Romans 03

There are only two essential types of belief in all religions, WORKS and GRACE. The world’s religions are all essentially the same -- they all center around human works. All involve human beings accomplishing a task or set of tasks to achieve a goal and receive a reward. ” In the world’s religions, salvation (righteousness, oneness with the Infinite, perfect nothingness, or whatever is the term in a particular religion) is earned by what one does. Unfortunately, within this group of religions based on human effort are many species of religion that go by the name of Christianity.

How can a holy and righteous God be just and holy and at the same time allow sinful man to come into His presence? The Bible clearly teaches that God is holy, and in His holy character, He will not allow sin in His presence. It also teaches that man is a sinful creature. In fact, he is dead in his sins and trespasses. Our moral attitudes and behaviors separate us from God. All sinners must pay a terrible penalty. "The wages of sin is death . . .” (Romans 6:23a). In Romans 3:21-26, Paul brings out something of the grandeur of Christ’s saving work. He views salvation in three ways: as justification (imagery from the law court), as redemption (imagery from the slave market) and as propitiation (imagery from the averting of wrath of God). Why is such a question critical for us today? It is because our eternal destiny hinges on an accurate understanding of the answer. Where will you spend eternity? On this subject we had better make sure we have the right answers. There are those who believe that saving grace depends upon what the penitent sinner does (works). They teach not only grace but also good works contributes to justification--grace plus works! The problem, however, is this is teaching a salvation by works. It goes completely against the main thrust of the Scriptures which stresses salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone. The Bible, especially Paul's writings, clearly and consistently teaches that salvation is a gift from God that is received by faith in Jesus Christ:

• John 3:15: so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.
• Acts 4:12: There is salvation in no one else! There is no other name in all of heaven for people to call on to save them."
• Romans 1:17: This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life."
• Romans 3:28: So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
• Romans 4:3: For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous."
• Romans 4:6-8: King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared to be righteous: "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight. Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord."
• Galatians 2:16: And yet we Jewish Christians know that we become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ -- and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law."
• Galatians 2:21: I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.
• Galatians 3:10-13: But those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, "Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all these commands that are written in God's Book of the Law." Consequently, it is clear that no one can ever be right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." How different from this way of faith is the way of law, which says, "If you wish to find life by obeying the law, you must obey all of its commands." But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing. For it is written in the Scriptures, "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
• Ephesians 2:8-9: God saved you by his special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it.
• Philippians 3:9: and become one with him. I no longer count on my own goodness or my ability to obey God's law, but I trust Christ to save me. For God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith.
• 2 Timothy 1:9: It is God who saved us and chose us to live a holy life. He did this not because we deserved it, but because that was his plan long before the world began -- to show his love and kindness to us through Christ Jesus.
• Titus 3:5: He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.

If we are to be justified at all, it must be on the ground of the merits of Another, whose merits can be made ours by faith. And that is the reason why God sent His Only Begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have everlasting life. If we do not believe in Him, obviously we must perish. But if we believe in Him, we shall not perish but have everlasting life. That is Justification by Faith. Justification by Faith is nothing other than obtaining everlasting life by believing in Christ. . . And there is none other name under heaven, given among men, wherein we must be saved . . . " (B. B. Warfield).

The wonderful thing the apostle Paul stresses is that we are not only saved by grace, but we now stand in grace. This is our new position in Christ. The same grace that saved us now sustains us.

John R. W. Stott states: "Jesus Christ came into the world to live and to die. In His life, His obedience to the law was perfect. In His death, He suffered for our disobedience. On earth, He lived the only life of sinless obedience to the law which has ever been lived. On the cross, He died for our law-breaking, since the penalty for disobedience to the law was death. All that is required for us to be justified, therefore, is to acknowledge our sin and helplessness, to repent of our years of self-assertion and self-righteousness, and to put our whole trust and confidence in Jesus Christ to save us" (The Message of Galatians, p. 62).

Over thirty things occurred the very moment we put our faith in Christ including:

• We were born again or regenerated (Titus 3:5; John 3:5, 6; Ephesians 2:1-5).
• We were baptized by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:13).
• We were indwelt by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).
• We were sealed by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30).
• We received spiritual gifts for ministry (1 Corinthians 12:11).

