#1623 Romans 3 Part 3 Fangs and Putrid Smells

 

1

“Their throat is an open tomb,

With their tongues they keep deceiving,”

“The poison of asps is under their lips”;

14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”;

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood,

16 Destruction and misery are in their paths,

17 And the path of peace they have not known.”

18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

19 Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; 20 because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. Romans 3: 13-20 LSB

Romans 3: 13-20

V. 13 Their throat is an open tomb - So for the Jew back then it was considered a defilement to come near the dead, and there are many sanitary reasons for this, like disease. You want to protect the body of your loved one also from wild animals, and so they sealed the tomb and applied ointments to the body to reduce the foul odors. On the outside there are flowers growing, a stone blocking the entrance, which was probably sealed with pitch or other materials to remove gaps, but inside was rot and decay. Paul is saying that their mouths are revealing the rancid nature of their hearts; it's an open door or window to who they really are inside. Remember Isaiah's epiphany when faced with a vision of the Lord, confronted with the Holiness of God? This godliest of men by our standards said, "Then I said: “Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts.” Even he was able to come to a sense of his own depravity, to know that his past ideas of good would not hold up in the presence of the thrice Holy God. Paul is continuing to destroy the antinomian argument and show that being born again means being a new creature, desiring to do the things that please God, not just form and ritual. 

…44For each tree is known by its own fruit. Indeed, figs are not gathered from thornbushes, nor grapes from brambles. 45The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. 46Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I say?… Luke 6: 44-46

…17“Do you not yet realize that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then is eliminated? 18But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. 19For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander.… Matthew 15: 17-19

…26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, so that the outside may become clean as well. 27Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to be righteous, but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.… Matthew 23: 26-28

V. 13c The poison of asps is under their lips - Back then they would call it poison, but today we would say venom. So for some commentators the image they think would appear in the early reader's mind was that of the Egyptian cobra. Another really interesting snake I found was the Israeli Mole Viper, whose fangs can protrude to the side, making it very dangerous to handle even with the mouth seemingly closed. From Wikipedia, "This snake's fangs are able to be directed outside of its mouth, granting it the ability to side stab with a closed mouth. This makes capturing this snake particularly dangerous because it can unexpectedly bite sideways even when it is captured by the head to lock its mouth. This happened to the zoologist Heinrich Mendelssohn when he first discovered this species and captured a snake of this species in 1944.[13]" Asp is the Greek word for viper. Paul is comparing what's in their hearts to a venom factory which leads to fangs concealed in their mouth. When they open it, out comes slander, apostasy and every form of filth. 

From Dictionary.com

1. any of several venomous snakes, especially the Egyptian cobra or the horned viper.

2. Archaeology.,  uraeus.

V. 14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness - It takes very little to get it to spill out, so much are men like this that they have to have life coaches in the corporate world, to teach them to practice saying what they would not naturally say, all the while harboring evil in their hearts and intentions. We teach our children manners, and rightfully so, but they still need to be born again, and there will come a time that your disappointment, the structure and repercussions you provide will no longer be there or enough. If you provide nothing then you hasten them towards doom, and if your child naturally knows to behave better than you for the sake of not making a bad investment, well then they will think themselves rich instead of the beggars that we all are.  

…8Lead me, O LORD, in Your righteousness because of my enemies; make straight Your way before me. 9For not a word they speak can be trusted; destruction lies within them. Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. 10Declare them guilty, O God; let them fall by their own devices. Drive them out for their many transgressions, for they have rebelled against You.… Psalm 5: 8-10

"Out of his own mouth he will be condemned. There is not only a little evil there, but his mouth is full of it. There is cursing which he spits against both God and men, deceit with which he entraps the unwary, and fraud by which, even in his common dealings, he robs his neighbors. Beware of such a man. Under his tongue. Deep in his throat are the unborn words which shall come forth as mischief and iniquity." (Treasury of David).

The Apostle James says that “The tongue is set on fire of hell.” (James 3:6+)

Ray Stedman comments that "Cursing is blaming God; that is profanity. Bitterness is reproaching God because of the way he has run your life. This is what we hear all the time, even from Christians. We hear complaints about your circumstances, where God has placed you, and what he is doing with your life -- cursing and bitterness." (Read the full text of the sermon Total Wipeout)

V. 15 Their feet are swift to shed blood - It only got so far as the first man and woman's son, Cain, till there was a murderer. Listen to what Jesus says.

