RELIGIOUS ADVANTAGE, IS THERE ONE?

Bob Bonner
Romans 3:1-20
October 30, 1994

One of the world's most favorite children's story is Hans Christian Andersen's, THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES. It is about a certain emperor who is very fond of appearances and clothing. So when certain clever philosophers, (actually con men) offered to weave him a rare and costly garment, one that would dazzle the eyes of others, he was quite receptive. He especially liked their promise that this unique garment would be invisible to all but the wise and pure in heart. The delighted emperor commissioned his new clothing at great cost, and the con men sat before the empty looms and pretended to be weaving his new clothes.

Soon, the emperor's curiosity became such that he sent his chief minister to see how things were going. Seeing no cloth on the busy looms, and not wanting to be thought unwise and impure in heart, the official returned with a report about the fabulous beauty of the cloth. After a time the weavers asked for more money. Again the emperor became impatient, sending his second chief minister, who returned with an even more enthusiastic report. Next, the emperor, himself went to check up on the project of his new outfit. Though he too saw nothing, he did not want to appear stupid, so he proclaimed the clothing excellent and beautiful. He even gave the weavers medals.

Finally, on the day set for the grand parade, the con men dressed the emperor in his nakedness and then skipped town. As the emperor paraded before his people, au naturel, the whole populace joined in praising his beautiful new clothing, lest they be thought of as fools, disloyal and wicked followers. Thus, the absurd parade continued---until in a moment of quietness a child was heard to say, "Mommy, the emperor isn't wearing any clothes!" At once, every one knew the jig was up and the truth had been told, including the emperor. One innocent but honest remark by a small child who did not know enough to keep his mouth shut, stripped away the hypocritical pretense of the entire nation.

The truth of this story is profound. For it reminds us that our nature as human beings is to remain quiet, even when we have known all along that a lie or a belief system is being promoted as true when it is not true. Why do we remain quiet about what we know deep down to be untrue? One reason is reflected in this story about the "Emperors Clothes." We value the opinion of others so much that even if we know the naked truth, we will deny it out of fear of the rejection or the loss of approval of others whom we value. [Hughes, ROMANS, p. 71-72] 

Specifically, what is the lie that the Apostle Paul in this first section of Romans has uncovered? It is that the Jews, along with the rest of the human race have imagined themselves to be clothed with a righteousness similar to the emperor's new clothes. That basically, mankind is good, not evil. That mankind apart from God, is a glorious creature, who does not need God nor does he even need to recognize the fact that God exists. And even if mankind does admit to the fact that God exists, mankind insists that there is something good enough in each of us that mandates that God accept us just as we are. 

This concept that man has some innate righteousness in him is erroneous. We have been duped or mislead by the voices of philosophers, humanists and other religious folks, ever since the Fall of mankind. In this final part of the first section of Romans, Romans 3:1-20, Paul, like the little child in the story, strips away the final layer of our delusion of the goodness of mankind, by speaking the truth about all of us in such a way that we cannot miss it.

Thus far, from chapter one through chapter two, we have seen the following: We have seen four kinds of people that God has rejected and who are deserving of God's condemnation. When taken together, all of the human race falls into one of these categories. First, there was the godless immoral man. Then the self-righteous moral humanist. Then the unenlightened pagan, who is condemned before God because he has not even lived up to his own pagan moral standards. And then finally, as we saw last week, even the religious devotee, whether they be Jewish, protestant, catholic, Mormon, Muslim etc., on their own as religious people, have not a leg to stand on, to say "God, you must accept me into your presence because of what I have done." Like the other three, the religious devotee, on his or her own, are just as unacceptable to God and worthy of damnation as the other three.

As a result of Paul's argument that we looked at last time, Paul's religious readers, and specifically the Jews are asking a question that Paul goes on to answer in our passage this morning. The question that these recently condemned religious folks are asking is this: What advantage, then has the religious person? Is there any advantage for being a Jew? Paul will begin in verses 1-8 with the answer to the advantage of being a Jew and then in verses 9-20, he will sum up the condition of mankind as a whole. He will show us that the human race stands no chance on its own merit to be welcomed into God's presence.

