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God's Non-Negotiable Faithfulness Romans 3:1-8 |
March 28, 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum |
Hans Christian Anderson's story of The Emperor's New Clothes is a classic story beloved by people the world over. Briefly, the story goes like this: Once upon a time there was an emperor who was very fond of appearances and clothing. One day, some very clever con men offered to weave him a rare and costly garment. The emperor was most 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, but not wanting to be thought unwise and impure in heart, the official returned with a report about the fabulous beauty of the cloth. Some time later the emperor again became impatient and sent his second chief minister, who returned with an even more enthusiastic report. Eventually, the emperor went to check on the progress 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 stripped away the hypocritical pretense of the entire nation.
As we come to the third chapter of Romans, we can easily imagine that the Jews in Paul's audience were beginning to feel somewhat like the unclothed emperor. All of their lives they have walked through their society with their heads held high and their chests puffed out with a sense of pride rooted in their heritage as God's chosen people. God had given them the Law. God had given them circumcision as a sign of their unique relationship with Him. While others awaited judgment, they awaited the great reward that God would give them for their righteousness.
And then we come to chapter 2 and Paul begins to systematically unclothe them by destroying the foundation of every advantage they had always assumed to be their Jewish birthright.
--The Law? Sorry. No matter how hard you work trying to keep the requirements of the law, you can never change the sinful nature of your heart. You still need the gift of salvation that God offers through the Gospel.
--Circumcision? Sorry. A meaningless ritual if it's not validated by a loving relationship of trust and obedience to God. In fact, God considers uncircumcised Gentiles who trust Him for their salvation and trust His Spirit to change their hearts in ways they never could on their own…well…He considers them to be true Jews.
--Righteousness? Sorry. Whatever degree of righteousness you may think you have earned with all of your good works and religious activity is still painfully short of what God requires to qualify you for heaven. The truth is, that degree of righteousness is completely beyond your reach. Your only hope for salvation is to receive the righteousness that God offers everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike, as a gift through the Gospel.
So, with all of that as background, it's not surprising that Paul opens chapter 3 with the obvious question; the question that was surely on the mind of any in Paul's audience with a Jewish heritage: "What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?"
--If having the Law and circumcision don't secure our eternal destiny with God…
--If God considers Gentiles who put their faith in Him and this Gospel to be true Jews…
--If everyone needs the salvation offered through this Gospel…
If all of that is true then all of a sudden, being God's chosen people doesn't seem to mean a whole bunch? What's the advantage of being Jewish?
And as we move on to verse 2 we hear Paul's emphatic and somewhat surprising response, as he says, "Much in every way!" In other words, there are tremendous advantages to being Jewish.
Now, the reason I call that a somewhat surprising response is because we are so thoroughly steeped in our Christian heritage that we may very well have expected Paul to say, "The truth is, there are no advantages to being Jewish because in Christ distinctions like Jew and Gentile just don't matter. When we stand at the foot of the cross we stand on common ground. We're all just sinners in need of salvation. Every one of us." And the truth is that Paul makes that very argument elsewhere in the scriptures.
So, how can there be no advantages to being Jewish and great advantages to being Jewish at the same time? And the answer is that in terms of their salvation there was no advantage to being Jewish. Again, we're all sinners in need of the salvation that God offers through the Gospel of Jesus. But in terms of their calling…their mission…there were great advantages.
And Paul begins now to identify and list those advantages. Interestingly, he only puts one item on the list…at least for now. He starts the list, but then he takes a lengthy detour to address other concerns before finally returning to and finishing in chapter 9 the list he starts here in chapter 3. And here's the way he starts the list in verse 2.
"What advantage…is there in being a Jew? Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God."
So, while Paul has been unrelenting in pointing out the many ways that many of God's chosen people had misunderstood and mishandled the Law that God had given them, he also wants us to realize that none of that changes the fact that when God gave the world the very words that could lead us into a relationship with Him, He gave those words to the Jews. And, in spite of all of their failures and shortcomings, those words were preserved through the centuries, right up through the fulfillment of those words in the coming of Christ.
Now, as we move on the verses 3-8 let me just warn you that this is a difficult passage to rightly understand, but we'll do our best to shed some light on it. It appears, at this point, that Paul anticipates that his response to the, "What advantage is there in being a Jew?" question, is going to prompt an objection from some in his audience. So, in verse 3 he raises the objection that he anticipates they will make and then in verse 4 he answers their objection.
Look with me at verse 3. "What if some (that is, some of the Jews) did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness?" Paul imagines that some will read his response in verse 2 and say, "Now wait a minute, Paul, you're talking out of both sides of your mouth here. You just said that the great advantage the Jews possess is the Law, so you seem to be saying that their status as God's chosen people…the Covenant people…is secure. But a few verses earlier, you also said that many of the Jews have so misunderstood the point of the Law, that they will not even be saved. And if that's true…if many of God's chosen people are not going to be saved…it looks to me like God has broken His promise to His own people! It looks to me like this 'Faithful God' is not so faithful after all."
