Romans 5

• We're all Guilty (Chapters 1-3)
• God gives us Righteousness (Chapters 4-5)
• You don't have to live like we used to (Chapters 6-8)
• Israel has a hope and future (9-11)
• Now, how should we live? (Chapters 12-16)

Romans 1:18-3:20 depicts a court scene:

• In 1:18-32, the unrighteousness of the Gentiles is exposed to the light. Then, Paul listed twenty-five charges against man.
• In chapter 2:1-16, he shows that the self-righteous are equally guilty before God. The moralists of Paul’s day were men of culture, refinement and intellect, but they too were inexcusable.
• In the remainder of chapter 2, verses 17-29, Paul strips the Jew of every vestige of the cloak of self-righteousness, so that
• when we reach chapter 3, verse 19, God’s startling verdict is “Guilty!”
• Then, chapter 4 tells us how we can be cleared of our guilty verdict.
• To this point in the Book of Romans, Paul has convinced us all that the only way of salvation is to be justified by grace, through faith.
• Now he will tell us what the practical benefits of this are.

We have here in Romans 5 a statement of the Christian's POSITION:

• 1. Justification; a state of acceptance with God, who, for Christ”s sake, regards and treats the believer in Jesus as righteous, and not as guilty. Until the conscience is assured of Divine favor and forgiveness there is no solid peace.
• 2. Who secures it? Jesus Christ. Although Paul has already shown this at length, he refers again in both these verses to the Redeemer, to whom we owe justification, and all the blessings which follow in its train. It is through him that we have been brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now stand
• 3. How is it obtained? By faith. Christ has done all that is necessary, on his part, to secure our salvation. But there is needed something upon our part. We have to receive upon the Divine terms, as a free gift, the greatest of all blessings. It is a spiritual act and attitude and exercise, indispensable to the new life.
• 4. By what title is it held? By that of grace; it is gratuitous. This is for our advantage; for no question is raised as to our fitness. The only question is as to God”s faithfulness; and this is not only pledged, but absolutely sure.

The key to Romans chapter five is the word "rejoice." The person who has been justified by faith in Jesus Christ can rejoice because of the results of believing on Christ. This is obvious from the opening word in chapter five, "THEREFORE." Because of our new relationship to God we can rejoice in our spiritual position, we rejoice in our present circumstances and we rejoice in LORD God.

Since this chapter begins with the word "Therefore", we need to go back to chapter 4 to see what the "Therefore" refers to:

Romans 4:22-25: And because of Abraham's faith, God declared him to be righteous. Now this wonderful truth -- that God declared him to be righteous -- wasn't just for Abraham's benefit. It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.

(1) *Therefore, SINCE we have been **made right in God's sight by faith, we have ***peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.

• *Therefore: Paul restates the great truth of Romans chapters three and four - made righteous or justified BY FAITH.
• **made right = JUSTIFIED in KJV.
  • Justified by faith speaks of a legal decree. Romans 1:18-3:20 found us guilty before the courts of God’s law, God’s glory and our own conscience. Then, Paul explained how because of what Jesus did for us, the righteousness of God is given to all who believe. The guilty sentence is transformed into a sentence of justified, and justified by faith.
  • Justification can be defined as that act of God whereby He declares absolutely righteous any and all who take shelter in the blood of Christ as their only hope for salvation.
  • Justification is a legal term which changes the believing sinner’s standing before God, declaring him acquitted and accepted by God, with the guilt and penalty of his sins put away forever.
  • Justification is the sentence of the Judge in favor of the condemned man, clearing him of all blame and freeing him of every charge. Justification does not make the sinner righteous, but when God sees him “in Christ,” He declares that he is righteous, thereby pronouncing the verdict of “not guilty.” In modern jurisprudence, a sentence in any court must be in keeping with the facts presented. A judge has no right to condemn the innocent or to clear the guilty. Only God can clear the guilty.
  • . If God is to justify a guilty sinner, He can do it only on the ground that the payment for sin has been met. The only way that God could be both merciful and just was through Calvary, where Jesus Christ paid the penalty for sin. There He vindicated His Holy Law and at the same time showed mercy to sinners. The vicarious sufferings and death of Christ are the cause of our justification before God.
  • This is Justification, to stand before God with all accounts paid, and clothed in the righteousness of His only Son, Jesus Christ.
  • The unnamed thief on the cross believed and was immediately forgiven, made righteous, guaranteed to be with Jesus Christ in paradise - he didn't belong to a church, never even went to a church, didn't get baptized, didn't speak in tongues, didn't have "communion", didn't go down the aisle, didn't tithe, didn't pray to Mary or the so-called "saints" nor any of the other things so many churches and "christians" proclaim to be necessary for salvation. If you do a search on this, you'll discover the common false argument that he probably had been baptized sometime beforehand!
  • Luke 23:41-43: We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn't done anything wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom." And Jesus replied, "I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise."
  • In Galatians 2:16 Paul makes the greatest statement of salvation by grace through faith as opposed to a salvation by works. He writes,  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."
  • How do we become a child of God? Galatians 3:26: So you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
  • Here is Paul's formula for evaluating the basis of our assurance of salvation: Galatians 6:15: It doesn't make any difference now whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we really have been changed into new and different people.
  • Job 9:2: "Yes, I know this is all true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in the eyes of God?
  • Job 25:4: How can a mere mortal stand before God and claim to be righteous? Who in all the earth is pure?
  • Acts 13:38-39: "Brothers, listen! In this man Jesus there is forgiveness for your sins. Everyone who believes in him is freed from all guilt and declared right with God -- something the Jewish law could never do.
  • Romans 3:26: 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 8:33: Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself.
  • 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
• ***Peace:
• This is not the peace of God spoken of in other places (such as Philippians 4:7). This is peace with God; the battle between God and us is finished - and He won, winning us. Some never knew they were out of peace with God, but they were like drivers ignoring the red lights of a police car in their rear-view mirror - they are in trouble even if they don’t know it, and it will soon catch up to them.
• If you have really believed on Christ, you will have peace with God. If you are justified you are a member of His family. There is no longer any hostility between you and God. You are at peace with Him. We don' t have to worry about dying and facing God. The prospect of death does not hold a dreadful fear or terror over us because we know we have peace with Him. Because we are justified, we have lost our fear of God. We now have an intimate love relationship with Him.
• The peace “of” God is the idea that God has no longer holds us accountable for the payment for our sins as that was taken care of by the “cross”. The peace “with” God is Him saying to us in effect, “Come on over to Me. Now that the price has been paid, I want you to come close to Me and be with Me.” The peace “of” God is about forgiveness. The peace “with” God is about developing a personal relationship with God.
• The Matthew Henry’s Commentary observes: “There is more in this peace than barely a cessation of enmity, there is friendship and loving-kindness, for God is either the worst enemy or the best friend.”
• Colossians 1:20: and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross.

(2) Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of highest privilege where we now STAND, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory.