21You have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not murder’ and ‘Anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ will be subject to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be subject to the fire of hell. 23So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,… Matthew 5: 21-23

Vs. 16-17 And the path of peace they have not known - They don't travel in the way of reconciliation. They open their mouths to start strife and discord. Drama is always with them. How many times could we have stayed quiet and quelled a storm, or spoke softly instead of pouring on fuel. 

…7Their feet run to evil; they are swift to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful thoughts; ruin and destruction lie in their wake. 8The way of peace they have not known, and there is no justice in their tracks. They have turned them into crooked paths; no one who treads on them will know peace. 9Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We hope for light, but there is darkness; for brightness, but we walk in gloom.… Isaiah 59: 7-9

1A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. 2The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of the fool spouts folly.… Proverbs 15: 1-2

V. 18 There is no fear of God before their eyes - This is the root of all the worlds problems today. God does not do what they want, meaning He does not treat them like they are God and obey them, so they say there is no God. They see some evil that they don't like, while being blind to their own, and say, "if there is a God then I won't bow to Him because there is this type of evil in the world that I don't like, and I see myself as good." All the while they commit sin, the very thing that brought evil into this world and left them deserving of God's wrath, but they continue in evil thinking their is no pending judgement. Those who acknowledge that there is a God and yet do these things, they presume upon God's grace, but it is another god they have invented in their mind. So you believe there is God, but you don't believe what He says. What good is that?

…10Abimelech also asked Abraham, “What prompted you to do such a thing?” 11Abraham replied, “I thought to myself, ‘Surely there is no fear of God in this place. They will kill me on account of my wife.’ 12Besides, she really is my sister, the daughter of my father—though not the daughter of my mother—and she became my wife.… Genesis 20: 10-12

…16My inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak what is right. 17Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD. 18For surely there is a future, and your hope will not be cut off.… Proverbs 23: 16-18

Spurgeon comments on Psalm 36:1 writing that

Men’s sins have a voice to godly ears. They are the outer index of an inner evil. It is clear that men who dare to sin constantly and presumptuously cannot respect the great Judge of all. Despite the professions of unrighteous men, when we see their unhallowed actions our heart is driven to the conclusion that they have no religion whatever. Unholiness is clear evidence of ungodliness. Wickedness is the fruit of an atheistic root. This may be made clear to the candid heart by cogent reasoning, but it is clear already and intuitively to the pious heart. If God is everywhere, and I fear Him, how can I dare to break His laws in His very presence? Those eyes which have no fear of God before them now will have terrors of hell before them forever. (Treasury of David)

Vs. 19-20 Through the law comes the knowledge of sin - The law could never make a man perfect. Men are already depraved, corrupted. The law was a guide, a mirror to help us see that we do not make the standard, the expectation. We needed Christ to come and keep the law, and then die a sinless death so that this atoning sacrifice could be applied to our account. Man can either pay for his sin eternally in hell, or repent and believe in Christ Jesus. 

…16know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. 17But if, while we seek to be justified in Christ, we ourselves are found to be sinners, does that make Christ a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18If I rebuild what I have already torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker.…

…19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness comes through the law, Christ died for nothing.… Galatians 2: 19-21

 

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#1622 Romans 3 Part 2 Antinomianism, An Old Disease

 

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is the God who inflicts wrath unrighteous? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner? 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.

9 What then? Are we better? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all under sin; 10 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 worthless;

There is none who does good,

There is not even one.”  Romans 3: 5-12 LSB

Romans 3: 5-12

V. 5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God - This is always the question, and it gets turned around on it's end. "I sinned according to God's law, or what your Bible says, but God made me that way, so how is it my fault?" And Paul will go even deeper than this, so that by the time we hit Romans 9 you will realize that John Calvin didn't invent election, and that there is also nothing new under the sun. God created our parents, Adam and Eve, parents of every human being on this planet, as moral beings. He gave them a command, just like He will later give Israel, "do this and you will live, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or you will die." Now a command like this implies a choice, the ability to not do what God says, and to see what happens. If He is just then He is not a liar, and if He is not a liar, guess what, He keeps His word and you die. The Creator has every right over His creation, and can decree any expectation of it that He wants, and it is our duty to obey, but now that sin has entered the world we can no longer meet that standard. His is perfection, He is holy, which means otherly, different than you and I. He won't sin, and it demonstrates His righteousness, His beauty, in that He does not let it go without consequences. Even His own people, Israel, called out of Egypt, given the oracles of God, even their sin did not go unpunished. He called David a man after His own heart, but when David sinned with Bathsheba God punished him so hard that his ancestors felt it, literally. He told him, "the sword will not depart from your house", and what followed was the death of his son with Bathsheba, the rape of his daughter by one of his other sons, that son killed by yet another son, and then the same son, Absalom, trying to kill his father David, sleeping with his father's concubines on a roof top so all the city would see the disrespect. Later David would mourn the death of Absalom. God loved David, but God is just. 

