You are in a sinking ship... but there's hope. Romans Lesson Four: Chapter 3b

[To watch this on YouTube when it was first given on Facebook Live, and on Zoom, please visit https://youtu.be/KZD-D9XISy8 ]

The book’s general theme: How to be right with God.

Today’s topic: We are all in a sinking boat, but there is a patch to fix it!

Welcome to those of you who are new to our class in this the 4^th lesson, as we take up Paul’s comments recorded in chapter 3 of this seminal work The Book of Romans. So far, we have listened to the overture of the themes that the symphonic conductor introduced to us in chapter one including faith and the Sonship of Yeshua, our Saviour and the Gospel itself which is the power of God. We saw the apostolic priorities of Jewish people first, and also a comprehensive inclusion of Gentiles in the Kingdom of God. Then Rabbi Saul has painted a fairly comprehensive picture for all people that everyone is guilty of sin and thus worthy of God’s judgment. At least I thought it was exhaustive, but like the late-night infomercial says, “Wait, there’s more!” That’s where we pick up today’s lesson, from chapter 3, verse 9 to the end of the chapter. [For those online, the whole text is at the end of this blog]

Paul asks questions throughout this letter, and verse 9 gives us the next one. Are we better than they? Paul almost shouts his answer, NOT AT ALL! This notion that forgiven people are better than those who don’t believe is a Shanda. (Yiddish for ‘shame’) The point of the apostle’s argument so far is that we are all in the same boat and no one is the captain, no one is above and no one is below anyone else. Paul’s answer to his own query is “We have previously charged both Jews and Greeks”. Those two categories are all with which he is dealing at this point. Yes, of course, there are other categories, but in religion, these are the two at this point. 

He then quotes 8 biblical passages back to back to back. (Psalm 14.1-2, Ecclesiastes 7.20, Psalm 5.9, 140.3, Psalm 10.7, Prov. 1.16, Isa. 59.7-8, and finally Psalm 36.1.) The links are clear between each of these passages. Everyone sins. Sin results in penalty. Sin is not good. Sin brings death and the curse. And it malaffects the sinner so that he is left with nothing but misery. 

Listen to these considerations, 

1)    No understanding

2)    They are together unprofitable

3)    Their throat is an open tomb

4)    Mouth is full of cursing and bitterness

5)    Destruction and misery are in their ways

6)    They don’t know peace

Let’s just say, that sin is not the kind of thing you want to keep doing, at all, according to Paul. And in verse 9 we see the word ‘sin’ for the first time in this epistle. It won’t be the last time! And what is the litany of citations intended to correct? Those Jewish people who were claiming special status. Paul writes with clarity that there is not a single Jewish person alive who has not sinned and who will not continue to sin. It’s the “Bad News” with which Paul introduces his theses.

Given that all of us are hopeless, then what are our options? How can we, if we want to do so, get right with the Almighty? There are really only two. One, to fix it ourselves, by religious activity and religious dignity and propriety. We will earn our way into God’s favor. That’s called “Justification by works.” The other is what Paul has already told us in chapter one, and that’s “justification by faith.” We will see those contrasted again and again, both in Romans, and in our own lives.

THE LAW

There are many Gentiles in the community of faith who are captivated by and long to be part of something Jewish. I’m not sure that I am altogether unhappy with that. In fact, it gives me kind of a warm, glowing feeling inside. People affirm our religion. That’s a comfort, isn’t it? Thus, when Paul says in verse 19 “whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law’ then he seems to be excluding those Gentiles who fancy our religion. In fact, he’s making that point very clear. The law, a word Paul uses 70 times in this epistle, and with different meanings at times (which can be very confusing), is not for Gentiles. Never was. Never will be. We’ll get to that subject down the track in this letter again.

Every month I hear about another group or gathering of people using the title ‘messianic.’ On further investigation, I find out it’s often a group of Gentiles who want to please a God who demands obedience and is almost an agro-deity, never pleased, always angry. He judges those who fail. He keeps score. He’s the god imagined by the prodigal son while the boy was living in the pigpen. He’s the exact opposite of the God Paul came to know. And what and who I want you to know. In chapter 8 we will see this come to the front and I will give you a bit of a tease for it: NOTHING can separate you from the love of God in Yeshua. Nothing!

OK, back to verses 19-20. Listen to the purpose of the Torah in 19. It’s as if Paul is addressing those people exactly. “Whatever Torah says, … it’s “that every mouth is closed, and all the world is accountable to God.” It’s not about obedience and thus boasting. Verse 27 says, “where is boasting?” The point Paul is making is that Torah’s place is not to be accomplished but to close our mouths from boasting and to boast in the Lord!  Why? Verse 20: we understood our own disobedience through the schoolmaster of Torah. We understand sin, he says, by reading Torah. We all fall short, he insists in verse 23, that’s Jews and Gentiles alike. 

The Law is therefore GREAT in its usefulness to instruct us, to help us be humble, to school us, even these days. 

But wait a minute, if Torah informs us of our failures, where is there real and genuine hope? Remember, we titled this section, “First, the Bad News.” So, come on already, where is the Good news? How is a man to be made right (biblically the word is ‘righteous’) with God? 

Verses 21-22 tells us! The Torah and Nevi’im both announce and witness the righteousness of God apart from Torah. Gentiles don’t have to work harder to catch up with us Jewish people. Being right with God is a matter of righteousness and faith. 

