Rom 3:7-8 | KingComments | STEP | . After considering the previous section, you might have started to think being a Jew wasn’t much of an advantage even though God had called them His elect people. Likewise, the advantage of circumcision might come into question even though it had been given by God as a sign of His covenant with His earthly people. Paul now deals with this thought. It is advantageous in many ways to belong to the people of God. . Among these many advantages, they were entrusted with the oracles (the words) of God. For us who live in so-called Christian countries, it also is an advantage to have the Bible, but this advantage made the Jews and make us more responsible. . The way we deal with the Bible does not affect its contents. God remains faithful to His Word even if there are those who claim to belong to His people, but who do not respect His Word. This only confirms that God is true and every man is false. Maybe you have heard someone say (or perhaps you said it yourself): ‘God doesn’t exist.’ This is not a new thought. Someone who speaks like this is just expressing what God wrote down a long time ago. Psalm 14 says: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”” ( ). God’s Word provides proof that God is true and every man false. If man acts according to his evil heart, he only proves what God has said in His Word long ago. In this way God justifies Himself by His own words. If man is presumptuous enough to judge God and make Him responsible, it will be clear that God is the winner and man is the loser. . God’s righteous acts are confirmed by our unrighteous acts. Nothing can refute this. A way of life that doesn’t respect God must bring God’s wrath upon that life. God cannot act in any other way. He is obligated to do so because He is holy and righteous. He cannot overlook His holy and righteous features as we sometimes do. When God observes everything in this world, He cannot act as if nothing is wrong. He must execute judgment over this world. He has not executed this judgment yet because He is patient. He is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” ( ). Yet a time will come when He will have to judge. His patience has an end. Then righteousness will take its course and wrath will be executed: the punishment must come. Denying this only indicates that one doesn’t take God seriously. . Another way that some do not take God seriously is when they misuse God’s righteous dealings. They say: ”If I lie, it increases the truth of God. With my evil walk, I only contribute to His glory because this makes the sacrifice of Christ worth even more. Isn’t this pleasing to God? In fact I deserve a reward, so why should I be judged as a sinner?” They reason: “Let us do evil things that good may come.” At the time the apostle Paul wrote this letter, people were spreading the false rumor that Paul was teaching this false doctrine. In this way they tried to vindicate their own ungodly walk while slandering the apostle. Paul doesn’t refute them. There’s no arguing with people like that. His answer is simple: “Their condemnation is just.” Now read Romans 3:1-8 again. Reflection: Mention some privileges you have as a Christian.

‏ Romans 3:7-8

God True, Every Man False

Rom 3:1. After considering the previous section, you might have started to think being a Jew wasn’t much of an advantage even though God had called them His elect people. Likewise, the advantage of circumcision might come into question even though it had been given by God as a sign of His covenant with His earthly people. Paul now deals with this thought. It is advantageous in many ways to belong to the people of God.

Rom 3:2. Among these many advantages, they were entrusted with the oracles (the words) of God. For us who live in so-called Christian countries, it also is an advantage to have the Bible, but this advantage made the Jews and make us more responsible.

Rom 3:3-4. The way we deal with the Bible does not affect its contents. God remains faithful to His Word even if there are those who claim to belong to His people, but who do not respect His Word. This only confirms that God is true and every man is false.

Maybe you have heard someone say (or perhaps you said it yourself): ‘God doesn’t exist.’ This is not a new thought. Someone who speaks like this is just expressing what God wrote down a long time ago. Psalm 14 says: “The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God”” (Psa 14:1). God’s Word provides proof that God is true and every man false.

If man acts according to his evil heart, he only proves what God has said in His Word long ago. In this way God justifies Himself by His own words. If man is presumptuous enough to judge God and make Him responsible, it will be clear that God is the winner and man is the loser.

Rom 3:5-6. God’s righteous acts are confirmed by our unrighteous acts. Nothing can refute this. A way of life that doesn’t respect God must bring God’s wrath upon that life. God cannot act in any other way. He is obligated to do so because He is holy and righteous. He cannot overlook His holy and righteous features as we sometimes do.

When God observes everything in this world, He cannot act as if nothing is wrong. He must execute judgment over this world. He has not executed this judgment yet because He is patient. He is “not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2Pet 3:9). Yet a time will come when He will have to judge. His patience has an end. Then righteousness will take its course and wrath will be executed: the punishment must come. Denying this only indicates that one doesn’t take God seriously.

Rom 3:7-8. Another way that some do not take God seriously is when they misuse God’s righteous dealings. They say: ”If I lie, it increases the truth of God. With my evil walk, I only contribute to His glory because this makes the sacrifice of Christ worth even more. Isn’t this pleasing to God? In fact I deserve a reward, so why should I be judged as a sinner?” They reason: “Let us do evil things that good may come.”

At the time the apostle Paul wrote this letter, people were spreading the false rumor that Paul was teaching this false doctrine. In this way they tried to vindicate their own ungodly walk while slandering the apostle. Paul doesn’t refute them. There’s no arguing with people like that. His answer is simple: “Their condemnation is just.”

Now read Romans 3:1-8 again.

Reflection: Mention some privileges you have as a Christian.