Romans 3 - God's Free Gift of Righteousness!

Click Here to Read or Listen to Romans 3 

All quotes are taken from David Guzik's Enduring Word Commentary Unless Otherwise noted!

God’s Faithfulness

Given Paul's previous comments about the Jews, and the limited value of circumcision, what advantage is there in being Jewish? Paul says that they (and him) have been entrusted with the VERY words of God. God revealed himself specifically to Abraham, Moses, and all the kings and prophets. Just because they were rebellious and sinful, it did not change the nature of God's promises to them. God is always faithful to His promises. 

Some might say that if God's righteousness brings our unrighteousness, how can God hold us accountable? Some even said in Paul's day, if our unrighteousness brings out God's unrighteousness, then we should sin all the more. He adds a statement being made, "Let us do evil so that good can result!" 

Paul thinks this argument is ludicrous and says, "They deserve the condemnation they will get!"

 “Should any man say that the promise of God had failed toward him, let him examine his heart and his ways, and he will find that he has departed out of that way in which alone God could, consistent with his holiness and truth, fulfill the promise.” (Clarke)

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).

No One Is Righteous

Paul's purpose in these next eleven verses is to show that there is "no one who is righteous", no not even one. The law condemns all people Jew and Gentile alike, so that no one has an excuse. Then Paul quotes a variety of Old Testament verses that would show the Jews that this has been predicted all along. He gives six separate verses, and five of them are from the Psalms, which were mainly written by King David, who knew his own sin all too well. 

Then, Paul gives two major purposes of the Law. One has to do with our accountability before God. Since God is a holy God, He must judge our transgressions. If not, He would not be a just God. No one has an excuse before God, we are all the same. There are no rankings for specific types of sin, they all offend God's righteous and holy character equally. 

Then, he gives a really positive aspect of this reality of our sin before God. He says, "Through the law we become conscious of our sin." This became Luther's second purpose of the Law, "To lead us Christ! 

Since Paul was Jewish by birth and heritage (Philippians 3:4-6), when he says “we” he means “we Jews.” The point is that by nature, the Jewish person is no more right with God than the pagan or the moralist. Paul demonstrates that the pagan, the moralist, and the Jew are all under sin and under condemnation.

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.

J.B. Phillip’s paraphrase of this phrase is striking. He writes, “it is the straight-edge of the Law that shows us how crooked we are.”

Righteousness Through Faith

All of the previous teaching sets up these next nine verses. Finally, we get to the good news. These verses are about the clearest explanation about the grace we receive through Jesus in the New Testament. Paul talks about a different kind of righteousness, which is available only through Christ. In God's sovereign plan, just as all have sinned and fallen short of God's perfect standard of righteous, He has given us the perfect plan to be made with him. We call this process justification, which means to be made right with God. Or, you might say justification restores a relationship with God, which was lost in the Garden of Eve. 

We are justified by grace through faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. It is through Jesus' righteousness that we can be reconciled to God through faith. We receive a righteousness that is not our own, through a gift from God. Theologians call this "imputed righteousness". Martin Luther called it an "alien righteousness" 

The bottom line is we did nothing to earn it or deserve it. God gave it to us freely, but we still must receive it by faith. We trust in God's provision by trusting in what Jesus did for us on the cross. This is the Good News of the Gospel which everyone needs to hear and accept to be saved! 

The law cannot save us, but God reveals a righteousness that will save us, apart from the law. This is the essence of God’s plan of salvation in Jesus Christ. It is a salvation that is offered apart from the law, apart from our own earning and deserving, apart from our own merits.

The righteousness of God is not ours by faith; it is ours through faith. We do not earn righteousness by our faith. We receive righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ.

Morris, quoting Moule: “The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of it; but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch the stars as they.” Everyone falls short, but everyone can be justified freely by His grace.