Benefits and Drawbacks, Part 9

of the grace that has been already
invested in securing the faith of God’s people and our salvation
thereby. It’s good to be reminded because
we are on a hike of sorts. We are in the forest and we are
likely, if not prone, to get lost in this particular forest. As we shared two weeks ago, it
is easy to get off track. It is easy to misunderstand and
mistake Paul’s points as he works along through this lengthy section,
which began in chapter two, verse one, and courses all the way
down through chapter three, verse twenty. It’s easy to get off
course. It’s easy to misunderstood. what
Paul is referring to at times and to think that Paul doesn’t
even understand the gospel himself. What Paul has done is establish
that all Gentiles are under sin, all have sinned. What he is showing
in chapter two, that likewise, with regards to the Jews, all
have sinned, all are under condemnation, all are in desperate need of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Which raises an interesting question.
If that is the case, how then were Jews in the Old Testament
saved? Were they saved? Because there was no Christ yet
at that time. Even in the Old Testament, Jews
were saved by faith. The best definition or description
that I’ve ever heard is that the Jews at that time in the
Old Testament economy were living in a sense on a credit card that
was yet to be paid. That payment would come eventually
in the form of the Lord Jesus Christ, but it was by faith,
no doubt, even as Hebrews 11 points out so clearly in the
case of Gentiles, us who have come to know Christ, who are
no longer Gentiles, but saints of God. We’re not living on a
credit card any longer. We’re living on an expense account.
It’s been paid, it’s been paid in full. I want to take you back
just by way of a brief introduction to where we’ve been. In the course
of our study here in chapter two, we’re looking at what I’ve
entitled benefits and drawbacks, where there were benefits to
the Jews, but they were utilized in such a way that they became
to them drawbacks. Paul’s point, I say again, the
main point, the main thrust of this entire section, chapter
two, verse one through three, twenty. is that the Jews are
all likewise condemned, all in need of God’s saving grace. Paul began that section with
the Jew and the law, which place we have been for many weeks.
There in chapter two and the entire course of it, looking
at the privileges that the Jews had squandered, their arrogance,
In that the oversight, the things that were so plainly evident
that they had overlooked and ultimately the judgment that
befell them. And still does. What Paul does
in chapter three, verse one is to turn the corner. After hearing
that they were under judgment, that they, too, likewise, were
going to be under condemnation, that they, too, were going to
be held accountable for their sins, their individual sins. Not only were the Jews unhappy,
they were probably stirred, stirred to the core of their being and
prompted to fight. They wanted to fight, they wanted
to wage war with Paul and with his doctrine, and so not only
were they dismayed at the news of this pending judgment that
they never dreamed would come to and touch them as the Jewish
nation, No, they wanted to repudiate Paul’s doctrine. They wanted
to dismantle it. They wanted to ruin him and his
doctrine, the doctrine of grace. So what Paul does in chapter
three, verse 20. Is deal with those arguments,
arguments that very likely were posed literally to Paul throughout
the course of his ministry. If you would, let’s look at chapter
three, verse one. were pole poses, then what advantage
has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First
of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. What
then? If some did not believe, their
unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it? May it never be. Let God be found
true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, that
thou mightest be justified in thy words and mightest prevail
when thou art judged. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates
the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts
wrath is not unrighteous, is he? I am speaking in human terms. May it never be. For otherwise,
how will God judge the world? But if, through my lie, the truth
of God abounded to His glory, why am I still being judged as
a sinner? And why not say, as we are slanderously
reported, as some affirm that we say, let us do evil that good
may come. Their condemnation is just. The Jews were a privileged people.
An incredibly privileged people, privileged above any other nation.
This is where Paul began the section that we considered last
Lord’s Day. Look back, if you would, at verse
17. These were actual benefits that the Jews enjoyed. The name
Jew, verse 17. The fact that they claimed to
rely upon the law. They boasted in God. thought
that they knew his will, they approved the things that were
essential, having been instructed out of the law, confidence in
themselves that they were a guide to the blind, a light to those
in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature.
