Inevitable Questions

What advantage then has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? Much, and in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! ... And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come?" As we are slanderously reported as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

When the gospel strips away every human advantage, what is left to boast in—and what does God still owe to His word?

A Doctrinal Primer for the Saints

Father, we pray for Your continued wisdom and understanding as we look at Your word. We thank You that we have Your word in our language, in multiple translations, in soft cover and hard cover and goatskin. But having an abundance of Your word doesn't mean it will penetrate our hearts. So we pray that You would cause it to do so—that Your word, living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, would be effective in our lives today, transforming us into Your image so we reflect You in the world. Speak to us and teach us by Your Spirit, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Over the last several weeks in Romans, we've seen that Paul wrote this letter as a doctrinal primer to train new Christians—a discipleship manual to equip people. His calling, and the calling of everyone who serves in ministry, is to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, as he says in Ephesians 4. Our task is to raise up mature disciples of Christ, not mere converts.

He writes to believers in Rome, a newly established church filled primarily with Gentiles, though with Jews in their midst. The letter is structured to teach us what to believe in the first eight chapters, and how to live in chapters 12 through 15. In between, chapters 9 through 11 address the growing tension between Jewish and Gentile Christians—a racial and cultural divide.

The Inevitable Questions

Many who came from a Jewish background assumed, "Of course we'll be saved—we're the descendants of Abraham, God's chosen people." But in the second half of Romans 2, Paul made it clear that every human being, Jew or Gentile, has the same problem: we are all sinners. As Romans 3:10 says, "There is none righteous, no, not one... there is none that does good; there is none that seeks after God."

Paul was a lawyer—a doctor of the law, a Pharisee—and he knew exactly how a Jewish mind would react to his message. He had just told them that being a circumcised descendant of Abraham, possessing the covenants and promises and law of God, would not save them on the day of judgment. So he addresses the inevitable questions that would spring up in his hearers' minds.

In verse 1 he asks the very question they would ask: "What advantage then has the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision?" If Jewish heritage gives no advantage before God at judgment, why should it be considered a privileged position at all?

Much in Every Way—Chiefly the Oracles of God

Paul answers in verse 2: "Much, and in every way!" There are great advantages to Jewish heritage—and he will return to this in chapter 9, listing the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the law, the service of God, and the promises. But here he names one thing above all: "Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God."

Yet none of these privileges extend to a favored position before God concerning sin. As Romans 2:11 says, there is no respect of persons with God. You will never stand before God and say, "Don't you know who my grandfather was?" and have God reply, "Yes—and he's a sinner just like you." Hebrews reminds us it is appointed unto man to die once, and then comes judgment. Ten out of ten people die; we all face that end.

This applies to us as Americans. We have long believed this is a Christian nation, blessed in awesome ways by the King of kings. "God shed His grace on thee." But that blessing does not mean God will say, "Oh, you were an American—you're in." Even if your grandfather is Billy Graham, it means nothing on the day of Christ Jesus, because salvation is one-on-one, us with God.

A Stewardship of God's Word

The chief privilege, then, was that the Jewish people were entrusted with God's word—a stewardship committed to their care. We can be thankful they were good stewards. The scribes revered the Scriptures as holy and copied them so meticulously that they have been preserved for generation after generation. Thousands of years later, we hold the fruit of that faithful trust.

Why is this such an advantage? Because possessing the oracles of God gave them greater access and opportunity to believe. We have a similar stewardship in our nation: God's word in our language, in many translations, with scholars who have given their lives to preserving it. With that possession comes responsibility. Other peoples in the world have no Scripture in their language, and God will deal accordingly with them. But for us, ignorance is chosen ignorance. There is no excuse before God—and perhaps even swifter judgment, because we are responsible for what we possess.

Faith Comes by Hearing

Romans 10:17 says, "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." Possessing the Scriptures means a greater opportunity to know and believe God. And I am convinced that God has given to every person a measure of faith. Romans 12:3 says exactly that: "Think soberly, as God has given to every man a measure of faith." Don't think you are miraculously special for having faith, because God has planted a seed of faith in every human heart.

That seed is sufficient to begin the process of believing, for "without faith it is impossible to please God, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." You rarely meet a four-year-old who doesn't believe that God is. You meet plenty of forty-year-olds who don't—because it takes great training to kill that measure of faith. A child looks at the world around him and logically deduces that things don't just happen on their own.

How does that measure of faith grow into saving faith? The word of God is like fertilizer upon the seed of faith, causing it to germinate unto salvation. This is why we have such strong connection with ministries like Cross Connection Outreach under Luke Rider, with New Tribes and Bill and Donna Davis, who have given their lives translating God's word into languages that had none, and with Simply the Story and the God's Story Project for those who cannot read. Barna Research has shown only about 2% of evangelical Christians actually read their Bibles—a staggering reality. Yet many have come to faith simply by reading the Scriptures: sitting in a crisis, opening a hotel drawer, finding a little red Gideon Bible, reading the gospel of John, and saying, "I believe this. There is a God, and He has revealed Himself to me."

