Read Romans 3.
Romans 3 is an essential passage for understanding God’s saving grace to us in Christ.
- Verses 1-4 continue Paul’s discussion from the latter half of Romans 2. There, Paul rebuked Jewish people who believed they were righteous and acceptable to God based on their outward acts of righteousness.
- Verses 5-8 contain Paul’s anticipation and rebuttal of an objection that God is unjust for punishing sin.
- Verses 9-20 start the core discussion of the gospel; specifically, our need for God’s saving grace in the gospel because of our absolute inability to earn God’s favor.
- Verses 21-31 explain the gospel, which is that God, by grace, declares guilty sinners to be righteous based on the death of Christ as the sinners’ substitute.
I cannot say this emphatically enough: Romans 3 is crucial for understanding our salvation, especially verses 9-31. But, for this devotional, I want to focus on verses 1-4. Let’s look at those verses again from the NIV:
What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. 3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.’
As I wrote earlier in this devotional, these verses continue what Paul was writing in the last half of chapter 2. There, Paul tried to shake his Jewish brothers and sisters out of their conviction that they were righteous in God’s sight because they had been circumcised and kept the ceremonies of God’s law. Verse 1, here in chapter 3, anticipates the question: Based on what Paul argued in Romans 2, is there any spiritual advantage at all to being a circumcised Jew?
Verse 2 answers that question with an unqualified, “Yes!” The main advantage to being Jewish, according to verse 2b is, to quote Paul, “…the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.” That is an important gift from God and a major privilege that every other people-group on earth throughout history did not have. The nation of Israel was chosen by God to receive his Word and deliver it to the rest of the world. That’s a blessing because God’s word is truth and it is illuminating to read and study. God’s word is, as the Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:105, “…a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Knowing what God’s word says is a major blessing to humanity, and the Jews had it first and were entrusted to deliver it to all of humanity.
But, Paul already wrote in Romans 2 that the Jews did not obey God’s word. So, does that nullify God’s commands? In other words, does their disobedience to God’s word mean that God’s word is false? Verse 4 in the NIV answers that question this way: “Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: ‘So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.'” God’s word stands as righteous, true, and correct whether people who have it obey it or not.
A few years ago, a well-known preacher and teacher of God’s word was exposed as having committed adultery over several years during his ministry. Someone in our church asked me if he should throw away all of the books and teaching materials this sinning preacher had produced. My answer was no. If this man–or any man–correctly interprets God’s word, then that teaching is right and beneficial even if the teacher was guilty of disobeying it himself.
Now, it is true that unbelievers will try to use our disobedience to discredit and disregard God’s word. Second Corinthians 6:3 and Titus 2:5 allude to that. But, disobedience to God’s word does not prove God’s commands to be false. It simply proves that sinners sin, including sinners who claim to be Christians. It is harmful to the cause of Christ when professing Christians are disobedient, but disobedience does not mean that God’s truth is false.
So, if a Christian you respect sins, don’t conclude that God’s word is false. God’s enemies will try to say that, but they are wrong. God’s word is always true, even if God’s people are unfaithful to it. So, hold fast to God’s word and never stop believing it, even if someone you respect and love is disobedient to it.