God's Righteousness Condemns All. Romans
3:1-12
This is one of the most
important chapters in relation to understanding the nature of man and why the
human race is under condemnation from God. Theologically the term that is used
to describe this is “total depravity,” but this is a term that is often
misunderstood by many people. Total depravity doesn’t mean that everybody is as
bad as they could be. The term “total” means that every aspect of our being has
been affected by the corruption of sin so that there is nothing that we can do
that merits the approval of God, the judicial blessing of God. It does not mean
what it is often presented to mean—especially within Calvinist or Reformed
circles—total inability. Under the definition of total inability what Reformed
theology man is completely incapable, not just of doing anything to please God,
which we would agree with, but man does not even have an inclination toward
God; he can’t even exercise positive volition toward God; because in a strict
Calvinist system volition itself is meritorious. And in that system faith is
meritorious. That is why in Reformed theology faith is taken to be a gift.
In Romans 3:1-18 Paul is
brining to a conclusion what he has been arguing for and building his case for
since Romans 1:18. That introduced the concept of the wrath of God. In 1
Thessalonians wrath is still future, still within history but is speaks of the
Tribulation. But in Romans the term “wrath of God” is not a future event in
terms of the Tribulation, but it is the judgment of God within human history.
It can be individual or in terms of a group, a nation; but the wrath of God is
the outworking of God’s judgment. And it can be either active or passive. By
active means that God brings active, specific discipline and judgment on a
group or a nation or on an individual. For example, when God brought the
neo-Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar to the
As we come to 3:1 he
introduces this with a series of rhetorical questions designed to get his
audience to think about the implications of what he has said. Having dealt with
the issue of circumcision Paul then begins with the rhetorical question: “Then what advantage has the Jew? Or
what is the benefit of circumcision?” These are the first two of ten rhetorical
questions that are stated in this section.
Romans 3:5 NASB
“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 lays down another objection and it is related to the idea
that if our sin reveals the righteousness of God well let us go sin some more;
the more we sin the more His righteousness will be revealed. This apparently
was a common charge against Paul. (This is often a charge among people who
teach grace) Then he raises the next question which develops the argument even
more: Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? The implication of the first statement
would be that God would then be unjust by bringing any form of discipline or
judgment upon the disobedient believer. The protasis is a first class
condition, which means it is assumed to be true. So he is stating a true
principle and that is that our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness
of God. When we sin God’s righteousness is brought to the forefront. His
righteousness is His absolute standard and because God is righteous He must
condemn unrighteousness. When mankind is unrighteous God’s righteousness comes
into effect and His justice has to bring judgment, so our unrighteousness does
display the righteousness of God. But it is an invalid conclusion to go on to
say we must just continue to sin so that His righteousness is made evermore
present. Paul phrases these questions in a way that indicates the answer. Man’s
unrighteousness shows God’s righteous character and that demonstrates God’s own
right to be the judge. This is talking about judgment in time, in history.
Romans 3:6 NASB
“May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?” Jewish theology
made it very clear that there was a future judgment; God would judge the world.
Isaiah 66:16; Joel 3:12; Psalm 94:2; Daniel 12:1-3. What Paul has done here in
a very logical manner is point out that God can’t judge the world unless He is
righteous. He explains that even further [7] “But if through my lie the truth of
God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?” This
is a continuation of the thinking of the objector. [8] “And why not {say} (as
we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), ‘Let us do evil
that good may come’? Their condemnation is just.” That is the essence of this
argument. Paul crystallizes what this objection is: is nothing more than an end
justifies the means argument, i.e. a right thing done in a wrong way is okay.
Ethically a right thing can only be done is a right way. In this verse Paul
shows the irrationality of this argument. Paul’s words have been twisted; his
teaching on grace has been twisted into the idea that he is teaching
licentiousness. He doesn’t even refute it, it is so obvious, so self-evident
that the idea that we can do evil that good may come is wrong.