God's Word Will Not Return Void

We want the word of God to go forth freely, because we believe it will not return void, as Isaiah 55 declares. God says, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are My ways your ways... As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways." He compares His word to rain and snow that come down and do not return without watering the earth, making it bring forth and bud, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater. "So shall My word be that goes forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please."

God's word, apart from any involvement of ours, is effective. So what is our part? Verse 12: "You shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace; the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands." Living in Southern California through continual droughts, we can imagine a dry and thirsty land. When the rain clouds finally dump water upon it, you can almost hear creation rejoice.

Follow the picture out: God's word is the rain that will not return void; we are the clouds. Our part is to carry God's word out and pour it upon drought-ridden lands where the word of God is not yet known—among the Tswa people who speak Shitswa, the Ndau people, the 46 language groups represented in Mozambique alone. God's word does not return void. Some of our own efforts end up empty, but God is serious about His word, and wherever the rain goes, it produces growth, because it accomplishes the work He sent it forth to do.

What If Some Did Not Believe?

Paul anticipates the next question in verse 3: "For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?" The Jews had the Scriptures—they copied them, studied them, memorized them, meditated on them—but what if the result was not faith? Jesus told the Pharisees, "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you find life... and they are they which testify of Me." Yet they did not believe. Is that a failure of God's faithfulness?

Paul answers, "Certainly not!"—literally, "May it never be!"—"Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar." God remains faithful even when we are faithless. If we fail to put our faith in Him though He has given us His word, He still remains faithful to His word. And that means He also remains faithful to the warnings of His word: those who do not believe and put their faith in Christ will be judged.

Christians often quote 2 Timothy 2:13—"If we are faithless, He remains faithful still, because He cannot deny Himself"—as comfort that God still loves us through our lapses. That may be true and proven elsewhere, but the context there is sobering: if we deny Him, He will deny us. If you do not believe in God and deny that He exists, He will deny you on the day of Christ Jesus. God remains faithful to Himself, and He is no respecter of persons; He will judge with equity, in the right and perfect way.

David and the Justice of God

To prove this, Paul quotes the Psalms in verse 4: "That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged." This comes from Psalm 51, written after King David committed adultery and arranged a murder to cover it up. For a year no one knew the king of Israel was at the core of it—until God sent the prophet Nathan to expose him.

David, exposed for who he was, did not plead his royal lineage. He prayed, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness... Blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity... For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned... that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge." The king of Israel, descendant of Abraham, confessed: "Lord, I've sinned, I deserve Your judgment—be merciful to me."

Shall We Sin That Grace May Abound?

Verse 5 raises the next inevitable question: "But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say?" The logic runs: if my unrighteousness, in contrast to His righteousness, makes God look good, then He cannot judge me. Paul exposes this self-justifying mind—his own former Pharisee's reasoning—and answers, "Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?" If sin only glorified God, He could not be just in judging—yet He has already judged Sodom and Gomorrah and the whole earth in the flood.

Verse 7 presses further: "If the truth of God has increased through my lie unto His glory, why am I also judged as a sinner?" And the slander: "Why not say, 'Let us do evil that good may come'?" Some were reporting that Paul taught exactly this. You can see why—he preached the gospel of grace, justification by faith, that circumcision and works of the law do not save, only faith in Christ's redeeming work. Some concluded, "If works don't get me to heaven, why not keep sinning so good may come?"

Paul answers this fully in chapter 6: "Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?"

The True Gospel and Our Ministry

The gospel reveals that salvation is not according to our lineage from a special person, nor according to our good works—for all our righteous works are like filthy rags to Him who is holy, holy, holy. The only way is found in Romans 3:21: "But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed... even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

This is the gospel. The wages of sin is death, but Christ Jesus, God incarnate, died as the redeeming sacrifice for our sins. He who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might receive His righteousness as we put our trust in Him—not in our own works or lineage. We are ambassadors of this true gospel, given the ministry of reconciliation. Would to God that we would steward it well, that we would be faithful clouds simply carrying the precious word of God to drought-ridden people. Amen.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your word, which is living and powerful. I thank You that in all Your knowledge You knew there was no possible way any of us could make ourselves right with You, so You made the way open—You laid down Your life for us. We thank You that You have opened the way of salvation. We pray that through us You would enable us to be ambassadors and witnesses of You, in this area and to the uttermost parts, sharing the glorious truth of the gospel. May those who are drought-ridden because of sin have Your word poured out upon their hearts, and come to know who You are. Enable us to be witnesses, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.