Of all his letters, Paul’s letter to the Roman Christians is his most comprehensive compendium on the character of God. Romans is theology par excellence. A simple definition of theology is the study of the nature of God. A more formal definition is: “Theology is essentially a study of scripture. Theology comes from combining two Greek words: theos, meaning God, and logos, meaning word or rational thought. So theology is God-thought or rational reasoning about God. It is the human effort to understand the God of the scriptures.” (Colorado Christian University Online) 

In Romans 11:33, Paul speaks of the nature of God in this way, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” God’s nature is without limitation; we can never know everything about God, nor can we ever exhaustively understand or interpret the things we do know. He is infinite and we are finite. Yet, God has made clear in Scripture the things we need to know about Himself and His character. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3).

Paul wants us to understand that “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12) Satan’s ploy has always been to cause us to question God’s character, especially His righteous character. Since we are not comfortable with a God we cannot know or understand to our satisfaction, we create a god that is more palatable. We create a god with characteristics that don’t threaten us. However, to either question or misrepresent the character of God is great blasphemy.

False conclusions about God’s character leads to fear, bitterness, and a misunderstanding of the trials and suffering that come into our life. When we don’t understand what God is doing, we first blame the people around us, then we blame God, and finally, if with God’s grace, we ask ourselves if we are missing something. This is Paul’s central point to the Jews: they failed to understand the righteous character of God – they missed the most important aspect of God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Solomon warns us that if we fail to acknowledge God’s ways, His purposes, and His righteousness our paths will be crooked. It is hard to admit that the problem might lie with us. We often find ourselves questioning God’s character as opposed to examining our own hearts. We might question why God has allowed our life to be the way it is. We might remind God that people are not supposed to treat us the way they do. We might question why God would allow us to have affections for things His Word forbids. We might conclude that God is not trustworthy, and then search for other people to validate our feelings. There is great danger is questioning God’s character!

The Jews loved idols: their heritage, the Law, and circumcision. Lest we be too hard on them, we need to admit that we too have idols in our lives. In fact, sometimes churches are created by people who find their unity from their common idols. They fail to acknowledge that God’s Word is the final authority, not the machinations of man. Churches are to be, “built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone” (Ephesians 2:20) Five of the seven churches in Revelation were warned of impending doom unless they repented. Even though four of the churches (Ephesus, Pergamum, Thyatira, and Sardis) had some redeeming qualities, all were found wanting. God’s character is not something to be trifled with.

Romans 3:1-8 is divided as follows:

1. God’s People (vv. 1-2) [This was discussed last week.]

2. God’s Promises (vv. 3-4)

3. God’s Perfection (vv. 5-8)

II. God’s Promises (vv. 3-4)

Though we as a nation have come to expect a life of ease, Jesus never promised such. In fact, He said, "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Luke 9:58) When life gets hard, we tend to question God’s character. We want to ask Him:

• God, why did you allow this to happen to me?

• God, why do men exhibit the sinful behaviors described in Romans 1?

• God, why am I depressed?

• God, why do you call me a sinner?

• God, why don’t you save my child?

• God, why didn’t you heal my spouse?

If God doesn’t just snap His fingers and change things to our liking, we conclude that either God is not faithful, He is not powerful, or He doesn’t love us. We would like to say to God, You are not doing a very good job of running the world, and then we proceed to tell Him how to do it. This represents the attitude of the Jews. Because of their heritage and God’s promises to them, they expected Him to show partiality, and, when He didn’t do so, they questioned His character.

God’s promises do not depend on man’s faithfulness. Verse three raises the rhetorical question, “Does their [man’s] faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?” Paul is emphatic in verse four, “By no means!” God does not change and neither do His unconditional promises. John MacArthur said, “If all mankind were to agree that God had been unfaithful to His promises, it would only prove that all are liars and God is true.” Titus 1:2 affirms that God never lies. Though in a different context, but universally applicable, Paul asks: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?” (Romans 9:20) An important principle is found in Romans 8:3-4: God does not answer to me!