…18Then Balaam lifted up an oracle, saying: “Arise, O Balak, and listen; give ear to me, O son of Zippor. 19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill? 20I have indeed received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot change it.… Numbers 23: 18-20

…28So Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you today and has given it to your neighbor who is better than you. 29Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or change His mind, for He is not a man, that He should change His mind.” 30“I have sinned,” Saul replied. “Please honor me now before the elders of my people and before Israel. Come back with me, so that I may worship the LORD your God.”… 1 Samuel 15: 28-30

…9Why then have you despised the command of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You put Uriah the Hittite to the sword and took his wife as your own, for you have slain him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’ 11This is what the LORD says: ‘I will raise up adversity against you from your own house. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to another, and he will lie with them in broad daylight.… 2 Samuel 12: 9-11

12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him. 13When tempted, no one should say, “ God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He tempt anyone. 14But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed.… James 1: 12-14

V. 5b Is the God Who inflicts wrath unrighteous - We love sin, but hate the consequences, so we always turn on God. Fair would be that He killed us the moment we first sinned, but then no one would be here. Our unrighteousness also affords us another view of God, that He is a Redeemer, the One Who created can also recreate, bring back to life. The One Who finds us dead in our trespasses and sin, obstinately forging forward toward our eternal demise, doing everything we can to suppress the truth and glorify a fallen creation, also has the power to bring us back to life, to call us to turn around. He can bring people who hate Him to the place that they love and honor Him. I love how Paul says here "(I am speaking in human terms)", lower terms, limited understanding, the query of fallen minds. God would be unrighteous if He didn't inflict wrath. That would make Him unjust, that would leave the creature to believe God has said things about sin that He didn't mean, that it didn't really matter. 

…9This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. 10 And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.… 1 John 4: 9-11

…7Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. 8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9Therefore, since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from wrath through Him!… Romans 5: 7-9

V. 6 May it never be - He is the perfect judge because unrighteousness is opposite of His character. It doesn't have a place in His eternal being, nothing to hold on to, nothing to tempt. 

Newell comments that "Paul assumes, and so do even these cavilers (Ed note: those who might be objecting and arguing), that there will be a day of judgment: "God Who visits with wrath." What the apostle is attacking is the false hopes of men to evade that judgment. Christ has been judged and smitten in our stead. But, alas, how a man hates to come to the cross as one "to whom that stroke was due" (Isa 53:8). But if you manage to escape conviction of sin, and thus miss personal faith in the Crucified One, you will go to hell forever. (Romans 3: Devotional and Expositional)

Abraham attests to God as Judge of the world just before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah…

"Far be it from Thee to do such a thing, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous and the wicked are treated alike. Far be it from Thee! Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?" (Ge 18:25+)

David declares that…

He will judge the world in righteousness; He will execute judgment for the peoples with equity. (Ps 9:8)

Spurgeon comments: Whatever earthly courts may do, heaven's throne ministers judgment in uprightness. Partiality and respect of persons are things unknown in the dealings of the Holy One of Israel. How the prospect of appearing before the impartial tribunal of the Great King should act as a check to us when tempted to sin, and as a comfort when we are slandered or oppressed. - PA

V. 7 Why am I also still being judged as a sinner - Paul is playing the devil's advocate here. If sin shows the righteousness of God then why am I, the sinner (liar), still being judged for what God has used to reveal His good. There are some who were and still do insist upon this in it's various forms. They suggest that they are still good Christians thought they openly commit and play down sin, their own and that of others. The same think they are so good that when something bad happens they ask, "why do bad things happen to good people?" 

