The Epistle to the Romans
Lesson 8
Four Great Objectives Explained

Reading Assignment: Romans 3

Introduction
In this lesson we leave behind the gloom and get a taste of glory. Most of the lessons until now dealt with the guilt and sinfulness of man and his utter inability to save himself. The section you are about to study begins with the words “BUT NOW” (Romans 3:21).

These words introduce the portion of our outline we have designated “RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED FOR JUSTIFICATION.” This subject extends through Romans 5 and contains some of the greatest doctrines of the Bible relating to salvation from sin. This lesson covers Romans 3:21-31.

Importance of this Lesson

• One of the greatest weaknesses among many professing Christians is their failure to firmly grasp and fully understand the basic doctrines relating to their salvation.
• In this lesson, we encounter the words: righteousness, justification, redemption, and propitiation.
• It is vastly important that you clearly understand these doctrines, for only then will you fully appreciate what Christ has done for you.

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The Lesson

I. RIGHTEOUSNESS IMPUTED
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested (revealed)…Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of (literally IN) Jesus Christ unto all and UPON all them that believe…(Romans 3:21-22).

1. Righteousness could be interpreted as meaning all that God demands and approves.
2. Romans 3:9-20 completely shatters any concept that man possesses or is capable of attaining God’s righteousness and clearly indicates that all men are desperately in need of the righteousness that only God can provide.
3. The righteousness of God mentioned in Romans 3:21-22 does not refer to that righteousness which is an attribute of God but to that righteousness which is imputed unto all and upon all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. The Greek word for imputed is logizomai and means “reckoned to” or “placed to one’s account.” It is found eleven times in Romans 4. To see that Christ becomes our righteousness by faith, please refer to Philippians 3:9, Romans 10:4, and 2 Corinthians 5:21. For “clothed with righteousness,” see Job 29:14, Isaiah 61:10, and Genesis 3:21.
5. Note especially that this righteousness is not obtainable through good works. It is “…without the law…” (Romans 3:21) and is possessed entirely “…by faith of Jesus Christ…” (Romans 3:22).
6. This righteousness results in our justification.
7. In Romans 3:23, sin is seen as missing the mark. To God there is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for …all have…come short of the glory (holiness) of God.

II. JUSTIFICATION EXPLAINED (Romans 3:24)
In Romans 3:24, the Apostle Paul introduces the concept of justification. Being JUSTIFIED freely by His grace….

1. A definition–
   1. Justification is a judicial courtroom word, which comes practically from the same Greek word translated righteousness. Basically, justification means to be declared righteous. (Learn this definition.)
   2. Justification is divine acquittal. God, acting in the capacity of the sovereign judge of man, justly declares, considers as righteous, all who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
2. Standing in the courtroom in the righteousness of Christ
   1. You are a guilty, unworthy sinner but you have turned to Christ and placed your faith in Him.
   2. What did God do? He clothed you with the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:22).
      1. Now, clothed in that righteousness, you stand in God’s courtroom to hear the sentence of the divine judge.
      2. With great joy you hear Him say, “not guilty” (compare Romans 3:19).
   3. How? On what basis is this declared? There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are IN Christ Jesus… (Romans 8:1). Read Ephesians 1:6 and Philippians 3:9.
3. Justification is not mere pardon. A pardoned criminal is still guilty. In justification, God sees you just as though you had never sinned.
4. Seven facts about justification: (Learn the following for your exam:)
   1. The Source or Author of Justification is God (Romans 3:25-26, 8:33).
   2. The Origin or Ground of Justification is Grace (Romans 3:24).
   3. The Cost or Basis of Justification is Blood (Romans 3:24-25, 5:9).
   4. The Means or Method of Justification is Faith (Romans 3:28).
   5. The Purpose or Objective of Justification is to Declare His Righteousness (Romans 3:26).
   6. The Guarantee of Justification is the Resurrection (Romans 4:25).
   7. The Result of Justification is Peace with God (Romans 5:1).

