(21) But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, (22) even the righteousness of God through faith in Christ Jesus for all those who believe for there is no distinction; (23) for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (24) being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (25) whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness because in the forebearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed; (26) for the demonstration I say of His righteousness at the present time that He might be both just and justifier of the one who has faith in Christ Jesus. (27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. (28) For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the Law. (29) Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, (3) if indeed God is One. And He will justify the cirumcised by faith and the uncircumcised by faith. (31) Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be. On the contrary we establish the Law.
Today’s lesson falls in the overall outline of Romans in the following way:
Theme: The Righteousness of God (1:16-17)
The Need for God's Righteousness (1:18-3:20)
(1) General Statement Explaining Why Man Needs God’s Righteousness (1:18a)
(2) The Gentile Need for God’s Righteousness (1:18-32)
(3) The Jewish Need for God’s Righteousness (2:1-3:20)
God’s Provision of Righteousness (3:21-8:39)
The Method of God Making Us Right with Himself (3:21-31)
Evidence from the OT that God Makes Us Right With Him (4:1-25)
Results of Being Made Right with God (5:1-6:23)
(1) A New Relationship with God (5:1-2)
(2) A New Understanding of Suffering (5:3-5)
(3) A New Assurance in Judgment (5:6-11)
(4) A New Humanity (5:12-21)
(5) A New Life (6:1-23)
Experiencing God’s Righteousness Daily (7:1-8:39)
(1) The Way Not to Experience God’s Righteousness (7:1-25)
(2) The Way to Experience God’s Righteousness (8:1-39)
Paul starts out verse 21 with the word "but." This indicates that Paul is taking a new direction in this letter. For the past chapter and a half Paul has been proving his point that first we all need to be made right with God and that none of us are right with Him, including the Jew. He has focused on the Jew (49 verses as opposed to only 15 on the Gentile) because if the most religious man the world has ever produced is wrong with God, then we are all wrong with God unless something changes the situation. Man keeping the Law won't change the situation; otherwise, the Jew himself would have been right with God. God must change the situation, or it won't be changed. The word "but" indicates that a change is exactly what is about to take place.
According to Paul this righteousness has been manifested apart from what (3:21)?
Paul makes this same claim in what verse later in chapter three?
According to Paul whose righteousness is being manifested?
According to Isaiah 64:6 why isn't our righteousness (based on keeping the Law) good enough?
In verse 21 Paul claims that this righteousness, this way of being made right with God was spoken of earlier. Where else is this righteousness spoken of?
Paul is dividing up the OT into 2 different parts--the Law and the Prophets. Whenever the OT is divided up this way, the Law refers to the first five books of the OT (those written by Moses), while the Prophets refers to the remaining 34 books. Sometimes though the NT divides the OT up into 3 categories (Luke 24:44): the Law (the first 5 books), the Writings (poetical books like Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon), and the Prophets (the remaining historical and prophecy books of the OT).
Here is the clincher. The Jews claimed that a person was saved by keeping the Law. Paul is going to show that even the Law itself taught that you cannot be saved by keeping the Law (see Gal. 3:10 which quotes Deut. 27:26). In Rom. 4:1-25 Paul will actually then go to the person of Abraham who is the major figure in the first five books of the OT, the Law, and show that he was saved by faith and not by works of the Law.
According to Paul the specific righteousness he is speaking of is that which comes through Jesus Christ. According to Paul what is the only way we can receive God's righteousness through Christ (3:22)?
According to verse 22 can we receive God's righteousness in any other way? Why not?
According to verse 23 why can we not receive God's righteousness apart from faith in Christ?
To understand what Paul means by falling short of the glory of God, we need to go back to the story of creation and the NT interpretation of that story. According to Genesis, man was created in the _________ of ___________. According to Paul another way to say that we are in God's image is to say that man is the glory of God (1 Cor. 11:7). In other words his life and character should reflect the life and character of God. According to Paul (Colossians 1:15) who is the image of God? In other words being created in the image of God means that we were created to be like Jesus. To be the glory of God means that we are like Christ. According to Romans 3:23 though we have all sinned so that we are no longer like Jesus. We have not lived up to the purpose God originally created us. Salvation is helping us now once more fulfill the very purpose God created us, to be like Jesus.
According to verse 24 we are being justified as a _____________ by His _________. Since you cannot earn this righteousness by works, you can get it no other way.
Next Paul uses 3 words to describe salvation. Fill in the empty blanks to find out what those 3 words are.
(24) being _______________ as a gift by His grace through the _______________ which is in Christ Jesus (25) whom God displayed publicly as a ______________ in His blood through faith.
Now write out what these 3 words are.
(1)
(2)
(3)
The image behind the word "justification" is that of a courtroom in which you and I are the defendants, God is the Judge, Satan is the prosecuting attorney, and Jesus is the attorney for the defense. Even though we are as guilty as sin, God declares us to be "just," i.e. righteous because Christ's death on the cross paid for the penalty of our sin. The cross itself because the place of exchange where God places our unrighteousness upon Jesus and His righteousness upon us (2 Cor. 5:21).
The image behind "redemption" is that of prisoners of war. We are caught up in a dramatic battle between Christ and Satan in which Satan has taken us a prisoners of war because we have sinned. In order to "redeem" us, that is, buy our freedom, Christ pays the ransom for us. His shed blood on the cross was the ransom, the price He had to pay in order to have us set free.
The image behind the word "propitiation" is that of sacrifice. Because we have sinned, God has poured out His wrath upon mankind (1:18). In order to remove God's wrath from you and me, Christ who was sinless dies so that God's wrath falls upon Him and not upon you and me. Understanding these 3 terms helps you and me understand the nature of our salvation, what it took to make us right with God.
According to the end of verse 25 God offered up Christ on the cross in order to demonstrate what?
Why was it necessary to demonstrate this righteousness?
According to verse 26 God offering up Jesus on the cross proved 2 things about God. What are they?
Why does Christ's death on the cross do away with boasting? What kind of boasting is Paul talking about?
According to verses 29 and 30 (the NASB version which is quoted at the beginning of the lesson) since we are saved by faith and not by works, what also is true about God? To answer that, fill in the blank: "God is _____." Why does salvation by faith and not by works prove that this is true?
When Paul says that God is One, he is going back to Deut. 6:4: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is One." This is the passage which promotes our belief in monotheism. Now if the Gentiles are saved one way and the Jews another, then one of 2 things is true: (1) either there are 2 gods, one for the Jews and one for the Gentiles, or (2) God is dual, schizophrenic, or inconsistent. Since God saves both the Gentiles and the Jews (since He is God of both), He does not save by the Law since the Gentiles did not have the Law.
Since God is one, that is, consistent, baptism cannot be necessary for salvation. Why?
The Jews claimed that Paul did away with the Law by preaching salvation by grace through faith. Paul rejects this. Instead what does he say he is actually doing? How does his gospel of grace do this?