S. Lewis Johnson - "With a different emphasis Paul, offering arguments an objector might pose to his doctrine of God’s determination to fulfill His promises even in the face of human sin and disobedience, continues the discussion. Putting words in the sinner’s mouth he asks, “If God’s truth is increased and God’s glory advanced by means of my lying, then why am I brought to judgment, Why may I not just do evil that good may come?” The apostle has inserted a parenthesis in the last question, asserting that this is the very charge brought against him and his followers, namely, that they practiced this very doctrine, “Let us do evil that good may come.” (Romans 3:5-8) - PA

Place yourself, see yourself, next to the man you regard the least

Take yourself, a step past him and one step closer to the beast

Stare back at the man, in which you see the darkest soul

Take one more step, your closer now, to the bottom of the hole

Now your past the place you thought to be the furthest from His grace

And looking round you realize, that this is your old place

That darkest soul you thought to be is now knocking at your door

So show the place, where you found grace, not so long before

For its not for you or I to say that this one has gone too far

There is this certain problem of evil, and that is, that no one thinks they are

Calvin "Cheese Grits" Yerke

V. 8 Let us do good that evil may come - Paul was being slanderously accused of teaching this because he taught that we are justified by faith and not by works. He was being listed amongst the antinomians, and unjustly. He says the people teaching such or slandering him as teaching this, that their condemnation is just. He is teaching the truth, they are twisting it, and they will have to answer to God. The reality is, if you come to Christ you come as a sinner, wanting to be saved not just from death or eternal punishment but the very root of it, your sin. When you become a child of God then you will reflect this by growing into His same aversion for sin.  

…19For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. 20 The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.… Romans 5: 19-21

1What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2 Certainly not! How can we who died to sin live in it any longer? 3Or aren’t you aware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?… Romans 6: 1-3

3Beloved, although I made every effort to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt it necessary to write and urge you to contend earnestly for the faith entrusted once for all to the saints. 4For certain men have crept in among you unnoticed— ungodly ones who were designated long ago for condemnation. They turn the grace of our God into a license for immorality, and they deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. 5Although you are fully aware of this, I want to remind you that after Jesus had delivered His people out of the land of Egypt, He destroyed those who did not believe.… Jude 1: 3-5

Vs. 9-10 There is none righteous, not even one - I met a Jehovah's Witness lady one time who told me she no longer sinned, and when she later left my house screaming at me and dusting her feet, she called that righteous anger. Everyone thinks their good and has someone else to compare themselves to that helps them maintain that in their mind. This verse lists everyone as under condemnation, everyone as guilty, even Mary, though Roman Catholics tell me that she was without sin, though she needed a Savior. 

46Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! 48For He has looked with favor on the humble state of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.… Luke 1: 46-48

Dr Charles Ryrie offers these thoughts on total depravity…

The scriptural evidence provides the basis for what has been commonly called total depravity. The English word “depravity” means perverted or crooked. It is not used in the translation of the King James Version, but some modern translations do use it to translate adokimos (Ed: word study) in Romans 1:28 (see note). This word (adokimos) means “not standing the test” and gives us a clue as to how to define the concept of depravity. Depravity means that man fails the test of pleasing God. He denotes his unmeritoriousness in God’s sight. This failure is total in that (a) it affects all aspects of man’s being and (b) it affects all people.

Negatively, the concept of total depravity does not mean (a) that every person has exhibited his depravity as thoroughly as he or she could; (b) that sinners do not have a conscience or a “native induction” concerning God (Ed: eg, see Ro 2:14, 15-note); (c) that sinners will indulge in every form of sin; or (d) that depraved people do not perform actions that are good in the sight of others and even in the sight of God (Ed: But see caveat in study of Good Deeds).

Positively, total depravity means (a) that corruption extends to every facet of man’s nature and faculties; and (b) that there is nothing in anyone that can commend him to a righteous God.

Total depravity must always be measured against God’s holiness (Ed: See God's attribute-Holy). Relative goodness exists in people. They can do good works, which are appreciated by others. But nothing that anyone can do will gain salvational merit or favor in the sight of a holy God. (Ryrie, C. C. Basic Theology : A Popular Systemic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth. Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press) - PA

V. 12 All have turned aside - It's not restricted to a group, not just Adam and Eve, everyone proves out their sin nature by going against God, being spiritually dead and therefore lost.

7Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. 8How quickly they have turned aside from the way that I commanded them! They have made for themselves a molten calf and have bowed down to it. They have sacrificed to it and said, ‘These, O Israel, are your gods, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’” 9The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.… Exodus 32: 7-9

…5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. 7He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth.… Isaiah 53: 5-7

The picture conveyed by ekklino is of one bending aside from one's course -- in this verse in Romans the idea is turning from God's way and in the other two NT uses the idea is "bending aside" at the approach of evil.

