Bible Study: Romans, “Imaginary Arguments”

Paul has been labouring to show that the Jew is not exempt from God’s judgment just because he has the Law. Having the Law or circumcision will not really help a Jew, when he faces the Judge on the final day. Then the question is what is the advantage of being a Jew.

Paul deals with this question in a series of imaginary arguments with the Jewish teachers of the law. He mentions four objections that could be raised by a Jew. It is possible that Paul is not just imagining, but had been subjected to these questions, during his missionary journeys.

The first objection by the Jews is what is the advantage of being a Jew or having circumcision; these are the God-given legal requirements and rituals of the covenant and if, as Paul points out, these will not justify a Jew on the Judgment day, then what is the advantage of being a Jew?

To this question raised in Verse 1 of chapter 3, Paul answers in verse 2, that the supreme advantage of a Jew is that he has been entrusted with the very Word of God. Along with Moses, Paul is virtually asking the Jews, ‘what other nations is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws’ as have been given to them as the Law? Deuteronomy 4:8.

God has been gracious to the Jews by revealing His mind, His will and His character and His expectations from the people to them. He selected them not because they were in any way superior to the other nations. Deuteronomy 7:7, 8. It was mainly because God had made His promises to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, especially to Abraham. Genesis 12:3.

The Jews were the custodians of God’s Law. They possessed the written word of God. They had the light, when other nations were in the dark and worshipped idols, man-made creations. Jews were the library-keepers of God.

This advantage was given to the Jew, not only for their own benefit, but also for others, to lead the other nations to the light. Instead, the Jews gave over-emphasis to the rituals, looking for needles in the hay stack, forgetting the real intent of the Law. They failed in their mission and lost the advantage.

A close parallel would be the Hindu Brahmin pundits, who kept the Vedas, the sacred books of the Hindus, to themselves and not let any other caste person to even to read them. Claiming full monopoly of the religious texts, they controlled others and subjecting them to lower positions in the caste system.

Applying this truth to us, the Christians, we could say that we go to church, read the Bible, attend Sunday-classes and so we are better than the non-Christians, but if we do not live as per the commandments given in there by Jesus Christ, we have failed in our duty to obey God and will stand condemned on the final day.

In a country like India, Bibles are available in plenty, whereas there are countries like Saudi Arabia and China, where having a Bible is an offence and people thirst for the written word. That is the advantage we have, but do we use it to bring others to Christ?

The next objection of a Jew would be, if as Paul says some of the Jews did not have faith, then would that nullify God’s faithfulness to the Jews? To this objection raised in verse 3, Paul answers in verse 4 with an emphatic “Not at all!”

God cannot lie. Numbers 23: 19 beautifully puts it, “God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?” The whole world of men could be liars, but God will stand true to his promises and fulfil them.

Paul quotes David’s words spoken after Nathan the prophet points out the severity of his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:4. David acknowledges his sin, saying he had committed the sin against God and agrees that God is justified, if he were to judge and punish David. But God in His mercy did not punish David the way he should have been punished, but kept the covenant He had entered with David. Even when man fails, God will still fulfil his promise.

But sin has serious consequences. It hurts us, others and God, for in committing a sin, we are disobeying God and rebelling against how God want us to live. Sword followed David and tragedy after tragedy struck his life, because of this sin. We need to be careful.

The third objection from a Jew, Paul deals with in verse 5 and 6. The argument goes like this: If by committing a sin, I am paving way for God to show his mercy, then I am doing something good and why am I being condemned by God? Isn’t God being unfair? This is a twisted argument and Paul emphatically refutes it.

Basically, the argument is, if our unrighteousness helps to bring out the righteousness of God, then isn’t God being unjust in bringing his wrath upon us? The worst of man helps to bring the best in God. So, a man’s sin serves a useful purpose here and God shouldn’t be punishing man for it.

Paul points out if sin were to be counted as good, because it brings out God’s goodness in the form of forgiveness, this would result in moral chaos and moral anarchy in the society. God is the Judge of this world. If He were to encourage sin in this manner, then how could He even judge the world? As Abraham asked, in Genesis 18:25, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”

Sin never glorifies God, it glorifies only the Devil, the inventor and inciter of sin. Just because God is merciful, we cannot go on sinning. God might give us a long rope, but one day the noose will tighten and we will be without any excuse.

The last objection purported by a Jew, Paul treats in verses 7 and 8. If our falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and increases his glory, why condemn man as sinner? It is as good as saying, let’s do evil so that good may result. Another twisted argument! The end is good, so what if it comes through a bad conduct? Doesn’t the end justify the means?

In this manner humans justify their sinful ways to day also. They argue, sin is not grievous, if it does not hurt others; for producing a good result, we can commit a wrong thing. An old saying in India goes like this: to get a girl married one can tell thousand lies. Another one is, to feed and look after one’s family, it is alright to steal or adopt wrong means to earn money. These are all but twisted arguments by humans, who want to justify their sinful acts.

Paul brushes these arguments saying such people deserve their condemnation justly. In the world, created as a moral order by the Creator God, any sin has serious consequences. God paid a heavy price to save humans from sin. Jesus paid with his life on the cross. God’s grace does not come cheap for us to play around with it. It cost Jesus his life.

We need to count the cost before justifying our wrong conducts. It not only ruins us and the others connected with it, but also slights the heavy price paid by Jesus for our sake. Let us outright reject such arguments along with Paul and be the light of the world, as God would want us to be.