The Apostle Paul's Epistle to the Romans


Chapter 3

1Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? 2Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 

 Since Paul had made the case the one's Jewishness holds no special sway in regards to salvation, the obvious question would then be "what advantage is there in being Jewish?" Or to put it another way, “what benefit is there in being associated with God's people, Israel?” Notice that Paul once again referred to being Jewish as "circumcision," as the terms "Jew" and "circumcision" both refer to having a legal Jewish status. Paul's answer, despite hundreds of years of Christianity saying the contrary, was that the advantage or benefit of being Jewish is "great in every respect." For a more in-depth list of advantages that the native-born among the Israelites have, see verses 1-6 of chapter 9. For now, though, Paul gives perhaps the greatest thing that the Jewish people are entrusted with: the Scriptures. The word translated as "oracles" by the NASB is simply the Greek word for "words" (Greek, "logia"). Here we have Apostolic evidence that Jewish people primarily have the responsibility in guarding the word of God. This does not mean that Gentiles have no role or responsibility in regards to guarding the Scriptures but it does mean that they join an existing group who have already been guarding them, which means Gentiles should show a certain amount of respect to Jewish interpretation and tradition.

3What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? 4May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, "THAT YOU MAY BE JUSTIFIED IN YOUR WORDS, AND PREVAIL WHEN YOU ARE JUDGED." 

The reality of Paul's day (and our day) was that some of the Jewish people, though zealous for God and His ways, had actually rejected His way of salvation. Concurrently, the seedlings of Replacement Theology had already begun among the Gentile believers in Rome; the Gentiles were assuming that since there was unbelief evident among the Jewish people that perhaps God was abandoning them and moving on to a new people. To battle against this false notion, Paul affirmed God's faithfulness to Israel. Paul used the phrase "may it never be!" (Greek, "me genoito") ten times in the epistle to the Romans; this phrase emphasized the utter impossibility of a proposed situation. His point was that instead of putting the blame on God, we should put the blame on man; our starting point in every situation should be that God is true, faithful and justified in His actions. Man cannot be trusted to be faithful, since his very nature is corrupted by sin but God's actions, on the other hand, when scrutinized, will always be found to be justified because He is perfect and unbiased.

5But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 

To the corrupted, sinful mind, the logical reaction to Paul's point, that not even unbelief can waver God's faithfulness to Israel, would be that God is unrighteous in punishing His people for such disobedience. In other words, if Israel's unrighteousness demonstrates God's goodness, since such unrighteousness does not change God's faithfulness, then why should Israel be punished at all; is God being two-faced? Paul's response to such thinking is apt: "may it never be!" Such thinking forgets that God is perfectly just and cannot modify His standard of righteousness; even man's unrighteousness shows how gracious and merciful He is. 

7But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 8And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"? Their condemnation is just.

Paul also anticipated additional foolish reactions to His argument, namely, the idea that man shouldn't be judged as a sinner, since his sin simply highlights God's glory. This idea is summed up in the phrase "let us do evil that good may come," which some apparently had claimed Paul and his fellow teachers were actually saying. To Paul, the idea that he was teaching people to forsake God's commandments was slander. This is evident in Acts 21, where Jacob, the brother of the Master, reported to Paul that there were false rumours spreading that Paul was teaching Jewish people to forsake the Torah, circumcision of children and the customs of the Jewish people. To affirm that these were indeed false rumours, Paul agreed to complete a vow at the Temple, along with paying the expenses for four other Jewish believers to do the same. How unfortunate that such slander has continued on among those who accept Paul's epistles as authoritative. The name of the great Apostle Paul has been so defamed over the centuries, all because of the lie that he taught against believers keeping the Torah. May God allow Bible teachers to repent of such thinking; otherwise, as Paul said, their condemnation is just.

9What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;

Here, then, is the crux of Paul's message, that there is equality between Jews and Gentiles, for both Jews and Gentiles are all under the condemnation that comes through sin. Paul did not want anyone to misunderstand that despite the advantage the Jewish person has in regards to possession of God's direct revelation, this does not mean they then have an inherent advantage in regards to right-standing before God. The phrase "under sin" refers to being under the condemnation that comes from sinning; such condemnation corrupts man to his core and utterly debilitates him from pursing after God. This debilitating reality is true for both Jews and Gentiles, for without the regenerating work of God's Spirit, no man can come to God.

10as it is written, "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; 11THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; 12ALL 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, 16DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, 17AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN." 18"THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES." 

