A Work in Progress Bible Commentary
By: Chip Crush

ROMANS
CHAPTER 3

God's Faithfulness

1What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? 2Much in every way! First of all, they have been entrusted with the very words of God.
3What if some did not have faith? Will their lack of faith nullify God's faithfulness? 4Not at all! Let God be true, and every man a liar. As it is written:
   "So that you may be proved right when you speak
       and prevail when you judge."[1]
5But if our unrighteousness brings out God's righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.) 6Certainly not! If that were so, how could God judge the world? 7Someone might argue, "If my falsehood enhances God's truthfulness and so increases his glory, why am I still condemned as a sinner?" 8Why not say--as we are being slanderously reported as saying and as some claim that we say--"Let us do evil that good may result"? Their condemnation is deserved.

This has been said to be one of the most difficult texts in all of Scripture. I am grateful for the preachers and commentators who have led me to a sound and solid understanding of it. Notice several points in these verses:

  1. The advantage of being a Jew. Remember that Paul has addressed both Jews and Gentiles who did not think they needed to hear the gospel. Paul showed the judgment of sin in openly pagan people in chapter 1. Paul removed 4 obstacles (misunderstandings of the purpose of the law, their national election (Deuteronomy 7), their calling to serve God by revealing the light to the Gentiles (Genesis 12:1-3), and the outward sign of circumcision) that were keeping the Jews from Christ, all the while giving them a false security, in chapter 2. Paul knocked these legs out from under the Jews in order to drive them to despair so that they would flee to Christ. Later in chapter 3, Paul will sum up the reasons that all people everywhere need the gospel (SIN). But for now, Paul takes a detour. Keep in mind that Paul ended chapter 2 with a refutation of circumcision as a key to assurance. This was so offensive to the Jews that Paul foresaw four objections to what he was suggesting. Remember, he basically said that some Jews are not really Jews and some Gentiles can really be Jews, even if they are not circumcised. The problem is that this seems to call into question the special position of Israel as God’s chosen people. And that means it would call into question the whole Old Testament. And if Paul’s gospel does that, it will not stand. So these four concerns are important to refute. They are problems that folks point to even today when denying the gospel, and it’s neat to see that Paul is sharing the gospel will all people and overcoming the objections of all people. What an example Paul sets for us as we share the gospel throughout the world!

    First, the Jews will say, “If physical circumcision is meaningless apart from spiritual circumcision, then you’re saying it’s worthless to be a Jew, you’re saying it’s unimportant to be part of the covenant people, and you would ultimately be saying that the God Who instituted the covenant and the covenant sign is silly.” The Jews are asking, “What’s the purpose of physical circumcision and being a Jew, if all that matters is the spiritual, inward circumcision?” And Paul says, “There are many advantages!” Then he gives just one: the Jews have been entrusted with the Holy Scriptures. God has entrusted the knowledge of Himself uniquely revealed in the Bible. Everybody in the world has God’s image written on their very being. They bear the image of God. Everybody in the world knows the law of God, and they know that God ought to be worshiped. But because of sin they suppress that, and God has revealed Himself uniquely to Israel. Notice that Paul gives no other benefits, despite his use of “First of all…” Actually, Paul does come back in Romans 9:4-5 to give several more benefits of being a Jew. “Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ.” So Paul is just bringing up this objection as a preview to this whole problem of whether God is being faithful to His covenant with Israel in the work of Christ.

    Now, Paul is pointing out that the promise God gives to Abraham is of ultimate value, and the sign of the promise is not. But for the promise to be embraced there must be an inward reality, and the outward sign is supposed to be a sign of embracing the promise inwardly. So, as Paul presupposes the importance of Scripture’s existence, he shows the Jews that they have been entrusted to have the revelation of God.

    Here’s an analogy: Assume that there was one school in the world that could teach you the secret of knowing God. Entrance into that school was by invitation of God only. But the children of those who had been first invited were automatically invited and enrolled to enter that school as well. That school was located in one nation, not in many, but in one nation. Those who go through that school are uniquely exposed to the knowledge of God and how to live with Him, relate to Him, worship and serve Him forever. However, going to that school does not necessarily guarantee that you will, in fact, worship and serve Him forever. Here’s the question: Is it an advantage to be invited to that school? Is it an advantage to be a child of someone who has been invited to that school? You’d better believe it! Of course, it’s an advantage, an incredible one! There’s nothing like it in the world. That’s what Paul says first. And second…

  2. God’s faithfulness. Now the Jews come back and hypothetically say, “So Paul, you’re saying that IT IS meaningful to be a Jew, and to receive the outward sign of circumcision, and to have been entrusted with the Scriptures, and to have been given the law, and to have been called by God to be lights to the darkened Gentile world. If that’s what you’re saying, then how is God still faithful to His promise if many of His chosen people have rejected Him? How is it that those who have received these blessings through the covenant promises of God are still being rejected by God?” The Jews still can’t see how being a Jew in name only prevents them from inheriting the covenant promises of God. So they conclude that God would have to be unfaithful to His promises to them in order to reject them. And Paul says in the KJV, “God forbid!” Our NIV is merely, “Not at all!” God is never unfaithful! The unfaithfulness of His chosen people cannot call into question God’s faithfulness to His promises. Even if every human was judged and sent to hell by God, God would still be true to His promises, the faithful and righteous One.

    Paul says that it is impossible for God to be unfaithful. He quotes Psalm 51, King David’s confession after his adultery with Bathsheba. David said, “Against You, You only, have I sinned and done what is evil in Your sight, so that You are proved right when You speak and justified when You judge” (51:4). In other words, David says that God would be just to judge him. David’s sin against God makes God’s judgment of David righteous—it is true to God’s nature, it is true to His glory, and so this righteousness is faithfulness to His covenant. David himself, the hero of the Jews, said that God would be right to judge him. See, what these Jews forgot is that there are two ways for God to be faithful in response to the giving of the covenant sign to the covenant community. He can be faithful in blessing as we trust and obey, or He can be faithful in wrath if we reject those promises and live apart from His word and His law. God’s faithfulness should cause unbelievers to tremble, because He will judge in wrath. God’s faithfulness should cause believers great joy, because He will glorify us in eternal life. Either way, God is faithful. The question Paul could have asked the Jews is, “Are you?”

