Crossing the Line
Scripture: Romans 3:5-6
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 we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say--" Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
I think it’s quite staggering to think that God knows our thoughts. He knows our every move, our every inclination, and our every feeling. And, essentially, that’s what these first several verses of Romans chapter three represent. They represent those muddled and not well thought out what if questions that God knew would come up in the minds of these first century Jews.
In its context, verse five primarily refers to the wicked history of the people to whom the very words of God had been entrusted.
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.)
Notice Paul says our unrighteousness. He is referring to the unrighteousness of Israel throughout its sinful history. Abraham sought out Egypt and not God; Isaac wanted to give the birthright to Esau rather than Jacob, whom he had been directed to give it in the first place; Jacob was a crook. Yet, through all of this sin, God still says to Moses…
(Exodus 3:15) God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, ’The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.
These very sins enslaved Israel in Egypt, and, when their redemption was near, they preferred to go back to slavery rather than accept God’s emancipation through grace.
Time and time again, Moses had to figuratively stand behind the wandering Israelites and push them to their next destination. As they progress through the years, through the promised land, they came to a place in their beliefs that, since they were the chosen people, they had certain inalienable rights with God and that, therefore, He must overlook anything that they did contrary to His will.
They were not very far from antinomianism [an•ti•no•mi•an•ism], which is the polar opposite of legalism, the belief that obedience to a code of religious law is necessary for salvation. They were not very far from this definition as they were but one step away from the idea that they were under no obligation to obey the laws of ethics or morality as presented by God.
You see all of this sin, all of this unrighteousness that was in the lives of the Israelites, the history of the Israelites…which in their sinful minds begs the question: 5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? In other words, didn’t we, through our disobedience, show to the Egyptians and Philistines that Jehovah was the true and all-powerful God? In short, didn’t our sin make you look better? And, Paul answers, (in verse 6), Certainly not!
What was God’s answer during the wandering of the Jews? What was God’s answer during their rebellion?
(Deuteronomy 31:16-17) And the LORD said to Moses: "You are going to rest with your fathers, and these people will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them. 17 On that day I will become angry with them and forsake them; I will hide my face from them, and they will be destroyed. Many disasters and difficulties will come upon them, and on that day they will ask, ’Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?’
Have not these disasters, to what disasters are they referring? Ask the Egyptians, the Philistines, Nebuchadnezzar, Antiochus Epiphanes, Titus, and even the Mohammedan conquerors that built the Mosque of Omar. Ask the Russian Czars that persecuted the Jews, even changing their names. Ask Hitler. All of these will all tell you that God was true to His statement. Further, to punctuate what they were going to do, God told the Israelites that they would memorize a song. A song that was to testify against their sins, and the disasters and difficulties that they would undergo.
(Deuteronomy 31:21) And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten by their descendants. I know what they are disposed to do, even before I bring them into the land I promised them on oath."
That song is called The Song of Moses, and is found in Deuteronomy 32.
It says,
32:1 Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. 2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants.
The song of Moses goes on to proclaim:
The character of God, The character of Israel
The great things God had done for Israel
The wickedness of Israel
The judgments which would come upon them for their sins
The deserved vengeance withheld
God’s deliverance for his people
After the song was sung, Moses have the people an exhortation from the Lord…
Deuteronomy 32:45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."
The Israelites didn’t ‘Take to heart all the words’ that God had given them. Instead, they became idle words rather that their life. They fell in to thinking, that no matter what they did, that God would bail them out in the nick of time, because they were the chosen people. Time and time again, the Israelites sinned until they reached a pinnacle in their attitude, that, well, our unrighteousness makes God look good, so why not continue along the same line?
Notice what Paul says here, he refers to it as a human thought, or a human argument. God knows the hearts of man. He knows how wicked and evil those hearts are:
(1 Chronicles 28:9b) “…for the LORD searches every heart and understands every motive behind the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever”
God tells us that the thoughts of man are:
Evil (Genesis 6:5)
Vanity (Psalm 94:11)
An abomination (Proverbs 15:26)
Of iniquity (Isaiah 59:7)
Sin (Proverbs 24:9)
And, God declares that He is not to be found in any of the thoughts of the wicked…
(Psalms 10:4) In his pride the wicked does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God.
So, when the question comes up against the righteousness of God, it is a question that comes from the abundance of evil that resides in the heart of man. What are the adjectives that God uses to describe the thoughts of man? Evil, vain, abominable, foolish, and iniquitous. Is it any wonder that Paul was so quick to add to verse five the exclamation…
(I am using a human argument.)
The same question is found in different forms today. Why is that? Because man will always ignore what he cannot understand. Man, wishing to selfishly exalt himself, will not cast his eyes on God.
