So Romans chapter 3 verses 1 through 8 will be our text today.
! My hope for this morning is to keep my comments brief, as I know many of us have good post-church plans,
and so we're going to get right into it. But I do want to say, as I was joking about rebuking fathers,
that I am generally and largely encouraged by the fathers of our church.
It doesn't go unnoticed that you men are working hard to lead your families well.
We always have improving to do, certainly things that could be addressed, but broadly I just want to say,
keep it up. Keep pressing. Rely on the grace of God to parent well in your homes.
So we're going to continue in Romans chapter 3. I have a sabbatical plan for July, and Lord willing,
we will finish Romans chapter 3 before I leave for that. And so today we're going to look at the first eight verses.
Before I read them, let me remind you, beloved, that this is God's word to us, that it was written for his glory and for our good.
And so we would all do well to listen to it in order to believe its promises and to obey its commands.
And Paul writes,
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision?
Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.
What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?
By no means. Let God be true, though everyone were a liar, as it is written, that you may be justified in your words and prevail when you are judged.
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?
That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? I speak in a human way.
By no means. For then how could God judge the world?
But if through my lie God's truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner?
And why not do evil that good may come?
As some people slanderously charge us with saying,
Their condemnation is just.
In today's text, Paul anticipates and responds to three potential objections to the doctrine he has taught in chapters 1 and 2 of his letter to the Romans.
Paul has a wonderful way of doing this all throughout this letter, as we'll see again and again.
And just coming to the first occasion of it, right, his anticipation of objections to what he's saying,
it just causes me to pause and consider the grace given to such a man as Paul.
His unique ethnic background, his training in the scriptures, and his intellect and ability to write.
I just hope for a moment you can appreciate, too, Paul himself and the way that God used him as he's laying out this treatise on the Christian faith.
He's in his own mind going, oh, people aren't going to like this, and I know exactly what they're going to say,
and more than likely had experienced these objections.
And so he's answering them right here in the text for his original readers and for us.
Moreover, his anticipation of objections causes me to pause at the grace given to us,
as we have the opportunity to study this letter together.
God is just truly gracious to his people.
I'm thankful for the clarity of the Bible and the labors of its writers moved by the Spirit
to help us to rightly understand all that's necessary for life and godliness.
So, in a sweeping summary fashion, there's a bit of me that wants to totally go through chapter 1 and 2 again
to help you understand why Paul will bring up these matters, but we can't do it with great length.
So, in a sweeping way, let's think together what Paul has taught so far that might elicit some objections.
Let's do so by reading a selection of verses from chapter 1 and 2,
and you may want to flip back pages and follow along with me.
We do well to begin with Romans chapter 1, verse 16 and 17.
I have said this is the thesis statement for the entirety of the letter.
There Paul says,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,
to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written,
the righteous shall live by faith.
Paul is proud of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation.
Not the law, but this good news of Jesus Christ.
This power is not limited to Jewish people only, those of Jewish descent,
but it is also efficacious for other ethnic groups as well.
The Jew first and also to the Greek would have been a broad extension of the gospel to all peoples.
And we see in just these two verses that we are saved by grace alone,
through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
This is the total theme of the book of Romans.
So he lays it out quick.
He's really unpacking the argument found in these two verses
all throughout the rest of the letter with their implications.
So he goes on, Romans chapter 2, verse 12 and 13.
Here he says,
For all who have sinned without the law will also perish without the law.
He's there talking about those who are non-Jewish people,
who weren't aware, didn't have the Torah.
And all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law.
Verse 13, chapter 2,
For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous before God,
but the doers of the law who will be justified.
Declared righteous before God.
Those who perfectly keep the law.
And he's established at great length through the last half of chapter 1
and into the beginning of chapter 2 and on to its end
that no one has kept the law perfectly.
Next week's text, he's going to continue to drive that very point.
You must keep the law with perfection in order to be justified.
We have justified before God and we can't.
And it leaves us in a great problem.
Romans chapter 2, verse 25.
There he says,
For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law.
But if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision.
So if you have Jewish ethnicity, if you've been circumcised,
it's of value to you if you have perfectly kept the rest of the law.
But if you have not, then it becomes uncircumcision,
as if you're not God's people.