    The covenant sign itself, though it entails privileges, also entails responsibilities. And when the covenant promise is rejected, or neglected, or taken for granted, then God’s wrath is justly visited. And He is not being unfaithful. God is faithful in blessing or in judgment if the responsibilities that accompany the covenant are fulfilled or neglected.

  3. The unrighteousness of man calls into question the righteous judgment of God. Paul gets a couple more hypothetical problems to address in v.5-8. Now these last two problems stray from the original topic. We’ve gone from the moral law to the ceremonial law in chapter 2, and the first two problems of chapter 3 were still regarding ceremonial law, Jewish heritage, and God’s faithfulness. Now the first objection here, the third of this chapter, has nothing to do with the original topic. The Jews say, “If God’s justice is magnified in the wickedness of humans, is it really right for God to pour out His wrath?” If God is making use of the unbelief of the Jews in order to magnify His faithfulness, isn’t it unfair for Him to judge and punish them for their unbelief? If God glorifies Himself through my sin, isn’t it unfair for Him to judge me for that sin? This person is saying that since man’s unrighteousness depicts God’s righteousness, shouldn’t He be happy about that turn of events? Paul here is facing people who would rather rationalize than repent. He’s convicting them of sin. And they’d rather talk about anything else. So they change the subject to God’s judgment, given that He is glorified either way.

    Again, we get Paul’s famous, “God forbid!” This time our NIV is, “Certainly Not!” God is never unrighteous! Paul rejects outright the suggestion that it is unjust for God to judge those who have sinned, even though in His judgment, His faithfulness is declared and His glory is magnified.

    Paul says that the God of the Bible is beyond questioning in the righteousness of His just judgment. God is a just judge. Now, he’s speaking to Jewish people who believe in God’s judgment, and they believe in a final judgment. And perhaps he’s saying to them, “Look, if you think that God might be unjust in His judgment now, how can you think that He’s going to be just in His final judgment, which we all agree is going to occur?” Or Paul may be saying something like this, “If you are saying that sin ceases to be sin and ceases to require judgment, because God overrules it for His glory, then there’s no sin that can be punished, because God overrules every sin for His glory.” The Jews thought it was right to punish a sinner, so this view doesn’t mesh with the position that Paul knew they held. And if they were going to argue that way, then they would have to say that no sin can be judged.

    Notice how, when faced with the judgment of God for sin, these people immediately want to ask the abstract question, “Is it right for God to judge?” rather than the obvious and concrete question, “How do I deal with the fact that I‘m a sinner and I deserve judgment?” They would rather go to some sort of abstract theological question which is frankly preposterous; the idea that God’s judgment is unjust, than deal with the fact which is close at home that they are sinners in need of God’s divine mercy. And so often when we’re in gospel conversations we run into that very thing. Perhaps you confront someone with their sin, and suddenly they have all these intricate theological questions that they want you to answer. “Well, before we get to that, I’ve got some questions about angels that I need you to straighten out. Or help me with predestination, I don’t understand that. Or how do you know God exists?” Suddenly, there’s this great interest in various speculative theological issues. Why? Because, you’re getting close to home. You’re dealing with sin. And sin can accept anything except repentance. It will do anything to stay alive. And so the favorite thing to do for the unrepentant unbeliever is to run away from the accusation of sin and go to some abstract theological question.

    When the homosexuality thing came up in the Episcopalian church a couple years ago, I remember seeing on local television, an interview with a lady who attended a special meeting at one of the local churches saying, “Jesus never said anything against homosexuals. Paul may have, and Moses may have written some stuff in the Old Testament, but Jesus never did, and that’s all that matters.” How wrong is that? Can you place a higher value on Leviticus chapter 17 than on Romans chapter 1? It’s all infallible, inerrant, and inspired. This kind of “Jesus didn’t say it” tactic ignores Paul’s claims of being an apostle, of having authority to direct the churches, and it ignores what Scripture says about being all-inspired. It also contradicts what Jesus said about Scripture and tries to separate Jesus and Paul. The teachings of Jesus and Paul are practically synonymous, and when people try to separate their doctrine, they undermine the value of Scripture. You know, as Christians, our view of Scripture as Holy is devotion and worship. We show God that we love His Word by upholding the value of it. And this type of argument makes that Word look self-contradictory and ridiculous. It’s sad.

    Here’s what Paul is saying: If you can face God’s judgment apart from Christ, apart from grace, apart from mercy, and apart from the gospel in your own righteousness, go ahead and do it, because God is just, and if you are righteous, I promise you He will acquit you. Now, you might be acquitted from punishment, but you have only done your duty, so you wouldn’t merit eternal life and glory. That’s another topic for another day, but that’s what Paul is saying. The gospel is for everyone. Without it, none will be saved.

  4. In order for God’s grace to increase, let us sin more. Here’s what the Jews say: “If my unfaithfulness highlights God’s truthfulness, then why should I not be more unfaithful? Why not do evil that good may come. Paul, your teaching leads us to the idea that we ought to do evil in order that good might come from it. Or Paul, your view of salvation means go ahead and sin to your heart’s content in order that grace may have its chance to do its work.” But once again here you see that a depraved heart will do anything rather than repent. It will call in to question doctrine; it will call in to question God’s fairness; it will call in to question God’s existence; anything, so long it does not have to repent. He considers the suggestion that we do evil so grace may increase as blasphemous. And he announces here the justice of the condemnation of those who would say it. The most stupendous blunder a man ever made was to think that he could gain anything by sinning.

    We see again the repeated tendency to change the subject: Jesus ran into this kind of thing at the woman at the well. He’s talking with this woman about a sin that is very, very close to the center of her heart when he says to her, “Woman, go bring your husband.” She says, “Well, I have no husband.” And He says, “You’re right. The man that you’re living with is not your husband, and you’ve had five previously.” And immediately she becomes interested in having a theological discussion about worship. “Well, let’s talk about the theories of appropriate worship. It is here in Samaria or is it in Jerusalem?” Immediately she wants to talk about something else. Have you ever experienced this type of thing?

