1What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? 2Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. 3For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? 4God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged. 5But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man) 6God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world? 7For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner? 8And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.
In these verses Paul asks and answers three questions, each a follow-up to the indictment of the Jews which he issued in the second part of the previous chapter.
Question 1: If an uncircumcised Gentile who kept the Law would be more acceptable to God than a circumcised Jew who did not, what advantage does the Jew have and what is the benefit of circumcision? Paul’s answer to this question is that, first, the revealed words of God were entrusted to the Jews. Paul will list other advantages of the Jews in 9:4-5. The word “committed” or “entrusted” in verse 2 implies that the Jews were given a responsibility to believe, obey, and declare God’s revealed words in their personal lives and in their life as a nation.
Question 2: If some of the Jews failed to believe God’s revealed words, that would not take His Word out of effect, would it? Paul’s answer is: Absolutely not! God will keep His Word even if every person in the world turns out to be a liar. In support of this answer, Paul quotes the words of David in Psalm 51:4. This quote is very fitting because David was a highly esteemed Jew who sinned. Paul has taken this quote from the Septuagint Greek translation of Psalm 51, which says, “That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.” The Hebrew text of this verse says, “when you judge.” Both statements are true and make the same point. In this psalm, David was confessing his sin to God and crying out to Him for mercy. He recognized that by His confession, he was also acknowledging that God’s response and judgment were right. Paul used this quotation to support his answer to Question 2: the failure of some of the Jews to believe God’s revealed words would not take His word out of effect. Rather, that failure would serve to show His truthfulness even more clearly.
Question 3: If the wrong that we do shows God’s righteousness even more clearly, He isn’t wrong to bring wrath on us, is He? Paul’s answer is: Absolutely not! That would mean that God should leave the world unjudged for its sin. Then Paul narrows this question from “us” to “me.” He asks: If, as David implied, my lie shows God’s truthfulness more clearly so that He is being glorified, why am I still judged as a sinner? At this point, Paul has come to the words of his critics who accuse him of saying that we should do evil that good may come. Paul says that these accusers deserve the judgment they will receive.
So why did Paul ask these questions? Beginning with 1:18, his message in the book of Romans has been that every child of Adam, including every Jew, is liable to the judgment of God. Though Adam’s descendants have failed to glorify the Creator as God and to give Him thanks, they justify themselves in self-righteousness and religious pride. Yet, another message of this book is that God will still keep His promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We understand from Paul’s three questions in verses 1-8 of this chapter that Paul wants his readers in Rome to understand that message, too. But that message of God’s grace and faithfulness to unfaithful Israel brings the criticism and mockery of those who don’t understand it.
9What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11there is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15their feet are swift to shed blood: 16destruction and misery are in their ways: 17and the way of peace have they not known: 18there is no fear of God before their eyes.
In verses 1-8, Paul spoke of the advantage that the Jews have as those entrusted with the revealed words of God. He also declared God’s faithfulness to His Word, a faithfulness that is undiminished by the unbelief of some of the Jews. Now, in verse 9, Paul asks yet another question in summary: Do the Jews, then, inherently possess a better standing before God than others? Paul’s answer: Not at all. Then he reminds his readers that in the previous two chapters he’d already issued an indictment against Jews and non-Jews that they are all under sin.
In verses 10-18, Paul presents a sequence of quotations from the Old Testament Scriptures which state that all are guilty. These quotations come from Psalm 5:9; 10:7; 14:1-3; 36:1; 53:1-3; 140:3; Proverbs 1:16; Isaiah 59:7-8; and possibly other passages, as well. In verses 10-12, Paul first focuses on the sinfulness of all without exception. Then in verses 13-18, he puts the spotlight on the throats, tongues, lips, mouths, feet and ways, and eyes of all.