In classic rabbinic style, Paul went on to prove his argument by quoting the Tanakh. Taking various verses from the Psalms and one verse from the book of Isaiah, the apostle convincingly shows that the message of the Hebrew Scriptures was that man, left alone, is unrighteous and unable to seek or comprehend God. Firstly, contrary to the theology of his day that association with God's people, either by birth or legal conversion, secured righteousness, Paul pointed out that that the Tanakh teaches that no one is righteous and that no one seeks after God. More to the point, not only is no one righteous, no one is neutral either, for there is no one who does good but instead our actions prove our sinful state. Like many in our day, the Bible teachers of Paul's day neglected to truly read and believe what the Bible actually teaches. The clear teaching of the entire Bible is that mankind is sinful and is completely unable to, in his own strength, come to God.

19Now we know that whatever the Torah says, it speaks to those who are under the Torah, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; 20because by the works of the Torah no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Torah comes the knowledge of sin. 

As we pointed out in our notes for 2:12, the NASB incorrectly translated the phrase "en nomu" as "under the Law," when a more accurate translation would be "in the Law," referring to possession of the Torah. In 2:12, those who were "in the Torah" obviously referred to the established Jewish community, who, of course, had possession of the Torah. Why did Paul couple the truths that the Torah causes "every mouth [to] be closed" and that "by the works of the Torah no flesh will be justified in His sight?" To understand the connection, we have to know what Paul meant by the phrase "works of the Torah." As we saw in our study of the epistle to the Galatians, the only extra-biblical witness to the meaning of this phrase is found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (cf. 4QMMT, section C 25-32). There, the works of the Torah referred to the specific halachah (rules) that one would have to adhere to in order to be considered a genuine member of the community. In our context here, Paul simply referred to the Torah in general (as interpreted by the extant Pharisaic halachah of the day). Taken at face value, it would seem that Paul contradicted himself. In 2:13, Paul proclaimed that those who do the Torah will be the ones who will be justified; whereas here he indicated that by the works of the Torah no one will be justified. This indicates that the phrase "works of the Torah" can't refer to simple and genuine obedience to the commandments of the Torah out of a heart of faith but instead to specific elements of the Torah that the larger community deemed necessary to observe in order to be seen as a legitimate community member.

In the case of the Jewish person, adherence to the various standards of Sabbath observance and the ritual purity laws were just a couple of many "works of the Torah" that one would have to maintain lest they be "cut off" from the community. For the Gentile, one would have to adhere to circumcision and ritual immersion to gain entrance into the Jewish community and then subsequently maintain the same standards as was obligated to Jews. For the Apostle Paul, this line of thinking was folly. Those who possess the Torah (the established Jewish community and those Gentiles who join her) are actually the bearers of God's revelation of sin and judgment, for through the Torah comes the knowledge of sin. In other words, though the Torah is a gracious gift of God's revelation and a disclosure of Himself, it holds no inherent salvific power. On the contrary, the Torah simply closes every mouth because sinful man, as compared to God's holy Torah, is without excuse. The Torah will be the standard through which God will hold the entire world accountable, that is, since mankind is sinful, God's revelation of holiness renders the whole world guilty.

21But now apart from the Torah the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Torah and the Prophets, 22even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

Interpreted through the dispensational paradigm, this verse has been used to indicate that there was a previous way of salvation, which came through the Torah, but now there is a new way of salvation, through Yeshua. This, however, was not what Paul was saying. The Torah has never been able to bring about salvation, for through the Torah comes the knowledge of sin but the Torah itself cannot do anything to repair the breach between man and God caused by sin. That said, however, the true way that God declares people righteous was witnessed in the Torah and the Prophets, which is through faith in the promised Messiah. The way God declares people righteous had been manifested in Paul's time in the coming of the Messiah, His death, subsequent resurrection and ascension. More to the point, Paul was correcting an errant understanding of what the Torah and the Prophets taught regarding salvation. To many within the established Jewish community, salvation came through being a member of God's chosen people (either through birth or legal conversion) but Paul indicated that the righteousness of God, which had just recently been made manifest through the death and resurrection of the Messiah, came through faith in Yeshua the Messiah, regardless of one's status in the community of God's people.

23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Messiah Yeshua;

Why doesn't God show any distinction to different people groups? God shows no special favouritism because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Paul had, to this point, already made a strong case for the sinful nature of mankind, both those who had God's passive revelation, Gentiles, and those who had God's direct revelation, Jews. His point here, however, is found in verse 24; since all mankind is under the condemnation caused by sin, being justified must therefore be a gracious gift of God. Furthermore, God does not simply sweep our sins under the rug but instead justifies us through the act of redemption. Redemption, here, refers to satisfying the justice of God by having our sins paid for by the death of the Messiah Yeshua. In other words, the Messiah took our place and paid the penalty of sin, which is death.