    So the Jews have said, “God can’t judge those whose sin magnifies His righteousness when He judges them, and therefore, we may as well all just go on sinning.” Because Paul’s whole point is that their sin glorifies God’s righteousness in judgment, they tried to convince themselves that they were not really sinners but God-glorifiers, and therefore safe from His wrath. And Paul, to that kind of convoluted, weaseling use of language and theology, says, “Their condemnation is just.” On the one hand, God is faithful and righteous and true to His glory, and on the other hand, God judges His very own chosen people and condemns them along with the Gentile world: Two truths, for them irreconcilable. So they try to reject one of these truths. And the result is sophistry—tricky reasoning, word games. Today we might call it spinning. Ever watch O’Reilly and the No Spin Zone? Paul treats this ridiculous, yet prominent theological objection elsewhere in Romans, under different contexts, so we’ll look more at it then.

  5. Conclusion. Paul in chapter 2 cut off the four legs of the stool of false assurance that the Jews were standing on, trying to deny their need for the gospel: (1) failing to see the purpose of the law, (2) misunderstanding their national election, (3) misusing their calling to serve God by revealing the light to the Gentiles, and (4) merely outwardly observing the outward sign of circumcision. And here in the beginnings of chapter 3, Paul refutes the four claims the Jews tried to use to deny the accuracy of Paul’s gospel: If what Paul said in chapter 2 was true, then (1) God and His chosen people and His established covenant signs were of no use, (2) that God would be unfaithful to condemn the Jews, (3) that God is unrighteous to judge the Jews, because His punishment of their sin glorifies Him, and (4) I should sin more often, so that His grace can flow more and ultimately to bring Him more glory.

No One is Righteous

9What shall we conclude then? Are we any better[2] ? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. 10As it is written:
   "There is no one righteous, not even one;
        11there is no one who understands,
       no one who seeks God.
    12All have turned away,
       they have together become worthless;
   there is no one who does good,
       not even one."[3]
    13"Their throats are open graves;
       their tongues practice deceit."[4]
   "The poison of vipers is on their lips."[5]
        14"Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness."[6]
    15"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
        16ruin and misery mark their ways,
    17and the way of peace they do not know."[7]
        18"There is no fear of God before their eyes."[8]
19Now 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. 20Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

  1. All are under sin. Paul comes now to his closing argument. He made it clear that the Gentiles were under condemnation and in need of God’s saving grace with chapter 1:18-32. He said the same thing about the Jews in chapter 2, overcoming four misunderstandings about: the law, the national election of Israel, the purpose or the will of God for the Jews, and the covenant sign of circumcision. The Jews put forth these arguments trying to avoid the gospel. Then with verses 1-8 of chapter 3, Paul refuted four more objections to his gospel (questioning the benefits of being a Jew, questioning God’s faithfulness in judging the Jews who turned away, questioning God’s righteous judgment presuming He is glorified by sin, and ridiculously presuming that more sin would be best since it would glorify God more). Now Paul, if he hasn’t made his point yet (which he has, as he says, “we have already made the charge”), he does so in this passage. He doesn’t beat-around-the-bush, trying to woo the people to like him or his position. He tells the people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear. And he speaks the truth in love; he loves people and wants all to be saved. He says everybody is “under sin.”

    Sin is mainly a condition of rebellion against God. This is why it is so sad and pointless when people argue that they are pretty good people and don’t need the Gospel. What they mean is that they treat other people decently: they don’t steal, kill, lie or swear too much, and, oh yeah, they give money to some charities. But that is not the main question. The main question is: Do they love God with all their heart and soul and mind and strength? Do they love His Son, Jesus Christ? Is God the most important Person? It is not virtuous to do nice things for people while having no love or reverence or passion for God. Sin is, first and foremost, a resistance to God. And that resistance results in a darkened mind that then suppresses the truth and does not understand God. So the person “under sin” does not seek God and does not know God and does not fear God.

    One of the most important truths to hold up in the world is that all human beings, even though created in God’s image, are corrupted by the power of sin. We are not morally good by nature. We are by nature morally bad. In Ephesians 2:3, Paul says we are all “by nature children of wrath.” The attitudes and thoughts and actions that deserve the wrath of God come from us in and by our nature. We see it again from Paul in Colossians 3:5-7. “Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming [against the sons of disobedience]. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.” Plain and simply put, we are by nature sinful. Sin is like a master or a king, and it reigns over us and in us. Not that it coerces us to do what we don’t want to do, but it makes us want to do what we ought not to do. We are not innocent victims of sin. We are co-conspirators with sin against God. Let’s see Paul’s point through 6 Old Testament passages:

  2. Our condition is in our hearts. Paul in v.10-12 says that our sin runs deep into the core of our being. We talked about total depravity a while back, and this is it again. There is no one righteous, not even one. All our righteous acts or good deeds are like filthy rags to the Holy One of Heaven. There is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. This is the big one. And in the Greek, ekzeteo (ek-ze-TAY-o), and in the Old Testament Hebrew, Darash (daw-RASH), it means exactly what it says: “to seek out, search for; to seek out for one’s self, beg, crave; to resort to, seek, seek with care, enquire, or require.” Nobody craves the One, True God, and it’s due to our sinful heart condition.

    There is no one who seeks God. Now this is hard to grasp in our day and age of seeker-sensitive church movements. But what Paul is saying here is that no one desires the One, True God. He’s too demanding, He’s too Holy, He’s a consuming fire that will undo us at His presence. Remember what Job said after being confronted by God? “I am unworthy—how can I reply to You? I put my hand over my mouth. I have no answer; I will say no more….I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.” Look what happened to Isaiah when he was brought into the presence of God. He was undone, literally turned inside out and cut open at the sight of the Theophany. Look what happened when Peter was confronted by Jesus Christ while fishing in Luke 5. He was convicted that Jesus was more than a mere man, and he said, “Go away. I am sinful.” Look again in Luke 8 when Jesus calmed the sea. Those with Him were filled with “fear and amazement.” “Who is this?” they asked. So no one, with the exception of those already believers, desires our God. Isaiah 53:2-3 “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him; there was nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him; He was despised and rejected, like one from whom we would hide our faces; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.”

