Romans 3: All in the Same Boat

Here's my outline for this chapter:
3:1-19 Paul answers objections to his claim that Jew & Gentile are in the same boat
3:20 The Conclusion: Nobody, but NOBODY, is going to be justified by our works
3:21-26 Another way to get right with God
3:27-4:1 Paul answers objections to this new way

Yes, I know, la dee da...it all sounds so theological and (*yawn*) dry...but as one guy has said, Romans 3:21-26 may be the most important paragraph EVER WRITTEN! Wow!

Backing up...here are some of the objections Paul imagines a heckler throwing at him (and he faced countless such arguments in the synagogues around the Mediterranean):

3:1-2 "Oh, so is there NO advantage to being a Jew?"
Paul's answer: oh, there are plenty...I'll name just one...you have the Scriptures!
Having God's Word is an enormous blessing to life. Bishop Moule, in his commentary on Romans, says "In his (that is, the Jew's) care was lodged the Book by which man was to live and die; through which he would know immeasurably more about God and himself than he could learn from all other informants put together; his people were born into the light of revelation…”

3:3-4 "Does human unfaithfulness nullify God's faithfulness?"
In the strongest language possible, Paul says "No way!" God is always true, though every human being be a liar (Psalm 51:4)

3:5-6 "But if our sin reveals God's justice, thus glorifying him, isn't sin kind of...I don't know...doing God a favor? Hey, my sin and my worship accomplish the same thing!"

Paul says, come on! If that were so, how could God ever judge anybody?

3:7-8 "But if my lying brings God glory, shouldn't I just lie some more?"
This just repeats the previous argument, and Paul barely gives it the dignity of a rebuttal...for people like that, their condemnation is just. I visualize Gregory Peck playing Atticus Finch, in that classic courtroom scene, dismissing some ideas with a wave of his hand as "assumptions one associates with minds of their caliber."

3:9ff "So are we Jews any better off at all?"
And Paul says, well, ultimately...no. And then he tears off into a familiar rabbinic technique of stringing together a list of Old Testament verses:

3:10-12 Psalm 114:1-3
3:13 Psalm 5:9
3:14 Psalm 10:7
3:15-17 Isaiah 59:7-8
3:18 Psalm 36:1

These are some pretty awful images of sin, and Paul points out that what Torah says, it says to those under the law...that is, the Jews. So if you were feeling smug at the end of chapter one, looking down your nose at those filthy Gentiles, here is what the Bible says about the evil in the Jewish heart! Every mouth is closed before God; nobody, Jew or Gentile, will ever be justified by our own holy efforts.

You really have to pause here and let it sink in. We are guilty and lost before God. There is NO WAY we can ever get right with God by our own works; that old dog won't hunt. This is the ultimate dead end. All those Biblical images of judgment come pouring in; outer darkness, Gehenna, the lake of fire, cast out, perishing. However you interpret those powerful metaphors, they are terrifying. This is the dead end of all dead ends.

Now.

We might be ready to celebrate the power and promise of Romans 3:21-26. God has provided ANOTHER WAY. From God's side of the equation, justification is offered as a gift. A GIFT! It is to be received by faith on our side, simple trust in the promise of God. Paul uses words like justification (legal pardon), redemption (purchased freedom from slavery) and mercy seat (the place where the blood of sacrifice was offered to God to make atonement for sin).

In response, the imaginary objector interrupts:

3:27-28 "Well, what does this do with our national boasting?"
Paul says it pretty much shuts that down permanently.

3:29-30 "But, but, but...isn't God only for the Jews?"
Nope...Jew and Gentile. There is one God (says the Shema) and only one way to get right with this God, whether you're Jewish or not. That way is faith.

3:31 "But doesn't this nullify the law?"
And Paul says, "No, in fact, we establish the law." This is harder to figure, because "law" is such a loaded word, used with various shades of meaning. As Torah, it could refer to the entire Hebrew Bible...or the law given on Sinai...or it could even be used as a word meaning "general principle." I take it in much the same sense in which Jesus said He came "not to destroy the law but to fulfill it." Under the new covenant of grace, law does not disappear. But it moves from being carved on tablets of stone, outside us, to condemn us, to being written on our very hearts (see Jeremiah 31) as God's holy character changes us from the inside out.