They were confident in those things. They believed that those
things were their salvation. And so to hear from Paul that
they, too, likewise are under God’s condemnation, that they,
too, needed the grace of God, that they needed to place their
faith in the Lord Jesus. Well, they were stirred. And
just as. We saw in chapter two, verse
one, where Paul enters into this kind of a dialogue, that’s his
style here. He’s having essentially a running
conversation, not with himself necessarily, but with a supposed
foe, doctrinally speaking. And this dialogue continues even
here. In fact, it intensifies, doesn’t
it? Now it becomes contentious. Before, there was some interplay,
and would you consider this, and what about that? But now
Paul utilizes this argumentative style to handle real questions
that had very likely come up, though not posed live here as
if in person by way of a debate. But these arguments were no less
living, no less active arguments against Paul and his doctrines. And we use this all the time.
You probably have friends where they’ll go into this series of
asking and answering their own questions. Do I go to the store? Sure, I go to the store. Do I
like to shop? No, I don’t like to shop. Is it too expensive?
You bet. And they’ll go on and on and
on. They don’t really need you to have a good conversation. And we know people like that
all the time. In fact, maybe we even fall into
it ourselves. It’s not for the sake of just
amusing himself that Paul enters into this. It’s for the sake
of running ahead and dismantling these pernicious errors that
were being fomented by his enemies. I’ll tell you a funny story.
We’re already late. About midweek, I couldn’t figure
out why all of my efforts and all of my typing hadn’t produced
more data. Usually, I know after 20 years,
15 pages is about 45 minutes. Now, a lot of times I can do
a lot more with 15 pages, but I couldn’t figure out why I didn’t
have more data until I printed out my message this morning and
I kept asking for eight and a half by 14 paper. So my 15 pages are really, really
low. And I really would love to get
through these four points. I just I just don’t know. If you would go back to chapter
three, verse one, where I want to look at the first challenge
that is rebutted. The first challenge that Paul
begins to consider. When he says in verse one, then
what advantage has the Jew if they are under judgment? And
if, as you say, they have reaped all of this, they’ve stored up
God’s wrath for themselves and reaped all of this judgment to
themselves, then what is the big deal? What is the real advantage
of being a Jew anyway? If we are going to be judged,
Paul, just like the Gentiles are judged, then isn’t this all
just a sham? What advantage has the Jew? What
is the benefit of circumcision? Which, by the way, God prescribed,
God commanded. What is the benefit? He says
is that essentially what has just been said in chapter two,
especially the latter part of that. might seem to suggest that
there isn’t any advantage to a Jew. The Gentiles are under
judgment. The Jews are under judgment. They’re all the same. But if that was the case, that
really was true, then really it would have to call into question
the truthfulness of the Old Testament or the faithfulness of God. Because
according to the testimony of the Old Testament, God chose
Israel out of all mankind to be his special people. And if
there really is no advantage to the Jew, if that was all just
smoke and mirrors, then it means that either the Old Testament
is not the true witness that it claims to be. Or that God
is not and will not be faithful to his word. Really, what is
called into question here is God’s credibility, isn’t it?
What is the advantage of the Jew? And Paul basically, as I
said, suggests that there is somebody that bursts into the
room, having heard what he articulated, articulated in chapter two. And
says, you know, basically, then this is all just. Phony baloney,
all of this Old Testament, all of this law, all of this ceremony,
all of these rituals, All of these promises is all phony. There’s no advantage to being
a Jew, is there, Paul? And, you know, honestly, from
reading Paul, if you take the totality of his doctrine, you
might almost expect him to say, you’re right. There is no advantage
to being a Jew. You absolutely, categorically
have nothing on anyone at all. But the shocking thing is that’s
not what he says. This is much in every way. There
is an advantage to belonging to the Jewish nation. Think of
all the privileges that have been granted to that particular
nation. Paul says they were real. These were real privileges. Is there any advantage to being
a Jew in the general sense? Paul says, yes, there is. This word advantage, it just
speaks of excess, it’s used in that way, both in a good way
and a bad way in the New Testament. Is there anything superfluous
to the Jew? Is there anything beneficial,
advantageous over and above what everybody else has? Is there
anything that’s abundant in any sense? Are they preeminent? Nancy
537 uses it in a negative sense. Let your statements be yes, yes
or no, no. Anything beyond these is evil.
