ROMANS 3: 27-31
JUSTIFIED BY FAITH
Praise God for His offer of forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ! Those who don’t take God up on His offer don’t truly see themselves as sinners in need of salvation. They make boasts such as: My good actions outweigh my bad. I’m better than most people and others are far worse than me. I'm usually a good law abiding person. Their shortcomings, they feel, don't jeopardize their standing before Almighty God.
Imagine a person being brought to trial for several charges of SHOPLIFTING. It would be useless for that person to appeal to the judge by saying: "Don't forget, all the good I do. I’m sure that all my good actions outweigh my bad." Or "Remember I'm better than most people." Or, "Most of the time I'm an upstanding law-abiding citizen.” No, the offender must be judged according to the offense, not according to previous good actions of which he can boast. If justice is to be done, someone must pay, and that someone should be the offender-unless another is allowed to bear the penalty instead. That's exactly what Christ in love did for sinners, which we all are, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23).
Having just unfolded God’s glorious plan of salvation, the Apostle now presents man’s boastful tendency to self-justify himself. Justification before God is by faith in Jesus Christ alone. What implications does justification by faith have for us at the point of our basic attitude toward God, ourselves and each other? Justification by faith humbles man by excluding all grounds of boasting. Justification by faith also provides opportunity for all mankind to be saved but still upholds the law we have all broke (CIT).
I. Excluding Boasting in Man, 27-28.
II. Exclaiming One Way to One God, 29-30.
III. Establishing the Immutable Law, 31.
First, boasting is excluded (3:27-28). In verse 27 Paul asked on what principle or law is boasting excluded. “Where then is boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law?, of works? No, but by a law (principle) of faith.”
The fact that we are justified by faith should make a difference in our basic attitude toward God, ourselves and others. Boasting (êáé÷çóéò) expresses the idea of self congratulations with or without sufficient reason. Those who imagine that they have attained a right standing with God by being good and keeping the law tend to be proud. But when God’s mercy and grace are understood, pride must die. Pride “is excluded,” it is completely shut out Paul says. “No one is righteous, not even one,” (Rom. 3:10). “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (3:23). The legalistic boast about one being good enough, about one being righteous in oneself is excluded.
On what basis has boasting been thrown out? On the basis of works? Of course not. People boast because they believe in the meritorious accomplishment of works.. Sinners have no grounds for boasting before God.
All boasting before God is thrown out by a law of faith. The principle that salvation is by faith, not by works, excludes all boasting. Righteousness, or a right standing, has been given us by God through faith and not attained by our actions. Thus if salvation is achieved by faith and not by ourselves we have no basis for boasting except in the Cross.
The only grounds the believer has for boasting is in the atoning work of Christ done on the Cross. Galatians 6:14 says, “God forbid that I should boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Issac Watts song reminds us that our boasting, our glory, is to be in the Cross.
When I survey the wondrous Cross
On which the Prince of Glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride. John Bunyan said in his immortal Pilgrim’s Progress, “I saw in my dream that just as Christian came up to the Cross, his burden loosed from his shoulders and fell from his back and began to tumble till it came to the mouth of the sepulcher, where it fell in and I saw it no more. Then was Christian glad and lightsome and said with a merry heart, “He has given me rest by His sorrow, and life by His death.”
Yes, the Savior’s substitutionary death is the believer’s hope for eternity. That is why we can glory in the Cross at Calvary. Because there Christ CROSSED out our sins.
[Christianity teaches that no amount of human achievement or progress in personal development will close the gap between God's moral perfection and our imperfect daily performance. Good deeds are important, but they will not earn us eternal life. We are saved only by trusting in what God has done for us (see Ephesians 2:8-10).]
Again in verse 28 it is insisted that justification is by faith alone.“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works by the law.”
Experiencing God’s grace shifts the center of boasting from self to Savior (1 Cor. 1:31). Man is saved by faith in what Christ has done on the Cross not by what man does on his own. Justification by works looks to man’s own efforts for salvation. Justification by faith looks to God for salvation. No one has grounds for self congratulation as they contemplate the way of salvation. [Sola gratia, sola fide, sol Deo gloria.]
When we place our trust in Jesus, we are justified. All our sins are forgiven, and we are fully accepted by God. We experience this tremendous spiritual benefit on the basis of Christ’s perfect life and sacrificial death as full payment for our sins. We don’t deserve this substitutionary act. We can’t work for it. We can’t pay for it. Yet those who place their faith in Him are “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24).
There was a certain kind of Judaism that kept a ledger account with God. Each time they did something good God became a debtor to them and each time they did something bad they became a debtor to God. In the end they had the frame of mind that God owed them something. The Bible’s position is that every man is a sinner and therefore a guilty before God. No man through his own effort can make himself just before God, much less have God owing him. There is no ground for boasting in one’s own achievement before God.
To be justified without works is to be justified without anything in ourselves meritorious of justification. Salvation is not what is done by us but what Christ has done for us. [Christians do works not to get saved but because they are saved. Christian works are the fruit of the Spirit, not the striving of fallen man.]
SIMPLY trusting in Jesus is one of the most difficult concepts to communicate to non-Christians. They have a hard time understanding that they can’t do anything to earn God’s favor or acceptance. Jesus paid the penalty for all their sins when He died on the cross. To receive God’s forgiveness, eternal life, and a right relationship with Him, all we need to do is cast ourselves on His mercy and trust Him to save us. Romans 4:5 put it this way: “To him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.”
