Paul's Letter to Believers in Rome

by David M Pearce

Romans Chapter 3

God Must Be Righteous

Paul starts with a question. He loves this style of teaching. Over and again, he will ask a hypothetical question, then answer it himself. This time it is an obvious one. If there is no difference between a Jew and a Gentile, is there any advantage in being a Jew?

One answer would be that God’s written words, handed down through Moses and the prophets, and essential to salvation, were entrusted to the people of Israel, so that the Jew has a head start when it comes to learning about God. In the same way, children today brought up through Sunday School already know the Bible stories and learn Bible quotations.

Another question. If the Jews have turned out to be so unfaithful, does this mean God made a mistake in choosing them?

No, comes the reply, with its Old Testament quotation. We humans are not in a position to criticise God for what he does. The quotation is from Psalm 51:4, where David confesses his great sin with Bathsheba. Even the national hero David was a sinner, yet God chose to work through him.

As sinners like David, we can be thankful for God’s mercy, which enhances his reputation. But God is not obliged to forgive us. He is quite within his rights to punish us for our sins. If it were not so, he could never bring the Day of Judgment.

With a distorted sense of justice, it could be argued that the more we sin, the more God’s gracious forgiveness can be poured out.

In that case, we may as well carry on sinning, because it brings glory to God every time he forgives us. Some even accused Paul of downgrading the seriousness of sin, when he preached that we are saved by God’s grace. He dismisses that claim as pure sophistry.

Jews and Gentiles are Both Sinners

The next question: Paul has argued in verse 1,2 that the Jews had the advantage of being entrusted with the Law. Now he asks, does that make us (the Jews) more righteous? The answer is ‘No!’ Both Jews and Greeks are sinners. The apostle proves his point with an amazing set of six separate Old Testament quotations to demonstrate that Jews are sinners as well as Gentiles.

This quotation is from Psalm 14:1-3, where David says God looks down from heaven and in his eyes all people, Jews and Greeks, are sinners.

Here come Psalm 5:9 and Psalm 140:3, both directed to the people living in God’s land.

Psalm 10:13-14 condemns those who pretend there is no God.

Isaiah 59:7–8, is directed against the iniquities of Israel.

Finally, Psalm 36:1 is invoked to show the wicked person assumes there is no God. This can really only apply to Jews.

This statement is important. Paul says that the Law speaks especially to Jews, because they are officially under the Law. And it leaves them condemned for breaking it. The Law cannot make us righteous. All it can do is to show us that we are sinners.

Righteousness Only Comes From Faith

The righteousness we need for salvation is independent of the Law, although it is true that both the Law and the Prophets indicated how it would come.

The righteousness that God grants us comes through faith in Jesus, whether we are Jews or Gentiles. We are ‘justified’ or counted righteous by his grace. It is a gift. We do not deserve it. We have been redeemed from slavery to sin, like the Israelites on Passover night, and the sacrifice of the lamb and the sprinkling of its blood pointed forward to the Messiah, Jesus.

The blood of Jesus has been exhibited by God as our ‘propitiation’. This Greek word is found only in one other place, Hebrews 9:5, where it is translated ‘mercy seat’. This is a reference to the golden lid on top of the ark in the Most Holy place of the Tabernacle and Temple. "It was called the mercy seat because the angel of God’s presence normally sat there, between the two golden cherubim, in the midst of Israel, Psalm 80:1. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, Israel’s sins were taken away by sprinkling the blood of a goat onto this lid, Leviticus 16:15. The blood-spattered lid foretold that the forgiveness of sins would only come about through the death and resurrection of Jesus. In fact, the analogy was complete, because two identical goats were chosen. One was killed and its blood sprinkled. The other was set free to climb up into the mountains, just as Jesus came back to life and ascended into heaven Leviticus 16:20–22.

Paul concludes that this propitiation becomes effective only if we have faith. We cannot make ourselves righteous. The action has to come from God, who sent us his perfect son as a sacrifice. God himself is righteous, because he is not obliged to forgive us. It is a matter of grace or divine forbearance.

This merciful provision by God has been revealed, says Paul, ‘at the present time’, through the preaching of the apostles.

The situation we find ourselves in eliminates boasting, which the Jew was inclined to do. Keeping the Law, ‘a law of works’, is definitely excluded as a route to salvation. Instead, we have ‘the law of faith’, which is independent of the works of the Law.

Another question and answer. God is as much the God of Gentiles as he is of Jews, since both groups can only be counted righteous through faith.

Paul hastens to add that there was nothing wrong with the Law. It was not an alternative to faith. Rather, it served to spotlight our sins, and in that respect, it did an excellent job.

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