This is my installment for the Blogger Small Group post on Romans chapter 3:1-8. There is always time for anyone to join in if they like (see Blogger Small Group Rules/Guidlelines). Right now we are several weeks into the group, which started in James.
No need to try and catch up, just start in the same place we are and post your opinions.
This week we are studying a smaller section of the third chapter of Romans. We left off last week with a discussion on sin and judgment (see my post Blogger Small Group, Romans 2) and Paul picks up where he left off.
A Little Background on Romans 3:1-8
In this section Paul is focusing on the Condemnation Because of their Unbelief or also referred to as All the World Guilty. Paul goes through and asks and answers an obvious question left over from Chapter 2.
3:1 What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
This would have been the obvious question in his reader’s mind up to this point. Why bother then. His answer of course was that the Jews were given a huge responsibility with being entrusted (past tense) with the very words of God.
This can mean the entire Old Testament scripture or more likely means the Jews were given the promises and commands of God (which they did not stand up to).
Sin Enhances the Kingdom of God, Romans 3:5-8
This is a very interesting section to me. Paul goes through the argument that some people question that Paul is actually arguing that the more sin in ones life, the more glory is given to God. Paul was accused of teaching this falsehood and he clearly states this is wrong in verse 8.
8 And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some claim that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.
Paul is saying that we are sinners and God is going to judge sin. If God judges sin, why would we “enhance” our lives with more judgment?
All Things Work for God’s Good
When researching this study today one scripture came up that speaks to verse 8 and that is 2 Corinthians 5:10 (below). It is true that all things work for the good of God’s kingdom, as shown in Romans 8:28, (something to look forward to in this study), so does that mean that God uses sin for his “good”? Yes.
2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
So what makes Paul correct here when his readers accusing him of teaching more sin = more glory and the end doesn’t actually justify the means. It has to do with how God gets us from one place to another. We can end up in the same place, the Glory of God, but road is different. legend consequences
The Glorify God White Board
Well, since it worked to help me understand last week, I am going to do it again this week, lets go to the white board and see if I can’t figure it out. I have found out that by doing this I actually learn something in the process just trying to figure it out in a simple way, so indulge me with a sketch.
A little more complicated than last week and if you have to explain a white board it is probably a bad one, but here there are two roads or routes we can take, by choice. Both lead to glorifying God. One takes a lot longer and is a lot more painful.
This is actually how I look at how sin has effected my life. The road sin takes us down is not a fun one, but God will correct us and bring us back to Him, at some point.
I might mention we can also find ourselves on both roads at the same time with different issues going on in our lives. If (according to the white board) we just focus on looking “up” and not over to the side where sin lays in wait, we will probably find ourselves in a much better place.
Scott Fillmer 
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