    Unbelievers do not seek this God. Paul makes that very clear. We do not become God-seekers until we are found by Him. Once we are made believers, then it is true that we seek Him. He has made us willing, and because of that, we want Him; we desire Him. Because we have been changed, we do good; but still, even then, it is God Who works in us. I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. So it’s God working through us. It’s never just us. Paul concludes this point: All have turned away and become worthless; no one does good, not even one. We must understand this to properly understand grace. There is nothing valuable in me. I contribute nothing to the equation of salvation. It’s all of grace. It has nothing to do with me. These are hard words to hear, but that’s exactly what Paul has been saying since Romans 1:18.

  3. Our condition is in our speech. Paul in v.13-14 says that our sinfulness is declared by the words we speak. We lie; we curse; we deceive; and we do it with our mouths, and it comes from our hearts. Matthew 12:34; 15:18; Luke 6:45. These verses declare that the mouth speaks what the heart feels. And who would deny that? James 3:8-12 shows the power of the tongue, which blesses God and curses man; that should not be! Cross-reference Romans 10:8-10 with 1 Corinthians 12:3. The change that occurs when the Spirit makes us willing to believe is a heart change, and it affects what we say with our mouths.

  4. Our condition is in our behavior. Paul in v.15-17 explains that our sinful state is proven by our deeds. It’s in our hearts, our mouths, and our feet. Our actions are simply the outworking of the thoughts of the heart and the words of the mouth. And they’re sinful. Our actions are unworthy. Even our civil good deeds are done with false motives. Our good deeds are like filthy rags. We have no good in us. And that is proven by what we do. Romans 14:23 “Everything that does not come from faith is sin.” Hebrews 11:6 “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” No “good deeds” are done by unbelievers. Do you agree?

  5. Our condition is seen in our impiety. Paul in v.18 wraps it up here, explaining with force that there is no fear of God before our eyes (the eyes of unbelievers). The Old Testament teaches us that the beginning of the knowledge of the Lord is the fear of God. There is no knowledge of the Lord apart from the fear of God. To fear God is reverence and awe, having Him as your prime goal, for Him to be the One that you care about more than anybody else in the world, for His approval to be all that matters, for His will to be what you really want, regardless of what that is, to have God at the very center of your thoughts, the center of your actions, and the center of your desires. And Paul says that none of us, as unbelievers, fear God in this way.

    Sure, we may have feared judgment, but we certainly didn’t understand it. We were impious and ungodly, just as all unbelievers are. So having demonstrated from our impiety, from our deeds, from our words, and from our hearts how sinful mankind is, Paul has set us up to embrace the only way out of this mess—Jesus Christ. And those of us who are already saved can better appreciate God and what He has done to save us from the power of sin. We can rejoice in the good news that there is righteousness that reconciles us to God that comes from outside of us. We don’t produce it or even contribute to it, all we do is receive it and rest on it by faith. That is the greatest news ever heard.

  6. The Law silences mankind before God. V.19-20 are Paul’s final words in this great assault on mankind, and remember, Paul is saying all of this not to be mean, but out of love. He desires that everyone would come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, but until guilt is admitted and need of a Savior is acknowledged, none are in a position to partake of the benefits that the gospel offers. So Paul relentlessly and without remorse pounds home this truth that all are guilty and stand in need of grace. These 2 verses can be hard to understand, because Paul uses the word “law” in many different ways. From the context of v.10-18, we know that he is not just talking about the Ten Commandments and the Leviticus stuff, but the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures. Furthermore, he is talking specifically to the Jews here, those “under the law.” Paul asserts that because the law silences the Jews’ mouth to defend themselves, that means that every mouth is silenced. The implication from this and from what we saw in chapter two is this: The Jews felt justified before God because they had the law—not that they followed the law, but that the fact that God had given them the law gave them reason in their minds to be able to stand before God. The irony is that this law that the Jews had boasted in because it was given to them was indeed the very thing God uses to shut their mouths in his presence.

    If the Jews were held silent, having possessed the law, Paul says then “every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” After the Jews’ mouths are closed before God, there is utter silence in His presence. No one says a word before God’s Judge’s bench. There will be no plea bargaining, no excuses, no reasons. The Gentiles have nothing to say, because in spite of overwhelming evidence, they persistently suppress the truth in their unrighteousness. The Jews, who were as a nation brought into covenant with Him were given the law, but that law condemns their sinfulness at every turn.

    Paul is explaining one purpose of the law. He has already said that the Jews misunderstood its purpose (it was not intended to justify), so now he’s telling them what one purpose of the law actually is: To silence mankind before God, to show mankind the heinousness of sin and its debilitating effects on the totality of man’s being. More than that—the Jews were guilty of applying the law to the Gentile converts to Judaism without applying it to themselves, so Paul corrected them and made sure that they remembered to apply to themselves as well. We must do the same. We can’t use the law just to condemn the sin in others. It condemns us as well. It silences others before God, and it silences us as well.

  7. The Law holds the whole world accountable to God. That word “accountable” is powerful. It literally means, “under penalty.” The word of God, the Old Testament, having silenced the Jews therefore compels the entire world to be silent, having nothing to say in their defense before a holy God who sits on His throne of Judgment. He pronounces all guilty of sin and liable to the horrible temporal consequences of sin in this life and the fires of eternal torment in the life to come.

    Paul wanted to show that the Holy Scriptures actually accomplish their purpose. Isaiah 55:11 “My Word that goes out from My mouth will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.” One purpose of the Word of God is to show that all of mankind is accountable to God for their sin, to silence mankind before the judgment of God. The purpose of the Word was never to make man righteous, never to justify him. Jeremiah 23:29 “Is not My Word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?” Do we believe that? Hebrews 4:12 “The Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart” The Word is powerful unto judgment. Do we consider the Word like that? Paul knows that as we read the Scriptures, we must understand our own sin.

    Romans 1:20 showed us that we know God through creation. Romans 2:15 showed us that we know the law as it is written on our consciences, our hearts. And now in Romans 3:19, we are shown that we know these things also because of the nation of Israel. If the Jews, who had the blessings of God to succeed, failed, then we certainly have too. So Paul says that the proper understanding for someone in the sphere of the law, who has heard the law and been presented the law, who knows the judgments of the law, is to recognize his or her sinfulness and need of grace, because all are accountable.