• The Living Bible paraphrases verse two, "And we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God had in mind for us to be."
• KJV: By whom also we have ACCESS by faith into this grace wherein we stand , and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
• This access is like the access that Esther gained to enter the throne room of Xerxes. We not only have access, we stand there! The gentile did not have access to the temple - only the courtyard of the gentiles. The woman only had access to the Courtyard of the Women. But, the male Jew had access to the entire temple area - except the sanctuary. However, only the High Priest had access to the Holy of Holies, and then only once per year. WE have immediate access to His very presence, His Holy of Holies at ANY time!
  • Hebrews 4:16: So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it.

(3) We can REJOICE too, when we run into PROBLEMS and trials, for we know that they are good for us -- they help us learn to ENDURE.

• The Christian should expect a path of tribulation. Justification gives no assurance of an easy earthly path: quite the reverse. But it brings heavenly joy into the midst of the trouble.
• Morris: "Tribulations is a strong term. It does not refer to minor inconveniences, but to real hardships".
• Spurgeon: “A Christian man should be willing to be tried; he should be pleased to let his religion be put to the test. ‘There,’ says he, ‘hammer away if you like.’ Do you want to be carried to heaven on a feather bed?”
• Spurgeon: “ ‘Tribulation worketh patience,’ says the apostle. Naturally, it is not so. Tribulation worketh impatience, and impatience misses the fruit of experience, and sours into hopelessness. Ask many who have buried a dear child, or have lost their wealth, or have suffered pain of body, and they will tell you that the natural result of affliction is to produce irritation against providence, rebellion against God, questioning, unbelief, petulance, and all sorts of evils. But what a wonderful alteration takes place when the heart is renewed by the Holy Spirit!”
• Martin Luther: “Whatever virtues tribulation finds us in, it develops more fully. If anyone is carnal, weak, blind, wicked, irascible, haughty, and so forth, tribulation will make him more carnal, weak, blind, wicked and irritable. On the other hand, if one is spiritual, strong, wise, pious, gentle and humble, he will become more spiritual, powerful, wise, pious, gentle and humble.”
• 2 Corinthians 1:4: He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When others are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.
  • King James Version: Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

(4) And ENDURANCE develops strength of *CHARACTER in us, and character strengthens our CONFIDENT EXPECTATION of salvation.

• *CHARACTER: The Greek word, rendered “character”, dokime, literally means “test.”
• Long afflictions borne patiently show a Christian what he is; they test his faith, and prove that it is genuine.
• 1 Peter 1:6-7: So be truly glad! There is wonderful joy ahead, even though it is necessary for you to endure many trials for a while. These trials are only to test your faith, to show that it is strong and pure. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold -- and your faith is far more precious to God than mere gold. So if your faith remains strong after being tried by fiery trials, it will bring you much praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.

(5) And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

• 1 John 4:8-10: But anyone who does not love does not know God -- for God is love. God showed how much he loved us by sending his only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love. It is not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
• James 1:2-4: Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy. For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything.
• Tribulation -> Pressure -> Patience ->Endurance -> Experience -> Proven Character or Maturity -> Hope - The confident expectation that we will not be disappointed.

(6) When we were utterly *helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners.

• *helpless: The idea expressed by the Greek word asthenon is that we were "incapable of working out any righteousness for ourselves."

(7) 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.

• Paul is saying that there is a possibility of someone willing to die for a worthy person, however rare the case may be, but never of one in which a righteous person willingly takes the place of someone who is unworthy of the sacrifice.
• This is just saying that it would have been a little more understandable that Jesus would die on the cross for us, if we had been good people.

(8) BUT God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us WHILE WE WERE STILL SINNERS.

• His death is substitutionary meaning someone else died in our place to pay our sin debt. Christ died for (huper), instead of, on behalf of the ungodly. He died "for us." He died for you and me.
• John 11:50: Why should the whole nation be destroyed? Let this one man die for the people."
• Galatians 3:13: 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."
• What if, instead of a grenade were thrown into the a group of Vietnamese soldiers guarding an American prisoner. Suppose that American soldier, who had been abused and beaten and was permanently scarred and disfigured by his captures, fell on that grenade and gave his life to save his enemies. You say, "People don't do that!" That's right! Human nature recoils at the thought of doing good to one's enemies. However, while man doesn't do that, God does! That is exactly what happened at Calvary! Jesus Christ died for the sins of His enemies. He threw Himself on the grenade of God's wrath and when it detonated, He died to deliver those who hated Him. What love!

(9) And since we have been made right in God's sight *by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment.

• *by: Hebrew en = in.
• *by the blood = in the blood: Our justification is based on the fact that we were included in His blood (verse 9), when it was poured out and we were also included in His life when He rose from the dead (verse 10).

(10) For since we were restored to friendship with God by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be delivered from eternal punishment by his life.

• The key to our justification and glorification is in our IDENTIFICATION WITH what He did. God included us in the death of His Son and in His resurrection. As the person who brought a sacrifice in the Old Testament dispensation laid his hand on the animal that was to be sacrificed, he indicated to accept that what happened to that animal, in principle, happened to him. That is the meaning of Christ’s substitution for us in His death on the cross. In God’s eye, we were crucified, we died, were buried, and rose from the grave. The experience is ours for the claiming. The new life that is ours after our being born again is the resurrection life of Jesus Christ. The Day of Judgment is behind us.
  • Colossians 3:1-4: Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory.
• John 11:25: Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die like everyone else, will live again.
• John 14:6: Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.
• 2 Corinthians 5:18: All this newness of life is from God, who brought us back to himself through what Christ did. And God has given us the task of reconciling people to him.
• Colossians 1:21-22: This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you INTO THE VERY PRESENCE OF GOD, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

(11) So now we can REJOICE in our wonderful new relationship with God -- all because of what our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us in making us *friends of God.

• *friends: John 15:15: I no longer call you servants, because a master doesn't confide in his servants. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.
• We should begin every day, with a simple commitment to Christ. "Lord Jesus, I give you this day. It is yours. You purchased it at Calvary. I am yours. Here is my life. You take it and live it through me. You be my Lord and Master. Come live your life through me today." Your daily life becomes an intimate walk with God. He is free to break in on you at any moment through out the day. That is real peace and joy.

(12) When Adam sinned, sin entered the entire human race. Adam's sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.

• Here begins A NEW SECTION. It is not now a question of what we have DONE but of what we ARE. The question of what we have done, even of having sinned before God, has been met by the sacrifice of our Lord on the cross, bearing the judgment due to our sins, and enabling God to forgive us freely in His amazing grace. But here it is, we repeat, a question of what we are.
• Why did Paul and God hold Adam responsible for the sinfulness of the race when it was really Eve who sinned first? They did so because Adam was the person in authority over and therefore responsible for Eve (Genesis 2:18-23; 1 Corinthians 11:3). Furthermore, Eve was deceived (2 Corinthians 11:3), but Adam sinned deliberately (1 Timothy 2:14).

