Romans 3: Sin, Redemption, & Justification

And that really took me to task on that, so I thank you for that. Okay, that said, let's get into Romans 3. In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul is moved by God to point out that all are guilty of violating God's holy, perfect, and righteous law. It's in Romans 1, if we think by background, that Paul first addresses the Gentiles. And in doing so, he pinpoints their tendency to worship creation rather than the Creator.

Paul then connects their idolatrous behavior with pride. It's pride that then opens them up at the tail end of chapter 1 to lust, vile passions, and a corrupt mind, a reprobate mind. If not vigilant in combating these Poles and being repentant of these wrongdoings, the Gentiles, as Paul declares, open themselves up to the cursings that come from breaking God's laws, but as well God's wrath, because God offers blessings and cursings, but he also says inevitably that I will answer, I will address those who violate God's laws.

As we move to Romans 2, and Romans 2 is what we just touched upon here, we find Paul shifts his attention then to the Jews in the church. It's here that Paul makes clear that the Jews have also fallen short, but they've not done so in the same vein. They've not focused on idolatry. Rather, they've shown a lukewarm attitude because they've had the law and they've been remiss in keeping it.

They've actually, their problem happens to be one of laziness. They've indeed grown tired of keeping the law. This mindset has then produced a certain degree of stubbornness in their mindset, which also takes them to pride, interestingly enough. It's the actions of the Jews that are just as offensive in the church at Rome to the actions of the Gentiles. That said, we move to Romans 3 today, and we see next that God inspires Paul to speak to both audiences. Both Jews and Gentiles.

So that said, let's then work our way through Romans 3 today. I've entitled this message, Romans 3, Sin, Redemption, and Justification. Sin, Redemption, and Justification. So let's just deal with a few details before we head into this. We know Paul is the one who's writing.

Well, it happens to be Tartellius if you go to the back of Romans. It actually notes that he's scribing, but Paul is the one inspired to offer what's here based upon inspiration from God.

And then we have a scribe penning this. We also know that his immediate audience, no surprise, is the church at Rome. So he's addressing really two different groups in that church of Rome. Those who happen to be Gentiles and those who happen to be Jews. Now this is then applicable in our case because we know in Romans 1 that those Christians that are new to the faith, which happen to be Gentiles, are like those of us who have come to an understanding of God's truth for the first time and haven't had a history growing up in the church.

In contrast, the Jews represented or addressed in Romans 2, those apply to that group who has grown up in the church. So what we might see here, which in this case would be second or third or fourth generation Christians, what we have here is we actually have two groups of people that Paul's writing to at that time, but it's just as relevant for you and me today. If we're going to break down just this one singular chapter into some parts, some manageable chunks to work through, let's do it this way.

In section 1, verses 1 through 8, 3, 1 through 8, we will read about the Jews' disbelief, the Jews' disbelief. In section 2, verses 9 through 20, we'll find that all are guilty before God, if you're looking for a subheader. And then section 3, verses 21 through 31, we're going to get a primer on righteousness, a primer on righteousness. So that we work through this then in sections, let me read verses 1 through 8, and then I'll backtrack, and we'll play some catch-up and deal with some details that are offered here when we do a little bit further study.

Romans 3, verse 1, what advantage then has the Jew, or what is the prophet of circumcision?

Much in every way, verse 2, chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 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. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust, who inflicts wrath? I didn't have in parentheses there. I speak as a man, and I'm reading from the New King James. Certainly not. For then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 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. So let's go back. We've made our way here at the beginning. As we move into Romans 3, verse 1, we're really dealing first off with the fact that Paul is noting that there is a benefit in the case of the Jews because they've had the advantage of knowing God's truth. Now you may think of some, even who you come in contact with, who aren't associated with the church in any way. They have a familiarity with God's truth.