Skip down to verse 28.
There he says,
For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly,
nor is circumcision outward and physical.
But a Jew is one inwardly,
and circumcision is a matter of the heart by the Spirit,
not by the letter.
However, his praise is not from man, but from God.
And this is what leads him here to the beginning of chapter 3.
To begin with the question then,
what advantage has the Jew?
Is there any advantage of all?
If circumcision is a matter of the heart,
then is there any advantage?
And Paul here, as the great apostle to the Gentiles,
will take up this defense of the Jewish nation
quite regularly throughout this letter,
as he's arguing that the gospel goes beyond just ethnic Israel.
He'll also say,
but let's not forget about the Jews.
So the three potential objections that Paul anticipates
and responds to are as follows.
Has Paul offended God's people?
That's number one.
Has Paul offended God's people?
And I mean that broadly.
Certainly individuals were offended,
but I mean broadly.
Is he speaking antagonistically against the Jewish people?
Secondly, has Paul offended God's promises?
And thirdly, has Paul offended God's holiness?
He knows his readers, at least his initial ones,
well enough to think these are the kinds of questions
that are going to come to their mind.
Let me just go ahead and address them.
So firstly, has Paul offended God's people?
He says, then what advantage has the Jew?
Or what is the value of circumcision?
It's as if he is saying,
you will say to me then,
which he actually says later on in the letter.
But Paul, people might say,
the Jewish people are God's people.
What do you mean a Jew is one inwardly
and circumcision is a matter of the heart?
Jews, after all, are an ethnic group.
They're descendants of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.
The ones to whom the promise came.
Abraham, the recipient of the grand promise of God
to make a mighty nation of his descendants,
is their forefather, right?
They saw themselves as those descendants.
That promise of God.
Their mind may have gone,
as Jewish readers,
to all sorts of texts.
Let me just give you two.
Deuteronomy 10, verse 14 and 15.
Behold, to the Lord your God
belong heaven and the heaven of heavens,
the earth with all that is in it.
Yet the Lord set his heart in love
on your fathers
and chose their offspring after them.
You above all peoples,
as you are this day.
But wait, Paul.
Well, isn't our ethnicity significant
in God's plan for his people?
Elsewhere, Psalm 78, verse 5 and following.
There it says,
God established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments.
A thing that has been established
to be passed on from generation
to generation to generation.
Are you saying now
that's of no value at all?
And of course, Paul says,
no.
Does the Jew have an advantage?
Yes, he says in the beginning of verse 2.
Much in every way.
And then he gives us one
and the most significant advantage.
To begin with,
the Jews were entrusted
with the oracles of God.
This is an advantage
to ethnic Israel.
Paul will develop this case
further throughout his letter,
but he begins significantly
with this,
entrusting with the oracles of God.
An incredibly significant thing.
The word here translated oracles
is a diminutive of the word logos,
which is often translated word.
This diminutive form
emphasizes the supernatural nature
of what they have been entrusted with.
So the point he's saying
is that it is an inspired word.
It's a miraculous thing
that they have this word of God.
Oracles makes it feel rather mystic.
Greek.
I'm not sure it's the word
I would have chosen,
but I'm also not a Greek scholar.
But it has that sense to it,
this form of that word,
that it's a miracle.
It's an incredible thing
that men were carried along
by the Spirit
to give to them
the Old Testament scriptures.
They had the Old Testament,
all of which designed
to point them to this coming Messiah,
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
They had the very utterance of God
for their benefit.
They were taught it.
From babies,
they were told,
like,
look for this Messiah,
for this Christ.
They were told to put their faith
in the future hope
that Christ would bring.
Now,
how can I know
that Paul is referring
to what we call
the Old Testament,
which is not what it had been called
in his day?
Bear with me for just a moment
and I'll show you.
I want you to have a confidence
in the canonicity
of the Old Testament.
This is what Jewish people
held as their scripture.
So,
Jesus validated
the Old Testament's inspiration
by quoting from
all three sections,
the Law,
the Prophets,
and the Writings.
You can see this in Luke 24,
verse 44.
He endorsed the inspiration
and authority
of the Old Testament
in detail.
Matthew 5,
verse 17 and 18.