(13) Yes, people sinned even before the law was given. And though there was no law to break, since it had not yet been given,

(14) they all died anyway -- even though they did not disobey an explicit commandment of God, as Adam did. What a contrast between Adam and Christ, who was yet to come!

• We all die, not because of the sins we have committed, but because of the sin of Adam. We do not die because of our transgressions of the law, for people began to die long before the law was given. We die because we are human, the descendants of Adam, the one who sinned.
• 1 Corinthians 15:45-49: The Scriptures tell us, "The first man, Adam, became a living person." But the last Adam -- that is, Christ -- is a life-giving Spirit. What came first was the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam's, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ's. Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will someday be like Christ, the man from heaven.

(15) And what a difference between our sin and God's generous gift of forgiveness. For this one man, Adam, brought death to many through his sin. But this other man, Jesus Christ, brought forgiveness to many through God's bountiful gift.

• 1 Corinthians 15:22: Everyone dies because all of us are related to Adam, the first man. But all who are related to Christ, the other man, will be given new life.
• We inherited Adam's DNA and sin was part of the DNA.

(16) And the result of God's gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man's sin. For Adam's sin led to condemnation, but we have the free gift of being accepted by God, even though we are guilty of many sins.

(17) The sin of this one man, Adam, caused DEATH to rule over us, but all who receive God's wonderful, gracious gift of righteousness will LIVE in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.

•  God’s gift to mankind in Jesus Christ does not restore us to the kind of life Adam possessed before he sinned, but to a life of incomparable greater quality. Jesus states: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (KJV)
• God picks up where Adam left off and He brings His original plan to fulfillment.
• 1 Corinthians 15:56-57: For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!

(18) Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life.

• A new life is needed if we are to stand before God.
• 2 Corinthians 5:17: What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!

(19) Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God's sight.

(20) God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful kindness became more abundant.

• Galatians 3:19: Well then, why was the law given? It was given to show people how guilty they are. But this system of law was to last only until the coming of the child to whom God's promise was made. And there is this further difference. God gave his laws to angels to give to Moses, who was the mediator between God and the people.

(21) So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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

Romans 6

This has to be one of the most difficult chapters to understand, let alone discuss. Yet, it is extremely important because it applies to how we are to live our Christian lives.

Chapter 5 = salvation; chapter 6 = walk.

Up to now, Romans has been about what God has done for sinful man, and how all is received by grace, through faith, without works. Paul has not said how this applies to everyday life, nor has Paul addressed a very practical and important question - if I sin, do I then lose my salvation, and, if I do, can I get my salvation back? He has also not addressed how I can keep from doing what I was doing in the past - what came naturally, what everyone else was doing.

In this chapter, Paul gives us four steps designed to help us with practical Christian walk:

1. We must "know" certain facts about our union with Christ, specifically that sin no longer possesses the dominating power over the believer that it has over the unbeliever (vv. 3- 10).
2. We must "reckon" (believe) these facts to be true of us personally (v. 11).
3. We must "present" ourselves to God in dedication as His slaves to perform righteousness (vv. 12-14).
4. We must "obey" God (vv. 15-23). If we do not, we will find ourselves falling back under the domination of sin in our lives and becoming its slaves once again.

Chapter 6 begins with a logical question, raised by the statement in 5:20, as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful kindness became more abundant. If grace abounds where sin abounds, then why not abound in sin that we may enjoy more grace? Did not Paul say,  you are no longer subject to the law ... Instead, you are free by God's grace." (5:14).

Here is the great objection to justification by grace through faith apart from works of the law. It seems to open the door to rampant sinning. In fact, it seems to invite more sinning because if grace is God's act to forgive and accept sinners on the basis of Christ's righteousness, not ours, then would not that grace shine all the brighter if we kept on sinning? The more sin there is, the more forgiveness there is. And the more sinning there is, the greater must be the righteousness of Christ to compensate for it. So doesn't Paul's radical teaching on justification open the door to careless living and indifference to holiness? That is the question Romans 6-8 is meant to answer.

(1) *WELL THEN, should we *KEEP ON sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness?

• *Well Then brings back to chapter 5:18-21:
  • Paul ended chapter five by reminding us that the purpose of the law was to bring a sense of condemnation and an awareness of guilt. It points its finger to all of humanity and says you failed. You have sinned. You stand in the need of God's grace: Romans 5:18-21: Yes, Adam's one sin brought condemnation upon everyone, but Christ's one act of righteousness makes all people right in God's sight and gives them life. Because one person disobeyed God, many people became sinners. But because one other person obeyed God, many people will be made right in God's sight. God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful kindness became more abundant. So just as sin ruled over all people and brought them to death, now God's wonderful kindness rules instead, giving us right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• *keep on sinning:
  • Some believers may believe that it doesn’t matter what kind of life a Christian lives.
  • Philips paraphrase: "shall we sin to our heart's content and see how far we can exploit the grace of God"?
• Cheap grace? Grace is never cheap. It is the most priceless gift God could give to mankind. The very thought that all of your sins are wiped away, cleansed, forgiven forever is immense. You can hear the legalist arguing with Paul: "Once saved always saved leads to lawlessness. You preachers of salvation by grace through faith encourage sinful behavior with that kind of teaching." Sad to say, there will be some who will take advantage of it and abuse it. That is always the risk of preaching salvation by grace without discussing practical consequences and loss of reward and being ashamed.

(2) Of course not! Since we HAVE DIED to sin, how can we continue to live in it?

• It is PAST TENSE, a once and for all death. It is death in a judicial sense. We died to sin when we put our faith in Christ as our personal Savior. Only in Russia can a dead man be tried (as is going on right now with the whistleblower Sergei Magnitsky) - the Roman church did it too to Spanish Jews so the church could confiscate the dead Jew's inheritance!
• It refers to something that has already happened, not to something that needs to happen. Paul could have penned a present or future tense verb. He also could have made use of an imperative or an exhortation. Instead, he chose a simple past tense— “died to sin.” It is a past event, an accomplished fact. Paul is making the point that what happened to Jesus happened to us! So, I ask you, “Who are you?” You are a man or woman who has died to sin! The moment you believed in Christ, you died to sin. But please notice, Paul does not say that sin is dead to you; he only says that you died to sin. This does not mean that Christians cannot continue in sin. It means that Christians should not continue in sin and don't have to. It is not impossible to continue in sin; it is unthinkable to continue in sin.
• For us to get wrapped up in immorality, greed, gossip, and bitterness is about as logical as Lazarus (Jesus’ friend in John 11) choosing to clothe himself again with those foul-smelling grave clothes. We can do it, but why would we ever want to? Anyone who says, “Now that I’m saved, I’m free to sin” has totally misunderstood his or her new identity in Christ.
• Paul is using the rhetorical question in Romans 6:2. He is not expecting an answer; he is making a statement. There is no answer to his how question. We can't live in sin if we died to it. That is his statement. That is his answer to the objection.
• Notice that what Paul denies is not that you can never commit a sin, but that you cannot "live in it." "Living in it" corresponds to the question in verse 1: "should we *keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more kindness and forgiveness?" The idea in these two phrases, "keep on" (verse 1) and "live in" (verse 2) is that when we have become united with Christ in his death, we cannot go on with an unchanged pattern of sin in our lives.
• Think of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-24). When the son was at home he wanted his freedom, so he left home to find himself, to be free. But his rebellion only led him into deeper slavery. He was a slave of wrong desires, wrong deeds and literally became a slave who took care of pigs. He wanted to find himself and he lost himself in the process. What he thought was freedom turned out to be slavery. While he was wasting away his inheritance, did he cease to be his father's son? While he was wallowing with the pigs, had he lost his position as his father's son? When he finally returned because he was hungry and miserable because of his sin, was he welcomed back as a slave (as he'd expected) or as a son - as a son (his position)! But, what of the inheritance (his reward)? IT WAS GONE! Butt, was only when he came home and yielded to his father that he found true freedom and love.