Now let's begin by looking at those things that particularly concern the religious Jews, those individuals who God has chosen to work through to communicate His will to all mankind. In verses 1-2, Paul asks and answers the question, what advantage, if any, does the Jew have. Paul writes, "Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the benefit of circumcision? Great in every respect. First of all,..." Probably this expression, "first of all" would better translated, of greatest importance as advantages go. It is not Paul's purpose here to list a series of advantages that one has being a Jew. He will do that later in 9:4-5. What his purpose here is to show, from a human perspective, what is the chief advantage one has being a religious Jew. And he tells us, "First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God." In other words, the chief advantage for the Jew and for us today, is that we possess the literal word of God. However, let me quickly add, as you will see when we look at verses 9-20, even this advantage of possessing God's Word did not help the Jews or anyone else for that matter, in earning any acceptance before God.

But by having God's word, the written self-revelation of God, the Jews, like us today, have two advantages or something positive to help us in regards to having a relationship with God.

First of all, by having God's word, we have a written description of God’s nature. Through God's word, we are taught that God is the all-powerful creator, who completely sustains the universe. Furthermore, we learn from His word about his attributes such as His holiness, love, justice, sovereignty, etc. And as we get a clearer picture of Who God is, we also learn that there is a huge gulf between His righteousness and goodness and ours. The unbelieving mind, apart from the word of God always wrongly tries to close the gap between God and man, either by bringing God down to man's level or raising up man to the level of a god.  But if we have God's word, then we have the advantage of learning about God for who He is.

A second advantage of having the word of God is that we have a written description of the nature and purpose of man. The more we read the scriptures, the more we see the truth about who we are as human beings, that we are sinners and in need of a savior. Furthermore, we learn of God's purpose and promises toward mankind

So the advantage to those who possess God's word is that we can learn from God's word, what He is like, what we are like and what he requires to have a relationship with Him and to spend eternity with Him. And finally, we possess His written promises to us as they concern the future.

But let's understand this as well. An advantage in anything, only becomes helpful or realized if we take hold of the advantage and use it for its intended purpose. In other words, if you have a Bible, and become a student of the Bible, memorizing the names of all the books in the Bible, and all the covenants in the bible, learning about all the things that God says are going to happen here on the earth, but you never admit your sin and your need for a savior and take advantage of the savior, then like the godless theologian in many a Seminary, all this information is useless. An advantage is only helpful, if you use it.

Now, there is an inference that Paul is intentionally making here, one that we see more clearly spelled out in the next verses. And the thought is, that those who have been exposed to the written word of God, Jews and church goers alike, have not taken advantage of nor been faithful to the truth that they have learned about themselves or God. In essence, they have turned their backs on God. So, these individuals, knowing deep down that they stand guilty before God for ignoring Him, try to weasel out of their guilt by asking three questions that they hope will turn the hot light of examination away from their guilt and put the monkey back on God's back. Paul, at one time having been very much like these people, was aware of what their objections or questions would be. So, he asks and answers those objections in verses 3-8.

The first question is found in verses 3-4. Paul writes, "What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?" Paul is admitting that many who have been exposed to the written word of God will not obey God's directives or believe God's promises and that He will fulfill them. In other words, there are religious folks, just like those in this room who have turned their backs on God. So the question that is raised is, if some people don't trust God, will God turn His back on the rest of us?

Paul's answer is "May it never be!" Here, Paul uses the strongest negative answer possible in the Greek language. If God did refuse to fulfill His promises to all believers because some of us religious folks turned our backs on Him, that would make God a failure for not keeping His word. God will always do what He promises no matter if the religious people are faithful to Him or not. He continues, "Rather, 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."