  8. We are not made righteous by the Law; rather, the Law shows us our sin. Paul in Romans 2:13 said that the doers of the law will be justified. So is he contradicting himself here? No. He is saying that there are no doers of the law. If there were, that would be one thing, but there are none. So no one is justified by the law. Paul doesn’t have a problem with obedience. He has a problem with people who think they are obedient, but they’re not. Why does the Law only bring out our sinfulness and make it more obvious? Why does it have no power to bring out, or give, righteousness? We find the answer in Romans 8:3: “What the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh.” The Law is not defective in itself, but it is weak because of the flesh, because of our unregenerate condition. That’s why nobody is going to get right with God by works of the Law. The Law without the Spirit is called “letter,” and it kills (2 Corinthians 3:6). By itself the Law brings out sin, not faith, and when it does, it is death-giving, not life-giving (Romans 7:9-10). So it can’t justify us. It can only condemn us, unless Christ bears our condemnation and releases the Spirit into our lives (Romans 8:3-9).

    Paul concludes with something that would have been very shocking to his Jewish friends. At the very end of verse 20 he says, “For through the law comes the knowledge of sin.” Now that would have greatly irritated a pious Jew. A pious Jew would have said, “What do you mean that through the Scripture comes knowledge of sin? Through the Scripture comes the knowledge of the great and holy and awesome God.” Well, Paul is saying this provocatively. Paul isn’t trying to tell everything that the law is and does in this passage. But he is telling this. Think about it. The law itself in our fallen condition, as we are already sinners, shows us our need of grace. Far from putting us right with God, the law shows that we are wrong with God; we need to be put right with God, but that we can’t put ourselves right. Therefore the law itself functions to reveal to us our sin, to convince us of our sin, and to show us that we need an escape from sin which we can’t provide.

    We can see from Romans 7:7-8 what Paul is saying: “What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law [Here is what Romans 3:20b means—the Law brings about the knowledge of sin]; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’ But sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind; for apart from the Law sin is dead.” That is, sin lies unrecognized. When the Law meets an unregenerate heart, a person without the Holy Spirit and without faith, the effect is that it reveals the rebellion in our hearts; it makes our rebellion against God and his Law known; it brings it out. Sin rises up in the presence of the Law and shows itself with vivid colors. John Piper offers this analogy: It’s like a teenager who goes to the mailbox to get the mail. He brings it in and puts it on the table. He flips through it and sees nothing for him, and so he starts to walk away. No bad desires at all here, right? But then he notices at the top of one of the postcards the words, “For parents only!” And suddenly there is a desire to read the card. Are those words on the card sin? No. But through those words come the knowledge of sin. Suddenly what was lying dormant in the heart is shown to really be there—the desire to read what one ought not to read.

    Paul’s question to us is this: “What stands you before God? What makes you secure before the God of the universe?” And his answer is, “The righteousness of God. That’s what stands.” But, you see, that brings another crisis. The response is: “Well, I’m not the righteousness of God. My life condemns me if that’s the standard. Where do I get this?” And Paul says, “Well, that’s where I wanted you to be in the first place. Because until you understand that you need the righteousness of God, before you stand before the awesome and Holy God, you’re not ready to hear the good news that I’ve wanted to tell you.” But we have to wait until next time to see the great turning point, which comes in v.21-22. And for the rest of this book, Paul is going to tell us just how glorious that good news is. But it will make no sense to us, until we first acknowledge our need of that good news. Until we’re honest with ourselves, and we run from our deeds, good and bad, to the one place where we can find the righteousness of God, and that’s in Jesus Christ as is offered in the gospel.

Righteousness Through Faith

21But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[9] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
27Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

We change subjects within Paul’s letter tonight, as we look at verses 21-31 of chapter 3. Remember, Paul spent the past 63 verses, from Romans 1:18-3:20, talking about the bad news, the sinfulness of mankind. Now, for the first time since verse 17 of chapter 1, Paul returns to the topic he introduced in his thesis: a righteousness from God revealed in the gospel.

  1. V.21—But now, a righteousness from God has been made known in the gospel, apart from the law, as attested in the Old Testament. Paul jumps back to what he said in his thesis statement: chapter 1 v.17. He had to diverge for a moment to explain why the gospel matters at all, and remember that his conclusion was that God will justly and righteously unleash his wrath on sinners; since everyone is a sinner, we need the gospel. Understanding our need for the gospel, for salvation, Paul assures us that we can have faith in the gospel, not only because it is the power of God for salvation, but also because in it, a righteousness from God is made known. And remember, it is God’s righteousness that has us in trouble. God cannot simply overlook sin. He can’t just say, “It’s okay, I forgive you.” Sin is not okay. God must punish it. In His original covenant with Adam and Eve, He promised that the sinner will die. And what amazed Paul about the gospel is that God has made a way to save people without compromising His justice. He punished His Son to ensure His justice. And Paul is assured that he is saved, because God would be unrighteous to punish him for his sins, if He has laid those sins on Christ. God cannot demand that Paul be given the death penalty if Christ has already received the death penalty in Paul’s name. This is a righteousness from God displayed in the gospel. And Paul is amazed that God can righteously acquit the guilty. It’s called grace. And it’s amazing.

    What is grace? It’s more than “unmerited favor.” It’s not only that we didn’t deserve favor. It’s that we deserved eternal damnation. So God’s grace is more than, “God forgives us.” God’s grace is His favor freely bestowed on those who deserve His condemnation at the cost of His Son. G.R.A.C.E. = God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense

    The words “But now” declare the change that took place when we went from “under wrath” to “under grace.” We were not “in Christ,” but now we are. We were lost but now are found. The words “But now” also are used by Paul, I think, to remind us of the work of God in history. Before Christ, everything was B.C., and now, after Christ, everything is A.D., the Year of Our Lord… Paul makes a temporal distinction between what God had been doing in preparation for the fullness of time in the days of the old covenant, and the fulfillment of those old covenant promises and prophesies and types as represented by Christ and the new covenant. The old covenant was then…But now we have the new covenant. It is finished.

