Four Questions & Answers – Romans 3:1-8

Bethel Baptist Church – David Rising

Romans 3:1-8; May 31, 2026 Sunday AM

Four Questions and Answers

In our study last week, the Apostle Paul summarized his argument in verses 28-29 of Romans chapter 2:

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; 29 but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.

The mark of a Jew was not simply one’s ethnicity and external mark of circumcision. Rather, it was to be a matter of the heart where the Spirit of God had done a work. Genuine Jewishness, if I can say it that way, is more than simply complying with the letter of the law.

Now someone could argue that being circumcised was a matter of obedience. After all, God called for this.

But if you think about it – it really does not.

How many Jewish boys who were circumcised at 8-days old can say their circumcision was accomplished by their obedient heart? Certainly the parents who had it done were following the letter, but not the boy.

And that is the issue – the individual heart of the Gentile and the Jew.

Paul has been addressing other matters of the law – stealing, adultery, idolatry – which some were breaking. Breaking these laws was proving his point: even Jews are guilty before God and stand in need of His grace.

There has not been, nor is, nor will ever be one person on this planet, save the Lord Jesus Christ, who ever kept God’s law entirely. This fact renders us all guilty before God.

Paul’s focus has been the Jew and this will continue this morning as we see four questions raised and answered.

If being a Jew lands both Jew and Gentile in the same place of judgment, what then was the uniqueness of the Jew in the first place?

This is the argument we meet today as we start in Romans 3. Pray.

The first question we encounter this morning is this:

1. What is the Jewish advantage? (3:1-2)

3:1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Τί οὖν τὸ περισσὸν τοῦ Ἰουδαίου ἢ τίς ἡ ὠφέλεια τῆς περιτομῆς;

Paul anticipates push-back and so raises the question.

The assumption in the question is that there was and is an advantage for the Jew. That advantage, some will argue, Paul has pushed that aside in the previous discussion.

Was God’s choice of the nation of Israel something special? Did it mean anything?

We see two questions here in verse 1, but I think they are really the same question. Often in scripture the ‘circumcised’ is a way of identifying the Jews.

If both Jew and Gentile stand guilty before God, then was there any advantage for the Jew? Did circumcision actually mean anything?

We saw in 1:16 that the priority of the gospel was to the Jew first, and also the Greek (1:16). This was the order of God’s dealing with mankind.

By the way, this set of questions we see today anticipates the longer discussion in chapters 9-11. Those chapters go into greater depth and address the future salvation of Israel and what God is doing in the present.

And so back to the question about the Jewish advantage: is there one?

Notice the answer in verse 2:

2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. 2πολὺ κατὰ πάντα τρόπον. πρῶτον μὲν [γὰρ] ὅτι ἐπιστεύθησαν τὰ λόγια τοῦ θεοῦ.

Yes, there was and is an advantage for the Jew.

Paul says the advantage is “much in every way” indicating he could list many advantages (which he will do in chapter 9).

Paul singles out one and highlights it as a big one, a chief one: God entrusted to the Jews His oracles.

An oracle is a saying, a word. Here it is plural (τὰ λόγια). This word ‘oracle’ is only found 4x in the NT.

We see it first in Stephen’s address in Acts 7. There he traces God’s dealing with the Jews to the person of Christ. In verse 38 he speaks about Moses on Mount Sinai and that God had appointed him to be the one who received the living oracles to give to the people.

Israel was entrusted with words from God. The Ten Commandments are literally the Ten Words. God gave to the Jews the Scriptures, and that is a huge advantage and priority.

The preservation and transmission of the OT is a fascinating study as they were very careful in how they made copies of it and kept it through the centuries.

They had God’s oracles. God gave the Jews His Word.

That’s a great advantage.

Notice the second question Paul raises in verse 3:

2. What about Jewish unbelief? (3:3-4)

3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 3τί γάρ; εἰ ἠπίστησαν τινες, μὴ ἡ ἀπιστία αὐτῶν τὴν πίστιν τοῦ θεοῦ καταργήσει;

Yes, God gave them the Scriptures. That was a huge advantage.

