April 14, 2002


The Epistle to the Romans

Chapter 3 – Study Questions


1. What were the advantages of being a Jew?

In Romans 3:1, 2, Paul answers the objection that might have been raised to the things said in chapter 2. After having read chapter 2, one might (mistakenly) infer that there was no advantage whatsoever to being a Jew and could not help wondering what the Old Testament was all about then. Paul answers the objection very clearly by underlining two of the great privileges that the Jews enjoyed in the Old Testament times. The first one was circumcision, which signified God’s setting Israel apart, God’s sanctifying (in the sense of setting apart) His chosen people which in the time of the Old Testament were the ethnic Jews. Circumcision was the sign of the covenant that God almighty had established with Abraham and this outward sign served as a reminder to Jews of that covenant. The second (and greater) advantage (or benefit) that Paul mentions is the fact that the Jews were the receivers of the very oracles of God. Paul says that “chiefly” (NKJV) or “first of all” (NASB), this was their advantage over all other people. They were the receivers of the special revelation of God. The word that Paul uses for “oracles of God” is logia, which means utterance of God. As Christians today we should realize and greatly value the great privilege that we enjoy of having the Word of the Lord!

Important verses: 2 Timothy 3:16, Isaiah 55:11, Hebrews 4:12, Psalm 19:7-11


2. What can we learn about God's character from verses 3-8?

The two attributes of God that verses 3-8 emphasize are His faithfulness and His righteousness. As far as His faithfulness, Paul’s point is simple: “People’s lack of faith in no way nullifies God’s faithfulness to His promises.” God has a covenant with His people and will bring those who are His into His kingdom. As far as God’s faithfulness to His covenant with His people one other aspect can be noticed that has to do with the faithlessness and disobedience of the Israelites (the book of Judges illustrates this perfectly). Even in God’s punishing them for their straying away from His commandments, He was faithful to His promises to them. He said He would bless them if they obeyed and served only Him and that He would punish them if they disobeyed and embraced the pagan gods of the peoples of the land. That is exactly what He did. God is just and perfectly righteous and He is abiding by His promises. As far as His faithfulness, Paul’s point is that God’s righteousness exists in and of itself regardless of man’s righteousness (or lack thereof). It exists on its own (absolutely, some would say) and does not come to the fore by contrast to man’s unrighteousness. This makes the some people’s notion that their sinning will make God look good so absolutely (no pun intended) absurd. If our goal is to glorify God (as it should be), sinning to make God look righteous is definitely NOT the way to go about it.

Important verses: Romans 6:1


3. What argument does verse 9 conclude?

It might be surprising that after saying that there indeed was an advantage in being a Jew in the times of the Old Testament, Paul yet again underscores the idea that “both Jews and Greeks […] are all under sin.” The point that he is making is that even though there were advantages in being a Jew (being set apart through circumcision and being given the “oracles of God”) these advantages had nothing to do with the merits of the Jews themselves. God had established His covenant with them not they with God. It was God’s mercy and love that gave them the privileges they enjoyed. As far as their own merits, they were just as sinful and just as in need of God’s saving grace as the Gentiles were. Their privileges were supposed to show them how grateful they should be to their almighty God, not make them proud and presumptuous (remember the discussion about 2:1-2). In verse 9, it is not very clear who the “they” and the “we” are. Calvin’s opinion is that Paul includes himself among his countrymen, the Jews, when he talks here about “we” not being better than “them” (i.e., the Gentiles). However, the second part of the verse is the conclusion that I referred to. Having carefully built his argument about mankind’s total depravity he now concludes it. He has set the stage for announcing the good news of God’s plan of salvation.