(3) Or have you forgotten that when we became Christians and were baptized to become one with Christ Jesus, we died with him?

• King James Version: Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized INTO Jesus Christ were baptized INTO his death?
• The word "baptize" (baptizo) primarily means to "identify with", to "dip," "to plunge," "to immerse." It was a word that was used to describe the fuller who dyed his wool in the dye vat.
• 1 Corinthians 12:13: Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized INTO Christ's body by one Spirit, and we have all received the same Spirit.
• When the Holy Spirit baptized us, we were identified with Jesus Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension and glorification. An intimate relationship or union was formed with Christ. We became identified with Him.
• One of the best pictures of identification is found in the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement. The High Priest killed a goat and offered him as a sin offering. Then he took another goat that is called the scapegoat. Aaron laid both his hands on the head of the live goat and confessed all the iniquities of the children of Israel. The idea is all their sins were identified with the live goat. The sin bearer has identified himself with the sins of the people. He was then led out into the wilderness bearing the sin of the people. The goat was led out to die for the sins of the people of Israel.
• when Jesus died, you died. When Jesus was buried, you were buried. And when Jesus rose from the dead, you rose from the dead. God took what happened to Christ 2000 years ago, brought it forward, and applied it to your experience when you got saved. This is the principle of identification or “baptism.”

(4) FOR we DIED and were BURIED with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live *new lives.

• Paul is talking here of baptism into death, not into water.
• God included us in the death of Christ before we were even born.
• Paul uses many sun (with) compounds (e.g., three in Ephesians 2:5-6).
  1. sun + thapto = co-buried, verse 4; Colossians 2:12.
  2. sun + phuo = co-united with him, verse 5
  3. sun + stauroo = co-crucified, verse 6; Galatians 2:20
  4. sun + zao = co-exist, verse 8; 2 Timothy 2:11 (also has co-died and co-reign)
• *new: The word translated “new” (kainotes) means “extraordinary, astonishing, that which is supernatural. As a Christian, you’re not called to be ordinary; you’re called to be extraordinary because of who your God is!

(5) SINCE we have been *united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was.

• *united: This is the only place in the New Testament where this word “united” (sumphutos) is used. It means “to grow together.” The Christian is “grown or fused together” with the likeness of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Scholars argue whether this is a reference to a present spiritual resurrection or our future bodily resurrection. It is not either/or; it is both. Our resurrection life in the present ought to anticipate our future bodily resurrection. It is a linear progression. You must know who you are in Christ and let His power enable you to live a resurrected life in the here and now and then and there.
• Our identity changed when we came to Christ. When we believed on Christ as our savior and received eternal life we were dipped into His death and resurrection. His death to sin became our death to sin; His burial became our burial; His resurrection became our resurrection. We have a whole new identity. No longer are we identified with Adam's race. We are now identified with Christ and His family.
  • 2 Corinthians 5:17: What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!
• When Jesus died, we died together with Him. When Christ rose from the dead, we rose with Him. When Christ ascended to heaven we ascended with Him and are now seated with Him in the heavenly places. Our identification with Christ includes the crucifixion with Him, burial with Him and our resurrection, ascension and glorification with Christ. Our identification with Christ is so complete that God reckons us as having experienced co-crucifixion, co-burial, co-resurrection, co-ascension and co-glorification. This is the way God sees us - Ephesians 2:5-6. Then should we not see ourselves in the same manner?
  • Ephesians 2:5-6: that even while we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with him in the heavenly realms -- all because we are one with Christ Jesus.

(6) Our *old sinful selves **were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its ***power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin.

• *old sinful selves: What was crucified with Christ? Literally, "the old man", the "old self" was crucified and buried. We were crucified together.
• **were crucified with him: (SUNestauroµtheµ). This death took place when "we died to sin."
• ***power: The power of sin has been broken in those who believe because their "old sinful selves" (literally, "old man") - that from Adam - was crucified and put to death with Christ. We no longer have to sin, though we still can by choice.

(7) FOR when we died with Christ we were *set FREE from the power of sin.

• *set free:
• The words translated “set free” (dikaioo) here is the same word translated “justified” or "made righteous" throughout Romans. In this context, though, the word means even more than “set free.” It is a legal word that could be literally translated “righteously released.” You no longer have to sin. Once you were shackled to sin, but now you’ve been set free! Jesus said it best: “So if the Son sets you free, you will indeed be free.” (John 8:36). You CAN live a radically new life - or, you can keep on living your own way and continue to obey the orders of a commander who is dead.
• We have a new standing (position) before God. He has pronounced us "Acquitted!" "Set Free!" "Forgiven!" Let us never forget it is because Jesus Christ died in our place on the cross as our substitute. The blood of Jesus cleanses us of every sin. Because of His death, you have been set free!
• The freedom we have in Christ is not a freedom to do anything we want to do, but to be everything God wants us to be. We are free to live the Christian life.
• Galatians 5:1, 13: So Christ has really set us FREE. Now make sure that you stay free, and don't get tied up again in slavery to the law. ...  For you have been called to live in freedom -- not freedom to satisfy your sinful nature, but freedom to serve one another in love.
• Charles Hodge well said, "The believer can not continue to serve sin for he who has died (with Christ) is justified, and therefore free from sin, free from its dominion. This is the great evangelical truth which underlies the apostle's whole doctrine of sanctification. The natural reason assumes that acceptance with a holy and just God must be founded on character, that men must be holy in order to be justified. The gospel reverses this, and teaches that God accepts the ungodly; that we must be justified in order to become holy."
• The power of sin nature over us was broken when we died with Christ. It was not eliminated. It does not make us incapable of sinning. However, it does set us free from mandatory obedience to sin nature as a slave.
• • Ephesians 4:22-32: throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception. Instead, there must be a spiritual renewal of your thoughts and attitudes. You must display a new nature because you are a new person, created in God's likeness -- righteous, holy, and true. So put away all falsehood and "tell your neighbor the truth" because we belong to each other. And "don't sin by letting anger gain control over you." Don't let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a mighty foothold to the Devil. If you are a thief, stop stealing. Begin using your hands for honest work, and then give generously to others in need. Don't use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them. And do not bring sorrow to God's Holy Spirit by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who has identified you as his own, guaranteeing that you will be saved on the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.

