Romans 3:8 Commentary and Bible Study

What starts as an objection turns into a distorted representation of Paul’s gospel. This is what some of the Jewish people were in effect saying: ‘Let us do evil that good may come’ – the words, ‘whose damnation is just’, are Paul’s comment on what they deserve for saying this. They were saying, ‘Look, Paul, this is how we see it. All of us Jews are God’s people. Do not preach to us that we are lost sinners, and that we need a Saviour, and that we need to come to your Christ. All of us are God’s people. Admittedly, some are unfaithful, but all that does is to add hlustre to the kindness of God in maintaining faithfulness towards us. It is really no different from what you are preaching, Paul. You are saying,’ – and it was slander; it was not what Paul was saying – “Let us do evil that good may come.”’ He does not trouble to refute this; the error is self-evident.This was a parody of the gospel, and there is a vast difference between this and the true gospel. The Jewish objector intended to continue with his sin; the true Christian had repented of it. The Jewish objector was therefore very much alive to sin and the servant of sin; the believer had died to sin and now served a new master. You come, and you receive salvation freely, and from that moment on, you have got a battle against sin. Your salvation will not depend upon your performance, but God will so change your heart, that you will want to defeat sin.The objector cared nothing about the attributes of God, and did not worry if, in overlooking his sin, God became unrighteous; the disciples of Christ rejoices that God has found a way to save him that is consistent with his glorious attributes – he looks forward to an eternity praising God for his unchanging justice and integrity. It was shocking that grace should be so misrepresented in this way. They were saying, ‘Do not bother about the righteousness. Just repent, believe in the grace of God, and Christ will do it all for you.’ But we receive grace from one who is incapable of any compromise, whose life on earth was one of perfect obedience to the Father, such as no one else has ever lived. It is inconceivable that he could save us without solving the problem of our sin. It is inconceivable that he could set before us any other standard than his own: ‘Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect’ (Matthew 5:48).‘Whose damnation is just.’ Paul says simply that those who argue in this way cannot expect any other sentence. Justice is all that anyone can expect on the Day of Judgment who has not come to God for pardon. God cannot be defeated, and every argument raised against what he has said is an attempt to do so. He will get glory to himself by all that he does, and if our just condemnation is one of those means, then woe betide us. The confused and deceitful arguments of those who have reasoned in this way will be swept aside as worthless.