Anything superfluous, anything overflowing beyond that is evil.
We don’t need to swear on a stack of Bibles, as is the common epithet. Second Corinthians three nine
uses it in a positive way. If the ministry of condemnation
has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound
in glory. It’s superfluous, it’s preeminent
in glory. And so Paul isn’t mincing words
here. He’s being very clear, is there
anything? Stupendous over and above abundance
about having been a Jew. Now, he’ll deal with this more
fully in chapters nine through eleven. But the basic idea of
this very tight reply in verses one and two is that the Jews
have received in trust. They’ve been given stewardship
over the revelation of God’s will. That’s ultimately going
to be Paul’s argument here. And the failure of some to believe
those scriptures When Jesus Christ had come as the consummation
of that plan of redemption, did that diminish the privilege that
they had? Not at all. The failure of some
just emphasized the contrast of the faithfulness of God pulses
it this way. What advantage has the Jew? Great
in every respect. Great in every respect, much
in every way, the Jews as a people had received abundant blessings
and privileges and guidance far and away above all other nations. And even though those things
didn’t in and of themselves bring salvation, eternal salvation,
as you and I as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ now enjoy,
They were nonetheless privileges. They were beneficial to the Jews,
and they were so by God’s design. God did this. Listen to some
scriptures, just a few. Exodus 19, 6. You shall be to
me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Deuteronomy 10. Behold, to the Lord your God
belong heaven and the highest heavens, the earth and all that
is in it. Yet on your fathers did the Lord
set his affection to love them. These were real blessings that
the nation of Israel constantly enjoyed. Psalm 135, for the Lord
has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession. Psalm 147, 20. He has not dealt
with us like any other nation. For His ordinances, they have
not known them. Praise the Lord. They were praiseworthy
blessings. They were beneficial to the Jew.
They did count for something. It wasn’t smoke and mirrors.
It wasn’t just a sham. They had many blessings bestowed
upon them. And they were real and rich. One pastor said it this way.
What is this preeminence? Pardon me. What this preeminence
is becomes clear from the reference in the latter part of the verse
to one aspect of it. God’s special choice of Israel,
that is, through this nation that God’s covenant with mankind
had been made in Jewish flesh, that the redemption of the world
was to be and now has been accomplished through the Lord Jesus. But this
tremendous preeminence never involved exemption from God’s
judgment, and that is what the Jew had not calculated. They hadn’t calculated that all
these blessings did not exempt them from judgment. What was
one of the greatest blessings of all? They were entrusted with
the oracles of God. Now, let’s pause for a minute
here. This first part of this language that they were entrusted
calls to mind, doesn’t it? I hope a similar entrustment
that to which Paul refers in Second Timothy, one for where
he says, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us the treasure
which has been entrusted to you. I mean, what pastor, what elder
doesn’t know and live by those words? Any faithful elder does. In other words, the gospel is
a sacred trust that pastors and elders must steward with the
greatest care. And that’s the same image that
is here with regards to this entrustment to the Jewish nation,
they were entrusted with a thing that is here called the oracles
of God. Well, that’s interesting. These must be special statements,
special little secrets. Almost like the Gnostic knowledge,
the secret knowledge. They were entrusted with something
that no one else has ever seen. Right. Originally, this little word
referred to brief sayings, tiny little pithy little statements,
but ultimately came to refer to scripture. And I believe here
that what it refers to is the entire body of the written record,
at least at the time in which Paul spoke it. As one pastor said, although
oracles is a legitimate translation, I do have a real concern with
that word. And perhaps you do, too. When
I think of oracles, I think of some, you know, fortune teller
with a crystal ball speaking for some secret statements of
alleged truth. Because of this term’s association
with pagan rites, That particular rendering, oracles, seems unsuitable
in this context. In many pagan religions, mediums
and seers gave occultic predictions of future and other messages
from the spirit world through supposed supernatural oracles. Such a connotation could not
have been further from Paul’s use of the word. His point was
that the Jews were entrusted with the very words of the one
and only true God, the entirety of the Old Testament. God’s revelation
of himself and his will. an unimaginably great privilege
as well as an equally great responsibility. And you see, the Jews, they love
the privilege. They love to claim that they
had the law. They love to claim that they
had had and possess the revelation of God himself. What they didn’t
necessarily appreciate is the responsibility that came with
that. There have been a lot of stabs in the dark at exactly
what this word referred to, this word translated as oracles. Some people said it referred
to only the law. Some people said it referred
specifically to the promises that were made only to Israel.