(8) And SINCE we died with Christ, we know we will also share his new life.

•  Paul wrote, "Christ . . . is our life" (Colossians 3:4). Jesus told His disciples, "Abide in Me, and I in you . . . I am the vine, you are the branches" (John 15:5ff).
• Paul tells us in Romans 8:29 that God's goal for His believers is the conformity of our character to the likeness of Christ. Everything that God does in our lives happens to focus on that one supreme purpose. God has selected before hand the goal that everyone who believes on Christ will be conformed to His likeness. God's primary concern is our character, functioning the way He intended us to function, i.e. like Christ. He will not give up on that goal. He will keep at it until the day we stand before Him.

(9) We are sure of this because Christ rose from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him.

• In verse nine, death is pictured as master and lord. Since Christ has been raised from the dead, and will never die again, death no longer is master over Him. Death has been conquered. Christ is the Lord over death.
• Death could not hold Jesus Christ, our representative. It cannot hold the believer either. Furthermore neither He nor we will die a second time.

(10) He died once to defeat sin, and now he lives for the glory of God.

• What was that sin He died to? Christ never had a personal experience with sin. He knew no sin. Whose sin? My sin! "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). He paid the penalty for my sin (verse 7). He died for ME & YOU.
• We have been set free, and are no longer slaves to sin. We are free to live the Christian life. As far a God is concerned, we are already on the resurrection side of the grave!
• Christ died once and only once, not once upon a time. It was a definite act at a point and place and time in history. It never had to be repeated. He is alive, never to die again. Moreover, we are in Christ. This is the only way to live the Christian life. Paul's whole argument revolves around our intimate living relationship with Christ.

(11) SO you should *consider yourselves **dead to sin and able to live for the glory of God through Christ Jesus.

• *consider yourselves (logizomai):
• The word logizomai is translated "reckon" (KJV) "count on" (NIV) "consider" (NLT). Paul says reckon on your position in Christ (6:11). "Even so consider (reckon, count on) yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus." The present imperative could mean "do this continually," or "continue doing this." The word "reckon" means to calculate, to take into account, to figure, to count on, consider the fact. Be constantly counting upon the fact that you are dead to sin, and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
• logizomai is the same word used in Genesis 15:6 when God reckoned Abraham righteous.
• Reckoning sin dead in our lives is the beginning of experiencing God’s power to make sin dead and Christ’s life within me REAL.
• What sin are you going to reckon dead today? Consider, count it dead from today on, it has no power to rule your life. Trusting not on your feelings but on faith that He will help you and make this real. Paul’s first instruction (Know) focuses on our Mind. His second instruction (reckon) focuses on our Hearts. His third instruction (Yield) focuses on our Will.
• **dead to sin means dead to the pervasive love for and ruling power of sin. Christians must realize that the mastery of sin has been broken in their lives.

(12) Do not let sin control the way you live; do not give in to its lustful desires.

(13) Do not let any part of your *body become a tool of wickedness, to be used for sinning. Instead, give yourselves COMPLETELY to God since you have been given new life. And use your whole body as a tool to do what is right for the glory of God.

• *body: 1 Corinthians 6:19-20: Or don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
• You will never be dead to the temptation to sin, it’s always there.

(14) Sin is no longer your master, for you are no longer subject to the law, which enslaves you to sin. Instead, you are FREE by God's grace.

• Giving in to sin results in people increasingly becoming obedient slaves to sin.

(15) *SO since God's grace has set us FREE from the law, does this mean we can go on sinning? Of course not!

• *SO: Paul now takes another look at the question posed in the first verse (should we keep on sinning?).
• The Apostle calls us to a wholehearted and total commitment to Christ. "Do not keep on presenting your members to sin . . . but once for all present yourselves to God."
• Paul stresses a new creation, a new relationship with God even though he is not yet perfect. It is progressive spiritual growth in the likeness of Christ. Paul still has to deal with sin because he is still a sinner.
• Do not make the grace of God an excuse for sinning. Grace can never lead to license.
• In spite of all that Christ has done for us it is possible for us to go back into our bondage to sin. But it is a choice we make. We may choose to become entangled to sin. It is not because we haven't been set free. It is not because the sin nature hasn't been broken. It is simply because we do not reckon ourselves to have been crucified with Christ. We do not count upon the fact that sin no longer has authority over us. When we choose to sin we become servants of sin. I don't have to sin because I have been set free. God has set us free to live the Christian life. This is what God has done in His grace for us.
• If a man habitually sins, he is still sin’s servant. And the end is death. By his deliberate acts he evidences the fact that he does not know the Lord, that he has never been crucified, buried, raised with Him. Every true child of God will take the road that leads to the confession of sin and to the forsaking of sin when that road is pointed out to him. Of course, he may sin and be forced to exclaim, “O wretched man that I am!” But every true believer will want to serve his new Master; otherwise, he would only prove himself to be sin’s servant still. A man in Christ has a new nature; he wants to please his new Master. Therefore, if a professing Christian is constantly falling into sin and has no conscience about it, he gives evidence that he has never been born again.

(16) Don't you realize that whatever you choose to obey becomes your master? You can choose sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God and receive his approval.

•  The basic truth is: ultimately there are only 2 masters = we can choose to obey sin or the Lord. When we yield (surrender, give in) to our sin nature, we are not simply sinning but we are developing sinful habits. When we obey sin we get enslaved to a lifestyle that leads to death. Not a loss of our salvation, but alienation from God. We lose our fellowship with Him. We lose our joy, peace, spiritual growth, our clear conscience. It leads to more sin unless we turn to God in genuine repentance, confess, then He forgives and restores and helps. If we choose to obey God, submit to Him, develop habits of holiness, those will lead to purity in our lives.
• We still have free will. We still have our old sin nature, it has been rendered inoperative by the cross but it is still there as long as we are alive on planet earth. It no longer has authority over us in that we can overcome but its potential is there until we are with the Lord.
• We are slaves to whatever controls our lives. That’s the bad news. Here’s the good news: As believers, we get to choose our master! An unbeliever has no choice of masters. He is a slave to his old self, and therefore, a slave to Satan. As hard as he may try to break free, the chains of sin keep yanking him back. He can never break free. He is Satan’s indentured servant. But a Christian has been liberated to serve a new Master. We can opt for “obedience resulting in righteousness.”

(17) Thank God! ONCE you WERE slaves of sin, BUT NOW you have obeyed with all your heart the new teaching God has given you.

(18) NOW you are FREE from sin, your old master, and you have become slaves to your new master, righteousness.