People will question God’s righteousness with respect to Judas. They’ll calmly tell you that God is not right in condemning Judas, when (1) God announced in the Old Testament that Christ would be sold into death, (2) Christ knew Judas would sin when Judas was selected as one of the twelve. To which we must reply, You are using a human argument! Or, you’re thinking like a man!
Man is ultimately responsible for any and all of his actions. Nowhere in the Bible will you find a verse that excuses man’s sin. Rather what it does prove is that we have an all-knowing God, an omniscient God.
Where is all this going? How does this apply to the modern day church? Much in every way!
Just as Israel was the possessors of the oracles (words) of God, we are the possessors of the word of God today. Just as Israel departed from the word of God in the beginning, just as Rome departed from the word of God in the middle ages, so are many modern day Protestants. However, through it all, God has seen fit to save many through all of that. Should we think that since people are getting saved that it is okay to depart from the word of God.
6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world?
How can we, the created, call into question even one of God’s thoughts? Sometimes I’ll hear the exclamation, I don’t know what God was thinking when He did… How can we be so presumptuous? How can we be so conceited to think we can actually know what God is thinking in any circumstance?
(Matthew 18:7) "Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!
Abraham accepted without question the authority and right of the Lord to destroy the wicked.
You remember the Lord came to Abraham in the plain of Mamre and told him what He was about to do to Sodom because of the wickedness that was found there. Abraham understood the principle of judgment, but, because of human limitations, he didn’t understand how God could kill the righteous, if there were any, along with the unrighteous. So, he pleaded with God to save the righteous out of Sodom. Though less than ten were found to be righteous, still the example stands that Abraham’s mind and heart accepted without question the right of the Lord to destroy the wicked.
Is that where your heart and mind is today? Or, are you thinking about why was Judas destroyed for doing what God needed done? Or, are you thinking about why was Pharaoh destroyed for doing what God needed done? We could go further and include Nebuchadnezzar, Emperor Titus, and Hitler in that list but this is all man’s thinking. This is all man’s reasoning and it is not God’s thinking at all.
Yet, there are still many in the world that try to reason and say things such as
7 Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?"
In other words, if I’m doing what I was designed by God to do, that is kill, rape, or injure, what am I still condemned? Because, you are responsible for your actions!
You know, you can tell what people have thought or done through the ages by reading the laws that were passed, or actions that were taken in provinces, regions, cities, etc.
In Texas, it’s against the law for anyone to have a pair of pliers in his or her possession.
In Philadelphia, you can’t put pretzels in bags based on an Act of 1760.
Alaska law says that you can’t look at a moose from an airplane.
It is against the law to mispronounce the name of the State of Arkansas in that State.
In Kentucky, it’s the law that a person must take a bath once a year.
In Singapore, it is illegal to chew gum.
In Cleveland, Ohio, it is unlawful to leave chewing gum in public places.
In New York, it is against the law for children to pick up or collect cigarette and cigar butts.
From these and other laws, both on and off the records, we able to see the types of problems that men and governments have had over the generations.
In the same way, it’s possible to figure out from some of the attacks made against Biblical characters the nature of their lives, and sometimes the nature and doctrine of those making the attack. As an example, the disciples were accused of being drunk on the day of Pentecost. From this we can assume that they preached with passion and enthusiasm. Elsewhere, Jesus was accused of being possessed of a demon because of His miracles. This indicates the state of the mind of the accuser.
Here, in verse eight…
8 Why not say--as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say--" Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.
We see an attack on the doctrine which Paul preached, and that being salvation by grace and not of works. Salvation by grace was said to have an immoral tendency. This (and other references in the Bible) clearly indicates that Paul did indeed teach the doctrine:
(Ephesians 2:8-9) For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
It is absolutely essential that we know and understand this one essential fact about salvation. Salvation comes to you as a gift, through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not because of anything else! It’s not because you teach Sunday School 52 weeks a year. It’s not because you give thousands of dollars to the church. It’s not because you had anything to do with it, it’s because
(John 3:16-18) "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
That, and only that is the reason you are saved. It is the free gift of God and nothing else, because everything else is as filthy rags.
(Romans 1:17) For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."
(Romans 3:22-24) This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Everything else is simply slander against the truth of God. Please think upon these things so that the next time you hear doctrine that calls upon people to do something contrary to the Bible, you’ll be able to refute it.
As we continue through time, the DAY is rapidly approaching in one way or another, when all will bow their knee to the Son of God.
Philadelphia, one of the seven churches that were addressed by Jesus, was told…
(Revelation 3:8-9) I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. I know that you have little strength, yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. 9 I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars--I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.
There is a great Day coming. And, I would like to ask the question based on this last scripture…in your life, who will be doing the bowing?
