ROMANS 3:21-26 'God's Righteousness Through Faith'

TEXT

'But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets' (Romans 3:21)

• Paul finally gets to the part I'm sure he's been wanting to get to all along - the Righteousness of God. And he immediately makes it clear that it is apart from the law, which he indicated before.
• He also adds that this righteousness has been witnessed, or predicted by the Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament). This has been God's plan all along!

'even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;'(Romans 3:22)

• The righteousness that we can have is of God, not ourselves. It is in fact HIS righteousness that we are permitted to have.
• It is revealed to us through faith in Jesus Christ - that is, all we have to do is believe in Jesus!
• For there is no difference - this continues into the next verse. The 'for' comes from the 'all who believe' phrase. That is, faith in Jesus reveals God's righteousness to everyone, since everyone is the same under sin, so that everyone has the same opportunity for His righteousness.

'for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God' (Romans 3:23)

• one of the most famous verses in the Bible - it changes the focus from the sins we do to who we are - people who cannot attain to the perfect glory of God. It sets it in stone that we can never by our own means attain that glory, since God is God. We must therefore accept His righteousness.

'being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,' (Romans 3:24)

• justification (being declared righteous, as in a court of law) is free by His grace. It is all from God - it is only by His love and giving what we don't deserve. It is a free gift.
• redemption is the buying of slaves and setting them free. Jesus payed for us with His blood and then set us free from sin.

'whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,' (Romans 3:25)

• Jesus' blood was the propitiation for our sins. This idea comes from the Old Testament, where the sacrifices covered the sins of the Israelites if God accepted it. In fact, it was the blood of the animal that was the 'propitiation', which means that it satisfied or appeased God. Jesus was the ultimate Lamb of God, the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate propitiation.
• through faith we can receive this propitiation.
• Jesus' propitiation for our sins demonstrated God's righteousness. This implies that God was acting righteously (and not only lovingly) when He sent His son. This is because previously, God had passed over the sins of His people (through the animal sacrifices), while looking forward to the lasting sacrifice of Jesus. He would not have been righteous to pass over their sins without providing the real sacrifice of Jesus.

'to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.' (Romans 3:26)

• only one who is just can be a justifier. And it is only through our trust in Him that we can be justified by Him who is just!

SUMMARY

Paul, after arguing that everyone is in the same condition under sin, with nothing special about anyone to save them or qualities to make God pick them for salvation (remember he is talking mainly to Christians), finally reveals that we need God's own righteousness, which He freely gives us if we believe and trust in Him. He further affirms that God was acting righteously by sending His son, and confirms that salvation in the Old Testament was likewise through the propitiatory blood of Jesus.

WHAT DO I LEARN?

I am just in awe of the awesome and beautiful long term plan of God for redemption of a hopelessly lost race.

ROMANS 3:1-8 ‘God’s Judgment Defended’

TEXT

‘What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?’ (Romans 3:1)

• After a scathing critique of the Jews, Paul recognizes that some will have various objections, especially from the misguided notion that Paul was attacking the very foundation of Judaism. So Paul asks this very question – if the Jews are no better than the Gentiles, what advantage was it to have the law and circumcision?

‘Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.’ (Romans 3:2)

• He offers that the Jews had many advantages (and in fact in 2:1-16, he makes it clear that these advantages are what they will be judged by). Primarily, they had the law, the very words of God. They knew who God was, and what He expected. That is a huge advantage!

‘For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?’ (Romans 3:3)

• Now Paul turns to the promises of God to Abraham (and Isaac and Jacob). Since his thesis is that only those who have faith will receive the promises of God (rather than just by birthright into Israel), then the obvious question is – God promised these things to all Israel, but you’re saying that not all of Israel will receive the promise! To this Paul maintains that God’s promise to the nation of Israel remains as a whole, but those who have no faith will not experience this blessing.

‘Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written:

"That You may be justified in Your words,

And may overcome when You are judged."’ (Romans 3:4)

• This is from Psalm 51:4. Paul’s message is that even if no-one believed the truth about God, it would rather mean that all men are liars and God is true. What men say has nothing to do with how true something is.