In short ekklino describes morally deviating from the right path. All (no exceptions except the God-Man Jesus) men are inclined to leave God’s way and pursue their own (cf. Isa 53:6). All have deviated, bent away from, steered clear of and swerved (so as to miss) godliness and virtue. The active voice indicates that the turning away is a deliberate choice and that they have not accidentally lost their way!

Spurgeon commenting on the OT Psalm (Ps 14:3) which Paul quotes here, writes "Without exception, all have apostatized from the Lord their Maker, from his laws, and from the eternal principles of fight. Like stubborn heifers they have sturdily refused to receive the yoke; like errant sheep they have found a gap and left the right field… The life of unregenerate humanity is in direct defiance of the law of God." (Treasury of David)

This truth is illustrated so clearly by Adam's action to disobey a direct commandment of God 

"Then to Adam He said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat from it'; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life." Genesis 3:17      - PA

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#1621 Romans 3 Part 1 Advantage

 

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2 Great in every respect. First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3 What then? If some did not believe, does their unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God? 4 May it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written,

“That You may be justified in Your words,

And overcome when You are judged.” Romans 3: 1-4 LSB

Romans 3: 1-4 

But looking at the story of the Jew historically, it would seem that there was little advantage to being Jewish. They were slaves in Egypt for over 400 years under the bondage of Pharaoh, who were given the most menial tasks and also they were given circumstances which made those tasks even more difficult. When they were dispossessed from Egypt they wandered in the desert for 40 years until an entire generation of them died off in the wilderness without ever having a home. When they finally entered into the land of Canaan, they had to save themselves from the destruction of the surrounding peoples who constantly attacked them both religiously, morally and in warfare. They were slaughtered and taken captive finally by the Assyrians first and then the Babylonians. From the Assyrian captivity they never returned and from the Babylonian captivity it was 70 years before a remnant began to come back.

After returning from the captivity in Babylon, they set out to rebuild their land from the rubble and were mocked and harassed and hindered and unaided in their efforts. They were dominated by the Greek Antiochus Epiphanes when they were under Greek rule and he took liberties to desecrate their religion, desecrate their priesthood, desecrate their holy place, quell their rebellions by slaughtering many of them. Their babies were massacred by Herod.

Their land was oppressed by Roman legions. They were utterly devastated under the power of Rome. In 70 A.D. the city of Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus Vespasian, the great general of the Roman army. One point one million, according to Josephus, were murdered, slaughtered. One hundred thousand bodies of the Jews were thrown over the wall in some kind of sport. Two years before that, the Gentiles of Caesarea slew twenty thousand Jews and sold thousands more of them into slavery. In a single day the inhabitants of Damascus cut the throats of ten thousand Jews. In the actual siege itself, there was devastation beyond description in the city of Jerusalem. One hundred thousand remaining fugitives from that sacking of the city were sold into slavery. Many more died in the gladiator games sponsored by Rome.

In 115 A.D. the Jews of Cyrene, Egypt, Cyprus and Mesopotamia rose up against Rome and tried to defeat Rome and were unsuccessful, and so Hadrian, the emperor, destroyed 985 towns in Palestine and slew at least 600 thousand men. More perished through starvation, through disease and through fire. So many were sold as slaves that their price dropped to that of a horse. The legal code of Theodosius, who was the emperor of Rome around 380 A.D., contained ideas of Jewish inferiority and the ideas of Theodosius and Jewish inferiority permeated all of western society and western law in the centuries to follow.

For two centuries they were oppressed under the Byzantines. Heraclitus banished them from Jerusalem in 628 and endeavored to exterminate them again. Leo the Assyrian in around 723 A.D. gave them the choice between Christianity and banishment. When the first crusade was launched in 1096 to recapture the holy places from the Ottoman Turks, the crusaders entered the Jewish settlement of Anjon and Preton and trampled three thousand Jews to death under their horses' hooves. And they did it in the name of Christianity.

In 1254 Louis IX banished them from France. In 1306 Philip the Fair expelled 100 thousand of them from the same country. During the scourge of the Black Death in 1348 and 1349 the charge was made that the Black Death or the Great Plague was caused by the Jews who had poisoned the wells and they endeavored to slaughter the Jews and many of them fled to Poland and to Russia.

