Bible Study: Romans 3:1-8 "justified your words"

Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, ​the Jews were entrusted with ​the oracles of God. ​What if some were unfaithful? ​Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! ​Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,

​“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you e​are judged.”

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.

The previous chapter has made the argument that every man, whether Jew or Gentile, is in the same boat of condemnation in the site of God. Chapter 3 is a transition chapter in Romans. It begins with final remarks on the charge against man and ends with the hope that will be seen more clearly in chapters to come.

At this point Paul explains: (1) why it is still good to be Jewish even though being a Jew doesn't save a person, (2) how God uses the sin of the Jewish people to glorify Himself, and (3) how this argument doesn't excuse sinners.

On the third point John MacArthur writes:

One of the most obvious characteristics of fallen human nature is its amazing ability to rationalize sin. Even small children are clever at giving a good reason for doing a wrong thing. That, essentially, was what Paul’s opponents charged him with doing-rationalizing sin on the basis that it glorified God.

For a professed Christian to live in continual, unrepentant sin is a certain mark that he is not saved. To be a Christian is to be under the lordship of Jesus Christ and genuinely desire to serve Him. As Jude makes indisputably clear, the person who tries to justify his sin by presuming on God’s grace is ungodly and denies Christ (v. 4). -The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series: Romans