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Religion
Being Declared ‘Not Guilty’ (Romans 3:21–31)
right.
God’s righteousness (his
standard or justice) was given to the world through the faithfulness of Jesus. It is appropriated by faith. For all have sinned and fall short (are continuing to lack) the glory of God.
Paul went to his thesaurus to try to describe what hap- pened the day that Jesus died on Calvary. He pushed language to the breaking point to describe God’s faith- fulness in Christ. Paul went to the courtroom and picked up a legal term (justified), to the marketplace and picked up an economic term (re- demption), and to the tem- ple and picked up a sacrificial term (sacrifice of atonement or propitiation). All of these words paint pic- tures and make analogies to describe the faithfulness of Jesus to God’s mission. It all happened freely by God’s grace, but it was not cheap. It cost Jesus his blood.
Jews and Gentiles were in
a dilemma due to sin, but God was also in a dilemma. How could God stay true to his character (sin demands punishment) and yet come to the aid of his creation? He had been patient in working his plan because in his for- bearance he had left the sins committed beforehand un- punished.
The dilemma was solved by Jesus offering himself. Sin could be punished with its due penalty—death. But due to Jesus’ faithfulness to God’s mission and taking on that punishment, the sinner is set free (justified, re- deemed, and propitiated).
Faith in Christ |
Romans 3:27-31
Do humans cast a vote in salvation? Most assuredly. We cannot save ourselves, but we must appropriate this great Christ event by faith. We accept the testimony of those who witnessed these events. We respond to God by receiving Jesus for who
he said he was—the Son of God. We commit to Christ and begin to obey everything he taught. This is not viewed as a work on our part (John 6:29). It is trust in the per- son of Christ and in the work that he did on Calvary.
Paul circled back to the tension in the church be- tween Jew and Gentile and said some strange things about the law and faith. If this getting the world back through sacrifice is God’s business, can Jew or Gentile boast? Obviously no! But does this mean that the law (or the principle of faith) played no role for the Jew or Gentile in salvation? Obvi- ously no!
Jews and Gentiles are not saved by works of the law. Faith cannot leapfrog the law, but by placing faith in Christ and in his faithful work, all people can realize the fulfillment of the law in Jesus—much like an apple blossom fulfills itself in an apple. This sets things right.
The study of Romans has brought us to the point of conviction. The world is GUILTY of high treason against its Creator. How can things be set right? What is God’s role in setting those things right?
After all the bad news about our sinfulness and God’s condemnation, Paul now gives the good news. There is a way to be declared ‘Not Guilty’ --- by trusting Jesus Christ to take away our sins. Trusting means putting our confidence in him to forgive our sins, to make us right with God, and
to empower us to live the way he taught us. God’s so- lution is available to all of us regardless of our back- ground or past behavior.
Faith of Christ | Romans 3:21-26
God presented Christ. He sent Jesus to be the expres- sion of his faithfulness to Is- rael. Jesus faithfully fulfilled his saving mission. In fact, this new way of having things set right was actually anticipated in the Old Testa- ment—the Law and the Prophets testified to how God would make things
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