A grateful man said, “For 30 years I had assumed that to swim I must constantly struggle to keep from sinking. One day an expert swimmer watched me for a few minutes and then shouted, ‘Stop fighting the water and trust it to hold you up.’ He was right. Under his direction, I lay flat in the water without moving hands or feet and, to my delight, it held me up. Why didn’t someone tell me that years ago!”
He then concluded, “So many people struggle to become Christians. If they would only trust Christ, they would realize that He does the saving.”
Have you been attempting to save yourself? If so, then stop trying and start trusting. Salvation is not a matter of trying but trusting.
[Why does God save us by faith alone? (1) Faith eliminates the pride of human effort, because faith is not a deed that we do. (2) Faith exalts what God has done, not what people do. (3) Faith admits that we can't keep the law or measure up to God's standards - we need help. (4) Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our performance for God. Application Bible. Zondervan. 2032]
II. EXCLAIMING ONE WAY TO ONE GOD, 29-30.
There is only one way of salvation for all mankind because there is only One True God for all mankind. Verse 29, “Or is God (the God) of Jews only? Is He not (the God) of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,”
Another important implication of justification by faith is that it affirms the universality of God. That is since there is only one God, He is the God of all men, Gentiles as well as Jews.
[If it were true that works of Law were required for salvation what about all the Gentiles that do not possess the Law. They would have no opportunity for salvation. God would need to be another kind of God for the Gentiles. And this cannot be, for God is one. The major confession of faith in the O. T. is called the Shema and is found in Deut. 6:4f. “Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one Lord! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.”]
If there is one God and He is the God of all men then He has one plan of salvation for all men. The plan of salvation which strips every man of merit, and places all as sinners on the same level before God also cuts off all assumption of superiority of one class or of one race over another.
Here we have the foundation of the doctrine for universal religion laid. God is a universal God and not a national God. The gospel is a universal gospel and not a national gospel. It’s saving power has no racial or geographical boundaries.
Since righteousness is by faith, one and all must be justified by faith, verse 30. “Since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.”
Yes the one God has but one way of putting men right with Himself and this is the way of faith. This is what we must communicate to a dying world. The way of the cross is the way of salvation for all people.
TELEPHONE POLES are important symbols in developed countries. They support lines of communication that enable people to “reach out and touch” others in just about any corner of the globe. In addition to that, the telephone poles of many communities carry power lines that make it possible for the citizens to use electric motors and appliances, which make life easier.
Think about these poles and the vast roadside forest they form. How long has it been since you’ve really looked at one? What is its shape? The one in front of the house where I grew up is in the shape of a cross. It is a high, straight pole with a crossbar.
While looking at that pole, I was reminded of another cross - the old, rugged cross of Christ. Think of the “lines” of communication and power it carries. Because of that cross, heaven listens to the prayers of any humble believer on the face of the earth. And because Jesus shed His blood on that cross for lost humanity, godly men and women have a deep desire to “reach out and touch” others with the message of the gospel.
For the apostle Paul, the cross was everything. As he spoke to the believers at Corinth, he had but one message - “Jesus Christ and Him crucified.” Calvary was the heart of Paul’s message and the basis of its power. Maybe the next time we see a telephone pole, we will be reminded of what the Cross of Christ should mean to us.
III. ESTABLISHING THE IMMUTABLE LAW, 31.
The centering in on the righteousness of God through faith asks if the Law is still useful in verse 31. “Therefore do we make powerless the Law through faith? It will never be! But we establish the Law.”
If justification is apart from the Law are we depriving the Law of its value? Does justification by faith make powerless the Law? No doubt some of Paul’s hearers concluded that it did. But Paul was repulsed by the error of such a charge. “It will never be!”
“It will never be,” is a very forceful answer. Let those that want to do away with the value of the Law and say that people of faith don’t need to heed the Law listen (3:8 & 6:1). Through the Law comes consciousness of sin. Do away with the Law and there is no basis for conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit. No persuasion for justification or repentance at all. Only if you have a Law that you cannot keep do you need the justification by faith that God provides.
We preach the Law so that people will seek forgiveness. For apart from salvation and grace and the Holy Spirit filled life no one can keep God’s commandments. The moral Law can be kept only by those who enter into Christ and constantly abide in Him.
We are to follow Jesus Christ, not the Law. But by looking at the Law we can see if we are headed in the right direction and confess our sins if we are not. Jesus came to fulfill the Law and if we are following Jesus we will be fulfilling the Law also.
CONCLUSION
What about you today? Have you been declared right with God? Or has false reasoning kept you from the One who died and rose again for you? Are you using words and works or excuses to justify yourself? Or have you thrown yourself at the mercy of the court and plea the Cross of Christ alone for your right standing before God? If you say, "I’m no worse than the rest," you will fail life’s most important ruling.
If you have been justified by faith in Christ because you have received Christ by faith, you will by faith be following Christ. You can see if you are following Christ by looking and seeing how you measure up to the Moral Law. If you don’t measure up, agree with God that you are falling short and give the Holy Spirit free reign to take charge of your life here and now.
Have you been declared right with God? If not receive Christ as your Savior and enjoy that “righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom. 3:22). He's waiting for you to admit your need and put your trust in Him.
