Romans 3:1-11
Rom 3:1 (KJV)
What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision?

As Paul just gave a biting discourse aimed at the physical Jews and in verse 25 & 26, he states that if the Gentiles who do not have the law of God, do those things that are in the law, then they are as if they have been circumcised. Paul then asks two questions. First, what then is the advantage of being a Jew and then what is the profit of circumcision? Was there an advantage of being a Jew over being a Gentile?

 
Rom 3:2 (KJV)
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

The chief advantage that the Jews had was that they were given the Scriptures. They had much more light than the surrounding nations. The code of Hammurabi could never have stood the test of equality with God’s law because within the law of God, we read in many places of a promised coming Redeemer and salvation by Grace. (Deu 30:6 KJV) And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. Here we read that God will circumcise the heart. This is pointing to Grace, not the keeping of the law. The law codes of the surrounding countries could be changed on the whim of the king or queen, except the laws of the Medes and Persians. (Dan 6:8 KJV) Now, O king, establish the decree, and sign the writing, that it be not changed, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which altereth not. Those laws were just penal codes aimed at keeping the laws of that country plus they were man made laws and with man-made law you have certain privileged classes of people who are not subject to those laws. God’s law was not a respecter of persons as all were and are accountable. God also gave them the Prophets and with them the great prophecies of the coming of Christ and the end of the world including the prophecies of the New Heavens and the New Earth. (Isa 65:17 KJV) For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. This is why they had the advantage because they had all this divine knowledge in written form. No other nation Earth had what they had.

 
Rom 3:3 (KJV)
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

Now when we read the history of Israel going all the way back to the time of the Exodus, we see that they were plagued by many who did not believe God, even though the miracles were performed right before their eyes. Just because some in Israel did not believe God, would their unbelief negate the faith of God, which is the effectual calling of God? The answer is of course no, since man can never frustrate any plan of God. This same situation happened in the New Testament. (2 Tim 2:13 KJV) If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. In the church, just because somebody does not believe the Bible, does that mean their unbelief is a persuading factor that God will not fulfill His word through His effectual calling of the Elect? The answer is no! God is faithful in calling and saving all the Elect. Every time we sin, we are exuding a faithless Christianity. If I sin against God, does that negate His promises in Scripture or even His culmination of this world and the creation of a new one? In other words, if someone disbelieves God does that in any way hinder God from bringing His plans to completion? The answer is no. In ancient Israel God had planned to save many out of Israel, He called them a remnant. The unbelief of even the Elect of God, prior to salvation, will not hinder God from saving them. Once they become saved, that ends the problem of unbelief forever.

 
Rom 3:4 (KJV)
God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

Now Paul answers the questions posed in verse 3. Paul rapidly answers that God will remain faithful to His Elect and His purposes on this Earth. A faithless person will never hinder God’s plans. In fact, the Bible states that God is true and in comparison to God’s truth, every man is a liar, for there is no one on Earth who could even come close to the verity of God. God’s word will always stand and His plans will be completed as He decrees. Paul states that because man is sinful and God is faithful in all His dealings, this will mean that whatever God says, He will be justified in them. He also states that when men will judge God, and that does not mean in the same manner God judges man, but when man assesses the program or plan God has executed, God will be proven correct in all His ways, even though man may disagree with the methods or results. (Deu 32:4 KJV) He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

 
Rom 3:5 (KJV)
But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

Paul now asks a question which has been asked down through the ages, and remember, Paul says that he is speaking as a man, from a human viewpoint. The word “commend” carries with it the meaning of “demonstrate or shows.” If the sin of Israel, which could be construed as either unbelief by some or unbelief on the national scale, if that unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness and the faithfulness of God, then how could He judge the unrighteous since it is them who bring out the righteousness of God? He then asks the second question. If our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, is God unrighteous when He executes wrath upon the unrighteous? Paul then answers the question in the next verse.

 
Rom 3:6 (KJV)
God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

The answer is clear. (Rom 1:18 KJV) For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;  All unrighteousness of men shall be judged on the last day, except those who have received the free grace of salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. If God would allow the unrighteousness of men to continue so His righteousness would be shown, then this would not be in character with a holy God. God will not allow any sin to go unpunished, either in this world or in the one to come.

 
Rom 3:7 (KJV)
For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

If I as a man, who is a sinner, continue to lie to the glory of God, and my lies cause the truth of God to abound, then why would God judge me as a sinner since my actions are bringing glory to His Name? The fact is that no sin brings glory to God and this is why He has to judge sin on the last day. This is also why the Lord Jesus Christ went to the cross as the substitutionary sacrifice on behalf of His Elect. The Lord Jesus Christ would not accept praise from a demon. (Mark 1:24-25 KJV) Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. {25} And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Jesus told the demon to be quiet because He will not receive praise from the devil’s camp or else it will look like He is giving approval to them.

 
Rom 3:8 (KJV)
And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

It seems that Paul was being slandered by accusation of teaching that if we do evil, then good will come out of it. Paul never taught any such thing and those who have spread the lies will stand for those sins and when their sentence is pronounced, their condemnation will be just and will give proof to those that sin does not abound to good but rather it abounds to judgment. This accusation is also pronounced against the doctrines of free grace that we can sin all we want and still go to heaven. It normally comes from the free will camp where man is sovereign in salvation and God the beggar.

 
Rom 3:9 (KJV)
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;

Now Paul states that the Jews are in no better shape than the Gentiles because the entire human race is under sin, which means they are all under condemnation. All unredeemed human beings are under the wrath of God. All humans are born with the Adamic nature and must redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ to be taken to Heaven.

 
Rom 3:10 (KJV)
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

Here is one of the most revealing portions of Scripture concerning the pre-salvation state of man. First, we are told that there is not one human being on Earth that is righteous and God emphasizes that fact by following up with “no, not one. This means that no one is innocent, faultless, or guiltless before God. Every human being has sinned, no matter who they are or how religious they are. This portion of Scripture up to verse 19 also gives us insight as to why people cannot save themselves as the free will gospel teaches.

 
Rom 3:11 (KJV)
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

There is none that understand their pitiful condition before the Lord. Many people think because they are religious that they understand God. Their understanding is lacking in the area of God’s requirement for salvation. They fail to understand that they cannot bring themselves into salvation because the spiritually dead do not understand God’s requirement for salvation, simply because they are dead. Then He tells us that no one seeks after God. The free will movement today teaches that people can seek after God but this verse flatly denies that heresy. Today we have a new phenomenon in the churches and that is “seeker friendly churches.” This is also a fallacious concept since the Bible explicitly teaches that no one seeks after God. It is God who seeks after His Elect. (Ezek 34:11 KJV) For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. Man is spiritually dead until such a time that God regenerates them and then they seek after God because they have been made alive unto the things of God. Those who believe they are seeking God without being regenerated are living a religious lie and will end up in Hell.
 
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