BACKGROUND:The apologist in Paul can foresee further objections arising. He understands that people are usually more willing to rationalize than repent, and that their minds will be pondering ways to elude God’s righteous judgment. Paul knows they are thinking, “If my sinfulness makes God look so good, then why should he punish me? I’m actually helping him out!” This was an attempt to make it seem unfair for God to punish sinners.
Many believe that God’s wrath contradicts his loving nature. But God judges based on his own character, not on society’s norm for fairness. God is not accountable to some external, vague notion of fair play. His personal moral uprightness is the standard by which he judges.
Eventually the final day of reckoning will come when God “will judge all people according to what they have done”. God must and will judge sin—he has the right to judge the world because he is God, and he is holy and just. Paul answers by reaffirming God’s character. If God is not just, how is he qualified to judge the world? No person can be an exception to God’s laws; that would violate God’s character and disqualify him as the Judge.
The root problem is in people’s misunderstanding of God’s righteousness when he is patient to both unfaithful Jews and sinful Gentiles. Jews cannot condemn Gentiles; both are in the same predicament. Both need to rely on God’s righteousness in his dealings with them and then choose to trust him or face his inevitable wrath for their sins.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
The third question that Paul askas and answers regards God's righteousness.
"But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness..." This passage is probably the hardest passage in Romans to understand in the Greek and the English. Paul is talking about faulty logic here and he's going to point out that it doesn't make sense but it was a common excuse that the Jews were giving at this time.
v. 5 "If our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly what shall we say, that God is unjust in bringing His wrath on us? I am using a human argument." Paul is saying that some people are saying, "You've just said that God is faithful to us even when we're unfaithful to Him. Therefore it seems that when I sin God forgives me and when I sin more and God forgives me more, then every time I sin it makes God look good because it shows how forgiving He is. Therefore God shouldn't be upset with me when I sin because my sin actually makes God look good."
If our sin makes God look good and more gracious why should we be judged for it. Why should He condemn us because actually we're doing God a favor. By our sin, God shows what a great guy He is and so He ought to thank us for our sin. That's the logic in this sentence.
Paul says in parenthesis "I am using a human argument". This is human logic and sometimes human logic is insanity. He was realizing you could twist what he was saying and that people were saying that the Jews' unfaithfulness actually reinforces God's faithfulness.
Illustration: A guy goes out and commits adultery over and over. His wife remains faithful to him. The husband comes in to his wife and says, "My unfaithfulness just makes you look better. Because you're staying faithful to me even though I'm unfaithful to you and it shows what a great lady you are!" So one day this wife finally says, "I've had enough! I'm not going to take any more! That's all I'm going to put up with." Husband comes in: "What gives? Why are you mad at me? My unfaithfulness just shows your patience. In fact instead of being upset you ought to thank me for my adultery because it shows what a great person you are." Does that make sense? NO.
Just like a lawyer would do in a court of law, Paul is destroying this absurd logic. In this court case he's taking every single objection that the Jews are bringing up and blowing it out of the water. It's distorted logic.
His answer: "Is that the right way to think about it? Certainly not! If that were so how could God judge the world?" If God doesn't have any standards, and He lets everybody get away with anything, how can He be fair if He doesn't have any standards? If sin results in doing good then God can't judge anybody because everybody would be doing good every time they sinned.
Question 4 ,that Paul addresses, regards the Questioning of God's truthfulness.
v. 7 "Someone might argue, `If my falsehood, enhances God's truthfulness and so increases His glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?'" This is kind of an extension of this last argument. Paul is saying "Let's take your logic a step further. If all the bad things I do make God happy because it gives Him the chance to show His grace, then why would God condemn me? And if the truth of God has increased through my sin, then why am I still judged? Can I be blamed for something that brings glory to God? How could God call me a sinner, if my sin shows what a forgiving person He is?"
Paul was an intellectual giant, a genius. He uses what philosophers call "you take it to it's logical, illogical conclusion." Push it to the extreme and show how stupid it really is.
v. 8 "Why not say as we are being slandered as purported to be saying, and as some claim that we say, Let us do evil that good may result." He's saying, If every time I sin it brings more glory to God because it shows what a forgiving person He is, then let's live it up! Let's gross out on evil so God can be super forgiving! Does that make sense? No! Paul is saying, God does not need our evil to contrast His goodness. That's cheap grace. That's basically saying, It doesn't matter what you do as long as you believe the right thing. There are a lot of people going to church and believing the right things . . . but their life style? They live for the Lord on Sunday and then live for the devil the rest of the week. That's the way a lot of people are.
Paul is saying, You don't want to go out and sin more to prove what a gracious God He is.
Illustration: You get strep throat and go to the doctor. He says, "I have a wonder drug. You just have a minor case. This drug can wipe out your strep throat immediately!" What if you said, "Let's wait a few days. Let's pray that I get a super severe strep throat so that it will really demonstrate how powerful your wonder drug is!" That's the same kind of logic.
A lot of people do that with God. They think that God is some old grandfather up in the sky who's loving but absolutely harmless. Like you take your kids to grandpa's house. He's rocking, gumming his teeth... You say, We'll be back in a little while and leave the kids. The kids tear up the house! Grandpa's sitting there smiling, kind of senile. The kids think, "Grandpa must love this. Let's do it even more!" Because he's such a pushover and you know he can't stop you.
A lot of people think God is that way. I've had people come to me in counseling and said this: "I know the choice that I'm making is wrong, but I'm going to do it anyway because I know that God will forgive me." That can be used in all kinds of instances. If there is anything that really upsets me, it's that! I want to say, "What kind of fool do you think God is? Don't you think He sees through that? Do you think that a God who would let you get away with that is worthy to be worshipped?" Forgiveness is not a license to sin. Never confuse forgiveness with approval. They are two totally different things. Forgiveness from God does not mean approval.
Can a parent forgive a child for doing something wrong and still let them reap the consequences of their behavior? Maybe you stole some candy at the store. Your parents forgave you but you still had to pay back for the candy. Even though you were forgiven.
You can go out and get your life messed up in a certain kind of lifestyle and ask God to forgive you but you will still reap what you've sown. The consequences are still there. It can happen in any area of life. You can make a mistake, sin, ask God to forgive you, repent and God will forgive you. But we still hold scars.
It's like the boy who, every time he disobeyed, his dad made him nail a nail into the door of his room. Every time he asked forgiveness he could pull a nail out. After about a year the boy noticed that the door was getting full of holes. There were scars that were left. Was that boy forgiven? Absolutely. Was he in perfect, total fellowship with his dad. Absolutely. Did God hold a grudge against him? Not at all. But he still reaped the results.
When I was in youth work, I knew many people who took drugs and then came to God. God forgave them but their mind was still messed up from years of taking drugs.
Paul is saying, Don't presume on the grace of God. Some people were actually reporting that Paul was teaching this. He says "I've been slandered, insulted. People are saying Paul is encouraging loose living!" Anytime you get a pastor or preacher who teaches on grace that person is always going to be misrepresented by someone as believing in loose living. It always happens.
Paul's response to that attitude was the last thing he said in v. 8. "Their condemnation is deserved." If you think you can go out and sin and get away with it and ask God to forgive you, you get what you deserve. I know this is long, but if you'll hang in there with me this week, God will teach you some foundational truths from Romans 3.
I love you guys. Stay faithful. Stay the course.
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