Paul's point is that God is always faithful and true to His promises even though we may be liars and unfaithful. Notice, Paul is quoting here from David's Psalm 51:4, that was David's confession of sin to God after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Paul quotes David to drive home the point that if God was faithful to a disobedient and repentant David, He will be faithful to all who seek Him. God is always a just judge.

There is a second question rolling around in the readers' minds that Paul answers for them. This question is found in verses 5-6. Paul writes, "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.)" This question is actually a false accusation and indictment thought up in the readers' mind against God for being an unfair God and therefore, unworthy to judge. They are saying, "Isn't God using the Jews to His advantage---showing His righteousness by our failure? If so, how can God judge us whom He has used to prove His righteousness? Why should God get all hot and bothered by our sin when it makes Him look good? That's not fair! There should be no judgment against anyone." That's a typical human tactic of trying to shift the blame for our wrong activity and failure on to someone else. On the one hand, we admit that we are wrong, but then try to prove the judge unworthy to be a judge, hence dismissing the idea that there should be any judgment, even if they are wrong.

Paul's answer again is very strong. He says, "May it never be! For otherwise how will God judge the world?" Paul's argument is this: If there is a world, there must be a God who made it, to whom all who live in this world and act in this world are responsible for their actions, regardless of what outcome their actions may have upon God. Whether their actions make God look good or bad, if their actions are wrong, they will be judged for them. Therefore, as far as Paul is concerned, the universal fact of the judgment of God is a given, hence he does not go on to even prove it. 

But still not satisfied, mankind continues to argue about their right to do wrong and not be judged for it, by asking another question, in verses 7-8. Paul writes, "But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? And why not {say} (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), "Let us do evil that good may come"?

Here we see mankind's objection to God's judgment moving one step further down the line of the ridiculous. The argument being, "If being bad makes God look good, then why not be bad so that God looks even better." In other words, the ends (God being made to look good) justifies the means (our committing evil.) If this were allowed, and no judgment were forth coming for evil, this world as we know it would be locked into perpetual evil. Hence, this is such an irrational and foolish question that Paul doesn't even answer this question. He simply states that for those who promote this idea, "Their condemnation [literally their damnation] is just." 

Hence, Paul has basically argued thus far, that those who violate God's principles rightfully deserve judgment and will be judged for their sin, unless someone does something about the sin nature of the human race.

At this point, from verses 9-20, Paul summarizes his argument with stating the universal condition of the human race. And basically, it is this: Every person who takes a breath, stands condemned before God. No persons can do anything to earn or maintain God's approval or acceptance of them. 

Paul introduces this section with a general statement in verse 9. He says, "What then? Are we [meaning the Jews, or church goers or religious folks] better than they? [those who aren't religious or who have not been exposed to the written word of God]  Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin;"

Notice that term is "sin" singular, not "sins" plural. Paul is saying that everyone of us are being driven by this dynamic of sin, this thing Paul later calls "the flesh". Apart from Christ, we are under its power, its control, its dominion. It drives us and rules our lives. We can't escape it on our own. Apart from Christ, we are slaves to it.

One commentator put it this way: "What we have in this statement and in the following verses is the most explicit description of the total depravity of mankind in all of Scripture. This does not mean man is as depraved as he could be, but that there is always room for "deprovement" [as compared to improvement] because he is under the power of sin." [Hughes, p.75]

The other day, I was reading in TIME magazine about the O. J. Simpson trial. The writer made the statement "If O.J. killed these two people, we must all rethink human nature." The utter shocking possibility, that such a popular, nice, smiling guy like O.J. could murder someone is shocking to most people. Why? Because it flies in the face of what the world and the humanist would have us believe. They would have us believe that mankind is basically good. But when we uncover the thoughts and actions of our private lives, and put them on display for the whole world to see, what we see is not righteousness, but unrighteousness; not goodness, but evil.