    Second, Paul says that God’s righteousness has been revealed “apart from the law,” apart from our works of the law, apart from our doing anything, apart from our obedience. Paul is saying that God’s righteousness is displayed in us in such a way that nothing we do contributes to it. There is absolutely nothing we bring to this display of God’s righteousness. It is an alien righteousness, provided by God, and received by the channel of faith. It is not something in us or from us.

    Third and finally in this verse, Paul is telling us that he is not giving us a new teaching, but that this truth of the gospel and justification by faith is demonstrated in the Old Testament itself. The Old Testament clearly witnesses to it and testifies of the truth of the gospel and justification by faith. In fact, in Romans 4, the place that Paul will go to show the proof of the gospel from Scripture is from Genesis and the story of Abraham. You know, often times we ask this question, “Salvation is by grace through faith in the New Testament, but was it the same way in the Old Testament?” Paul would have never asked that question. He might have asked, “Salvation is by grace through faith in the Scriptures (the Old Testament), but is it still that way since the Messiah has completed His work (in the New Testament)?” Paul knew that the gospel of salvation by grace through faith alone was both old covenant and new covenant reality. In the old covenant, people had to look forward to the coming promised Messiah; in the new covenant, people have the completed glory of Jesus Christ.

  2. V.22—We obtain God’s righteousness by grace through faith in Christ. It’s for all who believe, as there is no difference, no distinction, among the people of the world. Paul makes this clear over and over. Everyone is guilty; everyone needs to be justified before God. And everyone who believes, everyone who receives the righteousness of God by grace through faith, is justified before God. That’s it. Memorize it; never forget it; love it and cherish it. We need to always be reminded of this glorious truth and rejoice with praise and thanksgiving. We obtain God’s required righteousness through faith in Christ.

  3. V.23—All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Paul says that we’ve missed the mark; we have broken God’s law. We fail to obey its positive commands, and we absolutely transgress its prohibitions: both omission and commission. Sin is falling short of God’s glory. It’s failing to exalt all of His character all of the time. Sin is idolatry and immorality, exchanging His glory for an image. And we’re all guilty. Now “missing the mark” might not sound too bad. It’s like, “Oh, I almost made it.” But as we know, “almost” only counts in horseshoes, darts, and hand-grenades. And when Paul says we’ve missed the mark, he’s not at all saying that we were almost there, so close. He’s really saying that we’ve missed the whole dartboard. We threw the horseshoe, and it landed in the ocean. The hand-grenade went off in our own hand. We have missed the whole point for which God made us. He made us to experience companionship with Him, to share His glory. And we failed to receive that glory, failed to glorify Him, and failed to reflect His glory. We missed the whole point of life. That’s what Paul is saying. Apart from Christ the verdict of God against every individual is going to be: “You missed the point.” It’s not that we got 43 percent of it, or 93 percent of it, or even 99.9 percent of it. We missed the whole point. And as frightening as that verdict is, Paul has such good news in the midst of it.

  4. V.24—We are justified freely by grace through the redemption of Christ. Justification is absolutely free. Justification means the pronouncing or declaring of a person to be righteous. It’s a law court term. And we contribute nothing to this declaration of God that we are justified. Now justification is an act, not an ongoing process. It’s a judicial act, and it’s not our act. God justifies. We don’t justify ourselves. In justification, God declares us righteous. He forgives us of our sin and spares us the penalty of that sin.

    Remember the analogy of the pardon that we discussed awhile back. The pardon is freely offered and must be accepted by the guilty party. That’s true. But regarding the righteousness of the state, in this case, God, the punishment for the sin was already carried out in the Person of Jesus Christ; thus God will not and cannot righteously demand that punishment from the guilty party. Do you understand the critical implications of this, especially considering the substitionary atonement of Christ? If Christ paid the punishment price of someone’s sins, then God would be unrighteous, unjust, to also punish the sinner for those sins that were punished in Christ. Do you see? Justification is about what God does, not you.

    Finally notice that justification, though free, is in fact, very costly. Justification is free to us, but it’s costly to God. Paul says that it is a gift by grace, but it is purchased for us through the redemption in Jesus. Christ has paid a purchase price for us. He bought us from God for God—from God’s wrath for God’s mercy. He paid by His life with His blood, bearing the penalty of sin, a purchase price. Will this price not buy what it was intended to purchase? As Paul would say, “God forbid!” Jesus has effectively accomplished exactly what He intended. So what was His purpose? Was it to merely offer salvation to all of mankind, and thereby require mankind to be the ultimate determiner of salvation? Was it actually save the elect? I, and Scripture I believe, suggest that Christ has fulfilled His purpose, to redeem those the Father gave Him. And it wasn’t everybody. I’m sure not all of you agree. In fact, perhaps most of you disagree. How does what I’ve said make you feel? Did Christ fail in His efforts to purchase all of mankind? Or did He succeed in redeeming all those the Father gave Him? Do you see where this understanding, in order for us to be consistent in our doctrinal theology, is so critical? This is why the Calvinism / Arminianism debate is so important. It doesn’t determine whether or not you’re saved. Rather, it forces us to examine our theological consistency.

  5. V.25a—God presented Christ as a substitutionary atoning sacrifice for propitiation. Paul is saying that our justification, our being legally declared righteous, is based on Christ having born our sin in our place and having turned aside and satisfied the wrath of God. It is final and permanent. Once a person is justified, that person cannot be punished. Paul points us to the work of Christ on the cross; God’s free forgiveness of us is right and just, because He did not slide our sins under the carpet. He paid for them by the blood of His own Son. The picture is not of a merciful Jesus trying to turn away the wrath of a mean, vindictive, narrow-minded, mean-spirited deity. No, it’s God Who displays publicly His Son as a propitiation through His blood. The Father is the author of justification, redemption, and propitiation. The Father’s love is upon His people, and the cross is the means of accomplishing the purposes of His love. Jesus is not on the cross trying to get God the Father involved in salvation. He’s on the cross because the Father has been involved in salvation from before creation. What do think of that?

    Jesus was a substitionary, atoning, propitiatory sacrifice. We don’t use words like “justification,” “redemption,” “propitiation,” “atonement,” or “substitionary” very much. And it’s a shame, because all of these words are very important. Understanding their Scriptural meaning correctly is critical for having a consistent theology. We’ve already discussed “justification.” It means to declare righteous what is not.