We are in (sun) Christ; He is in us:

• We are crucified with Christ (Galatians 2:20).
• We are dead with Christ (Colossians 2:20).
• We are buried with Christ (Romans 6:4).
• Made alive with Christ (Ephesians 2:5).
• We are raised together with Christ (Colossians 3:1).
• We are sufferers together with Christ (Romans 8:17).
• We are glorified together with Christ (Romans 8:17).

The old Puritan John Bunyan testified: "Suddenly, this sentence fell upon my soul, "Thy righteousness is in heaven." . . . I saw, with the eyes of my soul Jesus Christ at God's right hand. . . It was glorious to me to see His exaltation and the worth and prevalency of all His benefits. . . . By this also was my faith in Him, as my righteousness the more confirmed in me, for if He and I were one, then His righteousness was mine, His merits mine, His victory also mine. Now I would see myself in heaven and earth at once; in heaven by my Christ, by my head, by my righteousness and life, though on earth by my body or person."

(1) Then what's the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the Jewish ceremony of circumcision?

• Paul has carefully explained in Romans 2 that the possession of the law or circumcision will not save a Jewish person. If this is the case, then what is the advantage of being “God’s chosen nation”?
• We can appreciate just a little bit the radical, revolutionary impact of Paul's teaching upon Jewish complacency. Paul himself had been through it; had he not taken his religion more seriously than his contemporaries? Had he not boasted that if any other could be proud of his achievements, he more? Surely the Apostle Paul had felt the blasting power of the truth against his own personal complacency and pride and stubborn zeal.
• The Jews did not feel they were to be dealt with as other men. GOD had chosen them as the covenant people of Abraham, and insights into their attitude abound in the New Testament as, for example, when John the Baptist began his public ministry with the message, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." One can almost hear the Jews saying to John, "Of what must we repent, we are the children of Abraham?" John replies, " think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham" (Matthew 3:9). There is a basic truth intimated here; namely, that it is easier for GOD to make a man out of a stone than to bring a man to repentance.
• On another occasion, when JESUS was having one of his verbal encounters with the Pharisees (John 8), they boasted, "We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man" (verse 33). It was a favorite saying of the Jews that all Israel hath a part in eternal life.

(2) Yes, being a Jew has many advantages. First of all, the Jews were entrusted with the whole revelation of God.

• Deuteronomy 4:7-8: For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as this body of laws that I am giving you today?
• “This was their prime privilege, that they were God’s library-keepers, that this heavenly treasure was concredited to them.” (Trapp)
• Disobedient Jews took the position that God was obligated, because of his covenant promises to Israel, to bless them regardless of whether they were faithful or sinful.
• That is the end of his answer until chapter 9. Paul will later expand on the advantage of the Jewish people in Romans 9:4, explaining that Israel also had the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises.

(3) True, some of them were unfaithful; but just because they broke their promises, does that mean God will break his promises?

(4) Of course not! Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true. As the Scriptures say, "He will be proved right in what he says, and he will win his case in court."

• Spurgeon on Though everyone else in the world is a liar, God is true: “It is a strange, strong expression; but it is none too strong. If God says one thing, and every man in the world says another, God is true, and all men are false. God speaks the truth, and cannot lie. God cannot change; his word, like himself, is immutable. We are to believe God’s truth if nobody else believes it. The general consensus of opinion is nothing to a Christian. He believes God’s word, and he thinks more of that than of the universal opinion of men.”

(5) "But," some say, "our sins serve a good purpose, for people will see God's goodness when he declares us sinners to be innocent. Isn't it unfair, then, for God to punish us?" (That is actually the way some people talk.)

• In our day the expression, "we are all sinners" is a popular excuse to go on sinning. For many people there is no contrite conviction in those words. They are nothing more than an excuse for more sinning. Everybody does it so why can't I?
• David Guzik:" In theory, the most dramatic example of someone who might ask this question is Judas. Can you hear Judas make his case? “Lord, I know that I betrayed Jesus, but You used it for good. In fact, if I hadn’t done what I did, Jesus wouldn’t have gone to the cross at all. What I did even fulfilled the Scriptures. How can You judge me at all?” The answer to Judas might go like this: “Yes, God used your wickedness but it was still your wickedness. There was no good or pure motive in your heart at all. It is no credit to you that God brought good out of your evil. You stand guilty before God.”"

(6) Of course not! If God is not just, how is he qualified to judge the world?

• Paul understood that God would judge the world, both Jew and Gentile. The Jews of Paul’s day figured that God would condemn the Gentile for his sin, but save the Jew despite his sin.