In 1492 the Jews were expelled from Spain as Columbus was heading to discover America. In 1496 they were expelled from Portugal. Soon after, all of Western Europe was closed to them except a few spots in northern Italy and Germany. Toward the middle of the seventeenth century in Poland, more persecution broke out. And though the French Revolution tended to emancipate some of the European Jews around 1789 or so, anti-Semitism continued in many areas, and particularly in the Ukraine early in the 1800s there were massacres of Jews.

I think we all remember the nineteenth century Dreyfus affair in which Dreyfus, a Jewish officer, was accused of treason. And an attempt began to oust the Jews from all the higher ranks of the French army. Their only hope for preservation really was the rebirth of Zionism. And it did happen and it rallied the Jewish people so that in 1897 they held their first Zionist congress in Basel. The first little colony of Zionists returned to the land in about 1873, and by 1914 there were ninety thousand Jews in their land, though it wasn't yet their land. Their identity had been miraculously preserved through this incredible series of massacres through all of the years of their existence.

And, of course, it all came to a horrifying climax in the 1940s when six million of them were systematically exterminated. And anti-Semitism was no longer racial as it had been in the Middle Ages, it was...rather no longer religious as it had been in the Middle Ages but it became racial. So that the legacy of all of that today in the world is not that we have a religious anti-Semitism but we still have what is left of a racial anti- Semitism. And Jewish people today find themselves in many cases to be hated, to be slandered, to be defamed, to be misunderstood, to be mocked.

And I give you all of that just to help answer that question, what advantage then hath the Jew? Frankly, historically there is little advantage at all, if any. From the historical perspective the answer would be no advantage. But Paul is not really dealing in terms of history. So take it to a second category, what about spiritual advantage? Do they have a spiritual advantage? Do they have an in with God that nobody else has? Do they have a security with God that no one else has? After all, they are the chosen people. - J Mac

V. 1 Then what advantage has the Jew - From our last post we saw a theme not restricted to the NT only. We saw that God judges His people regardless of their lineage. We also saw that God looks at the heart, so it wasn't a matter of ceremony or ritual, you could be circumcised outwardly and yet inwardly not a child of God. Let's be clear, it is the same for those who call themselves Christians today as well. I will ask people where they stand regarding God, and they will tell me, "I was baptized into Christianity, but I don't practice right now,' or, 'I was born into a Baptist home, a Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Roman Catholic, and or I walked forward and said the sinner's prayer when I was young, just in case." So regardless, they have a distorted view of the gospel which is also based upon a feeling, relation, a sacrament or act on their part, but there is no fruit to evidence a changed heart, a new creature, someone who has been born again. Just like the Jew who is unrepentant but banking on his relationship to Abraham or circumcision, so is the unrepentant "Christian" who is relying on baptism or an act of his own will, as though you found a loophole that God has to honor. You think God owes you because you acknowledge His existence, but the demons even do that yet tremble. When we think we have caught God and bound him by our free will, where we say, "I believe but I am going to live as I want", it is not God that we believe in, but our will which has become an idol to us. 

28 For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God. Romans 2: 28-29

…11“What good to Me is your multitude of sacrifices?” says the LORD. “I am full from the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I take no delight in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12When you come to appear before Me, who has required this of you— this trampling of My courts? 13Bring your worthless offerings no more; your incense is detestable to Me—your New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations. I cannot endure iniquity in a solemn assembly.…

…14I hate your New Moons and your appointed feasts. They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. 15When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. 16Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!… Isaiah 1:11-16

…22Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’ 24Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.… Matthew 7: 22-24

…7Endure suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you do not experience discipline like everyone else, then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Furthermore, we have all had earthly fathers who disciplined us, and we respected them. Should we not much more submit to the Father of our spirits and live?… Hebrews 12: 7-9

V. 2 Great in every respect - Huh, but we just looked at their history from an earthly, material point of view, and it looks horrifying. Antisemitism has persisted somewhere in every age. Israel has become a tiny nation now, a place where one should be able to identify as a Jew, and have the freedom both in practice of their faith, but also the freedom of those who don't practice, yet should not be looked down upon for their ethnicity. That nation is so tiny, and surrounded by enemies on every side, yet their Muslim neighbors and a lot of poorly enlightened college students in the west, continue to chant, "from the River to the Sea, make Palestine free", meaning, eradicate the Jews from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean and give it to those who were never a country. Israel is the only country that gets attacked, their women and children kidnapped and raped, and then has the rest of the world tell them to stand down, don't do what government is supposed to do, don't protect your people, don't seek justice. One tiny little bastion of not only Jewish, but also Muslim, atheist and Christian democracy.  