But the sad reality is that many do not believe those scriptures.

Paul anticipates someone thinking that through and then concluding somehow that this lack of belief might nullify God’s faithfulness.

The giving of those scriptures included the anticipation and coming of Jesus the Messiah, though He is not so named until the first century.

Most Jews do not accept Jesus as Messiah.

This question again anticipates Romans 9-11 which goes into great details about this and shows the amazing way in which Israel will one day believe. God will bring it about.

Will the lack of belief by some Jews nullify God’s faithfulness?

The answer is given emphatically in verse 4:

4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words,

And may overcome when You are judged.”

4μὴ γένοιτο· γινέσθω δὲ ὁ θεὸς ἀληθής, πᾶς δὲ ἄνθρωπος ψεύστης, καθὼς γέγραπται·

ὅπως ἂν δικαιωθῇς ἐν τοῖς λόγοις σου

καὶ νικήσεις ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαι σε.

KJV has ‘God forbid’ – a very common way to express in English at that time an emphatic “no.” Literally the Greek reads “ ‘may it never be’. Paul will use this same expression in verse 6 and also to answer the question of Romans 6:1 “Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?”

In our day, we would answer this question: “No way!” “Absolutely not.”

Jewish unbelief does not cancel God’s faithfulness and His Word. The problem is not God’s oracles or His promises.

To underline Paul’s answer to this question he adds a proverbial statement: “let God be true and every man a liar.”

Even if every last person on the planet said one thing and God another, God would still be true. Nothing that man does or says nullifies who God is and what He promises.

Israel’s unbelief did not change the character and future grace of God toward sinners. God will keep His promises, not because Israel is faithful, but because He is faithful.

To emphasize his point, Paul footnotes Psalm 51:4:

“That You may be justified in Your words,

And may overcome when You are judged.”

The context of Psalm 51 is David acknowledging his great sin with Bathsheba to God and confessing His sin. There he confesses His sin and pleads with God for forgiveness.

The first part of the verse is where David says to God, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight.”

Here in Psalm 51:4 David acknowledges God’s absolute right to judge sin. What God says against sin and what he orders in judgment is right. God is faithful and right to save whom He will save, and He is faithful and right to judge all who are sinners.

Notice that Paul anticipates a third question:

3. Is God fair? (3:5-6)

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)

This is a rather interesting question, and one that seems over the top. Paul even admits this by the parenthetical statement. He says he is using a mere human argument. To speak of God being unjust is surely an overstatement. I would not want to admit saying that.

The logic Paul uses to land on this third question is this: the unrighteous acts of individuals gives God an occasion to act according to His righteousness and demonstrate His perfect character. A bad thing brings about a good thing, but the bad thing also brings God’s judgment.

Is that fair? Is God unjust to punish?

Because this is an artificial and ludicrous argument, Paul makes it clear he is arguing like a man, not as one informed by God’s word.

By the way, have you ever gotten into these kinds of arguments with others, especially those who do not accept the truth of the Word of God? You can pull out your hair after a while because human logic can make your head spin as you go into strange arguments.

Is God fair? Is He unjust? Even asking that question seems ludicrous, but many raise the question – formally or informally.

Paul gives the answer in verse 6:

6 Certainly not! (6μὴ γένοιτο) No way. Absolutely not. God forbid. God is not unjust to inflict wrath against those who have committed unrighteous acts.

God will judge the world – a point Paul has already established in the book of Romans 2.

To underscore this response, look at the rest of verse 5:

For then how will God judge the world?

In other words, the idea that God would be unjust – and then should not judge unrighteousness – is foolish because Scripture makes it clear God will judge the world.

This is an argument that has gone in a circle and now ends with question that comes out of human logic.