My friend Ernie Gruen died some years ago and he would characterize some people whom I’m guessing are listening to this talk just now as Billy Goat believers. What’s a billy goat known for? Butting heads. He would announce something like Paul is saying here, that right standing with God comes to all people on the basis of their faith, and Ernie would hear someone say, “But…” and try to change the conversation. But, but, but… that’s billy goat believers, he would say. There are no ‘but’s’ in the answer to how is someone born again and how is someone made right with God. By faith in the righteousness of God.

Remember what Yeshua said of the Spirit of God who would come after Yeshua himself departed? 

 “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; ⁹concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me; ¹⁰ and concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father and you no longer see Me; (John 16.8-10)

Sin is unbelief, Yeshua said. Righteousness is summed up in Yeshua being received by the Father in heaven after the crucifixion because the door of “Approved” or “Right standing” is opened by the Risen One. 

Verse 23 is one of the most quoted verses from this letter. “All have sinned” implies what Paul has been teaching for the last two chapters, that Jews and non-Jews alike are the fallen short folks. Sinned (hamartia) means ‘missing the mark’ which is an archery term. We try; we shoot our arrows, and we just miss. Sins of omission and sins of commission are abundant. 

Honestly, self-evaluate just now. Yes, there are times when your fearless moral inventory will show you do a good thing, in fact, perhaps many good things. And you should feel that just now; you should rejoice that God is leading you to do good to and for others. And in your continued self-evaluation, you will unpack more and more of your own sinfulness. You will see that much of your good behavior springs from a desire to be known or to be adored or from a place of selfishness. That’s missing the mark. That’s failure. Paul wrote the Corinthians about this in his first letter. Chapter 13. 

“if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.” (13.3)

Doing good is excellent, as long as we are seriously loving and giving with no thought for ourselves or the good we will receive as a result. Sin is so insidious, even when we do well, we can fail, you know?

Sin in verse 23 both shows our wrongdoing and our wrong not-going. (Fall short or ‘lack’) What, you say? Sin both sends us to hell and prevents our going to heaven. It brings ruin and doesn’t help us get repaired. 

One word I want to highlight is in verse 24. It’s translated ‘redemption’ in our text. The Greek word is “apolutrosis’ meaning to deliver by paying the ransom. The word for ransom is ‘lutron’ and was the price, usually massive, to buy a slave off the trading block. 

Then did you see verse 25 and the use of the verb ‘pass over.’ That has to hearken our minds back to Moses and the Exodus. God spared the Hebrews because of the blood of lambs, and here in verses 25 and 26 the justifier is using blood to do this. Thanks be to God!

FAITH DISALLOWS BOASTING

Paul asks the question in verse 27. By the way, we will see a continual and steady stream of questions by the apostle throughout his letter. It helps put voice to objections by other billy goat believers, and then he will quickly answer those charges or allegations or objections. I like that about the apostle. 

What’s the question in verse 27? Where then is boasting? I watched the movie “Risen” again the other day. Hollywood made a great one there. Yeshua rises from the dead after being crucified under the auspices of a Roman tribune played by Joseph Fiennes. All the troubles of the possible responses of people to the story of the resurrection are played out. Very well, I might add. And at the end, when the apostles are going out in the power of God, their proclamations are wrapped in the love of God that Yeshua taught. There is no boasting in themselves. There is no betterness unfolding here; they are redeemed and Paul’s legal term (Justified) by grace through faith in the blood of Jesus. Real sinners who know the real bad news, when we meet the Risen One, rejoice. Why? Because of our accomplishments? Not even close… by the grace of God extended to us, since he is (verse 26) both Just (another word for righteous) and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 

We are justified, that is acquitted of all wrongdoing. We are forgiven. And as in these days, once you are acquitted of a crime, there is no double jeopardy allowed. You cannot be brought to trial again. New evidence cannot be forthcoming. Why? All our sins were in view in the first trial! And the blood of Jesus is the propitiation (verse 25) or the application of mercy to us then and to the end of the age.

The final question of the chapter is about Torah itself. If faith is so special, does this nullify Torah? The apostle will answer that in the next chapter, but his one-shop answer in this one verse is “No way, Jose, faith actually establishes the Torah!” 

We will talk more about where Paul is going next week.

NEXT WEEK, this business of faith and credit and justification is personalized by looking at Torah itself, and our father Abraham specifically. Was Abraham a Jew or a Gentile when he was declared righteous? And how did he gain that declaration?

We have much more to get through in this letter, and I’m delighted to be able to read and help us understand it each Friday here from my lockdown in Sydney. 

[For those reading this online, please watch this 7-minute 47-second video which showcases with great graphics the first four chapters of this book.  https://youtu.be/ej_6dVdJSIU ] 

The actual text:

Rom. 3:9   What then? ^1aAre we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;

¹⁰         as it is written, 

            “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

¹¹         THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, 

            THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

¹²         ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; 

            THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, 

            THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

¹³         “THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, 

            WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” 

            “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS”;

¹⁴         “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS”;

¹⁵         “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,

¹⁶         DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,

¹⁷         AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN.”

¹⁸         “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

Rom. 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 closed and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Rom. 3:21   But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who ¹has faith in Jesus.

Rom. 3:27   Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ^28 1For ^awe maintain that a man 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 indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.

Rom. 3:31   Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.