God had promised to never leave His people nor forsake them, an unconditional promise. (Deuteronomy 31:6) However, thirty-five times in the Old Testament, God promised to discipline Israel when they sinned. The Jews could not accept the fact that their status did not lead God to overlook their sin. They grossly misunderstood the character of a righteous and holy God. God’s righteous character demands that He discipline His people, but His loving character demands mercy. 

Peter said to be constantly, “casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (1 Peter 5:7) This should be our lifestyle. Whatever the need, we should leave it with God, trusting that He always knows and does what is best for us. He cares for us because He chose us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4) and one day we will be seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6). We can cast all our cares on God because we know that He is faithful.

III. God’s Perfection (vv. 5-8)

• Perfection Questioned (v. 5)

Paul was taunting the Jews when he poked holes in their argument that since sinful behavior promoted God’s righteousness, then God was unjust to punish sinners. Paul was anticipating this objection to his rebuke. The argument that he expected was: This is not the God we know. Surely, He would be more righteous in saving the people He chose, not in punishing those who sinned. Paul said that he was speaking to them in a human way, meaning they were illogical fools. They had minds that were unregenerated and not able to understand spiritual things. In First Corinthians 2:14 he said, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

Paul expounded on the idea of God’s righteousness at the end of chapter five where he said that, when the law was given, men became more conscious of sin, and also became more aware of God’s grace. So, in this twisted sense, more sin brings more grace. And, this is a good thing, right? Paul answers this in Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” Again, Paul says, “By no means!” In one sense, the Jews were correct: If God causes men to sin then condemns them because of their sin, then He is not a righteous judge. James destroyed this argument when he said, “God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.” (James 1:13-14) We and the Jews have no one to blame, other than ourselves. Animator and cartoonist, Walt Kelly (1913-1973) said it so well many years ago in the comic strip, Pogo, “We have met the enemy and he is us!”

• Perfection Proven (v. 6)

The Jews were thinking that Paul was trying to get them to trust in a god who was irrational, a god who changes his mind. How could the God who made promises but not fulfill them be a righteous God? Paul said that the Jews were the ones who were irrational. They knew and loved the Scriptures; they believed Psalm 89:14, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne” and Deuteronomy 32:4, “all his ways are justice”, and they believed Psalm 96:13, “He will judge the world in righteousness, and the peoples in his faithfulness.” However, they couldn’t see the folly in believing that God was unjust for punishing them. Paul called out their fallacy of calling God unfair because He refuses to give leniency to those in sin. This is truly irrational.

• Just Condemnation (vv. 7-8)

The Jews were accusing Paul of promoting sin by teaching that more sin brings more glory to God. If God is glorified by our sin, why not sin all the more? Paul asks, if I am bringing glory to God by lying about God and this brings glory to Him, then why are you condemning me? If your conclusion is to justify sin because you don’t like the God of the Bible; if your conclusion is to turn away from God because you don’t like the way He runs the world; if your conclusion is to be angry with God because you don’t understand His holiness; then your condemnation is just – you deserve His wrath. 

This passage of Scripture has provided much food for thought. Is God still prefect, righteous and just if He temporarily allows evil to prevail? Since evil exists, is God all powerful? Is God still good when He hardens the hearts of unbelievers? If abortion without limit is legal, is God no longer on His throne? Is His throne restored when abortion is outlawed? Or is He always on the throne? 

Romans 8:28 tells us that ALL things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. Scripture affirms that God is just, good, righteous and perfect in all His ways, all the time. These are truths we need to rely on when we don’t understand life, and we must never question God’s character. We may never fully understand why Paul says that God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Romans 9:13) or why He has mercy on whomever He wills and hardens whomever He wills (Romans 9:18), but we can be certain that God never judges capriciously or unjustly. We must trust that God has a righteous reason for all He does.

Selah:

1. What has been your reaction when God doesn’t control circumstances to your satisfaction?

2. What in life has tempted you to question God’s character?

3. What would you like to complain to God about?