Romans 3 - We All Fall Short of God's Glory and We All Need A Savior! How The Reformation Saved the Gospel!

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God’s Faithfulness

These first eight verses are a little hard to follow. Paul is rhetorically answering those who have perverted his teachings. So he is responding to them "tongue in cheek". When Paul talked about the Gentiles showing their righteousness by obeying what they knew about God, the Jews falsely accused Paul of saying it meant nothing to be a Jew. Paul counters that by saying that the Jews had the advantage of receiving God's Word through Moses, and the promises through Abraham. Their disregard of the Law and failure to trust in God's promises did not nullify what God had revealed to them. It only showed their unfaithfulness to God. 

Secondly, Paul taught that God's judgment of our sin was necessary to reveal God's righteousness. The Jews were falsely arguing that if sin brought God's grace why not sin all the more and bring on more grace. We call this today "cheap grace". To think that my sin brought God's grace, so I will sin all the more, is to totally twist the Good News of the gospel. People still try to do this today! 

Twisting the glorious free gift of God in Jesus into a supposed license to sin is perhaps the peak of man’s depravity. It takes the most beautiful gift of God and perverts it and mocks it. This twisting is so sinful Paul saves it for last, because it is beyond the depravity of the pagan (Romans 1:24-32), beyond the hypocrisy of the moralist (Romans 2:1-5), and beyond the false confidence of the Jew (Romans 2:17-29). - Guzik

No One Is Righteous

Paul then returns to his more important theme, which is that Jew and Gentile are alike in the sense that neither of us are righteous. Again to be "righteous" means you have been justified or perfect before God. Paul says we are all "under the power of sin". Since we are all born with a human nature that does not want to submit to God, we are powerless over sin and cannot free ourselves.  

Paul quotes several Psalms and also from the prophet Isaiah to show that this is not a new concept. Paul sums up the essence of his whole argument when he says in verse 20, 

"Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin." Romans 3:20

This is what Martin Luther called, "the first use of the Law". The first use of the law is that it convicts us of our sin and shows us we need a Savior. Interestingly in A.A., the first step in the 12 is,  "I am powerless over alcohol (or any other addiction) and it is made my life unmanageable. The Christian has the same problem and could say, "I am powerless over sin and it has made my life unmanageable."  

This look at the human condition is depressing. What’s the point? The Apostle Paul wants us to understand our complete inability to save ourselves. The fall touches every part of man’s being, and the inventory of body parts corrupted by the fall demonstrates this. - Guzik 

Righteousness Through Faith

Fortunately Paul turns to  the Good News. There is another righteousness God has revealed to the world. You could say, "God gave us another way to become right with Him!" This was also something that the Law and the Prophets testified about, so it should not have been completely new to Jews. 

This new "righteousness" did not come through works but through faith in Jesus Christ. Instead of trusting in one's works to become right with God, we trust in Jesus' righteousness, which becomes our own through faith. Romans 3:23 is a classic verse.

"There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:22-23

This is the start of a well known evangelistic model called the "Romans Road". The first stop is realizing one is a sinner who falls short of God's glory. I.e. God is perfect and I am not. If someone is not willing to admit they are a sinner, they won't see a need for a Savior. It is only through the power of the Holy Spirit which convicts of us our sin can we come to this conclusion. 

Paul says we are justified "freely" by the redemption God gave us through Christ. Redemption means to "buy back". It was a term used in slavery where an owner could redeem them or buy the slave back by paying a certain amount of money. In the same way we were in slavery to sin, but God redeemed us, or bought us back through the blood of Jesus which paid for our sins. Jesus paid a debt he didn't owe, for we who owed a debt we could not pay. This is the essence of salvation and the very heart of all Paul's letters, especially the letter to the Romans. 

It is also the heart of what Luther and the other Reformers taught during the historic Protestant Reformation. The Roman Catholic church had been teaching that one had to do certain works, like paying indulgences to be forgiven. Luther and the other reformers (I.e. Hus, Wesley, Calvin, Zwingli) used Paul's writing to the Romans as their basis for the Reformation motto, "We are saved by grace alone through faith alone based on the Word of God alone." In Latin "sola gratia, sola fides, sola scriptura"

The distinction between Law and Gospel is as important today as it ever was. Grace is the free gift of salvation God has given us through Christ. Faith is trusting in the promises God has given us in Christ. And God's Word is where this true Gospel has been revealed to us. 

Finally, Paul addresses one more important matter. He states, 

"Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law." Romans 3:31

Paul wants to be clear though we are saved by grace through faith, it doesn't negate the truth of the Law. I.e. The Ten Commandments are still God's fundamental revelation of what is right and wrong. This gets back to the "cheap grace" argument. Just because we are saved by grace through faith, doesn't give us the right to do whatever we want. God's law is still holy and just! Though we can never measure up to the Law's standards, the moral law is still inspired and true.