#67. Romans 3:4 – A Complete Study of Paul’s Use of the Hebrew Scriptures, Part III

Part II: The Conduct of Humanity

Now let God be true, yet every man a liar, even as it is written: “That so Thou shouldst be justified in Thy sayings, And shalt be conquering even when Thou art being judged.”

Even As

The argument presented in Romans 1:18-3:20 concludes in two ways. The argument fields two major objections in 3:1-4, and one final rebuttal in 3:5-8. The argument then shares a careful, and cited, conclusion (3:9-20.) Paul’s third cited verse in the Old Testament, found in Psalm 51:4, is an important verse, for its citation serves as a hinge between the former verse and the later verse.

An indication for this is immediately given. Instead of reading “According as it is written,” as with the first two quotes, Paul uses the connective “even as.” This special connective, kathaper, appears fourteen times in Paul’s writings – four times in Romans. The term differs from according as; it is not designed to be an isolated quote, extracted from its context, but relies on the context to demonstrate its point. It provides a figure of likeness for Paul’s argument. It is not as though Paul’s writings concern the same exact scenario as David, but that the point David makes is pertinent. He writes,

I acknowledge my transgressions, And my sin is in front of me continually. Against You, against You alone have I sinned, And done what is evil in Your eyes, So that You may be found righteous when You speak, And be cleared when You judge.

Paul openly acknowledges such a verse: David’s sin is in front of him, continually. He recognizes the problem; he did not sin against man, but against God, which matters most. It is this – sin’s gravest stance – which is presented as blind animosity against God (Rom. 1:18-32.)

What was David’s sin? You are likely already aware of David’s experience with Bathsheba (2 Sam. 11.) When David walked about the rooftop, he witnessed Bathsheba, and found her to be of exceeding beauty. He called her to his chambers, and they did the dirty together. He knew she was married (2 Sam. 11:3.) To the surprise of no one, she became pregnant. Upon hearing this news, David’s heart was not yet softened, and he soon hatched a plan to place Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, on the front lines of a frontal assault against the sons of Ammon. When the time was right, the Israelites pulled back, leaving Uriah alone on the front lines.

To call this “adultery” is to put it mildly. This was adultery, mixed with abuse of power, with an unhealthy dose of torture, lies and murder. Indeed, David, here, puts Machiavelli to shame. The priest, Nathan, comes to David and states the obvious:

For what reason have you despised the word of Yahweh by doing what is evil in His eyes? Uriah the Hittite have you smitten with the sword; you took his wife as your wife and had him killed by the sword of the sons of Ammon.

David, upon being faced with the right judgment of Yahweh, responds,

I have sinned against Yahweh.

Nathan replied to David, Now Yahweh, He has remitted your sin; you shall not die.

Thus, David’s psalm does not speak of repentance, for Yahweh had remitted the sin of David. That is, he literally passes by the sin of David.

Yahweh does not do this because he agrees with David, or because he thinks David himself was justified in his action. As David himself clarifies, he had done what was evil in Yahweh’s eyes, so that Yahweh would be found righteous when He speaks. It is passed over specifically because the sin of David could be used, through God’s faithfulness, to bring both the righteousness of indignation/judgment, and the righteousness of faith. He could correct David while also advancing the blessings of Israel.

In this, David’s sin is vitally used by God, in both a relative, immediate context, and for a much longer term goal. David’s sin had dishonored God, immediately – and for this, God does not stand. He ensures that a child born of such a monstrous act would not be forced to live through such a cursed premise for a life (imagine being a bastard son, Game of Thrones style, and the message this sends about the God of Israel to the surrounding nations! Hence God’s reason for this judicial verdict, that it brought blasphemy toward Him from the opposing nations – 2 Sam. 12:14.) The babe is not so much as circumcised, his life taken on day seven (2 Sam. 12:18 – the circumcised are born on day eight.)

Yet simultaneously, David’s sin brought a unique and unparalleled appreciation for God. The sin itself does not honor God; but the sinner’s perspective, in light of God’s handling of the situation, is all the more humbled. In this case, the nation is exposed to David’s poor leadership, and must watch him endure a humiliating loss therein. There is nowhere for him to run; he must be educated, and he is.

If God had cut off David here, and had no righteousness of faith, then He would not have been able to bring about His blessings with Israel. The lineage of the King would have been discarded, and the avenue to the millennial kingdom blocked off. Yet it is precisely that David glorifies God’s righteousness which justifies God producing David’s lacking conduct. The ends justify the means; faithful Israel learned that their doubts are unwarranted, and the blessings are being faithfully coordinated on God’s terms – not Israel’s terms. With this realization, David’s experience with sin humbles him, so that he learns about God, and his heart becomes enamored with Him.

The Hebrew scriptures speak of God’s righteousness in faith multiple times in this, but the Psalm example is one of the plainest expressions of it. The purpose, “so that God may be found righteous when He speaks,” is not what David had in mind when he was sinning (I think we all knew what he had in mind, and what he was thinking with.) The good that David trusted God would bring about, as He promised in His oracles, were the premise on which he could recognize and state the function of his sin. Since God’s goals are holy and just and good, and He is able in all, all-knowing, and all-powerful, then He alone could use sin to convey relational contrasts, and lessons, through which the chosen nation would come to know Him.

Some may argue that David is getting off too easy. I would argue that those who argue this have likely not felt the loss of a son. I would also argue that the passage has not yet been fully understood, if such an objection is made. Both David’s grief and joy are conveyed. David does not refuse to acknowledge that he had done wrong, nor does scripture attempt to dress up the matter. That this is accompanied by exultant joy toward the One Who provided the problem and the lesson should be expected, really. The demonstration is a microcosm of God’s dealings with the entire universe (Phil. 2:10-11.) David was to learn that his confidence would be in God, not in the passions of the flesh. He learns this lesson, showing the clear purpose in the sin.

Nor is “passed over” to be transposed with “forgotten!” Yahweh corrects where necessary! There were present evils which God afflicted David with. Yet God promises anyway to bring good to Zion, and build up the walls of Jerusalem. (Ps. 51:18.) It is promised that Israel will delight in righteous sacrifices (Ps. 51:19.) The blessings David speaks of refer to the promised covenant made in 2 Sam. 7:4-16, where we read of Yahweh cutting off the enemies of Israel and establishing the King through David. Thus, when we read, later in 2 Sam. 12:10 that “the sword shall not withdraw from David’s house for the eon,” the severity of David’s sin hits home. Indeed, he will die before witnessing Israel at its most glorious, just like every other man, and Israel herself will have to wait even longer for their promised kingdom.

These are the statements which end a psalm which begins with a recognition of man’s sin – especially the sin of a man who is said to be after God’s heart. David’s failure was David’s failure, but it led David to commend the righteousness of God (3:5.) David’s unfaithfulness against Yahweh, in favor of his own lusts and habits, does not reflect or diminish the faithfulness of Yahweh.

Thus the parallel between David’s experience and Paul’s point is made in Romans 3:3-4. The sin of humanity is not merely some aggravating rebelliousness which holds no immediate relation to the creation story God is telling. The irreverence and injustice provides a dark background on which the evangel itself can shine. God is showing, continually, that He is in the right and man is not, by using man’s wrongs to humble them and bring about the good that He Himself promises.

- GerudoKing