We finished last time with Romans 3:19-20
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
Many good, law abiding people hope that that will be sufficient to guarantee their entrance into Heaven. As we shall see, that is not the case.
(When Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones began to publish his series of sermons in Romans he started with these words from 3:21: ‘But now . . .’ He said that he considered this to be so important that he would start there in case he didn’t live long enough if he started at Romans 1:1)
Read Romans 3:21
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
Now, with the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has stepped in and interrupted the established order. This is not a new initiative – it had been planned before the beginning of time. God is now simply making it known, confirming what had already been hinted at in ‘the Law’ and ‘the prophets’.
Although this next passage flows without break I am still going to interrupt it because we need to carefully consider what it is saying.
Romans 3:22
22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
This is so fundamental. The only way for people to be declared righteous before a perfect God is for the blood of Jesus to cleanse them. Nothing they could do for themselves could even come close to that.
They can’t sacrifice an animal, or give generously to the church to pay for it; they can’t do penances to receive it, – it can only be received by faith. And it is freely available for every single human on the face of the Earth.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
How many people disagree with that? How many try to justify themselves by their ‘good works’? But good works are simply what are expected of a normal human life. They cannot be used to balance the weight of our sin, let alone remove it, and everyone has sinned at some point in their lives. ‘And the wages of sin is death’. No one can claim to have lived a life even approaching ‘the glory of God’.
Romans 3:24
24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Here is the wonder of the Gospel message. The grace of God has freely provided a way back to him. He himself provided for our redemption through Jesus. Look at the word ‘justified’. What does it mean? (‘Just as if I’d never sinned’ – made righteous in god’s sight.)
Imagine a court of law where many charges have been brought against us.
The evidence provided is incontrovertible. We can only plead guilty and the sentence is passed. But then the Judge himself stands up and states that he has already taken our punishment – we can go free. More than that all record of our misdeeds can also be removed from the record books. We are declared righteous.
Romans 3:25
25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood – to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished
Our sins cannot be brushed under the carpet, they can’t just be forgotten. There has to be punishment, and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Throughout history, people had sinned and the Jewish system of substitutionary sacrifices provided forgiveness and ‘covered’ their sins (You forgave the iniquity of your people and covered all their sins. Psalm 85:2) but it could not remove them (It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:4). Only the blood of the sinless Lamb of God could finally do that.
Romans 3: 26
26 – he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Jesus is the judge, but as he himself has paid the ultimate penalty, he can also forgive us and present us as justified – faultless (Jude 1:24) and holy (Colossians 1:22), – if we have faith in him.
Now read Romans 3:27-28
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the ‘law’ that requires faith. 28 For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.
Unfortunately the Jews loved to boast that they were God’s chosen people. But they forgot that they also had a responsibility to ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy’ (Leviticus 19:2). They could never live up to that, they could never consistently keep the law that required works of righteousness. There needed to be some other way.
Now read Romans 3:29-31
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
What is sin? The breaking of God’s law.
Look back at verse 20 ‘through the law we become conscious of our sin. ’
Many have tried to argue that as we are saved by faith it doesn’t matter any more if we keep on sinning. Paul will answer that argument in chapters 6-7.
My thinking is that as we have Christ living in us, then everywhere we go, everything we do, we are forcing Christ to join in. We might find that uncomfortable.
So into chapter 4
Read Romans 4:1-15 (we will come back to look at the highlighted words)
1 What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? 2 If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about – but not before God. 3 What does Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.’
4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. 5 However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness. 6 David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
7 ‘Blessed are those whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered.
8 Blessed is the one whose sin the Lord will never count against them.’
9 Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness. 10 Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised, or before? It was not after, but before! 11 And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them. 12 And he is then also the father of the circumcised who not only are circumcised but who also follow in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.
13 It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith. 14 For if those who depend on the law are heirs, faith means nothing and the promise is worthless, 15 because the law brings wrath. And where there is no law there is no transgression.
Look again at verse 4 Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.
Human animals were designed by God to do good works. Our ‘wages’ consist of the good things we receive during our lifetime; we work for it, it is not a gift. It is paid in earthly currency, we can’t take it with us when we die, and It is not shown in our account when ‘the books are opened’ (Revelation 20:12).
It seems that Paul is contemplating the account books. We all have an account with Almighty God and it has a debit side, a credit side, and a balance. Every time we sin an entry is made on the debit side; but whatever ‘good works’ we do, nothing approaches anything of value to be entered as a credit. (see Isaiah 64:6 - All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. )
So our balance shows that we are overdrawn. There are no ‘works’ we can do to make repayment.
Look at the word ‘credited’ in verses 3,4,5,6,9,10 11. The only acceptable entry on the credit side is ‘righteousness’ , and that only comes by faith (verse 5).
And it only requires one entry: ‘
we have been justified through faith’ (Romans 5:1).
Read Philippians 3:7-9
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.
Read Romans 4:16-25
16 Therefore, the promise comes by faith, so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only to those who are of the law but also to those who have the faith of Abraham. He is the father of us all. 17 As it is written: ‘I have made you a father of many nations.’ He is our father in the sight of God, in whom he believed – the God who gives life to the dead and calls into being things that were not.
This free gift is available to everyone by the grace of God.
18 Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, ‘So shall your offspring be.’ 19 Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead – since he was about a hundred years old – and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. 20 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, 21 being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. 22 This is why ‘it was credited to him as righteousness.’ 23 The words ‘it was credited to him’ were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness – for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.
Now before we move into chapter five we need to look at the first word in its first verse! – ‘therefore’.
It has been said that whenever Paul uses the word ‘therefore’ we need to ask the question: ‘what is it there for? ’
Here it reminds us of the basic fact of our sin, and our salvation – established in the previous chapters – that we were all sinners, and now are completely justified (made righteous) solely on the basis of faith in the finished work of Jesus.
So having established the basics, we can move on.
Read Romans 5:1-8
1 Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
6 You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. 7 Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Verse 1: what do we understand by ‘we have peace with God’ ?
Luke 7:50 ‘‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’’
A 19th century commentator (Charles Ellicott) has said ‘After all the gloomy retrospect which fills the preceding chapters, the clouds break, and light steals gently over the scene. Nor is it merely the subsidence of storm, but an ardent and eager hope that now awakens, and looks forward to a glorious future.’
And that is a good place to end this study.