‘But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.)’ (Romans 3:5)

• Now Paul is anticipating their disagreement with his view of God’s judgment (which is how this most affects the Gospel). He asks the question – if our own evil shows up God’s holiness all the more, then is God unjust in inflicting wrath on us? If our evil makes God look better than how can he judge us for making Him look better? He asks this question from the viewpoint of a man without the Spirit – all ‘logic’ and no truth.

‘Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?’ (Romans 3:6)

• He answers his own question with an emphatic ‘no’! If God condoned sin, then He could not judge the world for He would not be righteous. In which case, our sin would not show His righteousness all the more!

‘For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?’ (Romans 3:7)

• Some people were saying that the Christian message actually set people free to sin, or condoned sin. Paul has the same answer to this question as before – if sinning increases His glory, then why are we judged?

‘And why not say, "Let us do evil that good may come"?--as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.’ (Romans 3:8)

• Paul makes it clear that we are set free from sin, not to it. The Gospel implies repentance and leading a Christ-like life – not being set free to sin as much as you want.

SUMMARY

Paul anticipates disagreement from the Jewish audience over his critique of the Jews and his emphasis on faith rather than physical descent or circumcision. He defends the advantage of being a Jew in that they received the Law (for which they were responsible for obeying now), defends the accuracy of God’s promises to the nation and defends God’s righteousness in His judgment of sin, even though our sin shows up His righteousness more greatly. In effect, he silences three arguments before they start.

WHAT DO I LEARN?

I need to remember not to take grace lightly – grace does not mean freedom to sin, but freedom from sin and its power. Also, if the Jews were committed the oracles of God, surely we with the Bible in a hundred different translations and the Spirit indwelling us must have so much more responsibility to share that Word which brings life!

ROMANS 2:17-29 ‘The Jews Guilty as the Gentiles’

TEXT

‘Indeed you are called a Jew, and rest on the law, and make your boast in God,’ (Romans 2:17)

• The Jews were God’s set apart people who received the law (which they were quite boastful of)

‘and know His will, and approve the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,’ (Romans 2:18)

• they know His will: this must allude to His perfect will (since each of them can’t personally His will for their lives properly!)
• approve the things that are excellent: this contrasts with 1:32 ‘approve of those who practice them’. At this point, the Jews reading the letter are probably starting to feel proud of themselves, having differentiated themselves from the ‘they’ and ‘them’ of 1:18-32). However this also teaches us to approve of what is excellent – how often do we shy away from the good things because of fear of ridicule?
• The Jews were instructed from the law of God, which gave them both a privileged position (see 3:2), but also an excuse for false superiority over the gentiles.

‘and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness,’ (Romans 2:19)

• The Jews were very sure of themselves as a guide to those who had no light (law), ie. The gentiles.

‘an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having the form of knowledge and truth in the law.’ (Romans 2:20)

• the ‘babes’ could be recently converted gentiles into Judaism, or even the young Jews who were taught very early in the ways of Judaism.
• Form of knowledge: why the word form here? Maybe they had the structure of knowledge – the way knowledge and truth were supposed to be displayed, but not its fullness. Or maybe it means that outwardly they showed knowledge and truth, but inwardly they didn’t understand it. This is the first hint in the passage that Paul is going to put them in the same boat as the ‘others’ of chapter 1.

‘You, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that a man should not steal, do you steal?’ (Romans 2:21)

• So with all this knowledge and privilege do you follow what you say? Are you a hypocrite?

‘You who say, "Do not commit adultery," do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?’ (Romans 2:22)

• Apparently it was common practice to steal idols from pagan temples and sell them for profit (which is against the law – Deut 7:25). Without going back to Scripture, this may have seemed like an honourable thing to do. One could argue that stealing the idols meant less idol worship and the money could be used for the poor or in God’s temple. However, God knew that those who did such things would be doing it for self-gain, and that instead of merely decreasing idol worship, it instead made the Jews look bad to their pagan counterparts. How much do we do this ourself? We judge others for their religion and whenever we can (when in our power) we ‘piously’ take away their ability to practice such things. We must search our hearts for our motives here – of course we don’t want this idol worship going on, but we must go about things the right way – the Scriptural way, and that is the way of love.

