Romans 3:5-7 - Is God Unrighteous?

Romans 3:5-7 - 5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.) 6 May it never be! For otherwise, how will God judge the world? 7 But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

Message: The Fourth Objection is offered: God isn't really righteous, is He?

Time: Paul probably wrote Romans between A.D. 57-58 while he was at Corinth in the home of his friend and convert Gaius. He planned to go first to Jerusalem to deliver a gift of money from the Gentile churches to the poor in Jerusalem. Then he hoped to visit Rome on his way to Spain. His hopes were later realized, but not as he had expected. When he finally arrived in Rome in early A.D. 60, he was a prisoner under house arrest (Acts 28:11-31).

What the Lord is Saying:

Background

Paul is using a diatribe in his writing thus far. This is where he is speaking like he is having a conversation with an imaginary objector. Chapter 2's focus was not on how God judge saves, but how God judges and he gives no free pass to any man based upon their affiliation. So, the Jew as God's chosen people don't get a free pass, not because of their affiliation with the recipients of the Law nor because of their act of circumcision. God is not partial to anyone. He judges everyone equally. A man must be justified by his perfect obedience to the standards that a person has received. For the Jew, that is the Law; for the non-Jew, that is the standard the person knows (i.e. conscience). 

And so now in chapter 3 Paul clarifies that there is something special about God choosing His people. They do have a responsibility before God to care for the commands of God. They have a responsibility to live a life worth living and represent Christ on this earth. Not to save themselves through those acts, but they live in a righteous way in response to God making them righteous. God is God and he is not simply God because of a person's righteous behavior or obedience. He is God no matter what. 

The Fourth Objection

Paul poses the fourth objection from his imaginary accuser in verse 5. If a person's unrighteous behavior (practicing sin) then causes God to be shown as righteous, then how can that person receive wrath? 

Unrighteousness is adika, a dike or "without what is right." It is injustice behavior that injures another person, such as theft, fraud, sexual crimes, deceit, or lying.

Why is God responding to our unrighteousness with wrath when it actually seems that we can then more clearly see that God is righteous?

This is another very important question to examine here because this is a question or statement that often comes up in our lives. Men take commandments of God and then make them out to be something they are often not. Satan's desire is to do anything he can to take the focus off of God and sometimes what he does is very subtle. Sometimes it is very apparent, but other times it is very subtle. I think of the phrase, "money is the root of all evil" which is quoted from I Timothy 6:10 and man often uses this to say evil is the result of a love for money when in actuality God is simply saying that evil can spring forth from a love of money. Money doesn't cover all evils, but it is a root or it plays a part in evil, but not all parts. It is important always to read God's word in context. And even here Paul is showing the tendency of the Jew to take his words and then sort of twist them. Isn't this what Satan did when he tempted Jesus?

The Antagonists Response to the Objection

In the remaining part of verse 5, the antagonist actually gives an answer to his own question, but again it is falsehood basically saying, "So, Is God doing something wrong here as well?" This Jewish antagonist is trying to punch holes in Paul's arguments. Paul uses the statement, "I am speaking in human terms" to show that natural man is always making attempts through natural man's thinking to rationalize a holy God. To go back to Romans 1:25, "For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen." Man thinks he can rationalize the things of God. Man uses man language to try and describe God. 

I Corinthians 2:14 states, "But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." Man must submit or surrender to God first and then God will reveal Himself to man. Only then can we understand God's mysteries. 

The Real Response to the Objection

Verse 6 begins with "May it never be" which I saw in verse 4 to mean basically, "that's impossible." Basically, the objection that is raised is man stating he does not like to be judged. The verse that men over and over take out of context is "don't judge me." Man is stating over and over, don't throw a light on me and tell me that I am wrong for what I am doing. Again, they take a phrase in the Bible and they use it as they see fit. And people everywhere don't want to see that they have done anything wrong. I see it everyday at work and even at home. Responsibility for one's actions is very hard for some people, but everyone shy's away from it. Adam himself in the Garden stated, "The woman that Thou gavest me led me astray." 

God administers justice not because man is unrighteous, but because God is just. God is righteous. God must judge, condemn, and punish because He is Holy. So Paul is saying, "Man, don't try and bridge the two (man's sin; God's righteousness), for they are separate. God is just. God must punish sin." 

The quick response to the Response

In verse 7, a quick response by the objector to Paul's response, in a way setting up verse 8, is that through my lie (or unrighteous act toward my fellow man as learned in verse 5), God is shown to be true, why am I being judged. Again, I look here at natural man. And he hates the target on his back. He hates accountability. 

I have been in a men's accountability group now for the last 8 years and through that time I have encouraged other men to do the same. I have seen what value there is in men meeting with other men and sharing their sin and their praises and seeking scriptural help from other men to correct their behavior and be accountable. And through this process, other men I approach to be in a group dodge this accountability. They don't want it. They run away from this. They think of every excuse possible so as to have to meet with other men. They don't want to be accountable to other men. I often don't want to be accountable. I can show up at times at my meetings thinking, "I don't want to share the sin I have been in this week." But sometimes I do because of the transparency of others. And sometimes I continue to try to frame myself as different that who I really am.

I watched the movie Phone Booth this past weekend. While I know the director didn't mean anything scriptural when he directed this story written by another, the content yet was very biblical as this man was basically being held hostage by another and the only way out was to admit his secret sins or the sins he thought he was the only one that knew about. It was interesting to see Hollywood say, "no man can be an island." Man needs to be authentic. It's unfortunate the movie had so much bad language, but the message was still very clear.

I am reminded of this in verse 7, even after the answer was given in verse 6, man quickly responds with another quick objection giving the impression now that my lie results in God's glory and yet I am being judged a sinner? God is good. Man is not. They are distinct. It is not that God is good because man is not. God is holy and demands perfection. Man is unholy and lawless. God is always the answer to man. Yes, God can be glorified through man's sin, but this doesn't exempt man from judgment nor from his sin.

Promise: God always judges righteously.