Perhaps someone would question one or more of the accusations – for example, can it be that no one seeks God? It is interesting that in Ephesians 2:12, when Paul speaks of the Ephesian believers’ lives before they knew Christ, he says that they were “god-less” (Greek: “atheoi”). Yet, we read in Acts 19 that the Ephesians worshipped the goddess Diana. But since Diana was an idol and not the one true God, Paul rightly states that they were “god-less.” So, while many people of many religions may appear to seek God, God requires a seeking that is according to His revealed Word.
19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
One of the passages that Paul quoted in the previous verses is Psalm 14. There we read, The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one (Psalm 14:2-3). These verses seem to include all people of all nations. But, in verses 19 and 20 above, Paul emphasizes that these quotations came from the Law (here referring to the whole body of Scriptures given to the Jews). Paul says that these Scriptures, then, specifically address and indict the Jews as guilty and accountable to God. If the Jews are guilty and accountable to God, then it is clear that the nations without God’s revealed Word are, too.
Paul then comes to an important summary statement in his argument in the first chapters of the book of Romans: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” No one, Jew or Gentile, will ever be declared righteous by God by virtue of their obedience to His Law. Verse 19 says that the purpose of the Law was to shut every mouth. When Moses was about to receive the Law at Mount Sinai, the people said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do (Exodus 19:8). After Moses was given the Law, the people said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do (Exodus 24:3). This response of the people sounds noble and right. But it was a response that betrayed their blindness to the sin within them and their self-righteousness. The Law would serve to shut the mouth of every person then and now who would claim to be good enough to be counted righteous by God. No one will be justified by the Law because no one except Jesus Christ has ever kept it.
Verse 19 speaks of “the Law,” but in the Greek text of verse 20, the article “the” is not used before the word “law” in either of its occurrences. Thus, we may speak of “law” as a broad principle which offers no hope of justification before God but which rather serves to give us a knowledge of sin. This knowledge of sin is not an awareness that sin exists or that such-and-such an action or behavior is sin. Romans 1:32 and 2:14-15 make clear that with or without law, everyone by conscience recognizes behaviors that are wrong in God’s eyes and that the just consequence of these things is death. The knowledge of sin that God’s Law gives is a God-spoken confrontation of individuals with the reality that they personally have sinned. In that way, the Law serves to shut the mouth of anyone who would claim to be good enough to pass as righteous before God.
21But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
The Law and the prophets could only bear witness to the righteousness of God; they could not produce it in anyone. “But now” (what wonderful words!) the uncompromised righteousness that God requires is not just being described; it can be received. It is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all and upon all who believe.
Verse 23 says that all – both all Jews and all Gentiles – have sinned; this was the theme of Paul’s argument in the section from 1:18 to 3:20 of this book. Verse 23 further states that all have “come short of the glory of God.” This statement is the conclusion of Paul’s words in chapter 2. There he said that there would be eternal life for those “who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality” (2:7). He said that there would be “glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good” (2:10). But those statements contained conditions that no child of Adam can meet. Paul’s conclusion in 3:23 is that everyone has “come short of the glory of God.” No one has passed the test of chapter 2.
24being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
In verse 20, Paul said that no one will be justified on the basis of works of law. In verse 22, he told about righteousness that God gives to all and upon all who believe in Jesus Christ. In verse 24, Paul says that God gives this justification freely by His grace, but this verse also speaks of a price that was paid to make that justification free to us. Believers are justified “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” We can analyze the word that is translated “redemption” – the Greek word “apolutrosis.” This word has two parts: “apo” (“from”) and “lutrosis” (“buying back”). Jesus said that He came “to give his life a ransom (“lutron”) for many” (Matthew 20:28). He said that He would give His life to pay the price to buy us back from condemnation for our sins.
25whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,
God set forth Christ Jesus as “a propitiation through faith in his blood.” This word “propitiation” occurs only twice in the New Testament. The other occurrence is found in Hebrews 9:5, where it is translated “mercyseat.” The mercy seat was the lid placed on the ark of the covenant, which was in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. One day in a year, on the Day of Atonement, the Jewish High Priest would go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of a sin offering for himself and then the blood of a sin offering for the people on and in front of the mercy seat. God said, For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD (Leviticus 16:14-15, 30). The Hebrew verb that means “make atonement” is “kaphar.” The Hebrew noun for “mercy seat” is “kapporeth,” which comes from the same root. The mercy seat is the place where atonement for sins was made. Jesus is the mercy seat, Jesus is our High Priest, and it is Jesus’ blood that made atonement for our sins.
