Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 4 Study # 1
February 18, 2018
Humble, Texas
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• I. A Prior Context.
  • A. In Romans 3:6 Paul raised the question of "How shall God judge the world?".
    • 1. This question was raised because the suggestion was made that "maybe God is not Righteous", or, said in the way of Romans 3:5, "Is God Unrighteous Who taketh vengeance?".
    • 2. In the preceding context, the question was raised as to whether God is "believable" in light of the fact of promises made but not believed.
      • a. This questions the issue of whether God's promises must include His willingness to "force" faith in order to underwrite the integrity of the promises in respect to "all" to whom the promises were addressed.
      • b. The "believeableness" issue is, according to the context, whether God is truthful (Romans 3:4).
      • c. And Paul's "default" position is that men, as "liars" (every one of them), are incapable of rendering legitimate "justice" when it comes to impugning God's "Just" character.
    • 3. In the following context, the question was raised as to whether man can be judged as a sinner in view of the fact that his "sins" actually establish the truth of God "unto (the revelation of) His glory".
      • a. At issue is God's ability to use a man's sins to accomplish a "good".
      • b. This is at the very heart of Romans 8:28 where the promise is that all "sins" will be forced into slavery to God's good for those who believe Him.
  • B. This prior context reveals three things.
    • 1. It reveals the fact that men have always struggled with the impossibility of seeing the glory of The God with clarity and balance.
    • 2. It reveals the fact that God will be vindicated in light of the judgment that sinners pronounce against Him.
      • a. The real issue is man's "creatureliness" as it exists without "omniscience" and as it exists under his "sinfulness" (i.e., "disbelief" caused by the lack of humility as indicated by the accusation of unrighteousness in His glory).
      • b. The real problem is man's willingness to criticize God without living up to his own professed "standards" (to accuse God of "unrighteousness" without being personally "perfect in love" is hypocritical at least and arrogant at most).
    • 3. It reveals the tacit commitment by God to make this issue plain to all at some point in the future (He will be vindicated in the sight of all at some point: every mouth of objection will be stopped and every knee of rebellion will bow).
• II. The Current Text.
  • A. "Therefore, you will say to me...".
    • 1. Paul, again, anticipates his reader's objection.
    • 2. The objection is, primarily, aimed at his declaration that "God hardens whom He will".
  • B. "Why does He yet find fault?".
    • 1. The question assumes man's "faultiness".
      • a. At the very root of this "faultiness" is the reality that man never escapes his own selfishness except by participation in the glory of the Selfless God (Paul's selfless love for his kinsmen who hated him is only by the input of the Spirit of God).
      • b. The root, then, of man's "faultiness" is his lack of the glory of genuine "Love" as a matter of creation/fall.
    • 2. The question challenges God's "righteousness" in "finding fault".
      • a. It is the height of irony that it is a sinner who is "finding fault" with God Who "finds fault".
      • b. This challenge is actually a challenge against God's "Love" by those who have never even come close to the demonstration of God's "Love" at Calvary.
  • C. "Who resists His will?".
    • 1. The "will" addressed here is what "will" be, or become, reality because it is determined by the omnipotent God.
    • 2. If God will "force" this "will", how can any man (less than omnipotent) effectively resist?
    • 3. And if man cannot effectively resist, how can he be "faulted" for it?