(19) I speak this way, using the illustration of slaves and masters, because it is easy to understand. Before, you let yourselves be slaves of impurity and lawlessness. Now you must choose to be slaves of righteousness so that you will become holy.

(20) In those days, when you were slaves of sin, you weren't concerned with doing what was right.

(21) And what was the result? It was not good, since now you are ashamed of the things you used to do, things that end in eternal doom.

(22) BUT NOW you are FREE from the power of sin and have become slaves of God. Now you do those things that lead to holiness and result in eternal life.

• It is not possible to live the Christian life without union with Christ. Every believer is in Christ. Live your life so close to Christ that know that you are in Him.

(23) FOR the *wages of sin is DEATH, but the FREE gift of God is eternal LIFE through Christ Jesus our Lord.

• *wages: Paul uses an interesting word for “wages” (opsonion). The word he uses refers to the daily food payment a Roman soldier would receive.

Next time we shall study chapter seven, which shows that in our standing before God we are also dead to the law, and that our state is in the flesh. Then later, we shall see from chapter eight that our life is in the Holy Spirit.

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

Romans 04

Justification by faith - getting right with God, being acquitted in his court, being forgiven for our sins, being declared righteous and having the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and our sins imputed to him, (not becoming righteous, but being counted as righteous while we are still sinners), and all this by faith alone - that is what the first eight chapters of Romans are mostly about. For the apostle Paul, it was the heart of the gospel message. The book of Romans is the fullest, most systematic, most extensive effort of the apostle Paul to put his message in writing. And it is all structured around the great truth of justification by faith.

Abraham - an example of salvation by grace apart from works for Gentiles from the Old Testament.
David - an example of the joy of having sin forgiven.

The main object of this chapter is to show that the doctrine of justification by faith was found in the Old Testament and applied to both the Jew and to the Gentile.

Abram was the first Hebrew. He “crossed the river” and came into a land promised by God. He was different from the local people, so they referred to him as “Hebrew” meaning “from across the river.” God promised Abram that he would become the father of many people, that kings and other nations would come from him. His name was changed to “Abraham,” meaning the “father of many nations.”

Abraham believed the promises of God (the land, the blessings, children and heirs). This is the definition of faith – believing the promises of God. Righteousness is defined as “doing the right thing.” What is the right thing? Answer: believing what God has said.

While not obvious in the New Living Version, but very obvious in the KJV, the key word in Romans chapter four is "reckoned" (apologizes) (verses 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, 22, 23, 24). It means to charge to one's account, to credit something to someone's financial account. Abraham believed God would do what He said He would do. God transferred righteousness to Abraham's account. Works earns a wage; believing receives a gift.

Jesus Christ fulfilled all the promises that Abraham would have a heavenly seed as well as earthly seed. Abraham believed God's promise about the seed and was justified.

An example of salvation by faith not works from the Gospels: Take the thief on the cross. He had no time to get down and reform his life or even get water-baptized. He was a dying sinner, and some plan of salvation was needed which would be as quick as lightning in its operation - and it was!.

Paul’s greatest conflict was continually with legalists; they were his chief opponents. The Jews represent legalism. And many Gentile Christians today take up the defense of the law, seeking to lead Christians back under the Law of Moses. They say it is necessary to keep the Ten Commandments in order to be saved or add requirements to faith - DO instead of BELIEVE. This is just a denial of the sufficiency of the finished work of Christ.

Grace is NOT by:

• works (Verse 4)
• circumcision (Verse 10)
• the law (Verse 13)

We left off last time at Romans 3:28-30: So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law. 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. 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.

(1) Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What were his experiences concerning this question of being saved by faith?

• The connection of this verse with the preceding train of reasoning is obvious. Paul had taught that we are justified by faith; as well in confirmation of this doctrine, as to anticipate an objection from the Jew, he refers to the case of Abraham: ‘How was it then with Abraham? How did he obtain justification?’ Paul proposes to decide the question by reference to a case about which no one could doubt. All admitted that Abraham was justified. The only question was, How?
• Chapter 3 opened with the question suggested by the argument of chapter 2: Then what's the advantage of being a Jew? Is there any value in the Jewish ceremony of circumcision? Chapter 4 re-opens the question, this time focusing attention on Abraham.
• Matthew 3:8-9: Prove by the way you live that you have really turned from your sins and turned to God. Don't just say, 'We're safe -- we're the descendants of Abraham.' That proves nothing. God can change these stones here into children of Abraham.
• John 8:39-44: "Our father is Abraham," they declared. "No," Jesus replied, "for if you were children of Abraham, you would follow his good example. I told you the truth I heard from God, but you are trying to kill me. Abraham wouldn't do a thing like that. No, you are obeying your real father when you act that way." They replied, "We were not born out of wedlock! Our true Father is God himself." Jesus told them, "If God were your Father, you would love me, because I have come to you from God. I am not here on my own, but he sent me. Why can't you understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to do so! For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies
• Romans 9:6-8: Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to the Jews? No, for not everyone born into a Jewish family is truly a Jew! Just the fact that they are descendants of Abraham doesn't make them truly Abraham's children. For the Scriptures say, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted," though Abraham had other children, too. This means that Abraham's physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. It is the children of the promise who are considered to be Abraham's children.

(2) Was it because of his good deeds that God accepted him? If so, he would have had something to *boast about. But from God's point of view Abraham had no basis at all for pride.

• Jews supposed Abraham was justified by works or the works of the flesh.
• *boast: He picks up the issue of boasting that he dealt with in Romans 3:27-28: 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. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

(3) For the Scriptures tell us, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous."

• Paul is referring us back to Genesis chapter fifteen. God appeared to Abraham one clear night and showed him the sky full stars. The sky was full of glory with stars blazing from horizon to horizon. God said, "If you can number the stars, you can number your descendants. They will number far more than all the stars of heaven." The Apostle Paul said, "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness". Abraham believed God.
• Genesis 15:1-6: Afterward the LORD spoke to Abram in a vision and said to him, "Do not be afraid, Abram, for I will protect you, and your reward will be great." But Abram replied, "O Sovereign LORD, what good are all your blessings when I don't even have a son? Since I don't have a son, Eliezer of Damascus, a servant in my household, will inherit all my wealth. You have given me no children, so one of my servants will have to be my heir." Then the LORD said to him, "No, your servant will not be your heir, for you will have a son of your own to inherit everything I am giving you." Then the LORD brought Abram outside beneath the night sky and told him, "Look up into the heavens and count the stars if you can. Your descendants will be like that -- too many to count!" And Abram believed the LORD, and the LORD declared him righteous because of his faith.
• Genesis 17:1-7: When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to make you into a mighty nation." At this, Abram fell face down in the dust. Then God said to him, "This is my covenant with you: I will make you the father of not just one nation, but a multitude of nations! What's more, I am changing your name. It will no longer be Abram; now you will be known as Abraham, for you will be the father of many nations. I will give you millions of descendants who will represent many nations. Kings will be among them! "I will continue this everlasting covenant between us, generation after generation. It will continue between me and your offspring forever. And I will always be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
• Abraham received the gift of righteousness 430 years before the Law was given to Moses.
• If it was Abraham's works that brought him justification, then Abraham could boast in his works. He could say, "I left my home, I left my family on the other side of the Euphrates River, and I journeyed not even knowing where I was going, just waiting for God to show me. And I was willing to offer my son." He could have boasted if he was justified by his works, but he could not have boasted in God; he would have had to have boasted in himself. Why? He just believed in God, that is what God accounted for righteousness.