Then he
moves into the conclusion. He raises two questions. Romans 3:9 NASB
“What then?...” What conclusion are we to arrive at? What is the result of this
string of thinking? “… Are we [Jews] better than they [Gentiles]? Not at all;
for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin.” He
says that Jewish people aren’t inherently any better than Gentiles; both are
condemned. Jews had a privileged position but it wasn’t a position that brought
them salvation. So Paul asks: What is the implication of this argument. The
word translated “under” is the Greek word hupo
[u(po] which has the sense of being under
something but in a variety of contexts it has the idea of being under control
or the dominion of something. That is the idea: all are under the control of
sin. This is what Paul will develop further in Romans chapter six when he is
talking about sanctification—prior to salvation we have no choice but to sin,
we are in bondage to sin. Then he is going to strong together a series of
verses from the Old Testament to substantiate that this isn’t just something
that he has come up with but that this is the teaching found in the Hebrew
Scriptures.
Romans 3:10 NASB
“as it is written, ‘THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE; [11] THERE IS NONE WHO
UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD; [12] ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE,
TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT
EVEN ONE.’” The last line says there is none who does
good, not even one. Most of what Paul says here comes from Psalm 14:1-3. But
where in the Old Testament do we find the statement in verse 10 that there is
none righteous, not even one. You will look in vain and you will not find it.
But Paul says, “As it is written.” How can that be? Remember the four ways that
writers of the New Testament quote the Old Testament. The first way is literal
prophecy quoted as having been literally fulfilled—e.g. Micah 5:2 cf. Matthew
2. Then Hosea 11:”Out of
“There is none that
understands”—no in-depth spiritual understanding; “none who seeks God”—the
Greek word indicates a more intense seeking; “all have turned aside, together
they have become useless; there is none who does good, there is not even one.”
In Psalm 14:1 the introduction is the statement, “The
fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’” If you say there is no God you
are a fool. Unbelievers know internally, inherently, that God exists—Romans
Psalm 14:2 NASB
“The LORD has looked
down from heaven upon the sons of men To see if there are any who understand,
Who seek after God.” The conclusion is that there are none who understand and
none who seek God. The text does not say there are none who can understand and
none who can seek God. There is a big difference. But the way Reformed theology
and Calvinist theology reads this is to say none who can understand and that
there are none who can seek for God. There is a huge difference between the
two. All this verse is saying is that the normal default position here is that
they don’t understand and they don’t seek God. But we have to balance that with
what Paul said earlier in Romans 1:20, 21: that the know God. There is
understanding of God and a knowledge of God at one level, but at a profound
level that affects the orientation of their soul there is not that
knowledge/understanding of God.
Then we have
to look at the word to “seek” God. The Calvinist will say no one seeks God and
they point this to positive volition. The Calvinist will say the unbeliever
can’t even exercise positive volition and he can only seek God if God gives
them gives them the ability to do that. That is their argument, but that is not
what the Scripture teaches.
Deuteronomy
1 Chronicles
1 Chronicles
28:9 NASB “As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father,
and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the LORD searches all hearts, and understands
every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if
you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.” This is a universal principle
here. The Lord searches all hearts—believer and unbeliever—to see if there is
positive volition there.
2 Chronicles
15:2 NASB “and he went out to meet Asa and said to him, ‘Listen to
me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: the LORD is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will
let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.’” This is
restating the same principle related to positive or negative volition.
Psalm 105:3,
4 NASB “Glory in His holy name; Let the heart of those who seek the LORD be glad. Seek the LORD and His strength; Seek His face
continually.” This is a command. You can’t have a command that is real unless
the person who hears it can respond.
Isaiah 55:6,
7 NASB “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the
wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return
to the LORD, And He
will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.” If
the wicked and the unrighteous couldn’t change, couldn’t exercise positive
volition, then this would be meaningless. So even the unregenerate can exercise
positive volition because it is non-meritorious. Because he wants to know God,
God then will provide the solution; and it is God who is the one who grants
repentance and gives the blessing of salvation. God is the one who regenerates
us, we simply exercise non-meritorious faith in God’s promise of salvation in
Jesus Christ.
Jeremiah
29:12, 13 NASB “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me,
and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find {Me} when you search for Me
with all your heart.”
Hosea
Amos 5:4, 6 NASB
“For thus says the LORD to the house of Israel, ‘Seek Me that you may live….Seek the LORD that you may live, Or He will break forth
like a fire, O house of Joseph, And it will consume with none to quench {it}
for Bethel.”
Seeking is not a universal negative.
When Paul says there is none who seeks
this is not saying the no one without exception can have positive volition. (It
comes out of the context of Psalm 14 where it is talking about the
characteristic of the person who says there is no God.