Romans 3:3

Jew. For what - τι γαρ, What then, if some did not believe, etc. If some of the Jewish nation have abused their privileges, and acted contrary to their obligations, shall their wickedness annul the Promise which God made to Abraham, that he would, by an everlasting covenant, be a God to him and to his seed after him? Genesis 17:7. Shall God, therefore, by stripping the Jews of their peculiar honor, as you intimate he will, falsify his promise to the nation, because some of the Jews are bad men?

For what if some did not believe? - This is to be regarded as another objection of a Jew. "What then? or what follows? if it be admitted that some of the nation did not believe, does it not follow that the faithfulness of God in his promises will fail?" The points of the objection are these:

(1) The apostle had maintained that the nation was sinful Romans 2; that is, that they had not obeyed or believed God.

(2) This, the objector for the time admits or supposes in relation to some of them. But,

(3) he asks whether this does not involve a consequence which is not admissible, that God is unfaithful.

Did not the fact that God chose them as his people, and entered into covenant with them, imply that the Jews should be kept from perdition? It was evidently their belief that all Jews would be saved, and this belief they grounded on his covenant with their fathers. The doctrine of the apostle Romans 2 would seem to imply that in certain respects they were on a level with the Gentile nations; that if they sinned, they would be treated just like the pagan; and hence, they asked of what value was the promise of God? Had it not become vain and nugatory?

Make the faith - The word "faith" here evidently means the "faithfulness" or "fidelity of God to his promises." Compare Matthew 13:23; 2 Timothy 3:10; Hosea 2:20.

Of none effect - Destroy it; or prevent him from fulfilling his promises. The meaning of the objection is, that the fact supposed, that the Jews would become unfaithful and be lost, would imply that God had failed to keep his promises to the nation; or that he had made promises which the result showed he was not able to perform.

3:3 Shall their unbelief disannul the faithfulness of God - Will he not still make good his promises to them that do believe?