I oftentimes note one of my colleagues who's Jewish, who oftentimes says to me, you are a better Jew than I am, and I always kind of laugh about that. But he's grown up with a well, with clearly familiar with the Holy Days, with the Ten Commandments, with all the teachings, particularly in the Pentateuch. And so, is there a value? What we see here in terms of the posing of questions by Paul is, is there a value to this? And I actually see this then answered in two, much in every way. You've had the benefit of this knowledge, chiefly because they were committed, the oracles of God. They really had the benefit, being of the lineage of Israel, they were given a familiarity with the promises to physical Israel that resulted in blessings. Now we've already been a number of different places in Scripture, but we come to a certain understanding that despite the fact there might not be baptism, they might not be baptized in the same way, just growing up and being clearly familiar with God's truths is a huge benefit. The blessings that they then reap, having kept God's words, having kept God's testimonies, is really the greatest truth, is really the benefit of having the greatest truths ever written. If we deal specifically with some of the language that's here, the oracles of God, the statement that appears at the tail end of verse 2, if you go and look in Clark's commentary, it refers to the utterances of God. This is, if I put in maybe more modern day language, this is God's divine communication. If it's God, it is divine communication. But what they've had the benefit of is their entire life. And even today, we know there are a range of schools that still rely heavily on this, Montessori schools oftentimes do, but the principles that are foundational to learning that young people who happen to be Jewish grow up with, is they grow up with the familiarity of God's truths as first delivered. So Paul says here, you bet you've had the benefit of these things. Verse 3, for what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? The question that's kind of posed here is, might they nullify God's words or God's truths? For example, though they have them, can they nullify the eternal existence of God's truths? And the reality is no. One of the things that we come to understand is despite the fact they may not have a full understanding in the way that you and I do, in terms of those who happen to be called, it doesn't minimize the fact that they have a clear understanding of what's again written in God's law. This doesn't discount a note here, and I'll read my notes verbatim, that God has chosen Judah as an instrument to keep his truths. The fact that we have God's word today in whatever version is really the faithful keeping over a long, long generation, no, thousands of years, of God's word. And it really is remarkable to this date that we have with such high accuracy, and we know we can go to a couple of points in Scriptures where someone has added text, but the fact that we can go back on so many different copies, on so many different versions, and we can accurately look at what's actually there, really shows how faithful the Jews have been in keeping God's word, and that's really what he's addressing there. Verse 4, certainly not indeed. So he talks about here, for what if some did not believe? Their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? 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. You know, as we move further down here, does unbelief dismiss God's word? Could you have God's word your whole life and not be a believer? Yes, that's possible. Does it minimize the greatness of God? No, it doesn't at all.

I mean, the reality is, how many Bibles, how many people have Bibles in their homes and don't go to that Bible at any point? You know, I think about growing up at certain family members' homes who had no knowledge of the truth. Bibles always out. You know, for whatever reason, it sticks out, at least in my dad's home in northwest Kansas. It was every home we went to, all of my in-laws, they always had a Bible out.

But they knew little of what was in it, and they rarely, if ever, read it. Yet in a case like this, those truths sat there all the time. You know, I might then add further here, again, in modern-day language, does unrighteousness dismiss the truths of God? No, they do not. Okay? Does our violation of God's law make God's word null and void? No, it does not. That's our own shortcomings, and that's in part what he's addressing there in verse 4. Verse 5, but if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? Does God's greatness come into question because of our failings? No, it does not. You know, Paul is going to say advanced, if not elegant, in the way he's addressing these different things. He's offering these questions rhetorically because they were oftentimes being kicked around in the church of Rome. And he then raises the question, and then he immediately offers some answer that cuts right through it all. And indeed, that's what we see him doing here. Does God's greatness come into question? No, it does not. God gives you and me the opportunity to build character. That's how he set up the system. Deuteronomy 30, 19 says what? Choose life. I said before you, life and death. And then he puts it on you and me. He says, choose life. Now, he gives us a choice.

But ultimately, as we more recently had heard about—I've got to think. Last week in both congregations, my dad spoke on the prophecies of terrorism, history of terrorism, and about how those fallen angels chose wrongly. God gives us all choices.

And he does so so that we, over time, just as we heard in that first message, we build character. We forge character. Character that he knows once he provides spiritual body, spiritual mind. When we look exactly like Christ does, if you go read Revelation 1, you'll be astounded at what you'll look like.

God needs to see a track record of that obedience. So he gives us the opportunity. He provides us the direction, and then he tells you and me to choose. And so that's what we see here. He lets us determine if we're going to obey, and over time that then forges in us his character, his image.

