 |
||
RomansThe Letter from Yeshua's Emissary Sha’ul(Paul) to the Messianic Community in Rome Chapter 3 - (CJB)* A Study to Help New and Young Christians - Previous Study |
||
|
1. Then what advantage has the Jew? What is the value of being circumcised? 2. Much in every way! In the first place, the Jews were entrusted with the very words of God. 3. If some of them were unfaithful, so what? Does their faithlessness cancel God’s faithfulness? 4. Heaven forbid! God would be true even if everyone were a liar! — as the Tanakh says, “so that you, God, may be proved right in your words and win the verdict when you are put on trial.” 5. Now if our unrighteousness highlights God’s righteousness, what should we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict his anger on us? (I am speaking here the way people commonly do.) 6. Heaven forbid! Else, how could God judge the world? 7. “But,” you say, “if, through my lie, God’s truth is enhanced and brings him greater glory, why am I still judged merely for being a sinner?” 8. Indeed! Why not say (as some people slander us by claiming we do say), “Let us do evil, so that good may come of it”? Against them the judgment is a just one! 9. So are we Jews better off? Not entirely; for I have already made the charge that all people, Jews and Gentiles alike, are controlled by sin. 10. As the Tanakh puts it, “There is no one righteous, not even one! No one understands, 11. no one seeks God, 12. all have turned away and at the same time become useless; there is no one who shows kindness, not a single one! 13. “Their throats are open graves, they use their tongues to deceive. Vipers’ venom is under their lips. 14. Their mouths are full of curses and bitterness. 15. “Their feet rush to shed blood, 16. in their ways are ruin and misery, 17. and the way of shalom they do not know. 18. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” 19. Moreover, we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those living within the framework of the Torah, in order that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world be shown to deserve God’s adverse judgment. 20. For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands, because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are. 21. But now, quite apart from Torah, God’s way of making people righteous in his sight has been made clear — although the Torah and the Prophets give their witness to it as well — 22. and it is a righteousness that comes from God, through the faithfulness of Yeshua the Messiah, to all who continue trusting. For it makes no difference whether one is a Jew or a Gentile, 23. since all have sinned and come short of earning God’s praise. 24. By God’s grace, without earning it, all are granted the status of being considered righteous before him, through the act redeeming us from our enslavement to sin that was accomplished by the Messiah Yeshua. 25. God put Yeshua forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God’s righteousness; because, in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past; 26. and it vindicates his righteousness in the present age by showing that he is righteous himself and is also the one who makes people righteous on the ground of Yeshua’s faithfulness. 27. So what room is left for boasting? None at all! What kind of Torah excludes it? One that has to do with legalistic observance of rules? No, rather, a Torah that has to do with trusting. 28. Therefore, we hold the view that a person comes to be considered righteous by God on the ground of trusting, which has nothing to do with legalistic observance of Torah commands. 29. Or is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, he is indeed the God of the Gentiles; 30. because, as you will admit, God is one. Therefore, he will consider righteous the circumcised on the ground of trusting and the uncircumcised through that same trusting. 31. Does it follow that we abolish Torah by this trusting? Heaven forbid! On the contrary, we confirm Torah. |
Study - Chapter 3 Ch 3: verses, 1-9, Paul in this Chapter is explaining the Justice of God by comparing how a Jewish person is made Righteous under the Torah (The Law - Old Covenant), and someone that is outside of that Old Covenant. Paul is asking what is the value of circumcision for the Jew. The Jewish people had a special role to play in God's overall plan. It is explained here having The Torah and being obedient to the spirit of The Torah made it possible for God to bring about His Salvation Plan through His Son Jesus. Paul goes on to ask, If some were not faithful to The Torah does that make it null and void. No! It just shows how Right and Just God's Word is because it places all into a state of failing God's Standard. The point is that when we try to do the works of The Torah and we fail it brings 'Glory' to God's Righteousness. Paul goes on to ask as some think he is saying, Let us do evil so that good may abound', which, is not what he saying. But in our failing, sinning, we can call on God's Grace which is abounding, is greater than our sinning to bring it to naught. So a Jewish person who has The Torah does not have an advantage over a person outside of The Torah because all have fallen short of The Standard of God's level of Righteousness. ........ Ch 3: verses, 10-18, The Torah states that no-one trying in their own strength can fulfill The Standard of The Torah. The Sin Nature we all have inherited from Adam does not seek God but just follows the lowest form of living. ........ Ch 3: verses, 19-23, Now we know that The Torah is God's Standard of judging mankind but, those who live under The Torah and try to keep it fail. For although The Torah is Right it only shows just how far we fall short of its Standard. If following all that The Torah says to do does not make one Righteous how does someone under The Torah become Righteous? It is God's Faithfulness to the one that trusts in His Faithfulness who receives the blessing of Salvation. No-one can live up to The Standard but by depending on the Grace of God because of what Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah has purchased for us through His Death and Resurrection we can be called 'family' by God's Grace. ........ Ch 3: verses, 24-31, We only gain the status of being Righteous because of the Grace of God. This Righteousness comes through Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah (the Christ or the Anointed One) who redeems u from our sinful nature which we can't change on our own. God our Father used Yeshua (Jesus) as the "kapparah for sin" (verse 25 ), All of this relates to the Old Covenant's Blood Sacrifice which, was a fore-runner of type, of Jesus' Death on the Cross. Paul in the following verses is explaining how the Sacrifice of Jesus is effective to all those before the Cross and those after The Cross. So is there any benefit in trying to keep The Torah (The Law) to become Righteous? None! It is the trusting in God's Grace that brings us into God's Family. Trust that comes from observing what The Torah says to do brings obedience to the one under the Old Covenant, and the person is deemed Righteous. Trust in believing what Messiah (Christ) did in fulfilling what The Torah commands is The Grace to one under the New Covenant which, declares Righteousness to them. So the Grace that is deemed for all is the obedience to the Word of God which is Right Standing (Righteousness) regardless whether the person is under the Old or New Covenant. Paul is trying to explain to those who were putting their trust in The Torah i.e. the Jews that they did not have an advantage over those outside of The Torah. It was the obedience to their understaing of what God, The Father has spoken to them at whatever part of Man's history they lived in. So, Paul continues... Should The Torah be tossed out and not be of any use? No. All that has been spoken about The Torah and how it is observed only proves that the Torah is Right and valid. Paul will continue his argument of the value of The Torah in the next Chapter. ........ |
|
|
(CJB)* The Complete Jewish Bible" used with permission. |
||