners. The law would justify a man, if he kept it perfectly but it could not justify one after he had transgressed the law.

Romans 3:21

Romans 3:21 : But now apart from law, a righteous-ness of God bath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. (American Bible Union Version.) In Paul’s language, the term “the law” refers to the law of Moses. The American Standard Version has “apart from the law,” but there is no “the” in this phrase in the Greek. This righteous-ness was “apart from law,” any law, whether the law of Moses or the law under which Gentiles lived.

 

The “now” is emphatic–now, in the present case, or in the present dispensation, a plan of righteousness has been manifested, made known, or brought to light. This plan is distinct from law. And yet the Jew should not have been astonished at the inauguration of this new plan of righteousness, for both the law and the prophets had borne witness concerning this plan of righteousness “being witnessed by the law and the prophets.”

 

“Being borne witness to.” It was not a new doctrine; it was found in the Old Testament. The apostle makes this observation with special reference to the Jews. He does not declare any new thing, but that which was fully declared in their own sacred writings.” (Barnes’ “Notes on the Epistle to the Romans.”) Barnes was a Presbyterian, and usually fairly clear-headed but it is impossible for a person who does not comprehend God’s plan of human redemption to see clearly some points. Paul does not say that this plan of righteousness was taught and developed by the law and the prophets, but that they bore witness, gave their testimony, concerning this plan of righteousness which was now, apart from the law, brought to light. But how witnessed by the law and the prophets?

 

The tabernacle, with its various services and offerings, was a type of the better things to come. In speaking of these things, Paul adds this explanatory clause, “Which is a figure for the time present,” or for the present time (Hebrews 9:9). In this way, and also in God’s promise to Abraham, the law testified, or gave witness, concerning this plan of righteousness. And the prophets also gave their testimony concerning this plan of salvation through Christ, this plan that has now been manifested, or brought into view.

Dislocating or Perverting Prophecy–A future-kingdom advocate makes this bold statement: “But the Old Testament knows nothing whatever of Chris-tianity!” That is, there is not a prophecy in the Old Testament concerning the gospel plan of salvation! Can you believe it? Yet that expresses boldly what is generally believed by the future-kingdom folks. But, in saying that the prophets gave witness concerning this plan of righteousness now made known, Paul flatly contradicts such assertions. In such teaching, these folks are not speculating about unfulfilled prophecies, so much as they are dislocating prophecies. They are taking prophecies that have been fulfilled, and prophecies that are now in the process of fulfillment, and setting them forward as prophecies that are yet unfulfilled.

If they did no more than speculate about unfulfilled prophecies, their talk would not be worth considering. I deplore the fact that brethren have given them a decided advantage by referring to their theories as “speculation about unfulfilled prophecy.” When they say that the land of promise to Abraham has not been fulfilled; that the prophecies concerning the restoration of the Jews have not been fulfilled; hat the prophecy of Dan 2:44 is not fulfilled in the church; that the prophecy that Christ would sit on David’s throne has not been fulfilled and then you say, “Oh, yes; more speculation about unfulfilled prophecy,” have you not conceded every point they claim?

They say that these prophecies have not been fulfilled, and you agree with them by referring to their perversions as “speculations about unfulfilled prophecy.” And when they say that none of the prophecies of the Old Testament refer to this gospel plan of salvation through Christ, why yield that point to them by calling such talk “speculation about unfulfilled prophecy?” I know of no greater perversion of Scripture than to say that none of the prophecies of the Old Testament refer to this present dispensation! Paul said the gospel to which he had been separated had been promised afore through the prophets in the Holy Scriptures (Romans 1:1). Jesus said that it had been written in the prophets that repentance and re-mission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Jerusalem (Luke 24:45-48). But why multiply Scriptures? The idea that the prophets said nothing of this “church age” was never heard of till some became wiser in their own minds than the apostles and Jesus Christ! And I have been astounded beyond expression to hear brethren continually refer to such perversions of Scripture as “speculation about unfulfilled prophecy”!

Romans 3:22-24

Romans 3:22-24 : Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that be-lieve; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-24 connects closely with Romans 1:16-17. This righteousness which is apart from the law is attained through faith in Jesus Christ; and it is for all who believe, for there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile. All, both Jew and Gentile, need this gospel salvation; for all have sinned–all have come short of the glory of God. This salvation for all was according to God’s plan and purpose.