One other said that it was those divine utterances in the Old
Testament which stand out as most unmistakably divine. And
there are those statements throughout scripture. Throughout the Old
Testament, which are particularly God’s words, those, some said,
were the oracles. Interesting. Some said that it
was the law given from Sinai, others to the Old Testament as
a whole. And I believe that it’s best to take it in that sense.
It’s in the absolute widest sense it could be. It was God’s revelation
to the people. What Paul is referring to here
is this treasure that has been committed to the safekeeping,
the trust, as it were, of the Jews with the entirety of the
Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures. That was, as one said, the deposit
of divine knowledge by which they were distinguished by all
other nations. They had not the law, a tablets,
a set of tablets in a wooden box they had. They were the possessors
of the divine revelation at that time. The Jews and the Jews alone,
no other nation was given that privilege. No other nation has
such a high honor. And so Paul says, look, with
regards to this first argument, it doesn’t hold water. That was
a legitimate privilege. That was a great honor. It was
real. What advantage? Great in every
respect. You had the revelation of God.
And he moves immediately to the second, the second challenge. The second argument thrown up
in Paul’s face that his doctrine was error. Look at verse three,
and it’s a logical. He builds logically upon the
previous argument, does this supposed attacker when he says,
what then, if some did not believe their unbelief will not nullify
the faithfulness of God, will it? See, Paul now turns to face another
argument against his doctrine. This doctrine of salvation by
faith in Christ alone, by grace. That if what he said in verses
one and two is true, then there must be another explanation to
this whole thing as to how in the world a Jew could be judged
as unworthy of heaven. After all, they possess the word
of God. Maybe it’s this says his opponent. If the benefit to the Jew was
real, the advantages, the blessings, etc. If that was all truly advantageous
to the Jew, then maybe Paul believes that there are enough faithless
Jews that if the scales are tipped, then God will renege on his promises. Faithlessness begets faithlessness. That’s the argument. After all,
if God goes back on his word, the cause really isn’t God anyway,
is it? The cause of faithlessness is
Israel itself. Paul says what then? If some
did not believe, their belief will not nullify the faithfulness
of God, will it? It introduces this little what-then
question. It’s an objection that has to
be answered. Step up, Paul. Let’s hear your reply to this.
What then? Paul uses this argument, this
line of reasoning himself in Philippians 118. What then? With
regards to all these people that were out there proclaiming the
gospel, some from good motives, some from false motives. Paul
says, what then? Only that in every way, whether
in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed. And in this, I
rejoice. What then? So they called Paul to account.
What then? If some did not believe, maybe enough of them, if they
don’t believe, then God will be unfaithful to his promise.
Right, Paul? Paul poses the doctrine from
his own words here. If some did not believe, their
unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?