If you go back in the Old Testament, you will read repeatedly of the tremendous and consistent blessing of God upon that people. But I think it is best summed up in the ninth chapter of Romans, where Paul speaks about the same issue later on. Look over to chapter 9 verse 4. Paul's talking about Israel and Israel's need of Christ and how much he wishes they would know Christ. And then he begins to speak about their privileges. He says in verse 4, “Who are Israelites?” "To whom pertaineth the adoption and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises. Whose are the fathers and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came." What advantage? Many advantages. You've been the ones who are adopted as God's special people. You've received the glory. What is that? The very Shekinah glory of God led them by day, led them by night, was in the midst of their holy places. You have received the covenants, Abrahamic, Davidic, Mosaic, Palestinian, all of those. You have been given the law. Yours has been the service of God through the priests and the prophets. You have received the promises. Yours are the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and Joseph. And yours is the Christ. Much, much privilege.

They were marks of God's care, they were marks of God's concern, they were marks of God's love. They were aids to their deliverance from sin. They were instructions for the blessing of the Holy Spirit. God gave them all of these things and they just never really lived up to what they possessed. Great advantage, great privilege, great priority, great preeminence was given to the people of Israel but they wasted it. They had the privilege of proclaiming the true God. They had the privilege of revealing the Messiah. They had the privilege of blessing from God as they served faithfully. They had the privilege of a land. They had a privilege of an ultimate restoration and glory in the final kingdom. They had all of these privileges.

You see, Amos 3:2, I think, sums it up wonderfully. The prophet Amos said, listen carefully, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth." That is a beautiful statement. It doesn't mean that the only people God knows about intellectually are Jews; He really knows about everybody. But the word "know" is a word of intimacy. For example, it says in the New Testament of the Lord and the church, "I know My sheep." What does He mean? Well, He means there is more than just an awareness; there's an intimacy. You see, Joseph was upset when Mary was with child because the Bible says he had never (What?) known her. It didn't mean he didn't know who she was. He had never entered into an intimate relationship physically with her.

You find it in the Old Testament where it talks about Cain knew his wife and she bore a child. It is the knowing of intimacy. And so Amos 3:2 says, you only have I entered into intimacy with of all the nations of the earth. That's privilege. But they never understood the rest of the verse. Same verse, Amos 3:2 says, "Therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities." See, high privilege, high responsibility. - J Mac

Vs. 3-4 What then, if some did not believe, does their unbelief abolish the faithfulness of God - The answer to that in verse 4, "May it never be! Rather, let God be true and every man a liar." That's pretty straightforward language, and harsh toward those who would try to say otherwise. God has put out His word to many people, and yes, some did not truly believe, did not bear fruit, in both Judaism and the church today. Some heard and then borrowed the vernacular, talked the talk, but didn't walk the walk. Some said Christ but just like the Jews of Jesus day, they wanted a Messiah of their own design, one that overlooked their sin and accepted their ceremony. But guess what, God has a remnant still. 

Watch his answer in verse 5, or verse 4 rather. It says in the English "God forbid," but the Greek says me genoito, which is the strongest negative the Greek language knows. What it says simply in English is, "No, no, no, no, no way.” Could never be, utterly impossible, can't be. What can't be? God can't break His word. He can't break His promise. It's impossible. The unbelief of some does not bring to naught the faithfulness of God. And he just makes that statement: No, no, no, no, no, no. And he doesn't here go into explain how — listen to this — someday God is going to keep His covenants with Israel, He's going to do that. And don't you think for a minute He isn't. I believe that's the error of contemporary reformed covenant theology; they don't see any place for Israel. Listen, if there's no place for Israel then this argument is right, God did cancel all His promises. And I can't handle that, because Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. All God did was postpone their fulfillment until Israel finally gets their act together and believes. And Zechariah says someday “they will look on Him whom they have pierced and they will mourn for Him as an only son. And in that day God will open a fountain of salvation to Israel.” Their day is future. And by the way, that is Romans 9, 10 and 11, he'll get to that later. It will be postponed until faith comes.