(7) "But," some might still argue, "how can God judge and condemn me as a sinner if my dishonesty highlights his truthfulness and brings him more glory?"

(8) If you follow that kind of thinking, however, you might as well say that the more we sin the better it is! Those who say such things deserve to be condemned, yet some slander me by saying this is what I preach!

• Some of Paul's opponents, and opponents today of salvation by faith apart from works, accused him of teaching a doctrine of "cheap grace". I have several times been accused of the same. Man always wants to add his little part - for pride's sake. Anyone who feels that way is, in effect, saying that Jesus' work on the cross was incomplete.

(9) Well then, are we Jews better than others? No, not at all, for we have already shown that all people, whether Jews or Gentiles, are under the power of sin.

(10) As the Scriptures say, "No one is good -- not even one.

(11) No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God.

(12) All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one."

• Psalm 14:2-3: The LORD looks down from heaven on the entire human race; he looks to see if there is even one with real understanding, one who seeks for God. But no, all have turned away from God; all have become corrupt. No one does good, not even one!
• Isaiah 59:6-8: They cheat and shortchange everyone. Nothing they do is productive; all their activity is filled with sin. Violence is their trademark. Their feet run to do evil, and they rush to commit murder. They think only about sinning. Wherever they go, misery and destruction follow them. They do not know what true peace is or what it means to be just and good. They continually do wrong, and those who follow them cannot experience a moment's peace.

(13) "Their talk is foul, like the stench from an open grave. Their speech is filled with lies." "The poison of a deadly snake drips from their lips."

• Matthew 3:7: But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to be baptized, he denounced them. "You brood of snakes!" he exclaimed. "Who warned you to flee God's coming judgment?

(14) "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."

• Psalm 10:7: Their mouths are full of cursing, lies, and threats. Trouble and evil are on the tips of their tongues.

(15) "They are quick to commit murder.

(16) Wherever they go, destruction and misery follow them.

(17) They do not know what true peace is."

(18) "They have no fear of God to restrain them."

(19) Obviously, the law applies to those to whom it was given, for its purpose is to keep people from having excuses and to bring the entire world into judgment before God.

• Galatians 3:22: But the Scriptures have declared that we are all prisoners of sin, so the only way to receive God's promise is to believe in Jesus Christ.
• Galatians 3:24: Let me put it another way. The law was our guardian and teacher to lead us until Christ came. So now, through faith in Christ, we are made right with God.
• The law was never intended to be a means of salvation except as it pointed man to his need of grace in CHRIST. When a man says, "The Ten Commandments is my religion," he is bound by the Ten Commandments; and his condemnation is the greater because he has embraced them and broken them. When a man says, "The Sermon on the Mount is my religion," he is condemned by his own boast when he does not live up to it. When a man says, "The Golden Rule is my religion," he judges himself by his failure. This is not an uncommon attitude. "If a man just lives up to the Golden Rule." "If a man just lives up to the Sermon on the Mount." That is a big "if." For "by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified." For a man to take refuge in moral law serves only to increase his condemnation. The reason the law will not save is reserved for later discussion, (chapters 6 through 8) but it is quite apparent; man fails to keep the law.

(20) For no one can ever be made right in God's sight by doing what his law commands. For the more we know God's law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it.

• His “law” refers to the Old Testament and the law of Moses especially, not just the ceremonial law or just the Ten Commandments.
• Since the time of Adam and Eve, people have tried to justify themselves by the deeds of the law. In the Garden of Eden Adam tried to make himself presentable to God by making coverings out of fig leaves - and he failed. In Job, the oldest book of the Bible, the problem is presented clearly: how can a man be righteous before God? (Job 9:2) God makes part of the answer clear here through Paul - the answer is not in the performance of good works, in the deeds of the law.
• A church that makes the rules and presumes to grant or withhold salvation can manipulate its people to its ends (like the Roman church today and the Pharisees in Jesus' day):
  • Mark 7:5-9: So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, "Why don't your disciples follow our age-old customs? For they eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony." Jesus replied, "You hypocrites! Isaiah was prophesying about you when he said, 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's commands with their own man-made teachings.' For you ignore God's specific laws and substitute your own traditions." Then he said, "You reject God's laws in order to hold on to your own traditions

(21) BUT NOW God has shown us a different way of being right in his sight -- not by obeying the law but by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago.

