Aw – The Religious Jew’s Lack of Understanding 3: 1-20

The Religious Jew’s Lack of Understanding
3: 1-20

The religious Jew’s lack of understanding DIG: Is the Torah the problem here? Why doesn’t the religious Jew understand that he is just as sinful as the pagan Gentile or the “good person?” What does, “There is no one righteous, not even one,” mean to you when you see someone who seems to be a “good person” doing good deeds? Why would Paul say that?

REFLECT: What “advantages” do you have as a believer? Have you put those “advantages” to work? Or are they on the “back burner?” If that’s the case, what can you do to change that? How does the sinfulness of mankind affect you personally? Who does your heart ache for because of their lost state and their ultimate destiny in hell?

The religious Jew is in no better condition than the “good person,” or the pagan Gentile, despite the advantages that they might have had.

In 3:1-8 Paul dealt with the promise to the Jews because he already foresees a possible first objection that might be prompted because of what he had just said that all distinctions between Jews and Gentiles have been erased in 2:17-29. And if a sinful Jew is on the same level as a sinful Gentile as far as the wrath of God is concerned, then what advantage has the Jew? What is the value of being circumcised (3:1)? Why even bother! Looking at the rather tragic history of the Jewish people, one is not inclined to think there has been any advantage in being a Jew. In spite of the reality that they are such a noble strain of humanity chosen by God, their history has been a saga of slavery, hardship, warfare, persecution, slander, captivity, dispersion, and humiliation.⁶⁵ Paul will give a very brief answer here in Chapter 3, and a very extensive answer in Chapters 9, 10, and 11.

Paul answers his own question: Much in every way! Although it did not bring salvation, it bestowed many privileges that Gentiles did not have. Later in his letter, Paul tells his readers: I could wish myself actually under God’s curse and separated from the Messiah, if it would help my brothers, my own flesh and blood, the people of Isra’el! They were made God’s children, the Sh’khinah has been with them, the covenants are theirs, likewise the giving of the Torah, the Temple service and the promises; the Patriarchs are theirs; and from them, as far as his physical descent is concerned, came the Messiah, who is over all. Praise be ADONAI forever! Amen (9:3-5). But they did have God’s Word. In the first place, the Jews, including Luke, were entrusted with the very words of God (3:2). This includes Luke because He was a Hellenistic Jew, having traveled with Paul (see Acts, to see link click Bx – Paul’s Vision of the Man of Macedonia).⁶⁶ Every writer, in both the TaNaKh and the B’rit Chadashah, was Jewish.

Then, anticipating a second objection that is raised, even until today, Paul asks rhetorically: If some of them were unfaithful, so what? Does their faithlessness cancel God’s faithfulness? In other words, doesn’t Jewish unbelief cancel out the promises made to Isra’el in the TaNaKh? After all. Even though there are a minority of Jews who believe, the majority are unbelievers! Unfortunately, this is the thinking of Covenant, or Replacement Theology, and the Hebrew Roots movement today (see the commentary on Galatians Ak – The Hebrew Roots Movement: A Different Gospel). But Paul answers emphatically: Heaven forbid (Hebrew: chalilah, meaning that’s a contradiction, it makes no sense)! In fact, if anything, the unfaithfulness of Isra’el is going to prove even greater the faithfulness of YHVH. He has every intention of fulfilling the promises that He has made to her. He is the Promise Keeper in spite of Isra’el’s response! God would be true even if everyone were a liar! – as the TaNaKh says: so that you, God, may be proved right in Your words and win the verdict when You are put on trial” (Romans 3:3-4; Psalm 51:4).

Dear Faithful Father God, How awesome You are – always thru all eternity a loving and faithful God! Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies (Psalms 36:5). Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before You (Psalms 89:14). He will cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you will find refuge; His faithfulness will be your shield and rampart (Psalms 91:4). For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations (Psalms 100:5).

For great is Your love, higher than the heavens; Your faithfulness reaches to the skies (Psalms 108:4). I bow in worship and adoration at how loving and faithful You are! You have promised an eternal joy for those who love You (Revelation 21:4). I consider the sufferings of this present time not worthy to be compared with the coming glory to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). I trust Your faithful promise that those who choose to trust you, become your children. But whoever did receive Him, those trusting in His name, to these He gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12). How wonderful the thought of living with You dear Father God in your holy home in heaven for all eternity.  Earthly trials will be over soon, so I live for You now by pleasing you in all I do, say and think. I lovingly serve You. In Your holy Son Yeshua’s name and power of His resurrection. Amen

