JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH

Romans 3:21-31

Key Verse: 3:24

“And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

In the previous passage we learned that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin. We heard about all the bad news that we are under God’s wrath due to our total depravity. At the same time we are utterly unable to do anything to save ourselves or extricate ourselves from our condition of sinfulness. Every mouth was silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. In the past we were like death row inmates locked in the prison of Satan who were waiting for the day of execution. The final appeal to the Supreme Court was denied. The devil our dreadful prosecutor was winning his case with a disguised smile. But suddenly a messenger came and declared good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and we were justified by his grace. We simply believed in Jesus. We were freed from the bondage of sin and death and the judge declared, “You are not guilty. You are free to go.” We cried and rejoiced by this good news and expressed our utter joy by saying, “Thank you, Jesus.” Today, we want to study justification through faith. Let’s accept Jesus’ blood for the atonement of our sins by faith. I pray that we all may come under the cross of Jesus and receive his justification by faith. May God bless you to have faith in Jesus and to commit your life to serve his holy mission with joyful hearts.

Part 1. GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS AND MAN’S FAITH IN THE SON (21-26)

Look at verse 21. “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” How long would you like to hear all the bad news? Maybe you are tired of hearing all the condemnations mentioned so far. Paul changes the tone of the passage by saying, “But now.” We learned that no one can have a right relationship with God under the law. All men failed to gain a righteousness from God by keeping the law. How then can I be right with God? How can I, a sinner, be accepted by a holy and righteous judge? We find the answer in Romans 1:17, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith’” This verse is the key verse of the entire book of Romans. Here a righteousness from God refers to Jesus Christ. The Law represented by Moses’ five books including Genesis testified that Jesus Christ was a righteousness from God. In Genesis 3, God punished our first parents Adam and Eve for their disobedience. But in the middle of punishing Adam and Eve God revealed his salvation plan through the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15., “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” Here the offspring of the woman refers to Jesus Christ and the offspring of the serpent the devil. God declared a spiritual battle between Jesus and Satan and predicted that Jesus would crush Satan. This is called the pre-gospel. God promised to restore fallen mankind through the seed of the woman. According to Apostle Paul, God’s plan of salvation has been made known through the gospel of Jesus.

Seven hundred years before Christ, the Prophet Isaiah revealed that Jesus Christ was a righteousness from God in Isaiah 9:6-7. He prophesied that unto us a son is given, who would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. His prophecy was realized when Jesus fulfilled God’s promise through his death on the cross and his resurrection from the dead. The Law and the Prophets testify that God had a plan to provide for us the righteousness that we lacked at the moment we sinned. God decided to offer a new way of righteousness apart from law through his son Jesus. He sent his one and only Son to save sinners from their sins. He reached out his hand of mercy to rescue fallen mankind from the pit of sin. The wrath of God came from God’s holy anger against sin. It reveals his character as a righteous God. God’s nature is that he is a perfect God and a holy God. God has to punish sin though he loves man created in his own image. The righteousness from God came from his saving love to make a right relationship with men. The holy God revealed his wrath when he judged the sinful world through the Flood but the loving God saved the world through the ark of Noah. God is a God of judgment and salvation. God is like a Father who disciplines his disobedient children firmly, but he is ready to hug them when they repent and return to him. He is like a Father of the prodigal son who welcomed his repentant son with a kiss of love and a celebrated his repentance with a huge feast with all family members.