It's character that he can then trust with eternal life. In 6 we read, certainly not, for then how will God judge the world? For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to his glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? And why not say, let us do evil, that good may come, and as we are slanderously reported, and as some affirm, that we say their condemnation is just.

You know, if we're looking specifically here at verse 8, some at that time said that because God was forgiving, then they had the latitude of sinning as much as possible. That's dangerous, isn't it? Because we can place ourselves in a position if we try and rely on that line of reasoning. Well, you know, if we try and compromise and give sin and inroads in our lives, we can start doing exactly what the Jews had an issue with. They grew tired with the law. They grew lukewarm. And we can go back in Revelation and see how those people will have to really go through fiery trials in order to be saved.

You know, the whole idea that Paul is addressing in the Church of Rome, that if you sin greatly, you will be forgiven greatly. It is really one of ludicrousness. What they were arguing is this will allow greater forgiveness. And Paul says this is absurd. Sin brings consequences. Sin brings condemnation. Sin brings the penalty of death. Don't, in your own minds, think that if I sin, I can just default to repentance. Because that's not how this works. That then takes us to the second section here in Romans 3. And this subsection I've entitled, All are Guilty Before God. Verse 9 then reads, What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. You know, Jews and Greeks are both under the law. We all sin, and there is only one inevitable penalty for sin, and that is death. If it helps, and I've seen this and heard this lichen before, Judah, the truths, the oracles of God that the Jews had, is like having medicine. And as I've heard discussed before, just because you have medicine doesn't necessarily mean you take that medicine. You know, I think back to not too long ago, the situation that was rampant in Africa with Ebola. And if you remember back, we happened to have the U.S. we sent a bunch of doctors over, didn't we? And in so many cases, we were able to make inroads and help in so many different ways. And yet, we had some of those individuals, nurses and doctors, who came down and contracted the exact same thing, despite the fact they had the medication to address it. Now, the only reason why I would draw a parallel here is just because the Jews had the truth, didn't necessarily mean they were adhering to it, that they were following it. And that's what he's really addressing here. Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.

So, if we move further down, now we're going to see a whole lot of language that happens to come from the Old Testament. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seeks after God. They have all gone out of the way. They have all together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. Their throat is an open tomb. With their tongues, they have practiced to see. The poison of asp is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. You know, as we work our way down, let's hit a couple of notes here. Two talks about they've all gone out of the way. In other words, they've strayed. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one. You know, no one can seek out God on his or her own doing. We're reminded of a number of places in Scripture that God first has to draw. And as we then move down, and we noted this back one chapter in Romans 2, verse 4, that it's God who does the calling, it's God who does the drawing. We answer, and then God gives us, he reveals to us, a plan of salvation that's downright remarkable. And in doing so, one of the gifts we know from Romans 2.4, he gives us is of repentance. You can look back one chapter and see that in Romans 2, verse 4. And we're reminded of that in Acts 11, verse 18. And the reason why Paul points this out is that, again, those who don't have a knowledge of God's truth live within the prison of their own sins. And yet God, for you and me, gives us a clear understanding of his truth, and he gives us the opportunity then to go to him on our knees, or otherwise in prayer, and say, I violated the law. And in doing so, what does God do through his son's sacrifice? He perfectly forgives. And only as God does, not only does he forgive, he forgets. He removes it. As human beings, we have a tendency to do what? We oftentimes have a tendency to keep track of what other people do. I mean, our human nature oftentimes stores that, sometimes we'll call this gunny-sacking. It stores it up. Because at some point in the future, when we're in the middle of some conflict, when an argument gets heated, where am I going to? I'm going full ammunition. I'm going back to all your sin. All the things you've done wrong to me, hey, they are all coming out. You know, I have probably not a surprise here. I've been in instances like that, as probably you might have as well.

Human beings have this human nature tendency. God doesn't. He doesn't operate in that vein. When we go to God in terms of repentance, and we go to Him, and we acknowledge something that we've fallen short on, God says, I will completely wipe it away, and I won't even remember that thing again. And so that's what we see addressed here briefly in 12. In 13 it continues, their throat is an open tomb. With their tongue they have practiced a seat. With the poison of asp is under their lips. You know, what we find here is that these scriptures are a reminder of the very nature of human beings without God. We are completely corrupt without God, despite our best intents, despite our desire to be spotless, without God. It just doesn't work. If you will, then drop to 19. Now we have that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. You know, the law really has two purposes. The first one is to teach us God's character and His greatness. When we read of the law, we are reading the character of God. We get an insight on the greatest beings ever. God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. The second purpose of the law is to remind us that we are human, and that we are sinful, and that we fall short. And the law does both of those things. It reminds us how great God is, and it reminds us of the reality of who we are.