Paul has just said that Isra’el’s unfaithfulness will essentially prove the faithfulness of God. But if that is true, then a third objection could be raised. Now if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what should we say? Why should God ever want to judge sin? That God is unrighteous to inflict His anger on us? Again, lest his readers conclude that he was expressing his own thinking, Paul immediately adds the parenthetical explanation: I am speaking here the way people commonly do, that is according to human logic. To intensify the disclaimer, Paul again says: Heaven forbid! Else, how could God judge the world? God cannot allow sin to go unpunished under any circumstances. Paul counters this baseless argument to an absurd extreme. “But,” you say, “if, through my lie, God’s truth is enhanced and brings him greater glory, why am I still judged merely for being a sinner?”  Indeed! If carried out to its logical conclusion, no one would ever be judged by God. Why not say, as some unbelievers slander us by gossiping and claiming we say, “Let us do evil, so that good may come of it”? They falsely accused Paul of teaching, in effect, “Let’s prove God’s faithfulness by our unfaithfulness!” He concludes: Against them the judgment is a just one (3:5-8)!

Universal guilt: So, are we Jews better off? His conclusion is: Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jewish “good person” (see Ao – The “Good Person”) and pagan Gentiles alike (see Ak – The Pagan Gentile), are controlled by sin (3:9). As far as salvation is concerned, and as far as God’s wrath is concerned, the religious Jew is in no better condition than the pagan Gentile despite the advantages that they might have had. As a result, Paul sets out to prove that all of humanity, Jews and Gentiles alike, are sinful. To prove his case, he issues an indictment with eight passages from the TaNaKh.

The character of the accused (3:10:12): Paul now reinforces the inclusiveness of the indictment by reiterating the fact that all of fallen humanity is under sin. Quoting from Psalm 14:1, Paul declares: As the TaNaKh puts it, “There is no one righteous.” Righteousness is a major theme in Romans, appearing in one form or another more than thirty times. Other terms from the same Greek root are usually translated justified, justification, or the like. Together they are used more than sixty times in Romans. So, it’s not surprising that the first charge Paul makes in his indictment is that of mankind’s unrighteousness. And to prevent someone from thinking that there might be exceptions, Paul adds, not even one (3:10a)!

The quoting from Psalm 14:2, Paul states that not only is mankind universally evil, but also spiritually ignorant. “No one understands” (3:10b). Mankind has no innate ability to fully comprehend God’s truth or His standard of righteousness. Apart from the ability to see general revelation of His power and majesty, mankind has no spiritual capacity to know or understand YHVH because the natural man does not receive the things from the Spirit of God – to him they are nonsense! Moreover, he is unable to grasp them, because they are evaluated through the Spirit (First Corinthians 2:14).

Alluding again from Psalm 14:2, Paul declares that in addition to being universally evil and spiritually ignorant, fallen mankind is rebellious. “No one seeks God “(3:11). Man-made religions are demon-inspired efforts to escape from God, not to find Him. Every person who comes to Yeshua Messiah for salvation has been sent to Him through the divine initiative of God the Father: Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will certainly not turn away . . . no one can come to Me unless the Father – the One who sent Me – draws him (John 6:37 and 44a). ADONAI always takes the first step in the salvation process. The only person, therefore, who seeks God is the person who has responded positively to God’s seeking him.

Now Paul charges that mankind is naturally stiff-necked. Quoting from Psalm 53:3, he declares that “all have turned away.” The person who is naturally evil, naturally ignorant of God’s truth, and naturally rebellious against Him, will inevitably naturally live apart from His will. Isaiah put it this way: We all like sheep, went astray; we turned, each one, to our own way (Isaiah 53:6). Paul continues: “And at the same time become useless; there is no one who shows kindness, not a single one” (Romans 3:12; Psalm 14:1-3 and 53:1-3)! Apart from the saving relationship with Messiah Yeshua, a person is a spiritually dead branch, totally unable to produce any fruit. As such, it is lifeless and useless. Unless a person remains united with Me, he is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire, where they are burned up (John 15:6).⁶⁷

The conversation of the accused (3:13-14): A person’s character will inevitably reveal itself in his conversation. Yeshua declared that the mouth speaks what overflows from the heart. The good person brings forth good things from his store of good, and the evil person brings forth evil things from his store of evil (Matthew 12:34-35). The writer of Proverbs said: The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off. The lips of the righteous know what is wanted, but the mouth of the wicked [knows] deceit (Proverbs 10:31-32).

Continuing to quote from the Psalms, Paul minces no words when he says, “Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive” (Psalm 5:9). A spiritually dead heart can produce only spiritually dead words. Psalm 5:9 describes flatters, whose words of praise are really a means of serving themselves rather than the one they are praising. And because praise appeals to human nature, it also leads the flattered person into pride and false self-confidence. A flatterer, therefore, both uses and abuses others.

Quoting from part of Psalm 140:3, Paul says that the lost have “vipers’ venom is under their lips” (Romans 3:13; Psalm 140:3). Because of the spiritually damning false doctrines and the deceitful character of most of the religious leaders of Pharisaic Judaism in Yeshua’s day, both He and John the Immerser described them as broods of vipers (Matthew 3:7, 12:34).

Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness (Romans 3:14; Psalm 10:7). David described cursing, bitter persons as those who have sharpened their tongue like a sword . . . aimed bitter speech as their arrow, to shoot from concealment at the blameless; suddenly they shoot him, and do not fear (Psalm 64:3-4 NASB). Every age of mankind, our own certainly included, has been characterized by people who use their tongues as vicious weapons. Their attacks not only are against those they know well enough to hate but sometimes, as David seems to suggest, even against strangers, simply for the wicked pleasure of venting their anger and hatred.⁶⁸

The conduct of the accused (3:15-17): Whether in peace or in war, man kills man. Quoting Isaiah 59:7, Paul says, “Their feet rush to shed blood” (3:15). Obviously, most people are far from possessing such extreme brutality. Scripture, however, makes it clear that the seed of murder is one of the many evil seeds that are universally found in the human heart and that, to some degree, inevitably grow and bear fruit. “In their ways are ruin and misery” as is obvious from current world affairs (3:16).

Paul continues quoting from Isaiah 59:8, by declaring, “And the way of shalom they do not know (Romans 3:17; Isaiah 59:7-8). The apostle is not talking about the lack of inner peace – although that is certainly a characteristic of the ungodly person – but of mankind’s essential inclination away from shalom. Shalom has never been more sought after than in our day. But few would argue that shalom actually characterizes our times. Nevertheless, as in Jeremiah’s day, many modern leaders are trying to heal the brokenness of their people by superficially crying out, “Shalom, shalom,” when obviously, there is no shalom (Jeremiah 6:14). God’s Word gives us much advice on what makes for peace, and those people and societies who have chosen His blueprint for living have experienced relative times of shalom. But Scripture makes it clear that peace will never come until the Prince of Peace returns to establish His Kingdom (see the commentary on Isaiah Cn – He Will Be Called Wonderful Counselor).

The motive of man’s sinfulness is his built-in godlessness. The basic sinful condition of mankind and of their spiritual deadness is seen in the fact that, for the lost, “There is no fear of God before their eyes” (Romans 3:18; Psalm 36:1). Because the ears of mankind are attuned to the lies of the Adversary rather than the truth of God, they have an inadequate concern about, and no fear of, God.

Fearing God has both positive and negative elements. In a positive way, every true believer has a reverential fear of God – an awesome awareness of His power, His holiness, and His glory. Proper worship always includes that kind of fear of the Lord. Reverential fear of YHVH is the beginning of spiritual wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). That kind of fear is a necessary element in one’s being led to salvation, as with Cornelius (Acts 10:2), and motivates new believers in their spiritual growth.

The negative aspect of the fear of God had to do with dread and terror. Even believers should have a measure of that kind of fear, which acts as a protection against sinning. The writer of Proverbs observed that people turn from evil through fear of ADONAI (Proverbs 16:6). For this very reason they are God’s children, who are subject to His discipline (see the commentary on Hebrews Cz – God Disciplines His Children). Unbelievers, however, should have a fear of God in its most intense and terrifying sense. The TaNaKh is full of stories about Ha’Shem wreaking destruction and death as punishment of sins of all kinds. He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of their indescribable immorality; YHVH destroyed the whole human race through the Flood, saving only eight people; and the LORD ordered Moshe to have the Levites slay some three thousand Israelite men who had erected and worshiped a golden calf while he was on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Words (see the commentary on Exodus Gv – And All the Levites Rallied to Moses).⁶⁹

The verdict: The final verdict, then, is that unredeemed mankind has no defense whatsoever and is guilty of all charges. Moreover, we know that whatever the whole Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, that is, to Jews, in order that every self-justifying mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown, proven by God’s own words to deserve God’s adverse judgment. If the Jews, who have the Torah to guide them, turn out to be guilty before YHVH, how much more will the Gentiles, who do not have this guidance, also prove worthy of punishment. Jewish privileges do not, and cannot, save from sin. There will be no exceptions. For in His sight no one alive will be considered righteous (Psalm 143:2) on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are (3:19-20). The Torah isn’t the problem; the Torah shows us our problem – sin (the Greek word amartia corresponds to the Hebrew word chet, meaning missing the mark, like an archer who shoots off-target)! This is, of course, not the Torah’s only task – it also offers positive guidance toward right behavior (see the commentary on Exodus Dh – Moses and the Torah). In theory, a Jew with the Torah to direct him, might possibly be able to aim nearer the target than a Gentile without it. Nevertheless, his achievement will always fall short of the goal; and unless he realizes this, he will surely not be saved. This subject is analyzed at length in Chapter 7.⁷⁰