‘You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law?’ (Romans 2:23)

• The Jews knew the law so well, but failed to recognize its real meaning so many times (just look at the Pharisees during Jesus’ ministry!)

‘For "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you," as it is written.’ (Romans 2:24)

• this comes from Isaiah 52:5. It is a real kick in the stomach for the Jews, who have now in some way been placed below the Gentiles because they are the cause of sin in gentiles…who don’t even have the law! This is a wake up call strategy employed by Paul to make sure his audience is now listening with open ears. He doesn’t want anyone to get through past here still thinking they are good enough to not need the Gospel.

‘For circumcision is indeed profitable if you keep the law; but if you are a breaker of the law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.’ (Romans 2:25)

• the Jews had an ingrained belief that circumcision was necessary for salvation (apparently even Christian Jews).
• how was circumcision profitable? It reminded them of their obedience and convenant with God, which indeed beneficial.
• If they disobey the law, then the circumcision means nothing because all it is is a reminder to do the law!

‘Therefore, if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision?’ (Romans 2:26)

• If the impossible happened, and someone lived a perfect life without ever being circumcised, then it matters not whether he was circumcised or not since he has kept the law regardless.

‘And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law?’(Romans 2:27)

• it’s not who has the law that’s important, but who does it. Note that fulfills means that EVERY part of the law must be obeyed to the fullest.
• Him who fulfills the law will judge those who haven’t. Ie. Jesus will be the only judge!

‘For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh;’ (Romans 2:28)

• Here Paul makes it clear that even in OT times, Judaism was of the heart, not of the flesh. So people were still saved by faith (see chapter 4) rather than by works.

‘but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.’ (Romans 2:29)

• Part of being spiritual is receiving praise and reward from God rather than men. Ie., not looking for glory and fame on the earth, neither respect nor admiration from men, but rather seeking to do God’s will and glorify Him at all times – ready to receive our reward in heaven.

SUMMARY

Paul focuses his previous argument (1:18-32) onto the Jews now, first building them up so they start listening, and then pulling them down seemingly below the Gentiles (though of course they are equal in the grand scheme of things). He tells them they have all the privileges of the law and yet though they teach others well, they don’t teach themselves, or they do not do what it says. In effect, gentiles blaspheme because of the Jews and the hypocrisy that abounds. This is all on the way to concluding that everyone has sinned.

WHAT DO I LEARN?

It reminds me that hypocrisy is one of the most hated things of Christianity – how many times I have heard people that have been turned away by hypocrisy! I need to be extremely careful that I do not become like the Jews that Paul speaks to – that I don’t just teach others from behind our ‘perfect’ wall, but that I share with them in our common experience (as Paul says in 1:12), and teach them who Christ is. I need also to realize that doing the Word is the end, not just understanding it.

ROMANS 1:18-25 ‘God’s wrath on Unrighteousness Pt.1’

TEXT

‘For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,’ (Romans 1:18)

• wrath is a settled judgment, not revenge or temporal anger.
• ‘suppress the truth’ indicates they know it but deny it in favour of pleasure

‘because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.’ (Romans 1:19)

• they know the truth and ‘what may be known of God’, since God shows it through nature.

‘For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,’ (Romans 1:20)

• Invisible attributes. What are these? Well at least some of them are His eternal power and the Godhead, what are the others that we can see in nature? It is easy to see his eternal power in creation, because for God to create the Universe, which includes inherently Time (as Einstein proved), then God must exist beyond the limits of time, and not subject to it. Therefore His power (in creating the Universe) must be eternal (since Time does not affect Him). Curiously, the Godhead can be seen in nature as well. Three are three fundamental parts of the Universe (so far as we know) – Space, Matter/Energy and Time. All three are intrinsically linked (especially space and time) but all have a different role to play. In fact we see that God is much like space, for space is that in which everything has its being. Jesus is much like matter/energy for it is the representation of everything, it is physical, we can see and touch it. The Holy Spirit is much like Time, for it is He whom we experience Jesus through. We need time to experience things.
• ‘without excuse’. Paul’s reasoning is that everyone lives in nature and therefore no-one ahs an excuse to not know God..