In fact, in chapter 11, I could just read you one little section and you get the whole picture. Listen to this. "Hath God cast away His people?" Romans 11:1, "No, no, no, no, no, no.” He says, me genoito, same phrase. No. He's not going to cast them away, not at all. Verse 26: "All Israel shall be saved. There shall come out of Zion the deliverer and turn away ungodliness from Jacob for this is My covenant." God will keep it but it will be future when they believe. It's just postponed.

National salvation, yes that’ll come to the people of Israel but these people missed personal salvation and so do all other Jews who will not believe in Christ. So Paul resists any suggestion at all that God's going to be unfaithful. In fact, he says — look at this in verse 4, I think it's interesting — "Let God be true and every man a liar." Listen. What does that mean? If every single person in the world said God is not true, He's still true. If every man in the world speaks evil about God, if every man in the world says God doesn't keep His Word, God is still true. God is true if every man in the world says He's not true. The integrity of God must be upheld.

Then he uses a marvelous illustration. It's a tremendous one. "As it is written," and he calls the Scripture to his support, Psalm 51:4: "that Thou (speaking to God, Thou, capital T) mightest be justified in Thy (capital T) sayings and mightest overcome when Thou art condemned, as it were." In other words, no matter who speaks against You, God, You will overcome no matter who wants to criticize or speak evil. You will be justified in everything You say. God will be vindicated. God will be justified. God's character will be upheld. And he quotes out of Psalm 51 verse 4.

Now that's an interesting passage. And I think I'll just refer to it and then we'll stop and do the rest next time. But listen carefully to that passage. And I want to spend just a few minutes on this. David was the king. And David was, of course, the greatest person in the history of Israel. And so he quotes David, because whenever you quote David you really pull a coup in terms of a debate with a Jew. And so he quotes David. And this is what happened in David's life.

David was up on his roof and he looked over on somebody else's roof and there was Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, sunbathing. And he just hung around and kept looking. And he really liked what he saw. So he decided that he would commit adultery with her and when he committed adultery with her, he not only did that, but he impregnated her. And then he decided to marry her, but in order to marry her he had to get rid of her husband. So he worked out a way in which Uriah would be killed. So he was an adulterer and a murderer.

And in the midst of all of this the Lord sent Nathan the prophet. And then Nathan the prophet comes in and he says, "David, I want to tell you a story." He said there was a rich man who went to a poor man and the poor man only had one little ewe lamb. And the rich man took that ewe lamb away from the poor man. And David said, "Nathan, as the Lord lives, whatever man you're telling me about deserves to die." And Nathan looked him in the eye and said, "You're the man." And David said, "O, I have sinned against the Lord." And God punished David. That little baby that was born of that union died. There was death continually among David's other children. His Son Absalom over whom he cried, "Absalom, Absalom, Absalom, my son, my son, my son," turned to be a rebel and literally sought his own father's life to steal his throne. He lived a life of pain. He spent his time running and hiding from Absalom and his enemies, from bush to bush in the wilderness and crying out in the caves to God to deliver him.

But in all of that David would still say, "God, You are justified in everything You say and everything You do and when somebody tries to impugn You, or speak evil against You, You will triumph." In other words, he was simply saying no matter what God does, it is right, even if it is to punish the king. So don't you ever impugn God's Word. If God makes a promise, He'll keep it. If God appears to be unjust, He's being just because the punishment is deserved. God always is just. In other words, David upheld the character of God and that's why Paul quotes David. David would never so speak against God. David would never impugn the character of God. David will not say God is unfair or God is unkind, God is unjust. He would say, "God, I've deserved everything You've given me." Even David acknowledged that God was without flaw. In spite of David's sin, God will fulfill the Davidic Covenant. He did, in the coming of Messiah. In spite of Israel's sin, God will ultimately fulfill the Abrahamic Covenant. God's Word is true. God's word is valid. God's character can always be upheld. - J Mac

5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen. 6 It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”… Romans 9: 5-7

…15And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!” 16But not all of them welcomed the good news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?” 17Consequently, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.… Romans 10: 15-17

1I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel: 3“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?…

…4And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.…

…7What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened, 8as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.” 9And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.…

10May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.” 11I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous. 12But if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!…

…13I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry 14in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them. 15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?…

…16If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root, 18do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.…

…19You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 20That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. 21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will certainly not spare you either.…

…22Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!…

25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob. 27And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”… Romans 11: 1-27

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