1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
"So that you may be proved right when you speak
and prevail when you judge."
5But 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.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8Why not say—as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say—"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved. (NIV)
Main Points and Discussion Questions
1. God’s faithfulness is ultimately a matter of being true to Himself, not merely true to His promises for Israel (3:1-4).
Disc. Question #1a: Who is Paul quoting in Verse 4? Read the entire portion of Scripture from which this verse comes.
Disc. Question #1b: From what you recall in Romans 2, what false conclusions did the Jews draw from their special relationship to God? What does the portion of Scripture (from 1a. above) reveal about God that the Jews have forgotten or ignored?
Disc. Question #1c: In the Old Testament, what were “two things” that God promised Israel? Skim over Deut. 28, and read Deut. 30:11-20 and Nehemiah 9:32-33. What is the “one” thing (among these two) that the Jews (whom Paul is addressing in Romans) seem to have forgotten?
2. Those who think they can be saved from God’s judgment because, by sinning, they are “doing God a favour”, are 1) trapped in their own logic and 2) especially deserving of condemnation.
Paul shows the error of their logic in three ways:
a) If you believe that God will judge the world, then you can’t assert at the same time that He overlook your sin just because it magnifies his righteousness. (vv. 5-6)
b) If you believe that I (Paul) would surely be condemned as a sinner for lying - as you think I’m doing now – here, too, you can’t have a different standard for yourself. (v.7)
c) If you think you are exempt from God’s judgment - because your sin shows his righteousness more clearly - you may as well go so far as to say that sin is completely acceptable because God uses it for good (v. 8). But having such a mindset only strengthens your condemnation before God.
Application Questions
1. Notice, from this passage, that Paul’s task is not merely to proclaim the gospel, but to defend it against distortions, misunderstandings and misapplications. This is called the art of “polemics”. Why is this art so important for the church?
2. What would say to someone who tells you, “I’m glad I ‘caved in’ to my sin as much as I did….it shows how good God is to me and how He’ll forgive me” ?
3. Are we now being “entrusted with the words of God” in the same way that the Jews were (v. 2)? If so, what responsibilities do we have before God and others?
4. (taken from John Stott’s Encountering the Gospel’s Power, p. 27): “The Jews to whom Paul was writing had all sorts of misplaced confidence about their special relationship to God. What or whom have you been tempted to trust besides the grace of Jesus Christ alone?”
Next study: the last stop in the Book of Romans’ dark tour through human nature:
Romans 3: 9-20
Please also read:
Gen. 6:5-13
Prov 20:9
1 Jn 1:8-10
1 Ki 8:46
Ecc. 7:20
Ps 130:3
Isa 64:6-7
Ps 143:2
Gal 3:22
