Romans 3:1-20

If you’ve ever struggled with working so hard to understand a Biblical text that you forgot to let it hit your heart, you’re not alone. Paul is seriously engaging our intellect in order in today's passage, I think, to help us get over ourselves a little.  We're called to do that deeper work and yet keep our hearts open and receptive (rather than defensive or just analytical) along the way.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:22

If you've ever struggled with working so hard to understand a biblical text that you kind of forgot to let it hit you in the heart, you're not alone. You know, yesterday we looked at Genesis 10, and it presents its own challenge to us, all of that raw data, and it makes us have to do some work to really understand how it can help us grow as followers of Jesus. Today, in Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 20, Paul seriously engages our intellect. And I think he does that to help us get over ourselves. But as we're getting over ourselves and working through the brain stuff, it's important that we keep our hearts soft because there are some good things for us in this passage. Once again, welcome to Meet Me in the Word. My name is Timothy Stobey. I've served as a pastor for 24 years, and I love doing this. And so I'm glad that you're joining in and sharing this experience with me. So we'll be in Romans chapter 3, verses 1 through 20. Go ahead and open up your copy of the Bible to that passage. I'm going to pray for us and then we'll jump in together. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for the way that you continue to reveal yourself to us through your word and through your spirit. God, we're listening, we're waiting. Would you please speak to us? Amen. All right. Romans chapter three verses one through twenty. What advantage then is there in being a Jew? Or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way. First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some are unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness? Not at all. Let God be true and every human being a liar, as it is written, so that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge. 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? I'm using a human argument. Certainly not. If that were so, how could judge God judge the world? 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 some slanderously claim that we say, let us do evil, that good may result. Their condemnation is just. What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? None at all, for we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. As it is written, there is no one righteous, not even one. There is no one who understands, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless. There is no one who does good, not even one. Their throats are open graves, their tongues practice deceit, the poison of vipers is on their lips, their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood, ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore, no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law, rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Go ahead and take a moment to pause and listen to the Spirit of God, pay attention to what He's revealing to you through this time. Okay, let's uh make a few observations a few observations, easy for me to say. There's a lot here. The first one is a did you notice? Did you notice that Paul uses two, right? Two different styles to make his point. The first one is a human argument which he uses coily. He's got his tongue in his cheek and he's being clever. He he lets us know that he's being clever. The second one is that he references scripture and actually quite a bit of scripture, but he condenses it and kind of puts it into this. It's not a collage, but it's a collection that's there. Those uh verses between 10 and 18 are several different uh references along the way. Hopefully, your Bible has little notations there that tell you where to look. If you're using a device, uh there may even be links like straight to those spots. And I want to encourage you, it can be a really enriching experience to go ahead and find those passages and consider the same passages that Paul was thinking about when he wrote this. So if you want to jump down that adventure, go ahead and do that. The next bit is is that there's this question that Paul repeats almost verbatim, not quite, but it's very, very similar. He repeats the question and then gives two seemingly opposite answers. And the question is, what advantage is there? Implied is what is what advantage is there to being a Jew? And the first time he asks that question, he answers it with lots, much in every way. The Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. He writes that in verse two. The second answer he gives is none. Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. So what gives? It appears to me that Paul is approaching this question in two distinct ways. In some ways he's asking, he's using the same words to ask two different questions. The first has everything to do with opportunity and the history of a covenant relationship, and scripture literally came from God to and through the Jewish people. When he writes the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God, that's a reality. The Old Testament came to the Hebrew people, the Jewish people, and that's just true. Even the New Testament comes to us and we recognize that it's not just for a Jewish way of living, it's for all of us, but it came to us through people who were born as Jews. The second question, the second time he asks it, uh, it has everything to do with our standing before God, our position before God. We are viewed equally. We're all judged by the same standard, and the law, the law doesn't give anybody a pass. It actually awakens us to the reality of our sin. In other words, it's not the thing that can save us. It's the thing that reveals who we are in the light of God's standard and expectation. I hope that maybe helps clarify some of what Paul is saying along the way. And along the way, in verses seven and eight, and even kind of before that, in let me go back here, I think verse five, he starts it, but I highlighted seven and eight, he confronts actually a pretty dangerous mentality, and this one maybe does hit a little more directly to how we are processing our faith. Let me remind you of that. So verses seven and eight say this. 