The Book of Romans pt 10

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

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

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

5 But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6 Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7 Someone might argue, “If my falsehood enhances God’s truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?” 8 Why not say—as some slanderously claim that we say—“Let us do evil that good may result”? Their condemnation is just!

I believe that this argument gets repeated later on in chapter 6. In Romans 6, the question is raised, "Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?" Paul answers the same way as here: certainly not. Now, this argument of God's faithfulness and His glory is actually the whole point of the Gospel. This is the nub that everything rests upon. It is to Him be glory forever.

Once again, we read later in Romans chapter 9 that it is to Israel that the promises and the Scriptures were given. This isn't an isolated topic in Romans. It gets addressed multiple times. In modern church-ianity that we have in America, I think that this point is extremely crucial. It might be as crucial now as it was to those Romans. Has God rejected Israel? No. There is a scheme - a plan/purpose.

So lets actually take the time to go through this. I'm appalled at the fact that many people don't understand the argument, nor do they know how to respond.

The argument being made here is that God is shown righteous by our wickedness.

I think that it was Augustine (but I could easily be wrong here...) that made the same argument. Why did Adam sin? God made Adam perfect and sinless. Did God create Adam to sin (not just with the free choice of sinning)? If so, then what kind of God is that? We couldn't call Him good, or could we?

Augustine (once again, I might be wrong about the reference) said that the reason that God would allow Adam to sin was so that we could see His righteousness. We wouldn't know the stars existed without the dark black background of the night sky. In the same way, we wouldn't know righteousness, love, compassion, grace, or mercy if it weren't for the dark black background of human sin and depravity. It is because of sin that we understand God as being these things.

But is that really true?

Does our lack of righteousness display God as being righteous?
Does our lack of mercy help portray God's mercy?
Does God's grace toward us as sinners show us grace that we wouldn't have understood otherwise?

I think that these attributes are found in God whether we are sinners or not. If Adam never sinned, would God then be less righteous? If Adam never sinned, would we have no means to understand His love? If Adam never sinned, would God have nothing to use to show us His compassion?

These are stupid arguments.

We can't say that God is shown to be more righteous simply because we are less righteous. It is the argument that we wouldn't be as thankful for the summer if we didn't have 7 months of winter here in Ohio. It might have some truth to it. I agree that the first time it gets to be about 70 degrees (Fahrenheit, about 21 Celsius for our not-American-friends) after being below freezing for so long it feels wonderful. There is a bit of rationality and truth in that statement.

But the rationality and truth fall apart when we talk about God.

Is there ever a time when God is not infinitely more merciful than the created beings? Can we love infinitely as God loves? Can we be just as God is just?

There are certain ways that we can say yes to that. But there are other ways in which we cannot say yes to that. We would not know love if God had not shown us. Even in sinless perfection, love, kindness, grace, faithfulness - these are gifts of the Spirit.

I'll use an illustration about light.

The speed of light is a constant when moving through a vacuum. If I were to be running at a speed of 10 km/min, and a car is driving the same direction at 25 km/min, how fast does the car pass me? It moves at 25 km/min with respect to a stopped object, but it passes me at 15 km/min. Not so with light. Light moves 299,792.458 km/sec. If I somehow figured out a way to sprint 1000 km/sec, light would still pass me at 299,792.458 km/sec. It wouldn't shave off 1000 km/sec.

In the same way, even if we were in sinless perfection, God's love would be infinitely more loving than ours. God's glory would still be infinite. We're not going to be able to see kindness and compassion in those around us and say that God's kindness and compassion is like the others. Any true kindness or compassion or love or grace or justice is a reflection of God's attributes, and not the other way around.

So when Paul asks about Israel and how they have rejected their Messiah, is he making the point that God's more just for sending judgment? Is Paul saying that because God has opened up salvation to the Gentiles that God is now more faithful than when it was exclusively Israel as His chosen people? No. Paul is actually making the same point that I just made. It isn't about Israel, nor is it about the Gentiles. God is glorious. He is love. He is mercy. He is justice.

There is nothing that can display more of Him than anything else. When God is displayed, He is displayed fully. This is a stepping stone in a larger story that is being played out. And so Paul is getting the Romans (and we who are studying centuries later) into the mindset that it really isn't about trying to show God to be more loving or kind or glorious. He already is these things. This redemption plan and story is not for His benefit - it is for our profit.

So while we continue to search through Romans we'll continue to search out this redemption plan. We'll also see what Paul is trying to convey while speaking of the benefit it is to be born a Jew and be of the circumcision. But we'll keep in mind that God has the glory of all, while we have the delectation of all.