25whom 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; 26for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Yeshua. 

Have you ever wondered why the payment for sin had to be accomplished in such a public fashion? Why was a public crucifixion the method through which propitiation was made? God's justice was satisfied - that is, the propitiation was accomplished - publicly so that there would be an eternal record that payment had been made for sin. Up until the crucifixion of the Messiah, at least from man's perspective, God had passed over the sins committed. To the Apostle Paul, there was no previous way of salvation. The salvation of the faithful that lived previous to the coming of the Messiah was predicated upon the coming of that Messiah to die and atone for their sins. This public demonstration - that is, the death of the Messiah - was absolutely essential, so that God could be known to be just and also the justifier of those who have faith. In other words, God could not have let sin be continually swept under the rug, so to speak. There had to be a payment for sin, so the Messiah's death satisfies this need. In this way, God's justice is preserved. Amazingly though, in God's foreknowledge, the death of the Messiah was also the means through which He was able to justify sinners. The ones who receive such justification are the ones who have been given the ability to have faith in Yeshua.

27Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of Torah? Of works? No, but by a Torah of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Torah. 

Paul now reaches a conclusion to his argument that before God, in regards to sin and salvation, there is no distinction between Jews and Gentiles. What is it that removes boasting? A salvation based on God's grace and mercy, a salvation that is lived out by faith, excludes any boasting. A life of Torah based on works doesn't exclude boasting, since once one has accomplished the criteria of works laid out by the community, one could certainly boast in that accomplishment. So, instead it is a life of Torah based on faith which excludes boasting. Notice that the common denominator in this contrast is the Torah; the difference being one's relationship to the Torah. The Torah itself is God's unchanging revelation; how one lives out such revelation is up to each individual and community. In the case of many within the Jewish communities of the first century, they were living a Torah life based on works, which is meeting criteria in order to maintain or attain covenant status. Paul's perspective, the perspective of the Gospel, is a life of Torah that relies on God's grace and mercy. Paul recapitulates this point, in verse 28, by plainly stating that a man is justified apart from the works of the Torah. To reiterate, the phrase "works of the Torah" refers to a criteria devised by the leadership of a community to maintain or attain membership within the covenant people of God. The point was to maintain or achieve a legal Jewish status and thereby be counted among God's people, since from that perspective, only those who were legally Jewish were saved (cf. Acts 15:1).

29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. 

This - that the phrase "works of the Torah" refers to retaining or attaining legal Jewish status - is exactly why Paul then makes the point that God is not only the God of the Jews but that He is also the God of the Gentiles. Paul alluded to the Shema here, as he stated that God who will justify both the circumcised and the uncircumcised by faith is one. Paul's logic here is simple but effective: If the God of Israel is the only true God then He cannot only be the God of the Jews. Either the Gentiles are to forever be without God or one would have to admit that it is permissible for them to go after their false gods. Since the eschatological picture the Prophets painted was one of the whole world worshipping the one true God, then it's only logical that God would justify both Jews and Gentiles the same way, by faith. Notice that the terms "circumcised" and "uncircumcised" are obviously short-hand ways of saying "those who had legal Jewish status" and "those who did not have legal Jewish status." Though within the context of Jewish community there might be a legitimate need to have a distinction between those with legal Jewish status and those who did not, before God, however, legal status counts for nothing. Being counted among the covenant people does not rely on legal status but upon a genuine faith, a faith that establishes God's ways.

31Do we then nullify the Torah through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Torah.

The Torah is not nullified with such a position (that salvation is universal and not dependent on legal Jewish status). It does not nullify it because such faith should establish the Torah. It's obvious from Acts 21:17-26 that Paul's message that salvation was the same for both Jews and Gentiles was being misunderstood to the point where people assumed he was teaching against the Torah altogether. Paul, here, defended his message and emphasized that those of faith should be the ones to all the more establish the Torah. The word "nullify" translates the Greek word "katargeo" which means "to render ineffective." The word "establish," on the other hand, is a translation of the Greek word "histemi," which means "to uphold or sustain the authority or force of." This echoes the words of the Master in Matthew 5:17 in which He clearly stated that He had not come to abolish the Torah but to fulfill the Torah. The clear teaching of both Yeshua and Paul was that Gospel does not abolish or nullify the Torah but instead fulfills and establishes it!
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