• Justification (being right) is God's act of removing the guilt and penalty of sin while at the same time declaring a sinner righteous through Christ's atoning sacrifice - through faith alone, without works.The Bible meaning of the word is to be totally blameless and totally guiltless--to be able to stand before God clean and pure in every way. Justification is to stand before God with all accounts paid and clothed in the righteousness of His only Son, Jesus Christ.

(22) We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we ALL can be saved in this same way, no matter who we are or what we have done.

(23) For ALL have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard.

• Isaiah 53:6: All of us have strayed away like sheep. We have left God's paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the guilt and sins of us all.
• Both Jews and Gentiles have fallen short of the glory of God. Everyone in the entire world has sinned and fallen short of or lacks the glory of God. God’s law demands absolute perfection. No one is perfect in God’s sight. Man has no merit at all; his sin has disqualified him in the heavenly court.
• God sees the unbelieving sinner as:
  • Lost (Matthew 18:11; 2 Corinthians 4:3)
  • Guilty (Romans 3:19)
  • Spiritually dead (Ephesians 2:1)
  • Alienated from God (Ephesians 4:18)
  • His enemies (Romans 5:10; Colossians 1:21)
  • Children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3)
  • Condemned (John 3:18)

(24) Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins.

• King James Version: Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
• justified (dikaioumenoi). Present passive participle of dikaioo¯, to set right, repeated action in each case, each being set right.

(25) For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed his blood, sacrificing his life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when he did not punish those who sinned in former times

• John 1:29: The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
• 2 Corinthians 5:21: For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ.
• God's righteousness is satisfied by the death of Christ. The death of Christ is a "propitiatory sacrifice." God's justice is satisfied in the death of Jesus. Now God can declare, "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1).
• God imputes (reckons, charges to the account) the sinner’s guilt to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to the sinner (Psalm 32:1, 2; Isaiah 53:4-6; Romans 5:18, 19; 2 Corinthians 5:21). Imputation is the reckoning or "charging to the account" of one what properly belongs to the account of another. Because of the redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ, God imputes or credits our sin to the person of Jesus Christ and imputes His righteousness to our account through faith in Him. The word used is the verb logizomai which means "to count, reckon, credit, charge to the account of another."

(26) And he is entirely fair and just in this present time when he declares sinners to be right in his sight because they believe in Jesus.

• Romans 5:6-8: When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, no one is likely to die for a good person, though someone might be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.

(27) Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith.

(28) So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

• Faith is not trying to obey and fulfill some kind of law. It is not doing our best to try to live up to some religious or moral standard. Trying to live up to someone's law, no matter where it comes from, is not faith. That is living by works. God does not love and accept you because you have tried hard to do what you think was right.
• God has devised a plan by which, anyone may be pardoned and saved; and that is by faith alone. This is the grand uniqueness of the Christian religion. This was the special point in the reformation from the Roman church. Luther often called this doctrine of justification by faith the article upon which the church stood or fell.
• Romans 8:2: For the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you through Christ Jesus from the power of sin that leads to death.
• Galatians 2:21: I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless. For if we could be saved by keeping the law, then there was no need for Christ to die.

(29) After all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is he? Isn't he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is.

• Jews wanted to keep YHWH as a tribal, national God.

(30) There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by him. He makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles.

• FAITH PLUS NOTHING!
• The next chapter expands on this theme using Abraham as an example of justification by faith, not works.

(31) Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

• The Law and the prophets testified to the gift of God. The Law provided a system of offerings and sacrifices that men could bring to the altar in the Temple. This system looked forward to and pictured the death of Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world" (John 1:29).
• 1 Timothy 1:7-11: They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don't know what they are talking about, even though they seem so confident. We know these laws are good when they are used as God intended. But they were not made for people who do what is right. They are for people who are disobedient and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who murder their father or mother or other people. These laws are for people who are sexually immoral, for homosexuals and slave traders, for liars and oath breakers, and for those who do anything else that contradicts the right teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.
• Titus 3:5: He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit.
• Galatians 2:16: And yet we Jewish Christians know that we become right with God, not by doing what the law commands, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be accepted by God because of our faith in Christ -- and not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be saved by obeying the law."

NOTES:

• Unless otherwise noted, the scripture version used is the New Living Translation, copyright 1996, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois.
• Disclaimer: Source material for this study has been gleaned from many different sources. I have attempted to acknowledge these sources at romansoverview.blogspot.com/2012/12/romans-references.html