III. REDEMPTION EXPLAINED (Romans 3:24)

1. The New Testament Doctrine of Redemption revolves around three concepts:
   1. Paying a ransom – We were in the control of sin and Satan. A ransom price had to be paid to redeem us. That price was the blood of Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Peter 1:18,19, and
      Mark 10:45). Piracy was common in Paul’s day. People were often captured and held for ransom.
   2. Removal from under the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13 and 4:5).
   3. Release from the enslavement of sin (Romans 6:6-7,14-18). The Bible views us as …sold under sin (Romans 7:14). In America, a civil war was fought to set slaves free. Christ died to set us all free from servitude.
2. “To redeem” means to “buy back.” A little boy saw in a pawnshop a small boat that he had made and lost. His father gave him money to “buy it back.” He held it close and said, “Now Boat, you are twice mine. Once I made you. Now I bought you”. Christ paid the price to buy us back from the control of Satan and sin.
3. Bear in mind that our justification was made possible …through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (Romans 3:24). In other words, the redemptive work of Christ by which He paid our debt in full, made it possible for God to justify or declare us to be righteous.

IV. PROPITIATION EXPLAINED (Romans 3:25) Whom God hath set forth (meaning displayed publicly) to be a PROPITIATION….

1. Whatever it means, it is ours …through faith in His blood….
2. In the Septuagint (Greek translation of the Old Testament) and in Hebrews 9:5, the word “propitiation” is translated “mercy seat.” Note also Hebrews 2:17, 1 John 2:2, 4:10.
   1. Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would enter the holy of holies within the tabernacle and sprinkle blood on the four corners of the mercy seat, first for his own sin
      (Hebrews 9:7) and then for the sins of the people of Israel. See Leviticus 16:14 and
      Hebrews 9:11-15, 4:14-16.
   2. The sprinkling of blood indicated that the righteous sentence of the law had typically been fulfilled so that God could now deal in mercy with Israel. Through the blood, what would have been a judgment seat became a mercy seat. God’s demands were satisfied. His claims were met. What would have been a judgment seat became a place of communion between God and the people of Israel.
   3. In fulfillment of the type and for all believers today, propitiation means that God’s wrath has been satisfied concerning sin. At the cross Christ Himself, our high priest, became our mercy seat—a mercy seat sprinkled with His own blood.
   4. For us, propitiation means restored relationship to God. It is Christ’s work God-ward on man’s behalf. There is only one place in the universe where a guilty sinner can meet and have blessed fellowship with God and that is at the cross where His justice was satisfied and His holiness was vindicated as to our sin.

V. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 3:25-31

1. Romans 3:25
   1. Whom God has set forth…. See 1 John 4:10.
   2. For the remission of sins – The passing over of sins from Adam to Calvary.
   3. …through the forbearance… – Because He always foresaw the cross, God could forbear the sins that are past. All sins were remitted past, present, and future, by the propitiatory work of Christ.
2. Romans 3:26
   1. To declare…his righteousness… – Because of the cross and the shed blood of Christ, God is declared righteous in forbearing the sins that are past.
   2. …that he might be just, and the justifier… – Here is God’s answer to Bildad who asks in
      Job 25:4, “How then can man be justified with God…?”, and to Socrates, who five hundred years before Christ, said to Plato, “It may be that the deity can forgive sin, but I do not see how.”
      The answer is that God can justify the believer and remain just because His justice was fully satisfied at the cross when Christ died in our place (Galatians 2:20) and was “made to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
3. Romans 3:27
   Where is boasting… We are saved entirely through faith which leaves no room for boasting.
4. Romans 3:28
   Therefore we conclude… It is settled. The work is done. Salvation has to be by faith. Jesus paid for it in full.
5. Romans 3:29-30
   The only true God, the God of the Bible, is the God of both Jews and Gentiles and both are justified by faith alone.
6. Romans 3:31
   Does faith make the law void? No! Faith establishes the law. How? We establish the law when by faith we confess our utter sinfulness and desperate need of God’s righteousness in the light of it. Christ established the law by fulfilling it (Matthew 5:17), and bearing its full penalty (Galatians 3:13).

Examination

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