OUR FATHER WHOSE WORD OUTWEIGHS THE WORD OF ALL HUMANITY

In the book of Romans chapter 3 verses 1 -  8, Paul continues his analysis of the false  legalistic doctrines that are being introduced to the believers in Rome.

With all the controversy around the validity circumcision, Paul rhetorically asks if there was ever any value to the Jewish rite at all. He answers affirmatively by indicating that the word of God was entrusted to the Jewish people and part of this privilege carried the responsibility to embody the physical symbols of the underlying spiritual laws such as circumcision which, in being a physical separation of the body, represented the requirement of a spiritual separation from the things of the flesh.

Paul then asks if the Jews, having been privileged to carry the word of God, were unfaithful, would that not show that Godˋs Himself was unfaithful because He couldnˋt keep those were His people. Paulˋs answer was that all mankind, Jewish and otherwise, were subject to the same fall and the same corruption and were thus equally given to sinfulness and were equally liable for their conduct.

1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2 Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God.

3 What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? 4 Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:

“So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.”

5 But 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.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

Paul wrote that one could then ask that if humanity was prone to sinfuless, is Godˋs judgement on us not unfair and unjust?

Paul responds to this by pointing out that if that were truly the case, God would not be able to judge the world but the fact that humans break the law is a reflection of their corrupt nature and not the unfairness of the law. The law merely makes evident what defects exist in mankind due to the fall and as such, mankind can be rightly judged under the law.

The application of the law to expose the fallen nature of mankind does indeed glorify God because it shows how holy and righteous He is but this does not mean that humans should continue to sin so as to glorify God. Humans, having been made in the image and likeness of God and having been shown by the law that they are corrupted, must be shown by God the pth of life by which they may return from corruption to restoration.

Amen.

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