God Must Have Just Gotten It Wrong (this is part 1)

Scripture: Romans 3:3-4 "For what if some [Jews] did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true (also translatable as "found true") and every man a liar. As it iso written: 'That you may be justified in your words, and may over come when you are judged.' "

Observation: This transition is confusing to me, and I may not figure it out this morning....

First, what does verse 3 have to do with verses 1 and 2 and chapter 2:25-29?

Second, why does Paul "misquote" Psalm 51:4?

First, the "faithfulness" of God must be referring to the fact that God revealed the OT Scriptures even though some Jews did not believe in faith. So Paul's train of thought seems to be that (beginning at the end of Ch. 2):
1. Physical Jewish descent will never lead irrevocably to eternal life.

2. The "chief" blessing or value of being God's chosen nation was the immeasurable blessing of being the bearers of God's holy word and prophecies.

3. Therefore, because some do not continue in faith it doesn't mean that God's faithfulness was useless, but rather it must be understood that eternal life was never guaranteed to every Hebrew.

4. And verse 4 is just Paul saying that a Jew who found blame with God because God appeared to have failed to keep His promise or did not succeed in bringing the promised salvation to the Jews should readjust his or her perspective by remembering that God is always right and man will always be wrong when there exists a conflict between what we see God doing and what we think He should  be doing.

Application: A believer should remember this when dealing with a conflict between our society's current moral standards and the standard(s) laid down in God's word. Many people want to just assume that He didn't mean what His word says He meant.

Remembering this will also protect me from prejudices toward others when I misunderstand portions of God's word because I have forgotten to apply other important and pertinent commands.

Prayer: Lord, I'm glad that You are always right and I will always be found wrong when I disagree with You. I appreciate the times that You convict me of sin. I'm glad when You speak to me about things I need to stop doing... or start doing. I have no desire to be left in the dark so please keep shining Your light into my life. I love You. Amen.