How can we obtain this righteousness? Look at verse 22. “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” The Jews and the Gentiles alike cannot obtain it by observing the law because no one is righteous in God’s sight. God knew that we can not get it by our own human efforts. Therefore, the righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Faith in Jesus is the only way we can be right with God. It is apart from law. Paul introduces a completely new world of faith. Sinners can come to God through faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus said in John 14:6, “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” This is a main point in the Bible. Only Jesus is the way to God’s righteousness. Some religions emphasize human behavior or activity to attain salvation. Buddha taught his followers to attain the nirvana through their self-discipline and extreme personal self-denial. He asked them to give up all human desires. Yet many Buddhist monks smoke and drink secretly. The more they try to forget the agony of life, the more they remember the sins committed before. Confucius taught his followers to adhere to a set of moral codes. One of them is “boys and girls should not sit together from the age of 7.” Who can keep this strict moral code? All boys want to sit next to a pretty girl in the school class. I am sure he will get all A’s. The Muslims must fulfill many tasks and hope for the best. In Bangladesh one Muslim man gouged his wife’s eyes suspecting that she committed adultery though it was not proven yet. Of course, human behaviors and moral codes can not lead us to God’s righteous. If a man falls into a quicksand, what is the best hope for him to be alive. The more he tries to come out, the deeper he will fall. It is useless to struggle. He needs help from someone outside. Martin Luther tried to reach God’s righteousness by climbing stairs on his knees but he was not sure of his salvation. Later, he realized that he could be right with God only by faith in Jesus. Apostle Paul felt wretched when he tried to earn God’s righteous with many activities. But God offered the way of salvation through his Son, Jesus Christ. This salvation is available to all who believe. Even the worst criminals can attain God’s righteousness through faith in Jesus. 1 Timothy 1:15 says, “Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners-of whom I am the worst.” Does any of you think that you are too sinful to be right with God? Don’t think that way. There is no one who can not be saved. Everyone has access to the righteousness from God through faith in Jesus. When we use our center computer to access a certain directory, it will ask us to enter a password. The password happens to be “faith.” In the same way the access code to attain this righteousness is faith in Jesus Christ. It will be available to everyone who believes and there is no difference. God gives an equal access to his righteousness to all who believe.

Look at verse 23. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…” This reiterates man’s sinfulness and its consequences. It is true that man is created in the glorious image of God to fulfill God’s holy mission but man did not live for the glory of God. Rather, men rebelled against God and they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him because all have sinned. And sin disfigured man’s glorious image and man could not reach to God’s glorious standard. Many people feel better when they see someone more sinful than they are by saying, “Well, I am a little bit holier than him.” But that’s a mistake. When God scaled man’s spiritual weight, everyone falls short of God’s perfect standard. All have lost the image of God due to their sins. This is the condition of all mankind under sin. What are we going to do?

Now Paul began to explain how God revealed his righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ. Look at verse 24. “And are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The word “redemption” is used in the slave market where slaves were bought and sold. A slave could not be fired. There was always a cost involved in the transfer of ownership. Redemption means payment of the price of freedom. Exodus 6:6 says, “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.” The Israelites could not free themselves from the mighty yoke of the Egyptian Empire. They needed God’s mighty acts of deliverance. What was the price of their redemption? It was the death of every firstborn son in Egypt from the firstborn son of Pharaoh to the firstborn son of the slave girl. The price of their freedom from slavery to the promised land was too high beyond our imagination. To Christians, redemption means deliverance from sin and death to life eternal. But it did not come without price. In the ancient times slaves paid a price of their release from their masters. In the Jewish sacrificial system sinners offered sacrifices of innocent animals to be freed from sin for a year. As we know, we were slaves of sin and Satan. Even the mighty U.S. dollar could not redeem us because sin demands the blood of an innocent person as the only payment. The problem was that there was no one righteous, not even one. No one was able to pay the price of sin because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Someone innocent from sin has to pay the price of our sin for our release. Here Jesus Christ stepped in for our redemption. He bought our life with his death. Jesus’ death was the purchase price for our redemption. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.” Ephesians 1:7 says, “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.” Jesus gave himself and his life to redeem us from lawlessness, a defiled conscience, guilt of sin, condemnation of sin, eternal death, and a futile life-style. The blood of Jesus is the price that was paid for our freedom.

