Romans 3:1-20 - Are we any better? - by Ken Clezy

Romans 3:1-20

1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 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.”
5 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 am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!
9 What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:“There is no one righteous, not even one; here 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.”
19 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. 20 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.

The obvious question follows: what advantage is there in being a Jew? Paul gives his first reason and says there are many more, but leaves the rest until chapter 9! The Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. The Greek word is logia which ordinarily simply means ‘words’ but because these were God’s words entrusted to the Jews, this has always been taken to mean the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. The fact that some didn’t believe didn’t shake Paul’s conviction that God’s word was exactly that: His Word. He gives a quote from Ps 51 as evidence. There are teachers around who would try to shake our conviction; let that never be so.

In Tom Wright’s latest book The Day The Revolution Began, he says we misunderstand Romans, ch 3 in particular. He begins by asking why Jesus died on. Passover, not on the Day of Atonement as would be logical if he died for our sins. His answer is that Passover commemorated the Exodus, and Jesus’ death and resurrection amounted to a new Exodus, a fulfilment of God’s promise of a new Heaven and a new Earth that began then, but remains to be completed.

I imagine Jewish Christians who knew their Bibles like the back of their hands could just possibly read Ro 3 in this way, but the idea of Gentile Christians (who made up most of the Roman church at that time) doing so is fanciful in the extreme.

Wright seems to have trouble with the wrath of God, which no parent should have. Ordinarily he writes with great clarity, and I confess I began to wonder if he is a universalist (everybody will be saved) but I think not. Incidentally, he seems to believe in some variety of soul sleep, which I think we can deduce from Thessalonians, in particular. But that’s a question for another time. So let’s get on with the traditional interpretation of Romans 3 that Wright derides so many times in this book that I think he can be accused of protesting too much.

3:1-4 In the light of ch 2, the obvious question is: what advantage is there in being a Jew? Answer: much, in every way; first, they were entrusted with the very words of God. An older translation is ‘the oracles of God.’ which implies something very special indeed. He couldn’t confirm his confidence in the authority of God’s Word more emphatically. Interestingly, he doesn’t answer his question about circumcision.

3:5-8 Paul has argued his case many times, and has met those who say if our sin shows how great and good God is, he should go easy on us. Not so, he says. Another argument is more specific: if my falsehood contrasts with God’s truthfulness, and therefore increases his glory, he should be pleased rather than judgmental. Again, not so: that’s the same as saying sin may bring good results, which is nonsense, and anyone who flirts with that idea should be condemned.

3:9-12 Are we any better? No. Paul graciously aligns himself with everyone else; after all, we are all sinners, saved by grace. In particular, Jews are no better than Gentiles. Vv 10-12 are a list of OT quotations that describe the ungodly; differences between English and the Greek translations of Hebrew make most of them difficult to identify with certainty, but v 12 is clearly Ps 36:1.

Paul says in 2:12 that some are not under the law, and he speaks here of those who under the law (Jews) but goes on to say the whole world is accountable to God. Back in my previous post about ch 2-12 my suggestion was that Gentiles are accountable in a different way, but now it seems as if that may be wrong. (Every mouth will be silenced, etc.)

The crunch comcs in v 20: nobody will saved by obeying the law; it has one use, to remind Jews and Gentiles alike of what is sin (and of what isn’t ?). Next comes one of Paul’s great But now’s, which must wait until next time.