ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS |
Romans
1:18-3:20
|
Romans
3:21-5:21 |
Romans
6:1-8:39 |
Romans
9:1-11:36 |
Romans
12:1-16:27 |
|
SIN
|
SALVATION
|
SANCTIFICATION |
SOVEREIGNTY |
SERVICE |
NEED
FOR
SALVATION |
WAY
OF
SALVATION |
LIFE
OF
SALVATION |
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION |
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION |
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin |
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners |
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers |
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile |
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service |
Deadliness
of Sin |
Design
of Grace |
Demonstration of
Salvation |
|
Power Given
|
Promises Fulfilled |
Paths Pursued |
Righteousness
Needed |
Righteousness
Credited |
Righteousness
Demonstrated |
Righteousness
Restored to Israel |
Righteousness
Applied |
God's Righteousness
IN LAW |
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED |
God's Righteousness
OBEYED |
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION |
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED |
|
Slaves to Sin |
Slaves to God |
Slaves Serving God |
|
Doctrine |
Duty |
|
Life by Faith |
Service by Faith |
|
Modified from Irving
L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's
Survey of the NT" |
BUT IF OUR (in context primarily
Jewish)
UNRIGHTEOUSNESS DEMONSTRATES THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD:ei
de e adikia hemon theou dikaiosunen sunisthesin (3SPAI):
(Ro 3:7,25,26; 8:20,21)
As you study this somewhat complex
section, keep in mind Paul's purpose. From the chart
above, notice that Paul is building his case for the deadliness of sin and
the absolute need for perfect righteousness. He first deals with the utter depravity
of the godless pagan and then he turns to the religious man
(especially the pious proud Jew), proving that the entire human race
(Gentile and Jew) is guilty
before God. He is laying the framework which prepares their heart to hear
the only answer that can counter sin and death, the Gospel of Jesus Christ
(Mk 1:1). Whether pagan or pious, both
parties must come (cp Isa 55:1, 2, 3) and receive the good news of salvation by grace through faith
(Isa 40:9, 10, 11, Isa 41:27, Isa 52:7, 61:1, 2a, Lk 2:10, Acts 8:12,
13:32, Heb 4:2-note;
He 4:6-note).
The New Living Translation
has a helpful paraphrase rendering Romans 3:5, 6...
“But” some might say, “our
sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous
God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for Him to punish us?” (This is merely a
human point of view.) 6 Of course not! If God were not entirely fair,
how would He be qualified to judge the world? (NLT
- Tyndale House)
In other words, the
imaginary Objector's question is that if people’s unrighteousness is an
occasion for the righteousness of God to be shown, is it not unfair for
God to execute His wrath upon unrighteousness?
If our unrighteousness causes the righteousness of God to shine more
gloriously, how can God visit us with wrath?
Denny explains that...
Here another attempt is made to
invalidate the conclusion of Romans 2, that the Jew is to be judged
"according to his works" exactly like the Gentile. If the argument of Ro
3:3ff is correct, the unbelief of the Jews actually serves to set off
the faithfulness of God -- it makes it all the more conspicuous; how
then can it leave them exposed to judgment? This argument is generalized
in Ro 3:5 and answered in Ro 3:6. (Greek New Testament)
Unrighteousness (93)
(adikia
from a = without + díke = what is right) is
a condition of not being right, whether with God, according to the
standard of His holiness and righteousness, or with man, according to
the standard of what man knows to be right by his conscience.
In
secular Greek adikia referred to unjust acts, or to deeds which
caused personal injury. Rather than a general concept of injustice, this
word was taken, in the writings of Plato, to mean an unjust act which
injures a specific person. Such an act was not necessarily a violation
of some specific law, but rather an affront against the just order of
society. Among the acts which fell into this category were theft, fraud,
and sexual crimes. Later this word came to mean a neglect of duty toward
the pagan gods. The
Septuagint (LXX)
used this word to describe social sins, those deeds which violated human
relations or the political order of society. Among these injustices were
deceit, fraud, and lying.
Barclay writes that...
Adikia is the precise opposite
of dikaiosune (righteousness), which means justice; and the Greeks
defined justice as giving to God and to men their due. The evil man is
the man who robs both man and God of their rights. He has so erected an
altar to himself in the centre of things that he worships himself to the
exclusion of God and man." (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press or
Logos)
Larry Richards writes that
adikia
means "wrongdoing,"
"unrighteousness," "injustice." Its focus is on the concept of sin as
conscious human action that causes visible harm to other persons in
violation of the divine standard. (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Adikia is used 25 times in the
NT - Lk. 13:27; 16:8f; 18:6; Jn. 7:18; Acts 1:18; 8:23; Rom. 1:18, 29;
2:8; 3:5; 6:13; 9:14; 1 Co. 13:6; 2 Co. 12:13; 2 Thess. 2:10, 12; 2 Tim.
2:19; Heb. 8:12; James. 3:6; 2 Pet. 2:13, 15; 1 Jn. 1:9; 5:17 and in the
NAS is translated "doing wrong, 1; evildoers, 1; iniquities, 1;
iniquity, 2; injustice, 1; unrighteous, 2; unrighteousness, 12;
wickedness, 4; wrong."
Righteousness (1343)
(dikaiosune from díkaios = , being proper or right in the
sense of being fully justified being in accordance with what God
requires) conveys the idea of conforming to a standard or norm. In
Biblical terms it is that which is acceptable to God and in keeping with
what God is in His holy character.
The word “righteousness” comes
from a root word that means “straightness.” It refers to a state that
conforms to an authoritative standard. Righteousness is a moral concept.