What is he specifically talking about?
Well,
we have a significant clue
that the Bible of Jesus' day
was our Old Testament.
And we find it in Luke 11,
and verse 49.
I invite you to join me there
if you would like to.
Certainly don't have to.
Well, I drink water.
Luke 11,
verse 49.
There Jesus says,
Therefore,
also the wisdom of God said,
I will send them prophets
and apostles,
some of whom they will kill
and persecute,
so that the blood
of all the prophets
shed from the foundation
of the world
may be charged
against this generation.
So,
pause for a second.
This is the point
of what he's doing here
in this text,
is he's placing
the guilt
of the persecution
of the apostles
on the generation
that he's speaking to.
So,
the primary thing
he's doing is that.
But then he says something
very interesting
in verse 51.
So,
it's the blood
of all the prophets
from the foundation
of the world
charged against this generation
from,
verse 51,
the blood of Abel,
the blood of Zechariah,
who,
a specific Zechariah,
who perished
between the altar
and the sanctuary.
He's giving us a clue there
from Abel
to this specific Zechariah
who perished
between the altar
and the sanctuary.
He says,
yes,
I tell you,
it will be required
of this generation.
So,
he calls Abel
the first prophet.
This is the Abel
of Genesis chapter 4.
There in verse 10
we can see,
and the Lord said,
what have you done?
The voice
of your brother's blood,
the blood of Abel,
is crying to me
from the ground.
Here,
Jesus is saying
that that was
a prophetic work
of Abel,
his blood crying out
guilt against
his brother Cain.
Okay,
so there's Abel
the prophet
early,
early in the history
of the world.
But then we have
this Zechariah,
and he's the bookend
of Jesus' speech
in verse 51
of Luke 11.
He says,
from Abel
to the blood
of Zechariah.
But why?
Why is he the bookend?
We can read of him
in 2 Chronicles chapter 24,
verse 20 through 21,
where it says,
the Spirit of God
clothed Zechariah,
the son of Jehoiada,
the priest,
and he stood above
the people
and said to them,
thus says God,
why do you break
the commandments
of the Lord
so that you cannot prosper?
Because you have
forsaken the Lord,
he has forsaken you.
But they conspired
against him,
and by command
of the king
they stoned him
with stones
in the court
of the house
of the Lord.
This is where he dies
there between the altar
and the sanctuary.
Now,
chronologically,
the last martyr
of the Old Testament
was Uriah,
whose death
is described
in Jeremiah
chapter 26.
So,
why does Jesus
not say
from Abel
to Uriah,
but from Abel
to Zechariah?
I hope you already know.
I hope you're going,
oh,
I know the answer to this.
It's very cool
if you don't.
So,
you're going to know it
at the end of today.
The Jewish Bible
of Jesus' day
was ordered
differently
than ours.
Historical fact.
Our Old Testament
is grouped
by literary type.
Jesus' Bible
was ordered
differently.
1 and 2 Chronicles
were one book
just called
Chronicles
and was written
as an overview
of Israel's history
with a particular
emphasis on David
and the temple.
It was placed
at the end
of Jesus' canon
to help God's people
look forward
to a better David
and a better worship.
They read it
from Genesis
through the book
of Chronicles.
It was setting them up
to expect
this coming
Messiah.
So,
in Luke 11,
when Jesus says,
from the blood of Abel
to the blood of Zechariah,
he's indicating
the generation
that he is in
for the death
of the prophets
of his Bible.
They knew exactly
what he was talking about
because they had read
that canon,
right?
They knew
who these prophets
were.
Abel
all the way
to this specific
Zechariah
who died
in this particular
way,
right?
He was indicting them
for all of those.
This was the Bible
of Jesus' day,
right?
So,
if you believe
Jesus at all,
you have to believe
in the Bible
of Jesus,
which is our
Old Testament,
right?
This is what
the Jews
had.
These oracles
of God,
they were entrusted
with this very
particular
special word
for them.
But just because
they had God's word
did not mean
they listened
to or
obeyed
God's word.
There's
much evidence
of this,
tragically.
A couple of
evidences
of Jesus' day.
In Mark 12
and verse 24,
Jesus says
to the scribes
and the Pharisees,
is this not the reason
you are wrong?