    “Redemption” speaks of purchasing back something that was in bondage, a prisoner of war or a slave. Redemption is like a ransom. Redeem means to set-free or release at a price. “Propitiation” means a “wrath-removing;” it speaks of turning away a deserved wrath. It means to pacify or appease or satisfy. “Atonement” (often considered as “at-one-ment”) means to extinguish guilt, to make amends for wrongdoing so that oneness and unity is accomplished or restored. It is reconciliation; and we can’t reconcile ourselves to God. We can’t atone for our own sins. We have nothing of atoning value to offer God that would reconcile us to Him. But Christ did. He had the blood of a perfect, sinless life.

    See Hebrews 9:12-15,22,25-28; 10:4. “[Christ] did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of [animals] sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God! For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that He has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant…Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness… Nor did He enter heaven to offer Himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him… It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”

    When we speak of a “substitutionary” atonement, we mean that Christ reconciled those for whom He died to the Father. Christ substituted Himself for them. Will this not be honored by God? 2 Corinthians 5:17-19 “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, Who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” All of these words bring freedom in the Christian life. Do you have guilt? Here’s justification. Are you bound to addictions? Here’s redemption. Do you fear the wrath of God? Here’s propitiation. All of these are freely offered, and I suggest applied, in the gospel, because Christ is a substitutionary atoning sacrifice.

  6. V.25b-26—God punished Christ to demonstrate His justice, having, in forbearance, delayed or held back His wrath for this particular moment. God is just and the One Who justifies believers. Paul says something that should astonish us. God’s mercy towards us in Christ’s subsitutionary, atoning, propitiatory sacrifice, is rooted in God’s justice in Christ’s subsitutionary, atoning, propitiatory sacrifice. Apart from the gospel, Paul says, the validity of the Old Testament sacrificial system is called into question. It would have been immoral and unrighteous for God to institute a system establishing atonement and reconciliation based on the sacrifice of animals, because Scripture says it is and always was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. They were neither able to nor designed to forgive sins. So the Old Testament, as Hebrews declares, was always pointing to the sacrifice that actually could and actually would take away sins, the sacrifice of Christ. And that teaches us that Christ’s cross-work flows both backwards and forward in time. It is Christ’s cross-work that provides the covering for the sins of all those who were under God’s covenant of grace in the Old Testament. And that’s why it was just for God to be merciful to them, even though at that time in history no real sacrifice for sin had been provided. And so also it flows forward to us. We live 2000 years after His crucifixion, after His atoning work, and yet His benefits continue to flow forward. Does that make sense?

    Justification shows us how God’s mercy is grounded in justice and righteousness. Justification doesn’t compromise His justice or His mercy; it exalts both. Any presentation of the gospel that denies either God’s justice or His mercy is not the gospel. Both of those components must be present in a true presentation of the gospel. That’s the glory of the gospel; it doesn’t compromise the character of God. That’s what makes God both just and the One Who justifies. And who does He justify? The believer is justified, the one who has faith. All those things we talked about—justification, redemption, propitiation, atonement, and substitution—all those things are transferred through the channel of faith.

    It’s important to understand that justification has to do with God, not the guilty party. It’s not in the hands of the guilty party to be made just or not. It’s in the hands of the judge. God is the judge, the One Who justifies. And if He justifies someone in His High and Supreme Court, He cannot righteously require a penalty from that person who has been made just. Remember Roman 8:29-30: Those who are justified are also glorified. There’s no turning back. And this gives great assurance of salvation to the believer.

    God’s righteousness and justice was at stake in justification. God would have been unrighteous if He passed over sin without saving us in a way that demonstrates His infinite passion for His glory—which is His righteousness. But what we see is that: (1) God’s glory is upheld; (2) His wrath is propitiated; (3) the ransom is paid; (4) His righteousness is demonstrated.

  7. V.27-28—No one can boast; we are justified by faith. Prior to v.27, in v.21-26, Paul told us the grounds or basis on which we are saved. Here Paul focuses us on that way by which we receive our justification. He focuses us on faith, the instrument of justification. Those two things are different. There’s the basis on which we are justified, the work of Christ, and there’s the way in which we receive that justification, faith. The doctrine of justification by faith excludes boasting, because it is not based on us or our works. It’s based on the work of Christ, and it’s a gift of grace received by faith. Paul first set forth the basics of the doctrine of justification, the doctrine of salvation by God’s free justification based upon the finished work of Jesus Christ received through faith alone. And now much of Paul’s remaining theological section of Romans is based upon the implications of the doctrine of justification for our lives.

    Paul is saying in these verses that when we understand salvation, justification, and the grounds on which God accepts a person, when we understand the way that we receive the blessings of justification, there is no room left for pride, no room left for boasting. Would you say this: “There was something I did, something I believed, that set me apart from others, that made me special, that made God bring me into His Kingdom and not others. In the final analysis, something in me accounted for my eternal life. I improved the grace given me by contributing my faith, whereas others failed to do so. I believed and thereby fulfilled God’s plan, whereas others did not believe and failed to receive the benefits of God’s gracious offer, and that is why I was accepted by God”? Paul wants us to understand that our standing with God has absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with anything in us. Faith corresponds to grace. Work corresponds to debt. Therefore faith excludes boasting, and work supports boasting. If you are the beneficiary of grace in all that you are and have, you cannot boast in yourself. 1 Corinthians 4:7 “What have you that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if it were not a gift?” When all is gift, boasting is excluded. We’ll see more of this in Romans 4.