 

No Distinction.–God had chosen Abraham and his seed for a special purpose. The Jews had failed to grasp God’s purpose; they thought of Jehovah as their God, and no one else’s. In their thinking he was a tribal, or national, God. It took a special miracle to convince Peter that Jehovah was the God of any but the Jews. To correct this deep-seated idea among the Jews, Paul frequently reminded the Jewish Christians that now there was no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. Some of the Jewish Christians never did get over that tribal idea, and drifted into a sect known as Ebionites. It is a pity that some brethren of late years have revived, slightly modified, perhaps, the Jew-ish idea that Jehovah is the Jew’s national God.

 

Let us read Romans 3:21-24, leaving out an apparent parenthetical expression: “But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, be-ing witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ un-to all them that believe; . . . being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” To justify a person is to declare him free from guilt Law cannot declare a person just, or free from guilt, if he had violated it in only one point. Justification by law was impossible, for all sinned. But apart from the law, a plan of righteousness had been revealed. The apostle tells us that this justification is free; and he further emphasizes the fact that it is free by adding that it is by grace. It is bestowed gratuitously. It is not arrived at by merit, but comes by grace.

And it is by faith. By the term “faith” Paul means all that is implied in accepting Jesus Christ as our Savior, Prophet, Priest, and King. This will later be discussed more fully. The justification that is offered apart from the law is also through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, or by Christ Jesus. It is by what he did that we have redemption.

 

SOME TERMS DEFINED

Just here it might be well to study some words Paul uses. It stands to reason that no one can understand a passage of Scripture unless he understands the words of the passage. In studying these words we shall consider only those meanings that relate to the salvation of sinners.

 

Justify–To justify a person is to pronounce him just, or righteous; to declare him not guilty. Of course, if a person kept the law perfectly, he would be justified; he would be declared not guilty. If God forgives a sinner, there is then nothing against him. He is free from guilt–he is as righteous as if he had never sinned.

 

Grace–Grace is favor. It is a benefit bestowed without pay–the gratuitous bestowal of a thing that a person needs. The sinner needs forgiveness needs to be righteous. Only through God’s grace is it possible for a sinner to be forgiven, or to be justified. No matter how many things he may be required to do as conditions of forgiveness, it does not destroy the fact that, on God’s part, his forgiveness and justification are wholly of grace. No amount of works will destroy the fact that forgiveness is by grace.

 

Redeemer–A redeemer is one who rescues another from bondage, or liberates another from any condition wherein he is held. Jesus redeems us from the bond-age of sin and from the power of the devil. He is our only Redeemer.

 

Ransom–Ransom is the price for redeeming. Jesus came “to give his life a ransom for many” (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45). Hence, he became that which is given in exchange for another as the price of his redemption (1 Timothy 2:6). “Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6). “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).

 

Redemption–Redemption is the act of redeeming. Christ is called “redemption,” because the whole process of redemption is centered in him (1 Corinthians 1:30).

 

Jesus is our Redeemer no one else can rescue us from the bondage of sin. He is also our Ransom, for he was the price paid for our redemption. And in him God graciously provided a means by which sinners can be justified.

Romans 3:25-26

Romans 3:25-26 : Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the situ done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. “Whom God set forth” that is, publicly exhibited him. To propitiate is to appease, to render favorable. When Jacob was to meet Esau, sent gifts to Esau to appease his wrath, to cause him to have a more favorable feeling toward Jacob. It is not meant that God was angry toward the sinner in the sense that men become angry. On the contrary, the whole plan of redemption grew out of God’s pity and compassion for sinful men. But God’s law had been violated, his authority had been disregarded, and man was under condemnation.

There is, so to speak, such a thing as legal or judicial wrath. A judge and a jury may find that a man is guilty as charged in the indictment; and yet the man’s sorrow and repentance may be so manifest that both judge and jury would earnestly wish that there might be some way to clear him, and at the same time uphold the majesty of the law; but there is no way that they can show that they are right in freeing him.

To main-tain the law they must condemn him. Let that serve as a faint illustration. God’s law had been violated again and again and yet in this present dispensation he was justifying sinners and he had passed over the sins done aforetime–that is, sins committed under the former dispensation. How could he show that he was just in so doing? To ignore sins, or to treat them with indifference, would wreck his moral government. He must be just and the majesty of his law upheld. Justice demands that the guilty be punished, and the majesty of the law requires that the penalties of the law be inflicted on the guilty. How, then, could God be just in passing over the sins of the former dispensation and in justifying sinners in the present, time?