The Russian poet, Turgenev, stated it perfectly when he said, "I don't know what the heart of a bad man is like, but I do know what the heart of a good man is like and it is terrible." [ibid, p.76]

To substantiate this charge against the human race, Paul, in the next verses strings together a series of OT texts together. This is called a CHARAZ, which literally means the "stringing together of pearls" [William Barclay, THE LETTER TO THE ROMANS, (Philadelphia: Westminister Press, 1975), p.51]. So, in verses 10-12, Paul strings together several pearls of thought from the OT that describe mankind's depraved character.

Paul quotes, "as it is written, there is none righteous, not even one; there is none who understands,..." By that he means that they do not understand spiritual things to give the answers to the mysteries of life. For instance: Dr. James Boice sites his own seminary career at Harvard University, where he had many non-Christian professors, "who could present the doctrines of Christianity so brilliantly that Christians would marvel at their lectures and be edified by them---even the unbelieving students would rise to their feet and applaud. But these professors did not believe what they were teaching. If they had been asked their opinion of what they were so accurately presenting, they would have said that it was all utter nonsense." This really shouldn't surprise us if we remember what Paul said back at the beginning of this letter in Chapter 1, that mankind's approach to God is to "suppress the truth about God."

Then Paul adds further, "There is none who seeks for God;" That is, no one by nature really wants to know God. Now, that statement really bothers some religious folks. They want to stop and yell, "Wait a meant, I have been seeking after God. If you don't call going to church or doing this religious thing seeking after God, what do you call it?" Well, this word for "seek" means a determined search. It's the type of search that says, "I don't just want to understand God or bring Him down to my level, or be religious, but I want to know God and worship Him and submit my life to His control as God." That is what "seek" means. No person, by nature, Paul says, wants to seek God for who He is. Many seek a god, one they can control or manipulate. Remember what Jesus said back in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." In other words, it is not natural for us to seek after God. We are dead spiritually apart from Christ if you remember our circles from last time. It is only when God begins to draws us to Him, that we ever turn around and follow after Him. Our natural inclination is to ignore God.

Paul continues, "All have turned aside," That is a strong verb, used only three times in the NT, meaning an active willful departure from God. "..together they have become useless;" This "uselessness" finds its meaning in something that was alive, but died and has become putrid and is unfit for the use for which it was intended. This "uselessness" is the natural outcome of having turned our backs upon God. We have spiritually died. We cannot fulfill our God-given purpose for which we were created. We are useless.

He continues, "There is none who does good, there is not even one."  He does not mean that we never do good things, but that we do not do them consistently. And when we do good things, that is "good or morally upright things", they are all tainted with self-serving motives. Hence, in comparison to God's perfect standard of righteousness, our good deeds are not good, holy or perfect. 

For instance: Mario Puzo wrote the book that was later turned into several movies titled THE GODFATHER. His book was a study of the Mafia, a powerful crime family. Throughout the book and the movies they revealed the tremendous violence exerted by these crime families to achieve their goals. Yet what made the violence particularly shocking is that it seemed to co-exist alongside tender and otherwise noble feelings and actions of these Mafia dons. These crime leaders are often quite kindly family men who love their wives and children. They display a depth of loyalty to one another that we don't often find in churches. But they are still a crime oriented family, whose ethical code has been created only to enhance their own well-being in violation to the law.

Once more, James Boice puts it well when he states, "We may do good things...but our good is actually bad, because it is designed to maintain our rebellion against the only sovereign God and His laws." [p.331]. 

From the character of the human race, Paul now switches to the conduct of the human race, which does nothing more than reflect its character. Conduct always seems to correspond to one's character. If one's character is good so will be one's conduct. If my character is flawed, so will be my conduct.