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 some slanderously claim, that we say, let us do evil, that good may result, their condemnation is just. And you know, I don't know that I've necessarily heard a lot of people talk like this before, but it seems that people act like this sometimes, this sense that, well, if if I'm forgiven, then why do I need to change? Why what needs to happen in my life? Why don't I just continue doing what I'm doing? And and that just kind of that that approach is is just so reckless and it it leads us to dark, dark places. And so if you have ever kind of gone down that road yourself or you see that happening, uh you might want to have that that conversation. We're we're not invited under the the covering of grace to to just do whatever in the world we want to do that will lead us to bondage. And uh, and so Paul is addressing that along the way. And then I wanted to just kind of make a general point, and and it's a thought about Paul's letter up and to this point. And this is, again, just kind of one person's opinion, mine in particular, but he seems intent on breaking down any confidence someone might have in their own status, and he's removing any excuse we might have for rebellion, including ignorance. Let me kind of flesh that out just a little bit more. And and sometimes it's helpful for for me at least, I hope it's helpful for you to like to dig in a bit, and then also good to pull back and go, oh, what's the what's the larger thing that the author is is doing at this point? And in this case, there there is, I I really believe there's a sense here that he's he's taking all the different talking points of of those who would either abuse grace or say that they're they're given a pass for whatever reason, either privilege or ignorance or any of those sorts of things. And he's saying, look, no, no, no, you can't you can't be walking around thinking and living and behaving like this. Back in chapter one, he's used creation, the book of nature is another way of saying it, to get everyone to understand that they're without excuse, right? We can see the handiwork of God, we can see a revelation of who God is simply by walking outside. And you can see that strongly there in around verses 17 through 20 of chapter one. And he's using that to let us know that that we can't claim ignorance. We can't just say, Well, I didn't know. Well, there's enough in the world around us that should move us, that does move us into curiosity and to learning more about who our creator is. And then he's also dealt largely from the beginning of chapter two up until now, about this whole idea of you don't get to just lean on the things of the past. You don't get to lean on your your heritage, your status, uh, what's happened between God and you, or God and you and your people to just kind of claim some kind of like immunity from the judgment of God. And when we'll get to next week, the continuation of chapter three, Paul will introduce this new idea. And the new idea is absolutely transformational, but up to this point, we all need to reckon with this reality of our humanity. So let's reflect a little bit a little bit here. Let's move past the analytics, right, and get into the heart. If we take what Paul is saying seriously, and if we especially look at those last two verses, you know, therefore, verse 20, therefore no one will be declared righteous in God's sight by the works of the law. Rather, through the law we become, we become conscious of our sin. If we let that hit, that can feel pretty heavy. And we need to do something about that. You know, sometimes when we are confronted with something that's difficult about our own lives, about our own selves, we can start to, you know, spin out a little bit. Romans, by the way, will get us to that good Jesus-led response, but Paul's taking his time to get there. In the meantime, I want you to know that you don't just have to sit in that space, that feeling of loneliness, or remain in that state of guilt. 1 John 1 9 says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Man, that is that is comfort right there. As we are confronted with who we are, man, we can go right to the Lord and and ask for that transformative work to take place in us. If you want to do a little more work in the area of forgiveness, you can certainly read more in 1 John. That'll that'll help you. But also Psalm 32, especially verses 1 through 5, are a great place to just engage with it in honesty and and through the lens of David, but it's very relatable, at least for me. I hope that is helpful to you. Let's pray. Jesus, thank you for today. God, thank you for your word. And God, where it convicts and where it challenges us, we welcome that. But Lord, we're also grateful that you help lead us through those challenges and on into maturity and growth in our own lives. We love you. Amen.