And verse 4 is Paul's response to this question about whether or not the faithlessness of some of God's people somehow proves the faithlessness of God. He writes, "Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar." In other words, even if every single one of God's people failed to come to Him in faith and thereby failed to be saved, even that would not mean that God was in any way being unfaithful.
And Paul then supports his position with a quote from Psalm 51, the Psalm that Israel's beloved King David wrote after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. David wrote, "So that you (God) may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge." David's point was simply this, "God had every right to judge me because I sinned against Him. God's judgment of me wasn't proof of God's faithlessness. God's judgment of me was proof of God's righteousness."
Now, let me put all of this together for you and see if I can summarize what Paul has said to this point. Yes, there are some advantages to being a Jew and chief among those advantages was having been entrusted with God's word. But, if God's word doesn't move them into a loving relationship of faith in God, they will not be saved and they will not avoid God's judgment. But God's judgment of them will not mean that God is in some way being unfaithful because they deserved His judgment because of their sin. So, God's judgment of their sin…their unrighteousness…will actually be a powerful declaration and demonstration of His righteousness, because a righteous God cannot ignore sin.
Now, as we move on to verse 5 Paul imagines yet another objection being raised. He writes, "But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (Then he adds parenthetically), "I am using a human argument." You get the sense that Paul is uncomfortable even raising these ridiculous arguments, even though he knows that these are exactly the kind of arguments that grow from human reason.
And the argument here is basically this: If our sin brings on God's judgment…and God's judgment displays His righteousness, and that display of righteousness gives glory to God…then God is actually judging us for the very thing that He tells us we're supposed to do, which is to glorify Him. So, doesn't that mean that God is unjust to judge us?
Now, folks, isn't that exactly the way the human mind works? Haven't you heard similar arguments against God's word? Haven't you engaged in some of those arguments yourself? I certainly have. Folks, the truth is, the moment we put ourselves in the position of arguing with God rather than simply accepting that His word is always true, our minds are capable of devising the most amazingly absurd arguments to justify our resistance of God. Arguments like, "Well, isn't God unjust to judge us?"
And in verse 6 Paul offers another emphatic response saying, "Certainly not!" What an absurd thing to say. And then he explains why it's so absurd.
His explanation begins in verse 6 where he says, "If that were so, how could God judge the world?" In other words, God's word clearly says that a day of Judgment is coming. And you Jews don't dispute that. But if your argument were true and God couldn't judge you for your sin, then it would logically follow that God couldn't judge anybody for their sin because the truth is that God's judgment of sin will always demonstrate His righteousness.
Then in verses 7-8 he exposes the complete absurdity of this line of human reasoning by carrying it to it's logical extreme. He writes, "Someone might argue, 'If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?' Why not say-as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say-'Let us do evil that good may result'?"
I said a moment ago that the human mind is capable of devising all manner of absurd arguments to justify our resistance of God and what He declares to be true. And, here in verse 8, as Paul restates the argument he made back in verse 5, we see just how ridiculous those arguments can get. If God's desire is for me to glorify Him…and my sin brings on His judgment…and His judgment demonstrates His righteousness…and this demonstration of righteousness is glorifying to God…then, obviously, the best way to give honor and glory to God is to sin as much as we possibly can.
--Absurd? Absolutely.
--Silly and foolish? Absolutely.
--Consistent with the way the human mind works when it tries to justify it's position rather than accept a truth it doesn't want to hear from God? Absolutely.
And with that we come to the place we always come to each and every time we study God's word--what is the practical lesson in all of this? What can I take from God's word today that will actually be useful for me in my daily life?
Folks, I believe the Practical Lesson is found in the statement that brings verse 8 to an end. Paul has just finished laying out a series of ridiculous arguments that show how clever we humans can be in twisting and distorting and manipulating God's word when it says something that we don't want to hear. And after laying out all of these absurd distortions of God's word, Paul closes his argument with this statement, "Their condemnation is deserved."
Question: To whom does the word "their" refer?
Answer: Anyone who would manipulate, twist or distort God's word in a foolish attempt to make it say something untrue but more palatable to their own ears.
Lesson: Don't play games with the word of God. Find out what it says. And then, once you know what it says, if you realize that something in your life is moving in a direction that God's word says is foolish, dangerous, destructive or wrong, don't look for ways to alter the meaning of God's word, alter your life. Don't try to make God's word conform to your life. Bring your life into conformity with God's word.
Question: Can you think of something in your life right now that is contrary to what God's word says is good or true?
Follow Up Question: Is your life better because of it?
Don't play games with the word of God.
© Copyright 2004 Pastor Tom Marcum