In verses 13-14, Paul speaks to the conduct as it regards our speech. In verses 15-17 as it regards our actions. Paul states, "Their throat is an open grave, with their tongues they keep deceiving," "The poison of asps is under their lips"; "whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness"; What a description of our political arena today, even before the elections, both local and state wide. Talk about slander and malice! Or, what about our normal everyday language or that which is on TV? The usage of double meanings, sexual innuendos? In their book, THE DAY AMERICA TOLD THE TRUTH, James Patterson and Peter Kim, after surveying anonymously hundreds of thousands of people, they discovered that 91% admitted to lying regularly. And by lies, they didn't mean little white lies, but out right lies! Talk about our problem, as Paul put it of their tongues keep on deceiving." The two terms, "cursing and bitterness" are two specific terms used at blaming God for every little thing; using His name in vane. For instance: when the car breaks down at an in opportune time; or you make a bad shot in golf; those times we curse God because of the way He is allowing your life to be directed. Our conduct in speech does reveal our character.

But so does our conduct as it regards our actions. Paul says in verses 15-17, “Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace have they not known." Look at our ghettos, our social welfare programs. They haven't changed anything. In fact, many people will tell you that they have produced more misery than they have helped. Whether it is NATO or the UN, we cannot seem to find the path of peace. Every year we watch more and more of our planet being destroyed, all due to our conduct.

How is it that our character and our conduct is so flawed. What is the cause? Paul tells us what the cause is in verse 18. He says, “There is no fear of God before their eyes." "Fear of God" does not refer to being terrified of God, but rather it refers to a respect for Who He is and to recognize His right to rule over our lives. To fear God means to submit to His will as it is laid out for us in His word. The more we refuse to fear God and to recognize His rightful place in our lives, the more our character and conduct will reveal itself in a depraved society.

Where does this leave us? Well, in verses 19-20, Paul concludes with a statement that leaves every human being as:

1. ACCOUNTABLE to God for what HE OR SHE HAS DONE 

2. GUILTY of having done countless wrong things;

3. unable to be JUSTIFIED or APPROVED or ACCEPTED by God on the basis of any supposed GOOD WORKS.

Paul's exact words are, in verse 19, " Now we know that whatever the Law says, [and by law, it can refer to the Jews trying to live under the Law of God, or the pagan trying to live up to their own law] it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, [can't say a word, because they are guilty of violating their own laws] and all the world may become accountable to God; because [a unique great term that is driving home a powerful conclusion, in this case, the final conclusion based upon everything Paul has been saying since chapter one] by the works of the Law no flesh [and that term is the OT term that is used in Ps 143:2, that means "no person"] will be justified in His sight; [the opposite of justified is to be condemned] for through the Law {comes} the knowledge of sin." 

God never gave us a set of rules, like the Law or the Ten Commandments so that by them, we could earn his approval. Instead, according to this verse and many others in this book, Galatians, and Colossians, the Law was given to us to show us that we are hopeless in trying to earn God's acceptance. It is given to us to prove to ourselves that when we try to measure ourselves by God's perfect standard, no matter how much we might be morally better than the person next door, in comparison to God, we are depraved rebels who choose daily to live as though God does not exist.

God's word strips away our "emperor's clothing" of self deceit and reveals our souls' nakedness. That is the bad news. But look at the next six words as they introduce our next section for next week, in verse 21, "But now apart from the Law..." But now comes the good news that is not based upon our own self efforts to earn God's approval. Now comes the good news as to how to make our spirits, our spiritual hearts, the key to our beings alive, so that we can know God and be assured that we are forgiven, accepted, fully approved and deeply loved forever by God. We will look at that next week.

So what can we thank God for this morning? We can thank Him that He has loved us so much, that He has been brutally honest with us about our condition, apart from the savior.

Father, we thank you for loving us enough to tell us the truth. To show us how lost we are, that we might turn to your for help. Thank you for loving us enough to show us that all the other ways to earn accept by your are futile or blocked and lead no where. Help us to take the only way that has ever been provided, a righteousness that is given to us in Christ Jesus, something never earned or deserved. Help us to better understand in the days ahead, just exactly what you have offered us in knowing Jesus Christ as our personal savior and Lord.

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