Because you know
neither the scriptures
nor the power
of God?
You have them,
but you do not
know them?
Or in John 5,
verse 39 and 40,
there he says,
you search the
scriptures because
you think that
in them you have
eternal life.
And it is they
that bear witness
about me,
yet you refuse
to come to me
that you may
have life.
Beloved,
it is altogether
possible to have
a Bible,
to read that
Bible,
to attend church
and listen to
the Bible taught,
to listen to
sermons from
the Bible
throughout the week,
to read articles
and listen to
podcasts that
discuss the
Bible,
and to not
heed its warnings,
believe its promises,
or obey its commands.
The Bible itself
will not save you.
It's telling us
a story
and a message
that we must
place our faith in
and ultimately
in a person
that we must
place our faith in.
So,
Paul offended
God's people.
Is he saying
that God's people
don't have a
special place
in God's
redemptive history?
No,
absolutely not.
And we'll get to
see more of this,
particularly into
chapter 11.
So,
a year from now,
I'm going to
guess.
He'll continue to
work this truth
out for us.
But I appreciate
Paul is going to
get it in there,
right?
He's not going to
let somebody linger
until chapter 11.
He wants to be sure.
No,
no,
God's people.
God's people,
much in every way,
they were entrusted
with God's word.
Secondly,
though,
has Paul offended
God's promises?
Beginning in verse 3,
what if some
were unfaithful?
He's talking here
about the Jewish people.
Does their faithlessness
nullify the faithfulness
of God?
If some of those
declared God's people
showed themselves
not to be God's people,
does that make God
unfaithful?
And he says,
by no means,
and he's going to
say this phrase
over and over again
throughout the letter,
me denoito,
is the strongest
of negative Greek
expressions.
He's saying,
rather emphatically,
impossible.
Absolutely not.
Just because
those people
of ethnic
Jewish descent
were unfaithful
to God,
he remains
faithful.
It's not possible
that God
would cease
to be faithful
to his promises.
He goes on to say,
let God be true
though everyone
were a liar.
That is to say,
if God were accused
as faithless
by every human
who ever lived,
God would be found
true and everyone
else would be found
to be a liar.
As it is written,
this is from Psalm 51
and verse 4,
that you may be
justified in your words
and prevail
when you
are judged.
God is true
to his word
all the time
because he is
God
and he cannot lie.
We have to be
so very careful
that we don't
personify God
and think that
it's even possible
for him to not
be true
to his word.
So how do we think
then of these
Jewish people
that were unfaithful
and how that relates
to God's promises?
Now,
God's promise
to Abraham
was an
unconditional
promise.
If you will,
please join me
in Genesis chapter 15.
I'm going to read
the entirety
of the chapter
so you may
appreciate being
there with me.
I'll begin in verse 1.
You'll be able
to catch up to me.
After these things,
the word of the Lord
came to Abram
in a vision.
Fear not, Abram.
I am your shield.
Your reward
shall be very great.
But Abram said,
O Lord God,
what will you give me?
For I continue childless
and the heir of my house
is Eleazar of Damascus.
He's already
gotten this promise
that God's going to
make a great nation
of him,
but he has yet
to have any offspring.
And Abram said,
Behold,
you have given me
no offspring
and a member
of my household
be my heir.
And behold,
the word of the Lord
came to him.
This man shall not
be your heir,
your very own
son shall be your heir.
And he brought him
outside and said,
Look toward heaven
and number the stars
if you are able
to number them.
Then he said to him,
So shall your offspring
be.
And he believed the Lord
and he counted it to him
as righteousness,
his faith.
And he said to him,
verse 7,
I am the Lord
who brought you out
from Ur of the Chaldeans
to give you this land
to possess.
But he said,
O Lord God,
how am I to know
that I shall possess it?
He said to him,
Bring me a heifer
three years old,
a female goat
three years old,
a ram three years old,
a turtle dove,
and a young pigeon.
And he brought him
all these,
cut them in half
and laid each half
over against the other.
But he did not
cut the birds in half.
And when birds of prey
came down on the carcasses,
Abram drove them away.
And we won't get into the details
of all those animals
and what they mean.
But this was a common practice
in the day
of making a promise
with somebody.
