I coach middle school volleyball and I love it. Most of the girls never have played volleyball before seventh grade, but a few have club experience. It is typically very apparent at the first open gym who has played club and who has not. Last year, from the moment Bella walked into the gym I knew she was a good player and would be a team leader. Sure enough, she played club volleyball for one of the best clubs on one of the best teams. Out of 14 girls I kept on my team, only 3-4 played club volleyball.
I ask you, do the club volleyball players have an advantage over the others? Yes and no. Individually they stand out, understand the game, and earn more play time. Often they will receive recognition and be called up to the next level and potentially have a future in volleyball. However, volleyball is a team sport. That means that even the club players are in the same boat with the rest of the team. Just because a few players can play at an elite level, their record is the same as the rest. A 2-10 record is not something to boast about. Not only that, some club players come into middle school volleyball better then the rest, but they begin to feel entitled to a position and stop working hard and striving to get better. Soon they are passed by other players and eventually no longer on the team.
Paul is making a similar argument her in Romans 3:1-20. The Jewish people are like club volleyball players, they did in fact have an advantage over the Gentiles. The Jews are God’s chosen people, beginning when he called Abram out of Ur. Being God’s covenant people, the had the sign of the covenant, circumcision, and were entrusted with the oracles of God. They had the Law, the prophets, the historical accounts, and the wisdom literature. This is an advantage for those who are showing up never knowing about God. But like the volleyball players, it is a yes and no situation.
The Jewish people did not remain faithful to the covenant. They failed to recognize the redemptive plan of God and their Messiah in Jesus Christ. They were caught up in legalism and worshiped a form of the Law over the Law-Giver. They felt entitled and above judgment. They did not recognize that the are still on “Team Humanity” and in the same boat with the Gentiles, under sin and under condemnation apart from Christ.
Just because the Jewish people were unfaithful does not mean God is unfaithful. The example of the Jewish people was supposed to be a “city on a hill” and a beacon for the unbelieving world to see the glory of the one true God (Is. 42:6). Paul recognizes that the Jewish people were faithless, but this should not “nullify the faithfulness of God” (Rom 3:3-4). Their bad example is not the reality of who God is. Similarly, a bad experience in church should not reshape your views about God and the sacrifice of Jesus. Church people, pastors, and teachers can be faithless, like the Jewish people, and their unfaithfulness should not cause us to see God differently. Sin corrupts, it hurts, and it destroys, but Jesus has overcome.
I often have said throughout the years, that as long as I stay faithful to the Word of God I have something to offer others. However, the moment I am unfaithful to God’s Word (God forbid) then I should no longer be a pastor. Only in remaining faithful to God and to his Word do we reflect his righteousness to others. Just because someone is a pastor does not automatically make them a good reflection of God. As Jesus said, you will know them by their fruit (Matt. 7:16).
Paul, recognizing the sinfulness of the Jewish people, and all people for that matter, says, “let God be true though everyone else were a liar” (Rom 3:4). God is righteous, faithful, and true to his word. He remains faithful to his covenant, even when his people fail, but that does not mean he excuses sin. Some were saying that God was being unjust to condemn sinners because their unrighteousness provided an opportunity to showcase God’s righteousness. Paul says this is a slanderous and inaccurate view of the Gospel. Sin is sin and deserves condemnation. God is holy and righteous; he cannot overlook sin. His righteousness demands judgment on sin; however, his grace made a provision for sin in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is because Jesus took our sins and nailed them to the cross, that God will pardon those who repentant of their sins and confess belief in Jesus. If you think God is soft on sin, look at the cross.
Once again, Paul returns to his main point that Jews and Gentiles, all of humanity, are in the same boat, we are all under sin (Rom 3:9). “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God” (Rom. 3:10). Paul describes the human predicament, that we are desperately lost, dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2). It’s like the picture above, we are all rowing in a boat together, but cannot stop the current drawing the boat to the edge of the waterfall. In reality, we are that guy that is already hanging over the edge whose paddles are no longer in the water. Our lostness in sin means there is nothing we can do as we await the fall into utter darkness.
What’s not pictured is the hand of God patiently holding on to the boat, waiting for those who will repentant and believe (2 Peter 3:9). Are we listening to his call? Are we looking to the evidence he has provided for us? Or do we think we can do this on our own?
That is the issue Paul deals with next (Rom. 3:19-20). The Jews who thought they could find justification by keeping the Law. You cannot earn your way to God. You cannot work off your sins by doing more good than bad. The Law reveals the fact that you are sinner. In the book of Galatians, Paul refutes this idea in more detail. He says that those who “rely on the law” are cursed (Gal. 3:10-14). They miss the point of the Law. The Law was given to us as a school master, a guidance counselor, to point us to our need for Jesus (Gal. 3:23-26). Once we are in a right relationship with Jesus, we are no longer under the law, but have been set free in Christ. Both the book of Galatians and Hebrews were written to help believers realize that they are not under the law, do not go back under the law of slavery, but live in the freedom of Christ.
We are all, Jews and Gentiles, born into the same boat, on the same losing team. The question is, whose team are you on now? Have you trusted in Christ alone and been rescued from the boat heading over the waterfall? Or are you trusting in your own works and remain lost in your sins? Jesus’ invitation remains open to those who will turn and trust in him. We will explore this more next week.
