Romans Chapter 3 Breakdown

1 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?

Is there anything good are advantageous about being a Jew, keeping the Law, and becoming circumcised?

2 Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

Paul then exclaims, there is definitely an advantage to being a Jew, and growing up with the “oracles” or laws of God. This is one of the biggest advantages for the Jews. They learn the ways of YHWH from birth. They are engrained within the Jew and become second nature. Granted, some still will sin, or use these laws for salvific purposes, but it is an advantage to know all the laws as opposed to having to learn them as an adult, similar to how the gentiles will learn them. This is the advantage, this is why Paul later says gentiles need to focus on certain sins and learn the rest of the law each Sabbath when Moses is read.

3 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?

If some of the Jews do not believe, will that cause YHWH to stop His faithfulness?

4 Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

“That You may be justified in Your words, And may overcome when You are judged.”

Paul then exclaims again, No! YHWH is faithful always. He sticks to His word and upholds what He says. Paul then quotes from the Old Testament, yet again.

Psalm 51:4

Against You, You only, have I sinned, And done this evil in Your sight— That You may be found just when You speak, And blameless when You judge.

Men sin against YHWH, He does not sin against men.

5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)

If our sin establishes YHWH’s righteousness, does that make YHWH unjust when He brings forth His wrath?

6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?

Paul exclaims again, absolutely not! He must bring forth His wrath because of the unrighteousness of men. His law is what He will judge the world by. It is His law which is broken that causes unrighteousness. We know men can be counted as righteous in the eyes of God, because they have been before. Speaking of Zacharias, a priest during the days of Harod, and his wife, Luke’s gospel says this,

Luke 1:6

And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless

So, we can see it takes believers walking and upholding the laws of YHWH to be considered righteous in His eyes. This is not a salvific issue, but a way to express our love for the Father.

7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?

Now Paul is asking a rhetorical question, basically repeating what he had already asked.

8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

Here is the claim which states Paul, along with the rest of the Apostles, are arguing against keeping the law of YHWH. He says they are being slandered. If people are saying that Paul is teaching against the law, considering evil is sin and sin is breaking YHWH’s law, and Paul says this is slanderous, or untrue, then we can only conclude that Paul is absolutely not teaching the law no longer applies to believers. The only thing Paul is teaching is the law does not bring salvation, but it is sinful not to obey YHWH’s commands.

9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

Are Jews better than gentiles? No, they are not. Both, have been sinners.

10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God.

12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.”

13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “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 ways;

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

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

Paul then goes on to quote many Old Testament verses, as he does so often.

Psalms 14:1–3

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, They have done abominable works, There is none who does good. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

Psalms 53:1–3

The fool has said in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and have done abominable iniquity; There is none who does good. God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, To see if there are any who understand, who seek God. Every one of them has turned aside; They have together become corrupt; There is none who does good, No, not one.

Ecclesiastes 7:20

For there is not a just man on earth who does good And does not sin

Psalm 5:9

For there is no faithfulness in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an open tomb; They flatter with their tongue.

Psalm 140:3

They sharpen their tongues like a serpent; The poison of asps is under their lips.

Psalm 10:7

His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

Isaiah 59:7- 8

Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace.

Psalm 36:1

An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes.

After seeing all the different Old Testament verses Paul uses, it makes it very difficult to make an argument claiming he teaches against the laws found in this portion of the Bible. Taking all these verses Paul quoted from, an connecting the dots, it is the sinner who defies YHWH’s law. The sinner is on a “crooked path” and that crooked path is contrary to the path of YHWH’s law. The contrary, crooked path brings no peace, but YHWH’s path, His laid out law, or instructions for this life, they bring great peace.

Psalm 119:165

Great peace have those who love Your law, And nothing causes them to stumble.

Isaiah 2:3

Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

The law is for those who are under the law, so that those who sin with their words, may be stopped. Everyone in the world has sinned and we all will stand guilty before YHWH.

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Here is the argument, it is not the deeds that cause men to be justified. This is where Paul gets extremely confusing because it seems to be in direct contradiction to what we previously read from the Gospel of Luke. The law tells men what sin is, it defines sin for us. Just going through the motions is not what causes men to be justified. It is knowing what sin is, and then doing it out of love and not to be saved. It is comparable to how you love your husband or wife, you learn what they want, then you do those things because you know they enjoy it. You get to do those things because you belong to that person. It is the very same with YHWH’s law, you don’t have to keep it, you get to keep it, knowing it makes Him happy.

21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

YHWH’s righteousness is apart from the law, and we can see it now through our faith. It comes from His grace. This is due to every man having committed sin, and falling short.

27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.

Here, Paul is calling out the boasting of the circumcision sect of the Jews who did not keep the law themselves and did boast when they were able to get believing gentiles to allow them to circumcise them. Because, if those who believe a man must be circumcised in order to be saved, and a man allows that group to circumcise him, it would seem to others that man also believed he must be circumcised to be saved allowing the sect of Jews to boast in having more converts.

28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.

All the Apostles, then, believe and teach it is not through works a man is justified, but by faith. It is not the keeping of the law that will save a man, but a man should keep the law. Therefore, abandoning the law is not what is being taught, ever. It is abandoning the idea that salvation comes through keeping the law.

29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

YHWH is not only the God of the Jews, but also of the Gentiles. YHWH will justify both Jews and Gentiles, circumcised and uncircumcised.

31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

This is the verse which supports everything I have argued for throughout this entire chapter. We, as believers are not to make void or abolish, or abandon YHWH’s law, ever. We are to establish, uphold, and keep YHWH’s law. Therefore, if we are to say YHWH’s law is only for the Jews, we have a problem throughout this chapter due to Paul claiming YHWH is the God of both and justifies them both by the same means. If we are to say YHWH’s law no longer applies to us because we are followers of Christ, that does not work because Paul is saying right here that believers should keep and uphold His law. The only way to reconcile all this is to say the argument Paul is making has Believers keeping and obeying YHWH’s laws, but not for the purpose of salvation, because that would mean we can work for it and expect it which would allow us to boast because one man may keep His law better than another, but out of love for YHWH and to avoid sin.

Jews will naturally be better at keeping YHWH’s laws because they were born into it as their way of life. Gentiles, for the most part, will need to learn how to keep His laws over time and will eventually start cutting sin out of their lives and that is the ultimate goal of YHWH, to have His people live a life separate of sin, which will set them apart from the rest of the world who delight in the desires of the flesh.