The answer is no. As one said, it is important
to recognize that we have here more than just a play on words,
faithfulness versus unfaithfulness. There is in the Bible a real
inward connection between faith. That is faith. With regards to
belief and faithfulness. The Jews unbelief was also unfaithfulness
to the covenant that they had made with God, you see, God is
always faithful. God is a faithful God over and
over and repeated throughout not only Paul’s epistles, but
the entirety of Scripture. And you don’t need me to tell
you God is faithful. God is true to his word. First
Corinthians one nine, God is faithful for whom you were called
into fellowship with his son. First Thessalonians five twenty
four faithful is he who calls you. God is faithful God. Paul wants to clarify God never
promised. To any individual isolated Jew,
no matter how pure. His family line was. As one said,
no matter how pure his physical lineage from Abraham was, God
hadn’t promised them salvation just categorically based on that.
Based on the fact that he was true to some right, R.I.T.E. In fact, he goes on to say that
no other of the Old Testament great saints of the Old Testament
could claim security in God’s promises apart from repentance
and personal faith in God. You know, we have a tendency,
don’t we? We have a tendency to think of repentance and faith
as a New Testament thing. This was newly introduced that,
you know, John the Baptist came calling them to repentance and
to baptism and faith. We think of it as a New Testament
thing, but it isn’t. This is always what God expected of his
people. This is always that to which
they were called. Listen to Isaiah 55, not exactly a New Testament
book. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return to the Lord. That’s repentance. He will have
compassion on him and on our God and to our God, for he will
abundantly pardon. That’s forgiveness. See, a lot of God’s promises.
were coupled with very dire, severe warnings. Listen to Amos
chapter three, verse two, you only I have chosen from all the
families of their good that I can go to my recliner and kick back
and wait for heaven. No, no, no, no. Therefore, I
will punish you for all your iniquities. You see, they have
forgotten that with these great blessings came great responsibility. A lot of these promises absolutely
were conditional. They were covenant promises based
on people’s faith and obedience. But there were unconditional
promises as well that he had made to the nation of Israel
as a whole, not to individual Jews. And he says, look, I’m
not going to be unfaithful. It’s not going to nullify my
faithfulness. They’re going to change my plan if a few of some
of you go by way of your own design and turn away from God’s
covenant. It’s not going to nullify my
faithfulness. The word nullify is used 25 times
by Paul, the basic meaning is to put out of action, to make
completely ineffective, to abolish. Look, stack up a whole lot of
them, stack up the great proportion of them. And if they all live
lives of disobedience and faithlessness, that is not going to change my
faithfulness. It’s not going to alter it in
the slightest. Paul said, pardon me, the Lord had said, I will
bless those who bless you. The one who curses you, I will
curse. And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
That’s unconditional. It’s an absolute promise of the
Lord God. Paul says, look, it’s not going
to be nullified. The promises to Israel had not been nullified
even by their own faithlessness, and Paul will go into this in
great detail in Romans chapters 9 through 11. Two quick verses,
just as a forecast, since we won’t get there real soon. Romans
9 6 says it is not as though the Word of God has failed for
they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel. There
are plenty who have wandered and have gone astray who by their
lack of faith and by their disobedience have proved themselves not to
be part of Israel. Romans 11 29 just says the gifts
and callings of God are irrevocable. God does not go back on his faith.
