The Epistle to the Romans
Lesson 8
Special English Version
Four Great Objectives Explained
Reading Assignment: Romans 3
Introduction
In this lesson we leave pessimism behind and get a taste of glory. Most
of the lessons until now dealt with the guilt and sinfulness of man
and his complete 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 concerning salvation from sin. This
lesson covers Romans 3:21-31. Importance of this Lesson
- One of the greatest weaknesses among many people who say they
are Christians is their failure to fully understand the basic doctrines
concerning their salvation.
- In this lesson, we will find the words:
righteousness, justification, redemption,
and propitiation.
- It is very important that you clearly understand these doctrines,
because only then will you fully appreciate what Christ has done
for you.
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).
- Righteousness
could be interpreted to mean all that God demands and approves.
- Romans
3:9-20 completely destroys the idea that man is able to make himself
righteousness before God. These verses clearly teach that all
men are desperately in need of the righteousness that only God can
give them.
- The righteousness of God mentioned in Romans 3:21-22 does
not refer to that righteousness which is a characteristic of God but
to that
righteousness which is imputed to every person who believes on the
Lord Jesus Christ.
- 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 understand that Christ becomes our righteousness
by faith, please read Philippians 3:9, Romans 10:4, and 2 Corinthians
5:21. For “clothed with righteousness,” read Job 29:14,
Isaiah 61:10, and Genesis 3:21.
- Note especially that people cannot
earn this righteousness by doing good works. It is “…without
the law…” (Romans
3:21) and is received entirely “…by faith of (in) Jesus
Christ…” (Romans
3:22).
- The result of this righteousness is justification. (Justification
is explained in the next section)
- In Romans 3:23, sin means “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 idea of justification. Being
JUSTIFIED freely by His grace….
- A definition–
- Justification is a legal courtroom word, which
comes practically from the same Greek word translated righteousness.
Basically, justification
means that God states that you are right with him. (Learn this
definition.)
- Justification is God stating that the person is no
longer guilty. God, acting as the sovereign judge of man, rightly
states that
every person who puts his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is considered
as
right with God.
- Standing in the courtroom dressed with the righteousness
of Christ
- You are a guilty, unworthy sinner but you have turned
to Christ and placed your faith in Him.
- What did God do? He dressed
you with the righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:22).
- Now, dressed
in that righteousness, you stand in God’s
courtroom to hear the sentence of the judge who is God
Himself.
- With great joy you hear Him say, “not guilty” (compare
Romans 3:19).
- How? On what basis does God state this?
There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are
IN Christ Jesus… (Romans
8:1). Read Ephesians 1:6 and Philippians 3:9.
- Justification
is not a pardon. A criminal who has received a pardon is
still guilty. In justification, God sees you
just as
though you
had never sinned.
- Seven facts about justification: (Learn
the following for your exam:)
- The Source of Justification is God
(Romans 3:25-26, 8:33).
- The Foundation of Justification is Grace
(Romans 3:24).
- The Cost of Justification is Blood (Romans 3:24-25,
5:9).
- The Method of Justification is Faith
(Romans 3:28).
- The Reason for Justification
is to Declare His Righteousness (Romans 3:26).
- The Guarantee
of Justification is the Resurrection (Romans 4:25).
- The Result
of Justification is Peace with God (Romans 5:1).
III. REDEMPTION EXPLAINED (Romans 3:24)
- The
New Testament Doctrine of Redemption revolves around three things that
are true:
- Payment of a price – We were under the control of sin
and Satan. A price had to be paid to buy us back. That price was
the blood of
Jesus (1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 Peter 1:18,19, and Mark 10:45). In
Paul’s
day criminals often captured people and held them until a price
was paid to set them free.
- Removal from under the curse of the
Law (Galatians 3:13 and 4:5).
- Freedom from the power of sin (Romans
6:6-7,14-18). The Bible sees 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
being
a slave to sin.
- “To redeem” means to “buy back.” A little
boy saw a small boat in a pawnshop. He had made that boat and lost
it. His father gave him money to “buy it back.” He
held it close and said, “Now Boat, you are mine two times.
The first time I made you. Now, the second time I bought you.” Christ
paid the price to buy us back from the control of Satan and sin.
- Keep in mind that our justification was made possible …through
the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus… (Romans 3:24). In
other words, it was possible for God to state that we are righteous
because
Christ paid our debt in full when he bought us back from sin.
IV. PROPITIATION EXPLAINED (Romans
3:25) Whom God hath set forth (meaning displayed publicly) to
be a PROPITIATION….
- Whatever
it means, it is ours …through faith in His blood….
- 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.
- Once a year
on the Day of Atonement, the high priest entered the holy of holies
in the temple and sprinkled the blood of a sacrifice
animal
on the four corners of the mercy seat. The mercy seat was the lid
of the ark, which the people kept in the holy of holies. He did
this 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.
- This blood was a picture of the blood
of Christ. When the priest sprinkled this blood it was a picture
of the time when the judgment
of the law
had been fulfilled. After that was done God could treat Israel
with mercy. A place of judgment became a place of mercy and so
the lid of
the ark
was called the mercy seat. The offering and sprinkling the blood
of the animal as a picture of Christ on the cross satisfied God’s
demands. The judgment seat became a mercy seat where God could
meet with His people.
- The Old Testament type is now fulfilled
for all believers because Christ’s blood was spilled on the
cross of Calvary. Propitiation means that God is no longer angry
with the believer concerning
sin. At the cross Christ Himself became our high priest and also
our mercy seat—a
mercy seat sprinkled with His own blood.
- For the believer, propitiation
means that he is again connected to God. It is Christ’s work
for man to bring man back to God. 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. The
death of Christ on the cross satisfied the justice of God. It also
defended
the holiness of God. The death of Christ on the cross showed that
God was right when he demanded punishment for sin. If God had not
sacrificed
His own son as a punishment for sin, but accepted man without the
punishment of his sin, God would no longer be holy.
V. COMMENTARY ON ROMANS 3:25-31
- Romans
3:25
- Whom God has set forth…. See 1 John 4:10.
- For the remission
of sins – God passed over man’s
sins from Adam until Jesus actually died on the cross.
- …through the forbearance… – Because God always
looked forward to the cross, God could be merciful concerning the
sins that
are past. God forgave all sins, past, present, and future, because
of the sacrificial work of Christ on the cross.
- Romans 3:26
- To declare…his righteousness… – Because
of the cross and the shed blood of Christ, the Bible says that
God is
righteous in
forgiving the sins that are past.
- …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 God can forgive sin, but I do not see how.”
The answer is that God can declare the believer as right with Himself
and remain righteous Himself because His justice was fully satisfied
at the
cross when
Christ died in our place (Galatians 2:20). When Christ was “made
to be sin for us” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- Romans 3:27
Where is boasting… We are saved entirely through faith which
leaves no room for boasting.
- 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.
- 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.
- Romans 3:31
Does faith make the law useless? No! Faith proves that the law is right.
How? We prove that the law is right when by faith we confess our sinfulness
and need of God’s righteousness. Christ proved that the law was
right by fulfilling it (Matthew 5:17), and suffering the full penalty
of the law (Galatians 3:13).
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