    Paul says in v.28: “a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” This seems to contradict James 2:24: “You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.” How do we reconcile these statements? Charles Spurgeon said, “There’s no need to reconcile friends.” Paul is clearly talking about how a man is accepted by God. He is dealing with the issue of how it can be that unrighteous people can be accepted by a righteous God. He is specifically dealing with the issue of the way that we are justified, declared righteous, pardoned, and accepted. James, however, is talking about something else. James is writing in the context of dealing with hypocrisy in the church. There are some people who claim to believe, claim to be Christians, but their lives do not bear the fruit of their profession. How do you tell the difference between somebody who claims to be a Christian but isn’t, and someone who claims to be a Christian and is? How do you know whether a person really believes? What demonstrates their Christianity? James answer is clear. “Faith brings forth the fruit of holiness.” So faith and obedience, holiness, says James, demonstrates a person to be a believer. See four notes on this issue:

    (1) Paul is dealing with how one is made right before God. James is dealing with the sin of hypocrisy (see James 2:14). (2) James does not ask the question, “Can faith alone really save a person?” That’s not what James is talking about. He’s not asking if real faith by itself saves a person. James is asking another question: “Can claimed faith demonstrate a person to really be a Christian?” (3) James is clearly concerned about what he calls dead faith. There were no deeds from those claiming to have faith. There was no workmanship for which we were created in grace as Paul says in Ephesians 2. And so we know from Ephesians and elsewhere that Paul is clearly concerned about people who make a profession but show no marks of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. (4) Both James and Paul use Abraham to make their point: James goes to the story of Abraham in order to prove that faith without fruit, without deeds, without obedience, without love, is not real faith. But notice that he gives us a clue. He quotes from Genesis 15:6 “Abraham believed and God reckoned it to him as righteousness.” Then he says that Abraham was justified when he offered up Isaac. Then he draws his conclusion. “So you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith alone.” Now that’s the clue to show that he’s not contradicting Paul. When did God say to Abraham that he was justified by faith? Before Isaac was born. When did Abraham offer Isaac up? Years and years and years later. Therefore, James knows that his audience, being good Jewish Christians, knows that God’s declaration of Abraham as righteous came seven chapters before Abraham offered up Isaac. James is giving a clue that he is not talking about God’s acceptance of Abraham; he’s talking about Abraham’s demonstration that he does belong to God. Over and over James gives clues to help his audience understand that he is not attempting to contradict what Paul said. In fact, Paul, in the last verse of Romans 3, acknowledges that faith and obedience go hand in hand in the Christian life. But Paul also knows that our obedience has nothing to do with God’s justification, and he wants us to hold those two truths right together. There’s no need to reconcile friends. Does God call us to obedience as Christians? Absolutely. Does our obedience have anything to do whatsoever with God’s acceptance of us? Absolutely not. And if you get that wrong, you get everything wrong.

    Conditionality inserted into any relationship severs the capacity for intimacy in that relationship. If you are obeying because you are afraid of the rejection of God, then you are obeying out of an ungodly fear. If you are a believer, then God has accepted you in His Son, and your obedience is not rendered in order to get Him to like you, love you, and save you. It’s rendered out of gratitude for the salvation that is already yours. Look quickly in Exodus 20:2-3. The Ten Commandments are going to be given. Is this another way of salvation that Moses is suggesting? No. “I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… You shall have no other gods before Me.” See what God says. He does not say “Here are the Ten Commandments. If you will obey them, or try really hard to obey them, then I will bring you out of the land of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” That is not what God says. God says, “I have brought you out of the land of Egypt. I have brought you out of the house of slavery. I have redeemed you. Now obey.” Redeemed! Now obey. That’s the order. Not obey in order to be redeemed. Do you get that? Paul is emphasizing when he says justification is by faith alone that we are redeemed for obedience, not redeemed by obedience. And that makes all the difference in the world. My obedience is not in order to earn the saving love of God. He already loves me more than I can ever know. My obedience flows from that love which I have received. That is the greatest news ever told.

  8. V.29-30—There is One God of all, Who justifies all kinds of men by the same faith in Christ. Paul uses the words, “we maintain.” This truth is not just something that Paul values; it’s a truth that Christians embrace. Justification is by grace through faith apart from works. And amazingly, it’s for all people. It’s not just for the Jews, those to whom God gave His law. And that is offensive to them. That’s why Paul spends so much time explaining these Jew / Gentile issues. He wants more than anything for his own countrymen to understand what their God has done. And they needed to understand that…

    …God doesn’t depend on what we do. He depends upon His work and His work in His Son. On God’s end, salvation is provided by grace. But it’s not just on God’s end. Our salvation is provided by grace. On our end, our faith, whereby we receive the grace of God in the gospel, is a gift of God. He gifts us with faith. So salvation is by grace at both ends: on God’s end and our end. We don’t do things in order to condition God’s acceptance of us, and the one thing that God requires of us—faith—He gives. It goes right back to the prayer of Augustine. He said to God, “Command what You will and grant what You command.” In other words, “Lord, command me to do anything You want. And make me willing and able and certain to do it.”

  9. V.31—The law is not nullified, but upheld by this faith. Paul probably got this objection frequently: that the doctrine of justification by faith was nullifying the law. Justification by faith rightly understood, as Paul says, doesn’t lead you to neglect the law or negate or hate the law. In fact it will lead you to love the law of God. But on the other hand justification by faith doesn’t lead you to believe that you can do anything that you want. Paul raises and then briefly answers this question saying that God’s free justification does not mean that works or obedience or love do not have a place in the Christian life. Paul wants us to hold two truths simultaneously in our understanding. We must understand first that there is absolutely no contribution whatsoever on our part to our justification. There is no work that we do or obedience that we do or love that we show or anything in us that determines whether or not God will justify us. There’s not even anything that God does in us that conditions our justification. Justification is done on the basis of the work of Jesus Christ. Paul wants us to understand that on the one hand; on the other hand he wants us to understand that obedience and works and love that flows from a renewed heart, those things are a necessary part of the Christian life.

    God in His mercy accepts you not because of something in you, but because of something in His Son and something that His Son did. And so when He accepts you, He looks at His Son, not at you. Do works flow from the work of God in you? Of course they do.

Footnotes

  1. 3:4 Psalm 51:4
  2. 3:9 Or worse
  3. 3:12 Psalms 14:1-3; 53:1-3; Eccles. 7:20
  4. 3:13 Psalm 5:9
  5. 3:13 Psalm 140:3
  6. 3:14 Psalm 10:7
  7. 3:17 Isaiah 59:7,8
  8. 3:18 Psalm 36:1
  9. 3:25 Or as the one who would turn aside his wrath, taking away sin

Bible text from Gospelcom.net.  Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.

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