‘because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.’(Romans 1:21)

• This is a dark regression from glorifying God to dark and futile thoughts and emotions. It is intended to be a logical progression of what happens when we leave God out of the picture.

‘Professing to be wise, they became fools,’ (Romans 1:21)

• ‘wisdom’ on earth is foolishness, this could be alluding to Gnosticism, which was prevalent in that day, but also to those who study nature specifically to find that God didn’t create it, which goes against all intuition.

‘and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.’ (Romans 1:22)

• we exchange the real God for anthropomorphic ‘deities’ who suit us and glorify man himself rather than the creator.
• Apparently in ancient religions there were no physical idols, but paganism brought these into existence.
• Some worshipped nature and animals

‘Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,’ (Romans 1:23)

• This verse does not fit the nature of God without the ‘therefore’ at the start. In fact, God giving them up was really them giving God up and turning to idols. The natural progression was to dishonour their bodies because they no longer believed their bodies as sacred in the image of God.
• Note the similarity of this statement and the ‘unforgiveable sin’ – blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Completely turning away from the things God has clearly shown and trusting in the creation instead is unforgiveable, because you don’t want to be forgiven.

‘who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.’ (Romans 1:21)

• In summary, they changed truth for a lie and served powerless creatures and wood and stone rather than the powerful Creator.

SUMMARY

God’s nature is shown in the natural world and truth is revealed there, so everyone should know, but they willingly suppressed that in favour of pleasure and worshipping ‘knowable’ stuff. They wanted to love something they could completely comprehend (don’t we all!), whereas God’s love was incomprehensible in its fullness. This rejection of God led to degeneration and immorality (as natural consequences).

WHAT CAN I LEARN?

I need to question my motives in studying science – do I glorify God or nature? Do I expose or suppress the truth?

ROMANS 1:16-17 ‘The Just Live By Faith’

RANDOM THOUGHTS:

This should be the end of the chapter. It is the final part of his introduction to the topic – the Gospel.

TEXT

‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.’ (Romans 1:16)

• Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Ie. It is powerful and can move anyone, but only through God. Although most think it foolish (trusting in works is much more believable), it is the power of God!
• For those who believe, ie. Salvation comes from believing (‘faith’), not works.

‘For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."’ (Romans 1:17)

• Righteousness of God revealed: so in it (the Gospel) we see God’s righteousness, both His right plan and the fact that it is justice for Him to save us! Also, the righteousness has now been revealed to us so that we can own it!
• Faith to faith: His right plan is now concluded, or completed, in His Son so the Gospel is a conclusion of a massive history of the story of redemption (although we still have glorification to go in heaven!), so faith to faith could mean from the beginning of faith to the end of faith. Also, faith to faith could imply that His righteousness is revealed individually from person to person – your faith doesn’t affect another’s faith (well it might affect it, but not create or destroy it!). His righteousness in us is a vey personal thing.
• ‘Just shall live by faith’: Habakkuk contains this phrase but with ‘his faith’ instead of just ‘faith’. This gives a more ‘continuous’ feel to the phrase – the just shall live by his faith. Every moment is a step of faith, life is lived by faith. Whereas the phrase in Romans has a more discrete air, it has the idea that to have life we need to have faith (ie. Salvation comes by faith). Both are true and work together! Justice and faith are here linked inextricably – it implies that to live justly (without fault) we need to have faith in God rather than doing those right things! (This is easy for Christians to understand, but just think how revolutionary it is!)

SUMMARY

Paul states his main topic and thesis, and shows he is unashamed of it, which implies that he is very sure of its truth and accuracy and power. The topic is that the Gospel is powerful, based on faith, for everyone, and provides ‘justification’.