We really see this second purpose, this reality of who we are at the tail end of verse 19. That every mouth may be stopped. We have no before God. We have no grounds to feel justified. And that, if we go back, that was one of the things He was seeing with the Jews and the Gentiles in the church at Rome. As human beings, we oftentimes have a tendency to do what? When backed into a corner, we'll fight our way out. Well, you don't understand. There are these other people. There are other extenuating circumstances. And God says, Paul makes clear, that there is no standard of justification with God. That when we come before God, whether Jew or Gentile, whether first generation or second, third, fourth generation Christian, we have all fallen short. And the law makes that clear. Verse 20, Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. We can never rightly act our way out of sin. It can never happen. The law is there for a standard, and over time, once baptized, we're able to grow. Certainly, your desire, my desire, is from the point of baptism forward, we should see progress. We should see fruit. We should see a change to whoever it might be in this room. You should see something different out of me over time. Does that mean that we won't have lapses? No. Inevitably, we will have lapses. That's called being human. But what God offers us is he gives us a trajectory that we talked about in the first message. He gives us a direction. And then he has the ability, by his Son's sacrifice, shed blood, to, whenever we come to him, repentant to wipe away those shortcomings. You know, the term justified here is really a legal term, and it indicates the verdict of not guilty. Put another way, each of us is really accountable for our own sins. What we find is the purpose of knowing law is really one that gives us a much fuller understanding of who God is and what his laws are. And it allows us, then, to accept Christ's sacrifice. Okay, we only have one section to go, and that's verses 21 through 31. I've entitled this a primer on righteousness.

Verse 21, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. You know, what we find, if you go back and you get a clear bead on what exactly the law and the prophets do, is they point you to, they point me to, Christ. And that's what he's referencing here.

Verse 22, Even the righteousness of God, which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and all and all and on all who believe. For there is no difference. What he's noting here is that the removal of sin applies to Gentiles and Jews. It applies to first generation or second, third, fourth generation Christians.

Verse 23, For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Everyone has fallen short. Verse 24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Here the term redemption means a releasing, the forgiveness of payment for ransom.

And the only way that happens as we come to a greater understanding of what's offered in 24 is again by the blood of Christ. God freely gives redemption by the sacrifice of his perfect Son, Jesus Christ. Verse 25, Whom God set forth to be a propitiation by his blood through faith to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance God has passed over the sins that were previously commended. As a reminder, no, it's not just that any blood in the Old Testament, we had the blood of bulls and goats. It's not any blood that applies. It's only the blood of Jesus Christ. No, I'm going to digress momentarily. I was watching, wow, what was the last night? Yesterday afternoon, I had flipped to something that was talking about the centrality of Christ and the impact he's had on humanity. And this, I don't recall if this individual, it was kind of a documentary. I don't get the sense that this was a religious individual. But he talked about how there are so many people that live today that minimize the role that Christ plays in human history. And yet, everything we do, even the calculation of Roman years, is based upon his life. You can't minimize this. And Paul is driving this home to those who happen to be in the church at Rome, that it's only by Christ's blood that our sins may be forgiven. Verse 26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ. Our cleansing is really a product of God's kindness. It's God's mercy in action, and it's only possible by Christ's sacrifice. Verse 27, where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Or works? No, by the law of faith. No one can boast, is really what he's saying here. We are only due death, and it's only Christ's sacrifice that erases that penalty. Therefore, we conclude that a man is justified by faith, apart from the deeds of the law. You know, there's a limitation here, and you can go back to what Martin Luther contended. Martin Luther said it's only by faith. But you can go over to James. I'm going to take us over to James 2.24, which so many of us already know is here. But we're reminded that it's not just faith. It's also, when I say faith, it's not just internal.

