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LESSON 4
TEACHERS OUTLINE
ROM 3:21-31
God's
Righteousness
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The Previous Lesson – The Fall of
Humanity
In the first chapters of
Romans Paul sets the scene for the message of grace through faith in Jesus.
His purpose was to show
that all men, both Jew and Gentile, are under the power of sin, and that no
human being will be justified in God’s sight by law (Torah) keeping.
The purpose of the law of
Moses was to clarify the nature and consequences of sin, not to save.
Paul had set the scene in
Rom 1:16, 17, explaining that God is a righteous God. We saw in Rom 2:11
that he shows no partiality but treats all men equally.
In this lesson Paul takes
up the thought of the Righteousness of God and develops it into a lesson on
God’s system of justification.
God’s Righteousness (Rom 1:16,
17; 3:21)
The term righteousness of
God can be interpreted to mean God’s “personal” righteousness or the
righteousness that he gives to others.
Both find their place in
Romans!
God is a righteous God
because he treats all men equally in making them righteous!
There is a double meaning
in the term, with the one concept leading into the other.
Righteousness and Justification
The two words righteousness
and justification are related and built off the same Greek word.
Justification is the
process of making on righteous.
Righteousness is the result
of justification.
Righteousness is not the
equivalent of being sinless or not having sinned.
In Jewish (Pauline)
understanding righteousness is being in a right relationship with God.
Righteousness involves
forgiveness, but the stress is on the right or “covenant” relationship with
God.
In what Paul is explaining
in Romans, righteousness, or the right relationship with God is the result
of being forgiven and being adopted into the family of God (hence in a
covenant relationship with god as his child).
Righteous then is not the
result of law (Torah) keeping, but faith, or more precisely, faith in Jesus
Christ (Rom 3:19, 20; 21-22).
In our next chapter Paul
will demonstrate that this has always been the case by referring back to
Abraham whom God declared righteous by faith ling before the law was given
(Rom 4:3).
Paul’s Doctrine of Righteousness
(Rom 3:21-26)
In this text Paul mentions
many of the major doctrines of the atonement that can be used to describe
what God has achieved in Jesus:
- Justification is not by
law (Torah) keeping (Rom 3:19-21).
- Both Jew and Gentile
(the whole world) are guilty of sin; God shows no partiality (Rom 3:9, 19,
22, 23).
- In fact, the “whole
world is under the power of sin” and is held accountable to God (Rom 3:9,
19).
-
But now
(in the Christian age, or the age of the Messiah) God’s righteousness
(both his and that which he gives to us) is made manifest in Jesus Christ
and apart form the law (Rom 3:21).
- The Jews should have
known this because the prophets witnessed to this (Rom 1: 2; 3:21).
- The principle of
righteousness is that God declares one righteous (in a right relationship
with Him) through faith (trusting) in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:22). Notice the
emphasis on faith in Jesus Christ.
- There is no distinction
in this principle of righteousness, for this principle is for all, both
Jew and Gentile on the same grounds (Rom 3:22).
-
Since all
(both Jew and Gentile) have sinned and are accountable to God for their
sin (Rom 3:19), all (both Jew and Gentile) will be justified
by God’s grace as a gift (Rom 3:23). No exception is made, no distinction
by reason of ethnic background (Rom 2:11, 22).
-
Justification (salvation
Eph 2:8) is a gift (unearned) of God’s grace (Rom 3:24; grace from Greek
charis = pleasure, or favor).
- Both Jew and Gentile
have access to this grace through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24; 5:2).
- By God’s grace all are
justified through the redemption (to redeem = to be purchased back from
sin) which is in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:24).
- God has put Jesus
forward as an expiation (Greek hilasterion = forgiveness, or atonement.
The word is used in the OT for the mercy seat of God where atonement took
place). Jesus has become the means of our atonement or forgiveness (Rom
3:23).
-
This expiation or
atonement is to be received through faith (trusting) in Jesus Christ
because God, who is faithful, will justified all by the same
principle, through faith in Jesus Christ (Rom 3:25, 26).
-
This principle of
justification by God’s grace to which all have access through faith in
Jesus Christ removes the possibility of all personal boasting in their
ability to keep law or do enough works to warrant justification (Rom
3::27, 28).
-
God justifies the Jew
(the circumcised) on the basis of their faith which caused them to
be circumcised, and the Gentile through their faith which caused
them to turn to god (Rom 3:30).
-
However, Paul has
already explained that this faith is not any kind of faith, but a faith
focused on, and in accepting Jesus as the Messiah. This principle holds
true for both Jew and Gentile.
The Big Question (Rom 3:31)
Paul’s doctrine of
justification by faith only would raise serious questions for the Jew.
We have one of them here,
does this mean that God has rejected the Jew and the Torah?
Paul’s argument is a
strident answer, “By no means!” “No! No never, never!”
In fact, Paul argues that
he is upholding the law, for he is keeping the law in its proper place and
proper use, clarifying sin ands showing the consequences of sin (Rom 3:31;
3:20; 7:7).
Some Major Issues
for Members of the Church of Christ!
Discussions with
neighborhood friends on the relationship of faith and baptism introduces a
number of interesting and serious questions!
- Is baptism a work that
one does because one is already saved by faith, or is it an act of faith
that leads to salvation and justification?
- Is baptism simply
obedience or is it an aspect of faith?
These and other similar
questions need attention!
- In the New Testament
baptism is for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38)
- In Rom 6:1-6 baptism is
where one is united with Christ and makes contact with his death and
resurrection.
- In Gal 3:26, 27 Baptism
is the explanation of how one becomes a child of God by faith.
- In Rom 6:1-6 and Gal
3:26, 27 Baptism is how one gets into Christ.
- In Col 2:12 baptism is
faith in the working of God.
Faith and baptism are two
ends of a continuum.
- Faith is at the
beginning end, baptism at the final end of the continuum
- Remove faith from the
faith-baptism continuum and you destroy baptism, for baptism is based in
faith.
- Remove baptism from the
faith-baptism continuum and you get a disobedient faith!
Faith, repentance,
confession of one’s faith, and baptism are all the faith principle.
Notes:
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