(4) When people work, their wages are not a gift. Workers earn what they receive.

(5) But people are declared righteous because of their faith, not because of their work.

• King James Version: But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is* counted for righteousness.
  • *counted for or reckoned = the Greek word logizomai, which itself is related to our English word “logic.” Logizomai is essentially a bookkeeping term. It means “to credit to one’s account.” It’s what happens when you deposit money in the bank. If you bring a $1000 check, the teller credits your account with one thousand dollars. In the same way, if you write a check for $250, the teller debits your account by that amount. In this context, the word means to “credit one’s account and to treat accordingly.” So, you have a ledger sheet in heaven. You have all assets and no debts - because of what Christ did and your faith in Him. The debit side of the ledger (sins) has been wiped clean! Unfortunately, many "christians" imagine instead a ledger book of their good works on one side and their sins on the other side and hope that the works outweigh the sins! We’re always more sinful than we are good.
• Verse 5 is perhaps the most important verse on justification by faith alone in all the New Testament because it brings us to the very heart of the gospel.
• The great English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, said : “If some of you plume yourselves with the notion that you are righteous, I pray God to pluck those fine feathers off you and make you see yourselves, for if you never see your own nothingness, you will never understand Christ’s all-sufficiency. Unless you are pulled down, Christ will never lift you up.”
• If God doesn’t want our “works,” what does he want from us? He wants us to trust him. That’s all. Nothing more, nothing less, nothing else. In the New Testament, faith, trust, and belief all come from the same general root word meaning “to lean wholly upon,” as when you lie down on a bed, resting your whole weight upon it. We are to trust God so completely that we take him at his Word regarding our salvation.
• Faith is not a work that “merits” salvation. Faith cannot save us unless our faith is based upon the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ who died for our sins.
• God isn’t impressed by your outward performance. Why? Because God doesn’t look on the outside; he looks on the heart. When he looks inside your heart, he sees why you do what you do. He sees the greed, the anger, the manipulation, the fear, the ruthlessness, the unkindness, the power plays, the shady deals. He also hears the secret thoughts you think when you know no one else can hear you. He listens while you mumble under your breath. He knows how you lust for power and fame and glory. Nothing is hidden from him. You can’t fool God by your performance. He judges your motives, not just your actions.
  
• How strong must their faith be?
  • Mark 9:24: The father instantly replied, "I do believe, but help me not to doubt!"
  • Matthew 17:20: "You didn't have enough faith," Jesus told them. "I assure you, even if you had faith as small as a mustard seed you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible."
  • Matthew 15:27-28: "Yes, Lord," she replied, "but even dogs are permitted to eat crumbs that fall beneath their master's table." "Woman," Jesus said to her, "your faith is great. Your request is granted." And her daughter was instantly healed.
  • Matthew 8:13: Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, "Go on home. What you have believed has happened." And the young servant was healed that same hour.

(6) King David spoke of this, describing the happiness of an undeserving sinner who is declared to be righteous:

• Abraham and David and all the Old Testament saints were justified before God because they put their faith in the promised Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world. The Lord Himself said to the unbelieving Jews, “Your ancestor Abraham rejoiced as he looked forward to my coming. He saw it and was glad."" (John 8:56).
• Psalm 51:4: Against you, and you alone, have I sinned; I have done what is evil in your sight. You will be proved right in what you say, and your judgment against me is just.

(7) "Oh, what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven, whose sins are put out of sight.

(8) Yes, what joy for those whose sin is no longer counted against them by the Lord."

• In the Old Testament, the sin was covered by the blood of the lamb. After Jesus, the sin was completely done away with by the blood of the perfect Lamb (Jesus Christ).
• David in connection with Bathsheba, had coveted, committed adultery, and murdered, breaking 3 of the 10 commandments. His seduction of Bathsheba and his camouflaged murder of Uriah exposed David to the death penalty on two counts, and according to the strict letter of the Mosaic law, there was no hope for him. David cried in another of the penitential psalms, born in this same period: Psalm 51:16-17 “You would not be pleased with sacrifices, or I would bring them. If I brought you a burnt offering, you would not accept it. The sacrifice you want is a broken spirit. A broken and repentant heart, O God, you will not despise.”. Out of this experience, however, David learned two vital truths concerning salvation, truths which he wrote in Psalm 32 and which Paul picks up here to further his argument: Psalm 32:1-2: A psalm of David. Oh, what joy for those whose rebellion is forgiven, whose sin is put out of sight! Yes, what joy for those whose record the LORD has cleared of sin, whose lives are lived in complete honesty!

(9) Now then, is this blessing only for the Jews, or is it for Gentiles, too? Well, what about Abraham? We have been saying he was declared righteous by God because of his faith.

(10) But how did his faith help him? Was he declared righteous only after he had been circumcised, or was it before he was circumcised? The answer is that God accepted him first, and then he was circumcised later!

• Abraham was circumcised 14 years after he believed the promise! The Jewish people thought that circumcision was what made a man acceptable to God. We have many today who think that baptism is what makes a man acceptable. Neither circumcision nor baptism does. Abraham was a Gentile when he believed the promise of God! The sign of the covenant came years later.
• Barclay says, “To a Jew a man who was not circumcised was, quite literally, not a Jew, no matter what his parentage was.” He goes on to quote an ancient Jewish prayer, “Blessed is he who sanctified his beloved from the womb, and put his ordinance upon his flesh, and sealed his offspring by the sign of the holy covenant.” If a Gentile wanted to convert to Judaism, he had to do three things: 1. Be baptized 2. Offer a sacrifice 3. Be circumcised. The point to grasp is that to the Jews circumcision was far more than a ceremony; it was the point of entrance into a living and true relationship with God.
• All Paul is saying is that Abraham's faith before he was circumcised was counted as righteousness to him. Also, in I John 5:1 "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too." Also, in I John 5:12 " So whoever has God's Son has life; whoever does not have his Son does not have life." We find in both these Scriptures that it is not whether you are Jew or Gentile, but where you have put your faith (in the Son of God)
• Ephesians 2:8-11:  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. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Don't forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders by birth. You were called "the uncircumcised ones" by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts.

(11) The circumcision ceremony was a sign that Abraham already had faith and that God had already accepted him and declared him to be righteous -- even before he was circumcised. So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith but have not been circumcised. They are made right with God by faith.