It's also what we do. It's the manifestation of that faith. And so you can go over to James 2.24 and be reminded that we can act as though we have faith, but that it only translates. It only is living faith when it's manifest through our lives. And James 2.24 says, you see that a man is justified by works and not by faith only. And what we find from God's Word is that faith alone is not it. It takes works. It means that we have to outwardly show God's Spirit working in us, and that's what God expects of us. And that's what we read and we see reference in part in verse 29. Or is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles only. Since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith, do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not. On the contrary, we establish the law. So what we find as Paul closes this one section of Scripture is that faith establishes the law by re-emphasizing who God is and our need to hold to His holy and righteous character.

So what might we take from this? I offer two things. One is, if we go back to Romans 2 and verse 23, we'll just read that one verse. For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now this is not a surprise. Again, we have known this for a long period of time. But what Paul is offering here is simply a reminder is that everyone has broken the law of God.

We might think of ourselves as unique in the fact that we break the law, or we might, heaven forbid, think of ourselves as maybe, you know, I'm going back to being lawless generally. I don't even remember which message we heard, I think, more recently. But someone who was speaking, and this may have came out last week. It was, I had heard a message in the last few weeks. I don't remember if this was recorded or not. But the individual said years ago at Ambassador College that one of the professors had noted that I know how to be 98% perfect.

How absurd. If you're thinking I know how to be 98% perfect, you're in that stubborn category.

That pride has consumed you. Because the reality, whether through omission or commission, there's no way that we're perfect. I mean, we have so many failings. And so what we read in 1 John 3-4 is the definition of what that lawlessness is. Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness.

You know, if you're in 1 John 3, we might ask ourselves, well, okay, so where does this sin come from? Because you're either of God or you're of someone else, and John is inspired to write in 1 John 3, verse 8, he gives us a sense of where this comes from. He who sins is, oh, this is a harsh one, of the devil. For the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. When we break God's law, we practice that which is contrary to God's truth. We are, at those points, doing the things of Satan the devil. Verse 9, whoever has been born of God does not sin, for his seed remains in him, and he cannot sin because he has been born of God.

And you can keep going in 10 in this, the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest. You know, that manifestation comes by what we practice, by our works. And so what we're reminded here, back in Romans 3, 23, is that all of us have sinned. All of us have fallen short. So no one is justified. That then leads me to a second point that I think we can take here, is that God's sacrifice, his only Son, for our sins. And that, again, is reminded, we're reminded of that in Romans 3, 26, to demonstrate at the present time his righteousness, that he might be just, in the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. The term propitiation means to satisfy a debt. Christ's sacrifice satisfied a debt. It's used as an offering to appease, to remove an offense, and to reconcile. The amazing thing about Christ's sacrifice is it does two things. It takes the sin away, and at the same time, it joins us to God. And so there was one commentary, I'm pretty sure it was James and Fosse and Morton Brown, that said, or termed it, that Christ was an atoning sacrifice. That it not only removes the sin, but it connects us with God in one step. God then offered the blood of Christ to appease, to remove, your sin and my sin. Now I'll go to Hebrews 10, verses 4 and 5.

Hebrews 10, we know that the book of Hebrews, this section in particular, addresses this. Hebrews 10, verses 4 and 5 offers again a reminder of the removal of sin. Verse 4, for it is not possible, Hebrews 10, that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. Therefore, when He came into the world, He did sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you have prepared for me. To burn offerings and sacrifices for sins, you had no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I have come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God. You know, what we find here, and you can read further, is that it's only by Christ's sacrifice that our sins are removed. And so what we find are really two key lessons. There are probably more. You may have more that we find in Romans 3. But that then takes us through Romans 3, just that one single chapter. It's in Romans 3 that we're really, in summary, reminded of the benefit of growing up with God's truth, because we started with the Jews. We're reminded that all peoples, Jews and Gentiles, first, second, third, fourth, and generation alike, have all fallen short of God's breaking of God's law. And we're reminded that Christ's sacrifice is essential for salvation. It's only by His blood that our sins are removed. Romans 3 then ends by stressing the importance of faith in our calling.

It won't be too long before we get into Romans 4. I certainly encourage you to move forward, because what Romans 3 has done, based upon the truths and understanding, should be to compel us to action, to compel us to a greater relationship, a closer relationship with God, in that He's given us these great truths, He's given us something to act on. So, here in the near future, let's tackle Romans 4 together.