“But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then, how could God judge the world? But if through my lie, God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.”
Romans 3:5-8
Paul had already established in the first four verses of chapter three that unrighteousness does not nullify the faithfulness of God. But it does not mean we can continue in unrighteousness or sin with the thought that God will be merciful. We need to understand that He will be righteous, or, He will do what is right according to who He is, which means He is faithful to His Word and promises.
The Selfish Rationale of Mankind
The logic of the Jews was that if the Gentiles did not have the law but could still enter heaven, why was Paul teaching that the same standard would judge the Jews, especially since they had the law? Here is humanity’s challenge: If our unfaithfulness magnifies the mercy of God in an ever-expanding way, as some believe, is God unjust in bringing His wrath on us?
Although Paul recognizes this argument, he clearly defines it as human logic. Paul shows that this is not the wisdom of God, as it is the rationale of humanity. The implication that God would be unjust in judging the world is utterly ridiculous. God can judge the world because He alone is righteous. Remember what Paul says in Romans 2:1, “Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another, you condemn yourself because you, the judge, practice the very same things.”
Paul has already pointed out that the advantages that circumcised Jews have over their Gentile neighbors are not a passport to heaven. Jews were as equally sinful as Gentiles. Jews were equally in need of salvation, which, for Jews and Gentiles alike, is a gift of God’s grace–accessed through faith.
Some falsely accused Paul of teaching that sinfulness was good because it magnified God’s grace and forgiveness. These people suggested that telling a lie was good because it amplified God’s truthfulness: “If a lie highlights the truthfulness of God which glorifies Him,” they argued, “then why should we still be judged as a sinner?” They were making the outrageous suggestion that sinning was good, as it highlighted the mercy of God.
This logic is not only twisting the truth of the gospel of grace but was the most outrageous argument against the character of God and provided a sinner with a license to sin! Paul used this reasoning when he challenged this ungodly attitude by asking, “So why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come?” But he concluded with a severe warning. “Their condemnation is just.”
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)