Grace: Justified Freely
Romans next mentions grace in 3:24, after a discourse on the wrath and judgement of our righteous God in chapters 1 and 2.
Romans 3:21-26 ”21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.”
As I continue my Romans study, the following paragraphs stood out to me:
“The majority of the Jews in the new testament did not believe their works would make them righteous before God. Most of the Jews were not really legalists, in reality. It was only a small group of Jews who were legalists, who thought that by their good works they could obtain righteousness. This small group of legalists was the Pharisee party. The majority of the jews thought they were worthy of God’s blessings because of who they were, not because of what they did. The Jews basked in the glory of their calling. They thought God chose them for blessing and that all others (the Gentiles) would get his eternal wrath.”
“The Jew did not wish to be judged according to his works, but only according to his parentage. “We are the children of Abraham” was their cry. Their possession of the Law was proof to the Jews of their favored status. The fact that the Gentiles did not possess the Law was evidence of their rejection. While the possession of the Law was vitally important to them, the practice of the Law was quite another matter. Therefore, there were few legalists among the Jews—those who believed that by keeping the Law, without failure, they could merit God’s blessings. There were many, however, who felt that being a descendant of Abraham was their ticket to heaven, all they needed for God’s blessings.” (source)
If there is a universal trait of human beings, it might well be this: we want to be right. Even those who claim there is no God or who reject the Bible’s teaching live with an intense desire to be right (especially us men!). Whatever we believe, we want our thinking to be right. We may consider ourselves right because of what we have done or because of who we are or because of the mission we have or because of who our parents are. Romans 3 declares that no matter how we strive to “be right”, we all fall short. Failure is another universal trait of humans. We all fail. We fail in our work, in our church and in our family. Our bodies fail us. Our minds fail us. And deep down, we all know it. The ultimate failure of our human life is death.
“…There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Our works are always sufficient to condemn us, but they are never sufficient to make us righteous. Our calling and mission from God is always sufficient to keep us busy, but never sufficient to make us righteous. Our parents and heritage are always sufficient to remind us of who we are, but never sufficient to make us righteous. Only by the grace of God are we justified. Only through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus can we humans find the righteousness we look for.
I conclude today’s post by sharing some principles I’ve learned from the Romans study I’m following, from the first lesson (chapters 1 to 3).
1) The gospel is both the wrath of God and the grace of God.
Apostle Paul was not only saved by the gospel of Jesus, he was also called to preach the gospel. He risked his life to share this good news with the world. He longed to visit those in Rome, and planned to do so many times, in order to make their faith strong. What motivated him so? He understood both the grace of God and the wrath of God as the “good news”. The grace he found in the gospel produced overflowing joy, peace, love, hope, prayer, thoughtfulness and thankfulness (1:8-10). We readily understand these things as good news. But to Apostle Paul, the wrath of God was also good news. The wrath of God he found in the gospel satisfied his intense desire for justice and produced an eager, righteous anger and a calm, honest explanation of the plight of mankind (1:18-32).
2) God’s judgment remains based on what we have done.
Did God’s standard of judgement change from the the time of the Law to the time of the Gospel? According to Apostle Paul, no it did not. God’s judgement is the same: we will all be judged according to what we have done (2:6-12). And we will all be judged as falling short. No one– not Jew, not Gentile, not Christian, not heathen will not escape God’s judgment. God is righteous and holy. We humans all fall short of God’s standard. We will all be judged (Hebrews 9:27-28; 1 Peter 4:17). The gospel of Jesus Christ did not change the judgement of a righteous God. No one is righteous, not even one (3:10-13). The great human problems of sin and death demand a solution.
3) A person is justified freely by faith apart from observing the law.
The gospel of Jesus does not provide a new way to gain righteousness by our actions or our calling or our mission. Nor does the gospel offer a new way to obey the law. The gospel of Jesus does not remove our ability to sin nor our certainty of death. We all sin. We all die. I see no evidence that God intended to make Christianity a new kind of Judaism. The gospel of Jesus is a way to obtain righteousness from God by faith, apart from law. We can be justified freely by faith in Jesus’ blood. Jesus is the one who obeyed the Law of God, obeying the Law where we all fall short. Only by faith in what Jesus did at the cross are we humans able to find righteousness; righteousness that satisfies our sense of justice and our sense of purpose. In the gospel of Jesus, we find hope and power to live a meaningful life, in spite of our sin. In the gospel of Jesus, we find hope and joy to live again, in spite of our death. It is God who freely justifies such faith by His grace.
Romans 3:21-26 ”21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished– 26 he 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.”
One concluding thought: “Our lack of boldness in proclaiming Jesus Christ to lost men is, in large measure, the result of our failure to understand the gospel, or to believe it.”
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