Romans 3:5-8 NKJV – 5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? [Is] God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world? 7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And [why] not [say], “Let us do evil that good may come”?–as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.
V5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? [Is] God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)
The Greek word for commend (KJV) demonstrates is (G4921) συνιστάω synistáō, which means stand together (literally) and applied in many ways. Thayer writes: “…to put together by way of composition or combination, to teach by combining and comparing, hence, to show, prove, establish, exhibit.”
Some in Rome were teaching sin brings out God’s righteousness. One can show how clean a rag is when compared to a newly washed rag. Vincent: “Also to put together with a vein of showing, proving, or establishing. Expositors render here differently: commend, establish, prove.”
No one can present God’s righteousness by sinning or pointing out sin.
God is always just. All of His decisions are done in wisdom, truth, holiness, and love.
Clarke: “May we not suppose that our unrighteousness may serve to commend and illustrate the mercy of God in keeping and fulfilling to us the promise which He made to our forefathers? The more wicked we are, the more his faithfulness to his ancient promise is to be admired. And if so, would not God appear unjust in taking vengeance and casting us off?”
Pulpit: “Based on the last assertion. But if man’s unfaithfulness has this result, how can God, consistently with his justice, be wrath with us and punish us for it? Surely the Jew (whose case we are now considering) may claim exemption from “the wrath” of God spoken of above, his unfaithfulness being allowed to have served only to establish God’s truth and to enhance his glory.”
V6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?
God’s judgment is righteous. God is the King of kings. He rules a kingdom with laws, lifestyle, and worldview in wisdom, love, holiness, and truth.
He does judge.
What Are the Judgments of God?
Judgments are for sin—breaking God’s laws and unbelief.
Instant or near instant:
- Uzzah—2 Samuel 6:6-7 (EHV) But when they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out for the Ark of God and grabbed it because the oxen stumbled. 7 The anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his irreverence. So he died there beside the Ark of God.
- Ananias—Acts 5:5 (EHV) When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and died. Great fear gripped everyone who heard about it.
Slowly:
- Asa—2 Chronicles 16:12-13 (EHV) Asa’s feet became diseased in the thirty-ninth year of his reign. His disease was very serious, but even when he was sick, he did not seek the LORD, but only his physicians. 13 Asa rested with his fathers. He died in the forty-first year of his reign.
- Hananiah—Jeremiah 28:16-17 (EHV) Therefore this is what the LORD says. Watch, I will remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you will die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.” 17 In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died.
Natural death—
- Adam—Genesis 5:5 (EHV) All the days that Adam lived were 930 years. Then he died.
- Tola—Judges 10:1-2 (EHV) After Abimelek, Tola, the son of Puah, the son of Dodo, a man from Issachar, arose to deliver Israel. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of Ephraim. 2 He judged Israel twenty-three years. Then he died and was buried in Shamir.
After a space of time for repentance but without repentance:
- Ahab—1 Kings 22:34-37 (EHV) But a man shot an arrow at random and struck the king of Israel in the seam between two parts of his armor. So Ahab said to his chariot driver, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, because I have been wounded.” 35 The battle went on all that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing Aram. He died in the evening, and the blood from his wound ran down onto the floor of the chariot. 36 Then, as the sun was going down, a cry went up through the army: “Every man to his own city and every man to his own land!” 37 So the king died, and they brought him to Samaria, and they buried the king in Samaria.
- Jeroboam—1 Kings 13:33-34 (EHV) Even after this, Jeroboam did not turn from his evil way, but he continued to appoint all kinds of people as priests for the high places. He ordained anyone who wanted to be a priest for the high places. 34 This was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, which erased and exterminated it from the face of the earth.
Eternal punishment:
- Refused to believe the Gospel
- John 3:18-19 (EHV) The one who believes in him is not condemned, but the one who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. 19 This is the basis for the judgment: The light has come into the world, yet people loved the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds were evil.
- Israel—Jude 1:5 (EHV) I want to remind you, though you already know all these things, that after the Lord rescued his people out of the land of Egypt, he later destroyed those who did not believe.
- Sin nature
- Romans 6:23 (EHV) For the wages of sin is death, but the undeserved gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
- Ephesians 2:3 (EHV) Formerly, we all lived among them in the passions of our sinful flesh, as we carried out the desires of the sinful flesh and its thoughts. Like all the others, we were by nature objects of God’s wrath.
- Breaking God’s laws
- Ezekiel 18:4 (EHV) Indeed, all souls are mine. The soul of the father is mine just like the soul of the son. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
- Galatians 6:7-8 (EHV) Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. To be sure, whatever a man sows, he will also reap. 8 Indeed, the one who sows for his own sinful flesh will reap destruction from the sinful flesh. But the one who sows for the spirit will reap eternal life from the spirit.
V7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?
Sin never glorifies God. It is just the opposite (Matthew 5:16). Repentance glorifies God.
God will judge sin. No sin glorifies God. God punishes sin.
V8 And [why] not [say], “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.
If what some say, they believe the more I sin, the more God is glorified. The truth is the opposite, the more I sin, the wrath of God is treasured up for the day of judgment. See Romans 2:5.
We learn:
- God is not glorified by sin.
- God punishes sin.
Questions:
- What is your view of sin?
- What does God think of your sin?