• Abraham was circumcised at age 99 (Genesis 17:11)
• Philippians 3:3-9: For we who worship God in the Spirit are the only ones who are truly circumcised. We put no confidence in human effort. Instead, we boast about what Christ Jesus has done for us. Yet I could have confidence in myself if anyone could. If others have reason for confidence in their own efforts, I have even more! For I was circumcised when I was eight days old, having been born into a pure-blooded Jewish family that is a branch of the tribe of Benjamin. So I am a real Jew if there ever was one! What's more, I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. And zealous? Yes, in fact, I harshly persecuted the church. And I obeyed the Jewish law so carefully that I was never accused of any fault. I once thought all these things were so very important, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the priceless gain of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I may have Christ 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.
• Colossians 2:9-17: For in Christ the fullness of God lives in a human body, and you are complete through your union with Christ. He is the Lord over every ruler and authority in the universe. When you came to Christ, you were "circumcised," but not by a physical procedure. It was a spiritual procedure -- the cutting away of your sinful nature. For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to a new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ. He forgave all our sins. He canceled the record that contained the charges against us. He took it and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. In this way, God disarmed the evil rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross of Christ. So don't let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new-moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules were only shadows of the real thing, Christ himself.

(12) And Abraham is also the spiritual father of those who have been circumcised, but only if they have the same kind of faith Abraham had before he was circumcised.

• There is something else to be seen here; circumcision, like any other religious rite, is significant only in terms of the reality which it symbolizes, and yet carnality is so strong in man that he is inclined to think of rites or sacraments as meritorious; keep the sacraments and earn merit. It is a device by which an entrenched hierarchy may protect its vested interest, but there is nothing biblical, Christian or Jewish, about it.

(13) It is clear, then, that God's promise to give the whole earth to Abraham and his descendants was not based on obedience to God's law, but on the new relationship with God that comes by faith.

• Galatians 3:18: For if the inheritance could be received only by keeping the law, then it would not be the result of accepting God's promise. But God gave it to Abraham as a promise.
• Abraham was:
• the father of the uncircumcised!
• first the father of the Gentile!
• reckoned righteous before he was a Jew!
• reckoned righteous before Ishmael was born.

(14) So if you claim that God's promise is for those who obey God's law and think they are "good enough" in God's sight, then you are saying that faith is useless. And in that case, the promise is also meaningless.

(15) But the law brings punishment on those who try to obey it. (The only way to avoid breaking the law is to have no law to break!)

(16) So that's why faith is the key! God's promise is given to us as a free gift. And we are certain to receive it, whether or not we follow Jewish customs, if we have faith like Abraham's. For Abraham is the father of all who believe.

• Acts 15:4-21: When they arrived in Jerusalem, Paul and Barnabas were welcomed by the whole church, including the apostles and elders. They reported on what God had been doing through their ministry. But then some of the men who had been Pharisees before their conversion stood up and declared that all Gentile converts must be circumcised and be required to follow the law of Moses. So the apostles and church elders got together to decide this question. At the meeting, after a long discussion, Peter stood and addressed them as follows: "Brothers, you all know that God chose me from among you some time ago to preach to the Gentiles so that they could hear the Good News and believe. God, who knows people's hearts, confirmed that he accepts Gentiles by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he gave him to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he also cleansed their hearts through faith. Why are you now questioning God's way by burdening the Gentile believers with a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors were able to bear? We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the special favor of the Lord Jesus." There was no further discussion, and everyone listened as Barnabas and Paul told about the miraculous signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. When they had finished, James stood and said, "Brothers, listen to me. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And this conversion of Gentiles agrees with what the prophets predicted. For instance, it is written: 'Afterward I will return, and I will restore the fallen kingdom of David. From the ruins I will rebuild it, and I will restore it, so that the rest of humanity might find the Lord, including the Gentiles -- all those I have called to be mine. This is what the Lord says, he who made these things known long ago.' And so my judgment is that we should stop troubling the Gentiles who turn to God, except that we should write to them and tell them to abstain from eating meat sacrificed to idols, from sexual immorality, and from consuming blood or eating the meat of strangled animals. For these laws of Moses have been preached in Jewish synagogues in every city on every Sabbath for many generations."
• 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.

(17) That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, "I have made you the father of many nations." This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who brings into existence what didn't exist before.

• His faith rested in the God of the resurrection - connecting us to Christ's resurrection.
• James 2:20-24: Fool! When will you ever learn that faith that does not result in good deeds is useless? Don't you remember that our ancestor Abraham was declared right with God because of what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to do. His faith was made complete by what he did -- by his actions. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, so God declared him to be righteous." He was even called "the friend of God." So you see, we are made right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.

(18) When God promised Abraham that he would become the father of many nations, Abraham believed him. God had also said, "Your descendants will be as numerous as the stars," even though such a promise seemed utterly impossible!

• Hebrews 11:8,17-19: It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave home and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going. ... It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God's promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, though God had promised him, "Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted." Abraham assumed that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again. And in a sense, Abraham did receive his son back from the dead.
• Galatians 3:6-9: In the same way, "Abraham believed God, so God declared him righteous because of his faith." The real children of Abraham, then, are all those who put their faith in God. What's more, the Scriptures looked forward to this time when God would accept the Gentiles, too, on the basis of their faith. God promised this good news to Abraham long ago when he said, "All nations will be blessed through you." And so it is: All who put their faith in Christ share the same blessing Abraham received because of his faith.

(19) And Abraham's faith did not weaken, even though he knew that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred and that Sarah, his wife, had never been able to have children.

• Faith facing the impossible!

(20) Abraham never wavered in believing God's promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God.

• One of the goals of our growth in Christ is that our faith will grow stronger day-by-day, year-by-year.

(21) He was absolutely convinced that God was able to do anything he promised.

(22) And because of Abraham's faith, God declared him to be righteous.

(23) Now this wonderful truth -- that God declared him to be righteous -- wasn't just for Abraham's benefit.

(24) It was for us, too, assuring us that God will also declare us to be righteous if we believe in God, who brought Jesus our Lord back from the dead.

(25) He was handed over to die because of our sins, and he was raised from the dead to make us right with God.

• Abraham looked forward and believed what God was going to do through Christ’s death and resurrection; we look back and see what the God of resurrection has already done! Everything we have and are is ours by the grace of God. We believe in the Christ who was “delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.” All the promises of our faith center around the empty tomb!
• Only through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus can man be justified. It was by faith that Abraham and David and all the Old Testament saints were saved; and it is by faith that you and I and every redeemed sinner shall see God, and dwell in His presence forever. 
• When? About twenty-five years before Paul sat dictating this sentence in the house of Gaius. There were at that moment about three hundred known living people, at least, {1Co 15:6} who had seen the Risen One with open eyes, and heard Him with conscious ears. From one point of view, all was eternal, spiritual, invisible. From another point of view our salvation was as concrete, as historical, as much a thing of place and date, as the battle of Actium, or the death of Socrates. And what was done, remains done.

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

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