Romans 2:25-29Paul foreshadows what we will hear as we move on into the epistle. Circumcision was a sign of the covenant in that the excess of the flesh was removed. The Law is good and righteous and circumcision is to be a matter of the heart and it accomplished “by the Spirit”. Approval of men is fundamental to those who seek to obey the law. Religious observance without heart obedience is not religious observance. True circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Holy Spirit.
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision. So, if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision? Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law. For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.
The Gospels show the Pharisees in action seeking the approval of men. The Gospel is not about what other men think about what you do but about God who sees what you do and knows why you do it. Clearly the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.
So what is the advantage of being raised in the faith? Paul is discussing the place of the Jews and the value of circumcision but you can ask the same things about baptism and growing up in the Church. However, God will use these religious acts as Means of Grace and if some are unfaithful it doesn’t mean that God is unfaithful.
Romans 3:1-4Paul’s line of reasoning begs this question as to what was the advantage then of having God interact so extensively with a people? The faithlessness of the Jews is no commentary on the faithfulness of God. God has been completely faithful to the Jews and to His promises given in prophecy. The deficiency is with mankind as Paul has already shown. We don’t like to admit that we are the problem and here Paul quotes from a man that had the guts to face his sin. This is from Psalm 51 and immediately follows “Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— “ David recognizes whose law he has violated.
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 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.”
Romans 3:5-8The idea that we are by nature sinners stimulates us to look for a reason to think that God owes us a pass because we are only doing what comes naturally. Often those who draw back at the teaching of the Gospel will do so by misstating the Gospel. This is especially common among those who are religious but have drawn back from the clear teachings of Scripture. I’ll try to be very careful to indicate those points that many modern men will misstate as we move on through Romans. However, this is really a spiritual effect. Paul faced this with those who said that he was teaching that people should sin so that God’s grace may abound. A man named Finney who preached from the mid to late 1800s had a terrible impact on the modern church. We see his residual works based evangelicalism in America today. He rejected the atonement. He didn’t think he needed it. The teaching of salvation by Grace alone (Sola Gratia) causes many to stumble. They’d like to bring their works into the picture and some denominations have complex doctrines of merit from the works of men.
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.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
Romans 3:9-18And all the people said “Amen” or “Oh My”? Especially since some of our testimonies feature us as the basically righteous but unsatisfied protagonist who is seeking God but really has some skills they want to use for God and then we found God. But we have to say that it didn’t “feel” the way Scripture describes it for most of us. But God tells me it was this way and therefore I am taught of how lost I was. I wasn’t just a little lost.
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, as it is written:
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
“Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”
“The venom of asps is under their lips.”
“Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”
“Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery,
and the way of peace they have not known.”
“There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
In classical reformed doctrine this is one of the proof Scriptures for the T in “TULIP” acrostic and the T stands for total depravity. Scripture doesn’t teach that we are as evil as we could be. I think most of us realize that is the case. That is why Paul put his finger on the Roman’s sins (and ours) and poked real hard. We justify ourselves. Total depravity isn’t the same as complete depravity. Many modern authors use the term “radical corruption”. What Paul is getting at is that we don’t seek God. Know we know that when the Holy Spirit moves on us we do seek God but God gets the glory for that and Paul will get to that in a little while. We get no glory for our salvation.
Romans 3:19-20God’s revelation in the law made a specific and detailed exposition of the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. Our sin nature, like those who don’t have the law, keeps us from fulfilling the law but the law brings a fuller and more explicit statement of our sin. Notice how clear verse 20 is. The law identifies our sin but “by works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight”. No one will be justified by the law because the law shows how far we are from our Holy God.
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. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
Romans 3:21-24There are some precious exceptions that God gives in scripture and this “But now” is one of them. Notice that the Law and Prophets bear witness to it. We are redeemed by Christ being justified by grace. It is unmerited and it is a gift. It is not deserved. This, in part, illustrates the U in TULIP which is unconditional election. It is a gift and we deserved nothing but judgment.
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
So after explaining how all of mankind is subject to judgment for their sin, Paul now begins to explain Grace. It is important to Paul and to us that even though the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law it is still explained and foreshadowed in the Law and Prophets. If you’ll remember we recently finished a study of salvation pictured for the individual in the corporate salvation of Israel. Christ is everywhere in the Old Testament. Our righteousness comes by faith in Christ as we believe. There is no distinction between Jew or barbarian. We have all come short of the glory of God and the only justification is by His Grace. Grace is unmerited favor or undeserved blessing that results in our salvation through Christ. We have some words that we simply have to learn. Justification for example; what does justification mean. Paul spent a great deal of chapters 1 and 2 explaining our liability and that we deserve judgment.
So the distinction that Paul labors in an earlier chapter is explained as no distinction since we are all found to be sinners and are all likewise justified by His Grace as a gift. Remember our 5 Solas. We are saved by faith alone (sola fide), by grace alone (sola gratia) by Christ alone (sola Christo). We know this because we establish doctrine by Scripture alone (sola Scriptura) and then by definition we know only God gets glory from our salvation (soli Deo Gloria).
Romans 3:25-26For shock value some folks will say that we are ultimately saved by works. Technically this is true since we are saved by the complete and perfect work of Christ. Christ was put forward as a propitiation or payment by His blood and He kept the law perfectly from heart attitude to action. We receive this pardon by faith and God displays righteousness not because He simply forgot about our sins but because the price was paid. God is just and the justifier of those of use who have faith in Jesus. We need to remember that Grace isn’t cheap and that Christ’s works met the requirements of the law. So His perfect work saves us and we are saved by works. Not our works but His.
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. 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.
Romans 3:27-31
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. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one. He will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
Sola fide is the means without regard to Jewish or Gentile background. There is only one means of salvation. We really have absolutely no reason to boast since God has saved us from our condition in which we were lost, spiritually dead and, apart from a move of the Holy Spirit on your heart, we did not seek God. Remember the hymn “For He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming Blood.” We need to be amazed by Grace.
No comments:
Post a Comment