You would cut an animal
in half
and you would walk together
between those animals.
And it was saying,
if I don't keep my end
of this bargain,
let me become
as these animals
have become.
So this is the significance
of this affirming
of the covenant
that God has made.
There's something
very particular
that happens
that's unique
in this case.
Verse 12,
As the sun was going down,
a deep sleep fell
on Abram.
So he's having now a dream.
And behold,
dreadful and great darkness
fell upon him.
Then the Lord said to Abraham,
Know for certain
that your offspring
will be sojourners
in a land that is not theirs.
There will be servants there
and that they will be afflicted
for four hundred years.
But I will bring judgment
on the nation
that they serve
and afterward
they shall come out
with great possessions.
He's talking about
their slavery in Egypt.
Know for certain
this will come to pass.
Verse 15,
As for you,
you shall go to your fathers
in peace.
You shall be buried
in a good old age.
And they shall come back here
in the fourth generation
for the iniquity
of the Amorites
is not yet complete.
When the sun had gone down
and it was dark,
behold,
a smoking fire pot
and a flaming torch
passed between
these pieces.
These things signified
God himself.
On that day,
the Lord made a covenant
with Abram saying,
To your offspring
I give this land
from the river of Egypt
to the great river
to the river Euphrates,
the land of the Kenites,
the Kenizzites,
the Kadmonites,
the Hittites,
the Pesaites,
the Raphaim,
the Amorites,
the Canaanites,
the Girgashites,
and the Jebusites.
This particular land,
he's marking it off for him.
And what God is doing here
is he's saying
that I will make of you
a great nation
and you will dwell
in this land
and I am going to accomplish it.
Notice that the fulfillment
of the promise
is out beyond Abram,
even his life.
God is going to do this thing.
It is not conditional.
For the nation,
it's going to happen.
This in totality
is going to come to pass.
And praise be to God
that it also comes to pass
in the inclusion
of the nations
amongst those peoples,
those stars,
too many to number.
That's part of the fulfillment
of this unconditional promise.
But, individually,
there is a conditionality
to God's promises.
Let me give you one example.
Isaiah 55, verse 6 and 7.
Verse 7,
Seek the Lord
while he may be found.
Call upon him
while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man
his thoughts.
Let him return to the Lord
that he may have compassion on him
and to our God
for he will abundantly pardon.
We must believe
that God will deliver us
from our sin.
And we now,
standing in the position
we are today,
know that it's by believing
in the completed work
and the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So,
there's an individual conditionality
to this.
Is every Israelite
ever born
justified before God?
No.
They are not.
Right?
So,
to his very question
at the beginning,
if some were unfaithful,
does their faithlessness
nullify the faithfulness
of God?
Absolutely not.
God always keeps
his promises.
God's promise
to Israel as a nation
will be fulfilled.
Again,
chapter 11.
We'll pick up that more.
But that promise
never extended
to specific
individual Jews.
Jews.
So,
has Paul offended
God's promises?
No.
No,
he has not.
Lastly,
has Paul offended
God's holiness?
Verse 5,
he says,
but if our unrighteousness
serves to show
the righteousness of God,
what shall we say?
That God is unrighteous
to inflict wrath on us?
And Paul inserts this,
I speak in a human way.
It's as if he's saying,
I know this sounds dumb.
If our disobedience
displays God's
perfect nature,
if when we don't hold up
our end of the bargain,
God's hold up his,
then is God unjust?
If our unfaithfulness
puts on display
his faithfulness,
isn't that a good?
Isn't that honoring God?
Doesn't that make him
look great?
Well,
it does.
And then the question
follows,
then why would God
punish us
for such a thing?
If his glory
is achieved,
then why are we
held accountable
for that action?
And once again,
we see this
strong phrase,
may genoito,
by no means
at the beginning
of verse 6,
for then how could
God judge
the world?
If God is unrighteous
in his judgment,
then he is not
a fit judge.
He is God,
therefore he must be
a perfect,
righteous judge.
Now,
the Jews understood
God as judge.
In Genesis 18
and verse 25,
he is called
the judge
of all the earth.
The psalmist
repeatedly referred to him
as judge.
Examples like
Psalm 50,
Psalm 58,
and Psalm 94.
