Paul's Passing Thoughts

In Romans 1:16, Paul begins his gospel treatise to the Romans. From there to 3:1 where we begin today’s lesson, Paul begins to unfold the gospel—the full counsel of God. He had hoped to do this much sooner and in person, but since God had hindered him, he delivered this treatise by letter. The church at Rome was in dire need of God’s wisdom in the midst. These Christians came from a culture that was the cradle of Western philosophy. The fact that these people embraced a faith that was inherently and predominantly Jewish is astounding. Therefore, Paul’s gospel treatise seeks to set the metaphysical story straight. In this treatise, he is adjusting deep rooted Greco-Roman philosophical presuppositions and attitudes dating back to the 6^th century BC. These were deep-rooted presumptions brought with them into an antithetical Jewish culture that also needed significant adjustment. Rome was a highly hierarchical and class-conscious society; but yet, they willingly embraced a faith that clearly attributed privileged status to the Jews as God’s chosen people.

Therefore, Paul makes it clear that there are no second class citizens in the kingdom of God, and all men must inter the kingdom and live in the kingdom by the same standard whether Jew or Greek. Paul approaches this from many different angles in the first two chapters to the point where clarification is needed in 3:1. Paul realizes that he has so strongly emphasized this that the Romans would now conclude that there was nothing unique at all in regard to being a Jew. Hence,

Romans 3:1—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.

Among the nations, God chose the Jews to oversee God’s “logion” or utterances/oracles. Yes, they were written in a canon, but they were no less the breath of God—documentation of His very words to man. This was a special privilege among many others (Due. 4:8), but didn’t mean that Jews could live before God by their own standards and on their own terms. But even though some rebelled this did not nullify the promises of God for them:

Romans 3:3—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”

Once again, as we endeavor in our personal study, we are not enslaved by what leaders decide to teach us. All Christians should partake in their own hefty study of the word of God. I was stalled in this lesson for some time due to a reoccurring theme that was a little puzzling to me. When we think of God’s “righteousness” we think of His judgment and His actions as a righteous judge. But actually, God’s righteousness is revealed by everything he does; particularly, His saving actions which we usually think of as His mercy and love. There is no doubt that His salvation is an act of mercy and love, but the Bible often speaks of His salvation as being for the purpose of revealing His righteousness:

Romans 3:21—But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—

Hence, the law is not the standard for justification, what God does is the standard. Therefore, the whole idea that Christ had to fulfill the law while He was here on earth so that our justification would be validated becomes problematic to say the least because the law is not the standard for God’s righteousness which was imputed to us. The fact that God saved us REVEALS His righteousness apart from the law. I suppose you could say that nothing outside of God stands in judgment over His actions. He Himself is righteousness. AND, the idea that God will not fulfill His promises to Israel because of things they have done plainly denies God’s righteousness which is ill advised.

Let’s look at some examples of this:

Deuteronomy 9:5

Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Deuteronomy 9:6

“Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.

Let’s look further into this idea that every act of God declares His righteousness:

Judges 5:11

To the sound of musicians at the watering places, there they repeat the righteous triumphs of the LORD, the righteous triumphs of his villagers in Israel. “Then down to the gates marched the people of the LORD.

1 Samuel 12:7

Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the LORD concerning all the righteous deeds of the LORD that he performed for you and for your fathers.

2 Chronicles 12:6

Then the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is righteous.”

Nehemiah 9:8

You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

Nehemiah 9:33

Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly.

Job 36:3

I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

Psalm 7:17

I will give to the LORD the thanks due to his righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.

Psalm 22:31

they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn, that he has done it.

There is not enough time to cite all of the biblical references that name the various ways and things God does to display His righteousness. In this context, Paul speaks to the fact that God reveals His righteousness by keeping His promises to the Nation of Israel regardless of anything they do. Their sin reveals God’s righteousness because He kept His promises to them regardless. Paul then, as a teaching technique posits hypothetical rebuttals to this truth:

Romans 3:5— 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.)

Said another way: “Well, if our sin reveals the mercy aspect of God’s righteousness, then He is unrighteousness in His display of wrath, right?  Wrong. Paul states:

6 By no means! For then how could God judge the world?

God’s righteousness is revealed in judgment as well as mercy. Hence,

Exodus 33:19

And he said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

The truth that God’s promises are kept by Him regardless of man’s shortcomings and the revealing of His righteousness thereof resulted in people teaching the following (and apparently citing Paul as a source):

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.

The reason is simply because God’s righteousness is revealed in both mercy and judgment. The very acts of God reveal His righteousness. Nothing, or no one passes judgment on God. I once participated in a radio program episode of which some atheists were being interviewed. They cited several Old Testament references and used them to accuse God of unrighteousness. That’s not a good idea. Now their opinion on the righteousness that God has revealed about Himself is being used to judge God by men. No doubt that the judgment day will do business with this particularly egregious sin. Let us remember that the word of God (“law”/ “gospel”/ “full counsel of God”) informs us concerning God’s righteousness, but He is not judged by it. Bottom line:

Psalm 145:17—The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.

