Romans 3

1. What then is the good in being Jewish? Does circumcision mean anything?

Yes, there is something good! if the Jews would have believed God's Word and then spread the blessing to the whole world. This was God's original plan

2. Yes, it means a lot in every way. First of all, God gave the Scriptures to the Jews.

In the world, kings make laws but they do not send messengers to go and explain to the people why they should obey the king's laws. Our God is so good, He sent the Jews as messengers to show people why they should live by these laws.

3. Even if some of the Jews did not believe this does not mean that God is not faithful.

My sin does not cancel or change God's Word.

4. Of course not! God will always be true even if every living man is a liar. As David said, “That You might show justice in Your words and proven to be correct when You are judged.”

All men are liars. Psalm 116:11

You will be proved right in what You say, and Your judgment against me is just. Psalm 51:4

5. But someone will say, "If our sin shows the goodness of God then why should God judge us? That would be like saying that God is not good.” (I am showing a human argument.)

A spiritually–minded person would not say this.

6. Of course not – how could God then judge the world?

All justice would stop if God cannot judge the world. If God cannot judge the Jews then He cannot judge anyone else.

7 – 8

That would be like saying, “If my lying shows God's truth and brings Him glory, then why should He judge me as a sinner? Why not do evil so that good may come?” This is what some backstabbers say that we are teaching, but God will judge them as they deserve.

Notice that Paul is not wanting to get revenge for these lies which have been said about him, but is leaving their judgment up to God. Abraham Lincoln said that if you bend down to pick up a lie out of the dirt, you will get dirt on yourself.

9. Are we Jews better than other men? Not at all. I have already shown you that all men, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin.

There are no exceptions.

10 – 12

As David said, “There are none who are clear before God, not even one. There are none that understand. There are none that are looking for God. They have all turned aside. They have become useless for doing anything good.”

They have turned off the path of God.

They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good! The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; He looks to see if anyone is truly wise, if anyone seeks God. But no, all have turned away; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not a single one! Psalm 14:1 – 3

13. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues for hiding the truth. Their lips have posion and bite like a snake.

Whatever is in your heart is what you will say. Matthew 12:34

Their tongues sting like a snake; the venom of a viper drips from their lips. Psalm 140:3

Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Psalm 5:9

Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Psalm 10:7

14. Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.

All of these quotes are about the mouth.

Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, destroying those around you. Hebrews 12:15

And the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. James 3:6

15. Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder.

They think only about sinning.

They don’t know where to find peace or what it means to be just and good. They have mapped out crooked roads, and no one who follows them knows a moment of peace. Isaiah 59:7 – 8

16. Misery and destruction always follow them.

Surely Your goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Psalm 23:6

17. They do not know how to have peace.

The Old Testament sacrifices never took away the feelings of guilt.

If they could have provided perfect cleansing, the sacrifices would have stopped, for the worshipers would have been purified once for all time, and their feelings of guilt would have disappeared. Hebrews 10:2

The heart knows its own bitterness. Proverbs 14:10

A man’s spirit will endure sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear? Proverbs 18:14

There is no peace for the wicked, says my God. Isaiah 57:21

18. They do not see why they should have respect for God.

They say, "Yes, I have done wrong, but I believe that the good things I have done will balance out the bad things."

19. We know what the message of the law is for those who live by it, that every excuse may be stopped, and that no one can escape the judgment of God.

We know that when we are not right with God the devil tells us to stay away from the things of God, because we are not worthy.

The devil tells you that you need to be honest and confess that you really do not love Jesus the way that you should and you are only lying to yourself.

If this was true, then why would your heart even make you feel this way? If you really did not love Jesus, you would not even care.

The devil does not tell these things to the people whom he already has chained. He would not want them to start thinking about where they stand with God, which would wake up their conscience and cause them to search themselves and come to the Lord

You can be sure the devil is not doing you a favor by informing you that you do not love the Lord. The devil will not be giving testimony against you when you stand at the judgment day so why should you listen to his testimony now?

20. No one can make that themselves clear before God by keeping the law. What the law does is to show us how we have missed the mark.

Your belief system or personal convictions cannot save you.

21. But now we see that we can be clear before God without the law and this is witnessed to by the law and the prophets.

God has made a way for us to be made clear before Him without the law. Paul is not saying that we are saved because we do not trust in the law –because being saved has always been without the law

22. We are made clear before God through faith in Jesus, and this is for everyone who believes, because there is no difference between men.

You cannot wade across the ocean just because you are a little taller than other men.

23. Everyone has sinned and falls short of the glory of God's plan.

The original language says, “missed the mark” which shows that we can try to shoot for the target again. There is a difference between sin and continuing in sin.

24. A man who has this faith is now freely forgiven in the eyes of God, because he has been ransomed by Jesus.

We are not just free from sin but from guilt. Any judge or king can pardon criminal, but a judge or a king cannot get rid of the guilt

25. God has shown Jesus to be the mercy seat because of the sprinkling of His blood, which we received by faith. God shows His goodness by washing away the sins of the past.

LORD, if you kept a record of our sins, who could ever survive? Psalm 130:3

26. And by showing, in the present time, that He is a God of justice and that He holds back His judgment from every man who has faith in Jesus.

This is God's way of making evil men into good men.

27. What happens now to those who are proud of how they have kept the law? There is no more room for this kind of pride. What kind of law did they keep – a law that makes them look good on the outside? Now a law of faith takes its place.

How can I be proud of myself for the faith that God has given to me?

28. We see that a man is made clear before God by his faith, and this is a different thing from keeping a law that makes you look good on the outside.

Luther says, “Faith alone” but James shows us that we also have to put it into practice. James 2:17

29. Do you think that God is only the God of the Jews and not for the Gentiles? He is the God of the Gentiles also.

If we were saved by the law, then God would only be a God of the Jews only.

Paul is showing the confused thinking of some Jews. If we do not agree with God's plan for our lives, our thoughts will be confused also.

Give your plans to the LORD, and your thoughts will fall into place. Proverbs 16:3

30. God is ready to make any man clear who is circumcised by faith or is uncircumcised, but lives by this faith.

The purpose was to make people know what sin is and then see their guilt and run to to Jesus.

31. Are we saying that we do not need the law because we have faith? That is not what we are saying! We are seeing the true purpose for the law.

The law was not planned to be a way of saving man. If you could be saved by keeping the law then Paul would be speaking against the law. Showing that we need to be saved by faith shows the purpose of the law.