The major theme
of nearly all the prophets
is that of God's
judgment.
Judgment past,
judgment present,
judgment imminent,
and judgment
in the distant future.
So all Paul is saying
is it's not possible
that God would be
unrighteous
in his judgment
of our unrighteousness,
even if it serves
to show
the righteousness
of God.
Because then God
would be disqualified
from being a judge.
And the reasoning
goes on,
verse 7,
but if through my lie
God's truth abounds
to his glory,
why am I still
being condemned
as a sinner?
And why not do evil
that good may come?
As some people
slanderously charge us
with saying
their condemnation
is just.
So the reason
goes,
if my sin
ends up bringing
God glory,
then why is my sin
considered sin?
this presents to us
one of the apparent
paradoxes of the Bible.
And I say apparent
because it seems so
at first consideration.
But we will see
in future study
that this isn't
a paradox
at all.
Paul will address
this potential objection
again in this letter.
And let me just give you
two examples
of where he does so.
1st Romans chapter 5
and verse 20,
he says,
Now the law came in
to increase the trespass,
but where sin increased,
grace abounded
all the more.
So here we see this.
The law comes
so that the trespass
increases,
and when the trespass
increases,
grace abounds.
And this seems like
a good result, right?
This is good in the end.
And then just a few
verses later
at the beginning
of chapter 6,
he says,
What shall we say then?
Are we to continue
in sin
that grace
may abound?
Should we go on sinning
so that God can show
himself to be gracious?
And then again,
chapter 6 and verse 2,
May genoito,
by no means.
How can we who died
to sin
still live in it?
Understanding that
we justly deserve
God's wrath
for our sin,
and having been
delivered from it,
why would we want
to go on living
in it?
And he'll make the case
that God continues
to show his graciousness
towards us
in that he helps us
not to sin.
We'll get all into that
at the end of chapter 7
and into chapter 8.
Another place,
Romans chapter 9,
verse 18 through 20.
In this chapter,
Paul has previously
cited the Old Testament
seven times.
Direct citations.
Seven times
up to this point.
And then in verse 18,
he says,
So then,
he has mercy
on whomever he wills,
and he hardens
whomever he wills.
And here,
Paul anticipates
the objection.
You will say to me then,
why does he still
find fault?
For who can resist
his will?
And this is my favorite
of all of Paul's responses
to these potential objections.
He says,
But who are you,
O man,
to answer back
to God?
Who do you think
you are?
Is what he says.
To even ask
these kinds of questions.
I have just told you
from the Old Testament
seven different times.
And I say to you,
he who has mercy
on whom he wills,
he hardens
who he wills,
and then at the end
of verse 20,
he says,
Well, what does molded
say to its molder?
Why have you made me
like this?
You are clay.
You have no right
to ask of the potter.
Why did you make me
in this way?
In Jude,
verse 4,
here Jude is writing,
speaking of the church
at Corinth.
He says,
For certain people
have crept in unnoticed,
who long ago
were designated
for this condemnation,
ungodly people,
who pervert the grace
of our God
into sensuality
or licentiousness,
and deny our only
Master and Lord,
Jesus Christ.
Christ.
So,
whose condemnation
is just?
That's the question
that we might ask,
right?
There at the very end
of verse 8
of Romans chapter 3,
these people
slanderously charge them
with saying,
Why not do evil
that good may come?
Here,
Jude finds himself
having to address
some people
who had come in
at the church of Corinth,
making that very case.
Ungodly people
who pervert
the grace of God
into sensuality.
This is what they're doing.
They're asking
and answering
that question
in the affirmative,
right?
We should live
however we want to live
because then God's grace
would abound.
So,
whose condemnation
is just?
Those who play
with the words
of God.
So,
Paul,
in just such
a great labor,
an inspired labor
to be sure,
but I imagine
his pin hand
growing tired
to be careful
to be sure
that we have
a good and right,
clear understanding
of the gospel
of Jesus Christ.
It's a gospel
that goes to
all peoples
but has not
forgotten
the ethnic Jew.
So,
has Paul offended
God's people?
Has Paul offended
God's promises?
Has Paul offended
God's holiness?
And the answer
is an affirmative
no.
Let's pray together.