WHAT DO I LEARN?

The Gospel is made powerful through God, and I must remember that when evangelizing. Praise God for His beautiful plan of redemption!

ROMANS 1:8-15 ‘Desire to Visit Rome’

TEXT

‘First, I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, that your faith is spoken of throughout the whole world’ (Romans 1:8)

• why thank God through Christ?
• Faith spoken of throughout world – this was good both tactically as Rome was the centre of the known world, and as a mentor, Paul would have loved it as well!

‘For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers,’ (Romans 1:9)

• serves with his spirit? What does this imply?
• Dedication to the Romans…why? Without ceasing he makes mention of them in his prayers…that is a lot!

‘Making request if, by some means, now at last I may find a way in the will of God to come to you.’ (Romans 1:10)

• wants to go to them but abides in the will of God and for this reason, Romans was written!

‘For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift, so that you may be established—‘ (Romans 1:11)

• The gospel establishes the already believing church. How much do we need to go back to the gospel, the true gospel, and understand it!

‘that is, that I may be encouraged together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.’ (Romans 1:12)

• he is not an ‘overlord’ of them, but rather wants to grow with them.

‘Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles. I am a debtor both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to wise and to unwise. So, as much as is in me, [I am] ready to preach the gospel to you who are in Rome also.’ (Romans 1:13-15)

• Paul makes the point that he must take the gospel to everyone – gentile, Greek, non-Greek, wise, unwise etc. He is indebted to all of these, not because they had done anything for him, but because Christ had.

SUMMARY

Paul continues to elucidate his purpose for the letter, stating he would go there if he could, but since he can’t he will write this letter of the gospel to ‘establish’ them. This implies the gospel is for believers and non-believers. Also shows his personal dedication to them, which is a major part of his ministry!

WHAT DO I LEARN?

Need to be absolutely devoted to those I try to reach – interested in their actual person. I should not care what status they have, what they look like, where they’re from. Also, I need the gospel still!

Romans 1:1-7

Random Thoughts:

*Why all the talk about the ‘spiritual journey’ or ‘walk with God’ when Paul was so adamant it was a race? (2 Tim. 4:7)*

Background

• Paul never visited Rome, which made it possible to write Romans!
• Paul uses historical figures (Abraham etc.) probably as a common starting point for the doctrinal work.

Text

‘Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God…’ (Romans 1:1)

• Bondservant – a willing servant
• Apostle – messenger (one who is sent)
• Separated to Gospel – all his life devoted to it.

‘which He promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,’ (Romans 1:2)

• Promised the Gospel (or its method) before through the prophets (eg. Isaiah and Psalms)

‘concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead.’ (Romans 1:3-4)

• Of the line of David (man) and also the Son of God
• ‘Declared’ Son of God because He was God beforehand (eg. at creation)
• With power *according* to the Spirit, through the resurrection. Why ‘according to’ here? The resurrection was the great declaration of His deity, and the great proof. Fake magicians can perform ‘miracles’ by deceiving the eye, but none claim to rise from the dead from such a brutal death. In fact, the two most telling signs of His deity were His birth and resurrection, the bookends of His life.

‘Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;’ (Romans 1:5-6)

• Through Him we receive grace – this is the first inkling of the important content of the rest of the letter.
• Obedience to the faith? Ie. Faith requires action on the part of the one having the faith.
• Grace and apostleship are all for His glory (His name!)
• ‘called of Jesus Christ’ – election implied?

‘To all who are in Rome, beloved of god, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.’ (Romans 1:7)

• The letter is to all who are beloved of God in Rome (ie the church in Rome)
• Why can Paul send grace? He can easily wish them peace, but how grace? And why isn’t the Holy Spirit mentioned? Only Jesus and God are mentioned.

Summary

It is a greeting where he identifies himself (Paul), his position and calling (an Apostle), his intent (to the Gospel of God) and justifies his purpose. He identifies his audience, and justifies his audience (called to be saints).

What Do I Learn?

Am I a bondservant? Am I separated to the Gospel?