God’s character is the definition and source of all righteousness and
this is exactly what Paul is referring to in the context of the present
verse.
God is totally righteous because He
is totally as He should be. The righteousness of God could be succinctly
stated as that which is all that God is, all that He commands, all that
He demands, all that He approves, all that He provides (through Christ).
Demonstrates (4921)
(sunistemi/sunistao
from sún = together with + hístemi = set,
place, stand) means literally to set together. It was used of setting
one person with another by way of introducing or presenting him, hence,
“to commend.” (commend = recommend as worthy of confidence or notice).
Here in (Romans 3:5) sunistao
is used in the sense of putting together with a view to showing,
proving, or establishing. Human sin is a foil by which God’s
righteousness is seen all the more clearly. It establishes the fact of
God’s righteousness, proves it by its very contrast with that sin.
Stated another way, the idea of "demonstrates" is that man's unrighteousness presents a
dramatic contrast with God's righteousness -- it's like a jeweler
who displays a diamond (God's righteousness) on black velvet (sin) to make the stone appear even
more beautiful. It is true that God’s judgment of sin shows His
righteousness and brings Him glory, but this does not mean that God is
unfair.
The question is whether, considering that human unrighteousness demonstrates God’s
righteousness, is it right that He should punish man for what makes for His glory? The
answer is that God is judge and therefore must punish sin. If this were
not the case He could not be God.
What was their "Jewish Righteousness?" William Newell (Romans 3: Devotional
and Expositional) has the following
suggestions...
1. National disobedience to God’s oracles from Sinai onward.
2. Such neglect of these oracles, that at times (as in Josiah’s day), a
single copy of the Law was a rarity!
3. Pride, however, over their position as the possessors of these
oracles, even to the despising of nations that had them not, instead of
ministering them to others (as Ps 67 shows was Israel’s real business).
4. Appalling ignorance of the spiritual meaning of the Divine oracles,
and of the "voices of their prophets, " so they even killed the
Righteous One! (Acts 13:27).
In context it is quite likely that this imaginary antagonist is making
an appeal to David's unrighteousness that Paul had just used to show
that God is righteous when He judges sin. But this valid observation may
be twisted and perverted to serve the purpose of the apostolic
antagonists. If this is true, the objector says, then our
unrighteousness is the
means of the commendation of God's righteousness and, if that be true, then what
shall we say? Is it not man who thereby makes God's righteousness more conspicuous?
Is he not to be commended for this rather than to be judged for sin by
the infliction of divine wrath? Should not God be grateful rather than
vindictive?
S. Lewis Johnson comments on "the righteousness of God" as
"not a reference to the
righteousness of God that is given in justification to men who believe
(cf. Ro 1:17; 3:21, 22; 10:3), but to the divine attribute of
righteousness in its comprehensive sense, inclusive of His faithfulness
(cf. Ro 3:3) and truth (cf. Ro 3:4, 7) . (Romans
3:5-8)
WHAT SHALL WE SAY? THE GOD WHO INFLICTS WRATH IS
NOT UNRIGHTEOUS, IS HE?: ti
eroumen (1PFAI) me adikos o theos o epipheron (PAPMSN) ten
orgen:
(Ro 4:1; 6:1; 7:7; 9:13,14) (Ro 2:5; 3:19; 9:18, 19, 20; 12:19; Dt
32:39, 40, 41, 42, 43; Ps 58:10,11; 94:1,2; Nah 1:2,6, 7, 8; 2Thes 1:6,
7, 8, 9; Rev 15:3; 16:5, 6, 7; 18:20)
What shall we say? -
James Denny asks...
What inference shall we draw?
Surely not that God, He who inflicts the wrath due to unrighteousness at
the last day (Ro 1:18-note),
is Himself unrighteous, to speak as men speak. Away with the thought! If
this were so, how should God judge the world? That God does judge the
world at last is a fixed point for Paul and those with whom he argues;
hence every inference which conflicts with it must be summarily set
aside. God could not judge at all if He were unjust; Therefore, since He
does judge, He is not unjust, not even in judging men whose
unrighteousness may have served as a foil to His righteousness. It is
not thus that the conclusions of Romans 2 can be evaded by the Jew.
(Expositor's Greek Testament)
This is clearly a rhetorical
question, which Paul is asking for effect. The question is
accompanied by the Greek negative particle me, which expects a negative
answer.
Paul anticipates and answers the objection that
his teaching actually impugned the very holiness and purity of God’s
character
The KJV Bible Commentary
says that ...
This is a clever but illogical
argument. It is twisting Scripture to make what is inherently evil
appear to be ultimately good. Paul anticipates someone saying, “If my
unfaithfulness causes God’s faithfulness to be more apparent, is not my
sin by contrast enhancing the world’s concept of the absolute holiness
and faithfulness of God?” (Dobson,
E G, Charles Feinberg, E Hindson, Woodrow Kroll, H L. Wilmington: KJV
Bible Commentary: Nelson)
Inflicts (2018)
(epiphero from epí = upon, to + phéro = to bring)
is literally to bear upon, and in the present context means to bring
upon or to inflict wrath or vengeance. Note the
present tense
indicating that this is a continual attitude of God.
Wrath (3709)
(orge
from orgaô = to
teem, to swell) (Click
word study of
orge) is based on the root idea of a
gradual swelling which eventually bursts, and thus describes an anger
that proceeds from one’s settled nature. It is
a deep, inner resentment that seethes
and smolders. God's orge in short is His constant, controlled and
settled indignation and opposition toward sin. God's settled indignation
means that His holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form
whatsoever.
God’s wrath is His holy hatred of all
that is unholy and everything that is unrighteous.