or on his promises. God is not faithless. One commentator
said it very succinctly in these terms. Listen. Now, in fact,
Israel had not proved faithful to their trust, and this might
have been put as an objection to Paul when he argued that it
was a great advantage to belong to the nation which had received
the revelation of God. But his reply is that men’s faithfulness
never alters God’s faithfulness or frustrates his purpose. The
unfaithfulness of men simply sets his truth in relief. His
righteousness is always vindicated over against their unrighteousness. Paul answers. He’s posed the
question in the positive. Their unbelief will not nullify
the faithfulness of God, will it? The answer is no. May it
never be. Look at verse four. The very
idea, as if Paul say. God forbid. This is an absolutely
power packed denial. No way. Absolutely not. It is the strongest negative
Greek expression. It carried essentially the meaning
of Heaven forbid, impossible. One commentator summed it up
in these terms. God had postponed the fulfillment
of his promise to redeem and restore Israel as a nation, but
he had not reneged on that promise. Because of his holy nature, he
could not renege on that promise. The nation of Israel, pardon
me, the national salvation of Israel is as inevitable as God’s
promises are irrevocable. But that future certainty gives
individual Jews no present guarantee of being saved any more than
the most pagan Gentile. The mistake of Paul’s accusers
was in believing that God’s unconditional promises to Israel applied to
all individual Jews at all times, and it didn’t. Salvation was
never offered by God on the basis of heritage, ceremony, good works,
or any other basis than that of faith. Paul goes on there in verse four. May it never be. Absolutely not. Rather, let God be found true,
though every man be found a liar. This is interesting language,
almost strange to our ears. In calling God true, he’s calling
he’s referring to God as faithful to his promises, true to his
word. That little word is used of God
on many occasions, but John, the gospel of John especially
uses that of God. He who has received his testimony
has set his seal to this, that God is true. He’s faithful. What he says he’s going to do,
it’s absolutely rock solid, even though every man be found a liar.
The quote there ultimately is from Psalm 51, 4. where David,
having sinned, said, Against you only have I sinned and done
what is evil in your sight, so that you are justified when you
speak and blameless when you judge. You are true even if all
of the rest of us are liars. No one can hold a candle to Almighty
God and to His truth and faithfulness. The psalmist here, as one said,
recognizes and confesses his sin as committed against God
himself in order that through his confession, God might be
acknowledged as in his judgment. It speaks of God’s righteousness
over man’s unfaithfulness. God is and God will be faithful
even in the face of great unfaithfulness. But there’s a third challenge.
His enemy isn’t done. He won’t rest. And Paul brings
them up in rapid fire fashion, I believe, to do away with them,
to dispatch with them quickly and thoroughly. Look at verse
five. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates
the righteousness of God, what shall we say? This is by far
the most creative one of all. Maybe if the previous two arguments
didn’t hold water, Paul, perhaps there’s a third that does. As
I said, the most creative argument yet goes like this. If God gains
all the glory by standing in bold relief to the sinfulness
of humanity, not the least of which was the nation of Israel.
Since God proves himself faithful, even in that, then essentially
sin and sinfulness glorifies God. Like I said, it’s creative. What you have here essentially
is the image and a number of commentators use this identical
image. You have the image of a diamond
salesman laying out his jewels over the backdrop of a piece
of black velvet so that the diamonds stand out in bold relief. What they’re saying is, shouldn’t
we give God a worthy canvas and make our lives just as simple
as they can be so that God’s glory and righteousness stand
out in such bold relief? It’s just a despicable argument. I told you it was creative. It’s
beyond creative. It’s from the pit. Paul will
touch upon this same line of reasoning later. Shouldn’t we
sin it up so that God will grace it up? People. People are never at a loss at
trying to create an argument for their own sinfulness. As
one said, if the. If confession of people’s sin
results in the vindication of the righteousness of God. Isn’t
that a justification for sin? Paul goes on to dismantle this
argument on two fronts, not only by the nature of the character
of God, but also by the sinfulness of men. Paul says, look, the God who inflicts wrath is
not unrighteous, is he? It’s a rhetorical question, and
again, expecting a negative answer. God’s not unrighteous. That’s
why Paul says he’s speaking on human terms. He can hardly articulate
this vile argument. He hardly even wants to say it.