Verse 24 says that through this redemption we are justified. Justification is a legal term taken from the courtroom. Justification is an act of God declaring a person righteous, as a judge does in acquitting the accused. God is saying to sinners because of the redemption that came by Jesus Christ, “You are not guilty!” There was a famous Russian writer who lived in the last century. He was arrested and found guilty of plotting against the government. He and a number of other convicts were brought out and lined up to be shot to death by the firing squad. But just before the first prisoner was shot, a messenger came from the king and shouted, “Stop the execution. Don’t shoot. They are not guilty.” They were acquitted of their criminal charges. Their sentence had been changed. They could live. It was good news to them. Later, this writer wrote a famous novel titled, “Crime and Punishment.” Look at the words used in verse 24 like justified, freely, grace, and redemption. Justification is a gift of God to all of us by the grace of Jesus. It is freely given because we cannot earn it. We don’t deserve it. We can’t demand it. God offers it to us for free. All we have to do is simply to take it by faith. It is like children accepting their Christmas gifts. Since he purchased our life with his blood, we no longer belong to the world but belong to Jesus Christ. Therefore, we must give up our old sinful life and live for the glory of God. We know John Newton who wrote a famous hymn, “Amazing grace.” Once he was a slave trader and lived as an enemy of God. He should be condemned as one of the worst sinners. But he received justification by faith in Jesus. He was changed from a worst criminal to a servant of Jesus. Truly, it was an amazing grace for him to be justified freely by his grace. M. Becky Woods memorized Romans chapter 3 with power and authority by the grace of Jesus. By the grace of Jesus God gave us a final verdict saying, “You are not guilty.” We received a “not guilty verdict” through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Look at verses 25-26. “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-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.” This passage is very difficult to understand. I will try to do my best to explain its meaning. The King James version used the word “propitiation” instead of “sacrifice atonement.” The Greek word for “propitiation” is “hilasmos” and the meaning of the term is “to satisfy,” “to appease,” and “to pacify.” Why do we need to satisfy or appease or pacify God? The answer is clear in Romans 1:18, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness.” Simply speaking, we were enemies of God. We were at war with God. We must divert God’s anger for our wickedness. In the ancient Inca Empire there was a ritual that offered a virgin girl to appease their angry god. By offering a human sacrifice they believed that they could appease the wrath of their gods. God’s reaction against sin is very serious because he is holy. All fallen mankind cannot escape the wrath of God against them. At the same time man was helpless to make peace with God. Therefore, there was a need for satisfying the just demands of God for judgment of sin. How did God find the solution? Who can appease God who demands the justification of our sin? Who can satisfy God who expresses his wrath against all our wickedness? Can you go to God and appease him in our place? No one can do that because we are guilty before him. Verse 25 in KJV says, “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God he passed over the sins previously committed.” According to this verse, Jesus Christ is our propitiation. 1 John 2:2 says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” This means that Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished propitiation. That’s the reason why Jesus said at his death on the cross in John 19:30b, “It is finished.” This means that the blood of Jesus appeased God’s wrath against all sinners. The blood of Jesus satisfied God’s justice. The blood of Jesus on the cross pacified God’s anger towards all sinners and brought us peace with God. Wow! This is good news for all who are under God’s judgment. God is justified in forgiving sin and in bestowing righteousness and in bestowing his love and grace on sinners. Jesus opened the way of righteousness for all of us. He said in Mark 10:45, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Jesus gave his life in our place as a ransom to free us from the bondage of Satan. Here we can learn that the sacrifice atonement is substitutionary by nature. The role of Jesus’ blood was a substitute for sinners to release them from the guilt and power of sin. A just God demands justification of all sinners and Jesus Christ met all God’s righteous requirements by dying on the cross for our place. By doing so he satisfied God’s justice. At the same time God demonstrated his love by justifying those who have faith in Jesus. The key point of the Bible is that God did not want to punish us. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The death of Christ is a beautiful demonstration of God’s love and thus a powerful incentive to us to abandon our hostility toward God and to respond in repentance and faith to the offer of his grace.

Part II. ONLY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF FAITH (27-31)

Look at verses 27-28. “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” Paul did not give any room for us to boast about our justification. Since we did not earn God’s salvation, we must be thankful for his grace and serve his will humbly. There is no reason for boasting. The Jews boasted about their circumcision. But they were silenced by Paul’s charges. We should not follow the Jews in boasting. Rather, we should be humble in our service to God. In verses 29 and 30, Paul declared that God is the God of all people. Therefore, Paul concludes that justification comes by faith for the circumcised and the uncircumcised. Look at verse 31. What is the relationship between the law and faith? They compensate each other. Justification by faith in Jesus does not mean that the Christian is now free to become lawless, indulging whatever the desire of his heart may be. The law is still the guide and standard for moral conduct. Justification opened a new way of life. We can grow in the image of Jesus through the process of sanctification and eventually attain the glorification when we enter to the kingdom of God and live with Jesus forever. It is important for us to live by faith since we were saved by the precious blood of Jesus. In the passage we learned that Jesus paid it all, and nothing can be added and salvation is a free gift.. We should receive this gift by faith and should be grateful for the gift and should offer the gift