Furthermore, we would be amiss to not use this truth to refute a present-day novelty; specifically, that every verse in the Bible is about Christ’s saving work in history, and that history is interpreted by His redemptive work. Not so, a vast portion of Scripture speaks to the purpose of revealing the righteousness of God. And not just through His saving acts, but through a myriad of other ways. Moreover, the Bible states that we can participate in revealing God’s righteousness by mimicking His worldview and doing what He does with tremendous blessings to follow. The Old testament is saturated with this idea—an idea denied by many in our day:

2 Samuel 22:21

“The LORD dealt with me according to my righteousness; according to the cleanness of my hands he rewarded me.

1 Kings 3:6

And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.

1 Kings 8:32

then hear in heaven and act and judge your servants, condemning the guilty by bringing his conduct on his own head, and vindicating the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.

1 Kings 10:9

Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness.”

Here we have another biblical concept on righteousness that could occupy the rest of our days. Though the Bible calls it our righteousness, we learn it from God:

Psalm 19:9

the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether.

We learn for the express purpose of glorifying His name via His righteousness:

Psalm 1:1

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

Job 36:3

I will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

It is most gracious of God to call it our righteousness, but we must not forget that herein lays a powerful truth that frees us from all boasting in our righteous acts: though it is us doing it, they are God’s righteous acts. We would not even know of them but for our Lord. We love Him by proclaiming His righteousness to the world by what we do. Simply proclaiming His gospel truth is not enough, we must live it. We must put it on. When we do, we commit righteous acts worthy of reward. But again, all boasting is gone because it is God’s righteousness, not ours. However, God attributes our acts to righteousness because we perform them for His glory. Many doctrines of our day seek to deprive us of this liberating truth and unspeakable blessing. In addition, making every verse in the Bible about God’s grace demands a passive observing by us as opposed to other topics that also speak of God’s righteousness. Narrow prisms deprive us of our ability to display God’s righteousness to the world. It makes us observers only and not participants in His righteousness. This also speaks to the folly of implementing ideas foreign to Scripture into life. These sources to not have the revealing of God’s righteousness as their goal, so why use them?

Paul continues by citing more Old Testament proof for his gospel treatise as he does no less than 41times in the book of Romans, and in many instances it includes large bodies of Old Testament texts. In doing so, he is revealing God’s righteousness. Our particular focus this morning in chapter three seems to be a Pauline commentary on Psalms 51through 53. He makes the next point as follows:

Romans 3:9—What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, 10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; 11 no one understands; no one seeks for God 12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of hhcurses and bitterness.”15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Paul’s statement here is drawn from several different Old Testament Scriptures depending on what manuscripts are used to determine translation (Masoretic, LXX, etc.), but generally, the ideas seem to be drawn from Psalms 5:9,10; 9:28-10:7; 13:1-3; 14:1-3; 35:2; 53:1-3; 139:4; 140:3; Isaiah 59:7,8; Proverbs 1;16.

Paul again reiterates that God chose to use the Jews to reveal His righteousness to the nations through His oracles, but the playing field is leveled in regard to Jew or Gentile entering into the kingdom of God. Both Jew and Gentile are “under the law” which he makes synonymous with being “under sin” in verse 9 for where there is no law—there is no sin; and those under the law will be judged by the law:

Romans 2:12—For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.

Romans 6:14—For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

Romans 7:6—But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Romans 7:9—I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died.

Being under the bondage of sin and law with the inevitable judgment by the law is part and parcel with being unsaved. Law is a marriage covenant of death for the unsaved:

Romans 7:1—Or do you not know, brothers—for I am speaking to those who know the law—that the law is binding on a person only as long as he lives? 2 For a married woman is bound by law to her husband while he lives, but if her husband dies she is released from the law of marriage. 3 Accordingly, she will be called an adulteress if she lives with another man while her husband is alive. But if her husband dies, she is free from that law, and if she marries another man she is not an adulteress.

4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Now observe: Paul’s description of the unsaved person in Romans 3:10-18 speaks to those who are under the law and also under sin, not saved people as many heretics in our day pontificate via their vile spewing. What could be more certain than what Paul states immediately following:

Romans 3:19—Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The law has absolutely nothing to do with our righteousness, and we will not stand in any judgment that has anything to do with the law at all. And, we cannot sin against our imputed righteousness because there is no law to say they we have done so. God’s own eternal righteousness has been imputed to our account in full and like God’s righteousness—nothing can judge it. Hence, Paul continues:

Romans 3:21—But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

All of the above reveals God’s righteousness. The whole Bible is not about Christ, His awesome Lordship notwithstanding; He went to the cross to reveal God’s righteousness. Therefore,

Romans 3:27—Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

When Paul writes, “our” boasting, he is speaking from the viewpoint of him writing to these Gentiles as a Jew himself. The law, though entrusted to the Jews, does not give them any advantage or exclude them from salvation by faith alone. In addition, neither does circumcision. God made the way of salvation the same for both; therefore, He is the Savior of both. But does this mean that faith alone overthrows the law? Paul is emphatic: BY NO MEANS! On the contrary, we “uphold the law.” Why?

Because it upholds the righteousness of God (as revealed to us) before the world. Christ obeyed the cross to reveal the righteousness of God. And we obey to reveal the righteousness of God. We have no righteousness of our own to reveal. To say that we are “self-righteous” in our attempt to reveal God’s righteousness is ludicrous. Traditions and ideas that do not agree with God’s truth are indeed self-righteous endeavors. Therefore, to say that we are self-righteous in our endeavors to obey God’s righteousness posits the very legalism that it proposes to refute.