He’s not fearful of being struck by lightning. He doesn’t even
want to articulate this foolish, ridiculous argument. What he’s
talking about when he says human terms, he’s talking like the
rest of mankind does that the tendency to speak in these foolish,
whimsical, just almost idolatrous ways. Paul is so repulsed by
this argument that he almost apologizes for even mentioning
it. I’m talking in base human terms. It’s their argument, not
mine. Paul says, may it never be. Otherwise,
how will God judge the world? How is it that God? Everybody
recognizes that God is judge and God is a judge and he’s a
just judge. The idea that God is guilty of
injustice, judging us while our sin is beneficial to him is so
absurd that it’s essentially a denial of a basic belief that
God is the judge of the world or a just judge. But God is just. If God turned a blind eye to
sin, if God truly benefited from sin, if he was some way glorified
in that sin, his role as a judge is over. It is undermined and
destroyed, how could that kind of God judge the world? We may just make the fourth challenge,
the fourth challenge is simple, it’s just a reiteration of what
he’s already said. Where Paul says, if through my life or seven,
the truth of God abounded to his glory, why am I still being
judged a sinner? If all this abounded to God’s
glory, if all of this made God to stand out in bold relief,
then why should I be judged? The word truth in Scripture always,
often rather, is almost set in contrast to unrighteousness,
truth as opposed to unrighteousness. So that even in this particular
context, it takes on the flavor of righteousness versus unrighteousness,
God’s moral excellence, so that the falsehood, this lie that
is spoken of this falsehood towards God, this sinfulness, really. The issue of these verses is
to show. That if this thing is true, this
ground of reasoning is true, assumed by them to be valid,
That not only every sinner could claim exemption from judgment,
but that it would be right. You would be justified in going
and sinning so that good would come. The argument would go something
like this, as one person, I think, very accurately described it.
The more wicked a person is, the more he glorifies God. The
more faithless a person is, the more faithful he makes God appear. The more a person lies, the more
he exalts God’s truthfulness. So let’s go out and get busy.
That’s essentially the argument. Paul answers that simply, why
not say, As we are slanderously reported. And some affirm that
we say. And that’s why I say that in
all of these arguments, it was an attack on Paul and his doctrine.
Ultimately, it was an attack on God and on the doctrine of
grace, salvation by faith in Christ alone. Paul says, look, we know the
slanders are out there. In fact, there’s still some that
will be an audience as this letter is read. Some will affirm, they’ll
say, yeah, that’s what he believes. Let’s do evil that good may come. Paul says, you know what, look,
that kind of false accusation, that kind of false doctrine,
that kind of sham treatment, Deceitful treatment of God’s
truths. Brings about nothing else than
just condemnation, and that’s how Paul ends it. Paul says,
look, the argument is over. Their condemnation is just if
this is what they would stoop to to twist God’s word and to
twist God’s truths into this vile argument to justify their
own sin, if that’s the case. The arguments over their condemnation
is just. That’s why I said. Having some some and can it be
what a great reminder of our own salvation, we didn’t deserve
it. We still don’t deserve it. We come to Christ because he
draws us to himself and he brings us out of his grace. To himself,
not as a prize to be treasured as the apple of his eye, but
as vile sinners. who come to faith because of
God’s faithfulness and are drawn to him by his mercy and grace. It’s good to remember the salvation
that we possess, especially as we course ourselves through these
thickly wooded forests. Paul’s ultimate truth, when he
gets to begin to articulate the gospel in chapter three, verse
21, is that salvation is by grace alone through faith in Christ
alone. What a joy to know that so many
already know it. Our merciful God, we thank you.
For the spirit filled and masterful treatments of this great apostle. Regarding the arguments of the
Jewish nation who sought to just obliterate his doctrine at every
turn. They hated the doctrine of faith in Christ. They hated
the doctrine of grace. They hated the fact that they
needed so desperately your mercy. They hated the idea of repentance. Lord God. We thank you for breaking
down the walls of our own. Arguments against your doctrine,
we thank you for breaking down the walls of our hardened hearts
and our deadened lives and for bringing us to knees of repentance.
We know for sure that it was not of ourselves. We thank you
and praise you for the salvation that we enjoy. It’s in Jesus’
name that we pray. Amen.