The concept of propitiation may be illustrated by God’s judgment on Israel’s sin in Ezekiel 16. After God told of the judgments that He would bring on Jerusalem, He said, So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry (Ezekiel 16:35-42). Because Christ took God’s judgment for our sins on Himself at the cross, God is no more angry at us.
A word related to “mercy seat” is found in I John 2:2 and 4:10. The first of these verses says, And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. Jesus Christ is the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the whole world. The second says, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. A related word is also found in Hebrews 2:17 and translated “reconciliation” in the KJV.
Verse 25 of Romans 3 says that God set forth Christ as “a propitiation through faith in his blood.” The meaning of this phrase is not “faith in his blood.” The meaning is “propitiation in his blood.” Faith does not satisfy God’s justice against our sins. Christ’s blood does that. But the propitiation takes place “through faith.” Christ did enough at the cross to satisfy God’s justice for the sins of the whole world. But His sacrifice becomes effective for an individual when that person believes. In I Peter 1:2, Peter addresses the believers to whom he is writing as, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. When a person obeys God by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, the blood of Christ is spiritually sprinkled on that person. At that moment of faith, the propitiation that Christ worked at the cross becomes effective for that person.
to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
The next chapter of Romans will speak of the faith and justification of Abraham and David. But how did God forgive them? Christ had not yet died for their sins. Their sins had not yet been paid for. The second part of verse 25 says that the setting forth of Christ as a propitiation declared God’s “righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.” God had passed over the sins of Abraham and David and of every believer since Adam. We might say that God forgave them all on credit. But until Christ died, it appeared that God was compromising His justice by delaying the punishment. Forbearance means that God held back from judging.
At the cross, Jesus said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matthew 27:46). It is likely that Jesus asked this question to make those around the cross and us to understand that He had been forsaken for a reason. When Jesus took on Himself all the sins of the past that God had passed over, as well as the sins that had not been committed yet, God did not hold back His judgment any more. He poured out on Jesus all the wrath that all those sins and sinners deserved. God was thus shown to be just. The massive credit bill was paid. Justice was satisfied. Now God may both be just and be the justifier of anyone who has faith in Jesus.
27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. 28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. 29Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: 30seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. 31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Boasting is a repeated theme in the book of Romans. In chapter 2, Paul spoke of the Jews’ boasting in God and in the Law (2:17, 23). Their boasting was one of proud self-righteousness. In verse 27 of this chapter Paul says that no one, including the Jews, has any grounds for proud boasting about a relationship with God. Paul speaks of two laws, a law of works and a law of faith. He is using the word “law” in a different sense now, meaning “dictating principle.” The only law of works that God has given since His command in the garden of Eden is the Mosaic Law, which no one was able to keep. The law of faith requires a person to stop trusting in their own righteousness and trust in the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ. Thus, that law completely disallows boasting. Paul says, “we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.” There is no act of obedience to the Mosaic Law that makes any contribution toward one’s justification.
Verses 29-30 make clear that God never intended for the Mosaic Law to become a way of justification. Otherwise, He would not have given it only to Israel. He gave it to Israel to confront them with their sin.
In verse 31, Paul asks, “Do we then make void the law through faith?” He answers his own question by saying, “God forbid: yea, we establish the law.” Given the context of this chapter, we understand that Paul means that we who embrace the truth of justification by faith establish the principle of law (the article “the” is not used either time with “law” in this verse) for the purpose for which it was given – to shut every mouth of proud self-righteousness (verse 19). Today also, the Old Testament law continues to bear witness to the righteousness of God (verse 21). The more a person gains perception of the righteousness of God, the more aware that person will become of the failure of all of us to measure up.
Note: All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Version of the Bible.