Important verses: Romans 3:9


4. What point do verses 9-18 reiterate?

In verses 9-18, Paul continues to hammer home the presentation of the basis of his presentation of the Gospel – humankind’s total depravity. He brings as evidence quotes from the very “oracles of God” that he mentioned at the beginning of the chapter. He quotes from Psalms, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. “There is none who does good, no, not one” is probably one of these statements that we might find a little hard to accept. Unbelievers do good deeds every now and then, right? In our sight they do, yes. However, God’s notion of a good deed is a little more restrictive than ours. Like Paul has said several times so far, it is not the external (superficial) obedience to God’s demands that counts but a good motivation (i.e., love and gratitude towards God) originating in a changed heart through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Important verses: Proverbs 15:8 and 2 Corinthians 5:17






5. What is the purpose of the Law as presented in verses 19, 20?

[…] For by the Law is the knowledge of sin. What does this mean? Does the Law just teach us what sin is, in the sense of “Thou shalt not steal” or “Thou shalt not murder”? While this is one of the purposes of the Law, it is not what Paul is referring to here because we have to see this verse in context. If we read the text again substituting this meaning for the second part of verse 20 then we would have “Therefore by the deeds of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for the Law teaches us what sin is.” This is not a very powerful statement, is it? The law much more than just teach us what sin is. In Romans 7:7-8, the Bible says: 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet."8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. Remember the pink elephant example? (Did you think about a pink elephant? Gotcha again!) The Law makes our rebellion against God known and more evident. “Through the Law comes knowledge of sin; how so? Well, when the law meets an unregenerate heart (that is, a person without the Holy Spirit and without faith), the effect is that is reveals the rebellion in our hearts; it makes our rebellion against God and His Law known; it brings it out. Sin rises up in the presence of the Law and shows itself in more vivid colors” (J. Piper). The law is the yardstick that shows us how short we fall of God’s standards.


6. Verse 25 reads in part (in the NKJV): "whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness." What does "propitiation" mean and how does that apply to Christ's sacrifice?

The definition of propitiation is the following (courtesy of Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary):


propitiation:

to propitiate:

more than just expiation:


The word used in Greek for propitiation is ilasthrion, which is the word used in the Septuagint (the Greek version of the Old Testament) for the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant. Why is that significant? The mercy seat was where the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice made on the Day of Atonement (the one day in the year when he was allowed to enter the Holy of Holies). The mercy seat was between the contents of the Ark and the most holy God. The Ark contained the two stone slabs that the Ten Commandments had been written on. The Ten Commandments constituted the essence of God’s Law that we, of our strength, would never be able to satisfy or fulfill. The magnificent message of the Gospel is that Christ’s blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat before God so that a sinful and rebellious people might be reconciled and justified before a holy God! Christ’s sacrifice on the cross not only paid the price of our iniquity but also gained God’s favor for us. Christ’s sacrifice did not cause God to love us. It was because of His love that He foreordained (“set forth” – Gr., protiyhmai – can mean both “to expose to public view” and “to purpose, determine”; the word used for “revealed” – Gr., phaneroo – in verse 21 has a similar meaning) this marvelously merciful plan of salvation.


Important verses: Exodus 25:10-22


7. What do you think Paul means in verse 26 where he says that God is "just AND the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (NKJV; emphasis added)?

What do you think?


8. What two important ideas do verses 27-31 reiterate?

The two important ideas are the following: salvation by faith alone and the Law is not done away with. Salvation by faith alone (sola fide) means that nothing that we can do can justify us before the Lord but it is only His sovereign mercy and His gracious gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) that makes salvations happen. We cannot boast or glory in something that we have not accomplished, can we? That is one of Paul’s points here. God has wrought the wonderful work of saving and all we can do is to worship Him alone and be grateful to Him. The idea that the Law is not done away with is important. Certain aspects of the Law or the Pentateuch were perfectly fulfilled by Christ (the sacrificial system) and are not binding on us as Christians anymore. Other aspects are not binding on us because they had to do exclusively with the government of the ethnic nation of Israel. The moral laws, however, are still binding on us as Christians. In that sense, the Law is not done away with. Even though in our unregenerate condition we would never have been able to fulfill the requirements of the Law, after we are saved, the Holy Spirit works in our hearts to make us more like Christ. The Spirit enables us to obey the moral requirements of the Law and live according to these standards instituted by God for His glory!


Conclusion


THANKS BE TO GOD!


Sorin Voicu-Comendant (sorinvc@utdallas.edu)

12 April 2002