Only because Jesus died for us. He suffered the penalties of the violated law. Even though he paid the penalty for our redemption from sin and death, he forces no one to accept the freedom he purchased. The plan arranges only that those who now believe in Jesus may be justified. In the light of the foregoing comments reread Romans 3:25-26. The death of Christ made it possible for God to be righteous in passing over the sins committed before the coming of Christ, for the sacrifices they offered pointed to Christ; the death of Christ made it possible also for God to be just while justifying sinners now, who believe in Christ.

Romans 3:27

Romans 3:27 : Where then is the glorying? It is excluded. By what manner of law? of works? Nay: but by a law of faith. If a man were to live a perfect life, he would have grounds for boasting that he had always done the right thing, that no taint of sin ever soiled his spotless life, and that he stood justified on his own record. But none so lived, for all have sinned.

In recognizing one’s self as a condemned sinner, there is a cause for humility, but no grounds for boasting. And the greatest ground for humility is the knowledge that an innocent Person died to save me from my own folly. Instead of being the proud possessor of a spotless character, I have to rely on another to cleanse me from my own defilement. And this depending on the innocent to justify the guilty is what Paul calls the “law of faith.” This law of faith is the plan, or ar-rangement, in which is required faith in Jesus, who died for us.

Romans 3:28

Romans 3:28 : We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Here we may draw hurtful conclusions, if we do not keep in mind Paul’s line of argument. Paul is not contrasting faith and the obedience of faith, but he is contrasting justification by works of law and justification by faith. In Romans 1:5 he speaks of “the obedience of faith” –that is, obedience of which faith is the source or foundation–an obedient faith. Works of law is an entirely different thing from obedience of faith. When Paul talks about faith, he means an obedient faith.

Many have stumbled through Romans without ever recognizing the fact that Paul makes that plain in the very beginning of his letter. To make works of law refer to the obedience of faith is to enshroud ourselves in a fog of confusion from which we will not be able to emerge with any clear ideas of the gospel plan of salvation. To be justified by works of law requires that works, as measured by law, be perfect. A sinner can never be justified by works of law, for no amount of works will change the fact that he has sinned. But the death of Christ made it possible for those who believe in him to be justified. But just here another hurtful error has been made–namely, the limiting of faith to an acceptance of him as a sacrifice for our sins.

Faith is decidedly too limited in scope, if it does not include also submission to Jesus as our King; for Jesus will save no one in whose heart he is not al-lowed to reign as King. But the death of Jesus for all made it possible for all to be saved.

Romans 3:29-30

Romans 3:29-30 : Or is God the God of Jews only? is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also: if so be that God is one, and he shall justify the circumcision by faith, and the uncircumcision through faith. The Jews did not think that God would recognize a Gentile, unless he became a part of the Jewish nation. In their estimation he was the God of the Jews only–a tribal, or national, God. Many of the early Christians of Jerusalem taught that Gentile Christians had to be circumcised and keep the law, or they could not be saved. They could see no salvation for any but Jews; hence, they demanded that Gentile Christians become Jews.

It is a pity that this tribal idea of God is now being advocated, with slight modifications, by Christians among Gentiles. Paul had much contention with those who had that conception of God. This one verse, properly considered, will destroy any such false conceptions of God. He is the God of both Jews and Gentiles–the God of all nations. He is equally related to all and all are equally related to him, for he is one. He is not one kind of God to the Jews and another to the Gentiles.

 

It would seem that Paul meant to make a distinction between the phrases “by faith” and “through faith,” else why use the two phrases? But the distinction, if any, is too subtle for me to discover.

Romans 3:31

Romans 3:31 : Do we then make the law of none effect through faith? God forbid: nay, we establish the law. With the Seventh-Day adventists “the law” means the Ten Commandments. They use this pas-sage in an effort to prove that “the law” is not abolished in Christ, but established. But, unfortunately for their argument, the article “the” is not before law in the Greek in this verse. The marginal reading of the American Standard Version shows that to be true. “Do we then make law of none effect through faith?

God forbid: nay, we establish law.” In claiming that “the law” is the Ten Commandments they lose their argument in this passage, for Paul does not use “the” before law in this verse. We do not make any la w of none effect through faith. Law here evidently is that universal rule of right and wrong that is binding on all nations and peoples of all time. That law is es-tablished by faith.

But how do we establish law by faith? Certainly not in the sense that we set it up or make it binding. But if we come to the Lord Jesus Christ that we may be forgiven of sins committed against the universal moral law, do we not thereby show that we recognize its binding force?