When we get to verse 8, we will see that these questions were probably not merely hypothetical but questions his opponents were really raising.

Even if our sin brings out God’s grace (as we also see clearly in Romans 5:20-6:1), God is not unfair to judge sin. He is consistent with His character and Word when He judges.

Notice a fourth question in verses 7-8:

7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say.

4. Should we do evil so good can come as a result? (3:7-8)

There are two questions here, but the first one is an echo of the third question. The question of verse 8 is merely the human logic taken to an absurd conclusion: if my sin causes God’s truth and glory to increase, why will I still be judged as a sinner, and why not sin even more?

Why can’t we just do whatever we please and thereby cause God’s grace and mercy to abound even more?

This is a kind of pragmatism where the end justifies the means. If the end result is good – God’s goodness increases – why not trigger that with doing whatever we want to do?

Some people in verse 8 were accusing the Apostle Paul of teaching something like this. If God’s glory is the ultimate goal, and if our sin causes God’s character to be seen, then why not just continue to sin?

Some were blaspheming the Apostle, accusing him of teaching this kind of nonsense.

To use this logic is to show contempt for the Word of God.

Paul has just carefully argued in chapter 1 that sin is the problem, and that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the solution. Because sin will be judged, we need the gospel. We need the help of someone else. We don’t need to reconfigure some spiritual talking points to allow them to align with absurd human logic.

Paul concludes verse 8 with a strong statement:

Their condemnation is just.

God will judge sin, and it will be fair.

No, we should not continue to sin to give God occasion to show His righteousness. That is to misunderstand God’s truth and to take the argument in a wrong direction. God will still keep His promises, even in the face of the current unbelief of Israel.

Next week we will notice Paul’s fifth question and the long answer that will bring his argument from chapter 1-3 to its important conclusion. That conclusion will point squarely at the solution in Jesus Christ.

Application

1. Accept the advantage that God has given the Jews. I say this with a couple things in mind.

First, recognize what Paul has said here. There is an advantage God gave to the Jews, and for Paul that centers on the fact that God gave to the world His Word through them.

The Scriptures in the context here would primarily refer to the OT Scriptures. Of course, Paul is in the midst of revealing God’s truth as he writes much of the NT scriptures. But in Paul’s argument, I think he is referring mainly to the OT.

The OT scriptures do not give us all of God’s revelation, but we start there and the NT scripture are built upon that foundation.

Second, I make this application point in the face of jealous hatred toward the Jews that we see in this world. To me, so much of the hatred toward the Jewish people is because they were given a unique place among all the nations of the world. We should accept the undeniable fact that God did single out the nation of Israel in this world as unique among all the other nations.

I like this statement by the GARBC in their articles of faith:

“XVIII. Israel We believe in a continuing distinction between Israel and the Church. We further believe in the sovereign selection of Israel as God’s eternal covenant people, and that she is judicially set aside as a nation in this age because of her disobedience and rejection of Christ. When Christ returns to establish His Kingdom on the earth, Israel will be restored and saved as a nation, receiving the fulfillment of covenantal promises. Genesis 13:14–17; Romans 11:1–32; Ezekiel 37.”

Paul acknowledges that uniqueness, but he is also careful in the text we have examined to be critical in the right way, pointing the discussion to sin and the only solution which is found in the Messiah, Jesus.

2. Recognize the futility of human logic. Paul shows us here by way of argumentation that human logic can take us to arguments that become absurd.

The farther we get away from the text of scripture in our discussions, the more complicated we will get in our reasoning and the end result may be utter confusion.

Let us stick to the revealed Word of God when we argue for truth, and let go of those other arguments that lead us to nonsense.

This is not a cop-out for thinking, but human reasoning and logic are not the foundation for truth. God’s revealed Word is the foundation for truth, and upon that basis let us make our case to a lost world.

Next week we will look at the verses in Romans 3 that make the very strong case for a guilt world. All have sinned. This will set us up for the powerful solution that is articulated in the gospel.