There is a sense that the apostle Paul is in a war and has been shooting down enemy soldiers. In Romans 4 his war is for the gospel, of course, and the champions that have been sent to do battle against him have been formidable. Thus far there have been two of them. The first was “Works.” This is the soldier almost everyone believes in, the people’s favorite. But Paul shot him down with an arrow from Genesis 15:6, which proved that Abraham was justified by faith in God’s promise, rather than by works. Since Abraham is the Old Testament pattern of a justified and godly man, his experience sets the pattern for those who follow him. The second soldier was “Circumcision.” This champion was peculiar to the Jews and seemed to have the blessing of God behind him, since after all, God had Himself established circumcision. Paul defeats this mighty foe by showing that Abraham was declared to be justified by God years before circumcision was imposed on him and his descendants. The last of the enemy’s heroes is “Law.” Paul will shoot this soldier down in the next two paragraphs of his letter (vv. 13-17).

It’s important to notice his change in strategy, however. When Paul was arguing against circumcision as a way of salvation, he used a temporal or historical argument, as we have seen. Instead he speaks of the results of trying to live by law, showing that by nature law is contrary to both faith and promise and that the inevitable result for those who choose this bad option is God’s wrath.

Why does Paul take this approach? Why does he not argue from a time sequence, as he does in Galatians? It may not be possible to assign a sure reason for this, but we have a clue in the fact that Paul does not use the direct article (“the”) before the occurrences of the word “law” in verses 13-15, by contrast the article does occur with “law” in Galatians. In Romans Paul is not thinking so much of the specific Jewish law, though nothing he says excludes it, but of law in general. It is the law principle, rather than a specific set of laws, that he is thinking about. It is what we commonly call morality.

Is that distinction important? Well, it is for Gentiles, which includes most of us, as well as the bulk of those to whom Paul was specifically writing. The Gentiles of Paul’s day generally did not have the advantage of the Old Testament law for moral guidance. But they did have some standards of behavior, just as we do today. And like us, they wanted to trust in their personal ability to keep that “law,” to measure up to those standards, as a way of salvation.

We see that all around us, don’t we? People will say that God ought to save them because they have done the best they can, “best” in that statement being defined by their partial attainment of whatever standard they perceive to be a just one. Or because they are good people, “good” being merely the sense that they have done better at living up to some moral code than others. This is the way we naturally think about salvation. Because we think we have measured up to some moral standard, we believe that God owes us something.

So what are the consequences if a person tries to achieve a saved status with God not by faith but by morality or, as Paul says, by the law principle? Paul says there are three consequences: (1) Faith has no value (v. 14). The reason faith has no value if one is living by the law principle is that faith and law are opposites, and if a person is choosing one, he or she is inevitably rejecting the other. (2) The promise is worthless (v. 14). The second consequence of living by the law principle is the nullification of God’s promise. Why is this so? Well, if the promise of salvation is linked to the law principle, this can only mean that it is necessary for a person to keep the law in order to receive the promise. If that were the case, the promise would never be fulfilled because, as Paul has already proved in the earlier chapters of Romans, there is nobody who has ever done what God’s law requires. (3) Law brings wrath (v. 15). The third consequence of trying to achieve a saved status by the law principle is that, instead of achieving salvation, all one actually achieves is wrath. This is an important point, for it goes beyond what has already been established as the first and second consequences. This is because the law can do nothing but condemn. That is its very essence. If you do not turn from the law as a way of salvation and trust the work of God in Jesus Christ, the very standard that you trust condemns you – because you have not kept it and never will.

The second paragraph (vv. 16-17), shows the fortunate consequences of seeking to be justified by God, not on the basis of morality or by the law principle, but by faith – which was the path pursued by Abraham. Again, as in the case of law, there are three consequences: (1) Faith establishes grace (v. 16). Why is this so? It’s because faith and grace belong together by their very natures, just as works and law belong together. Faith establishes grace. Therefore, we must have faith, since it is grace we need. (2) Faith makes salvation certain (v. 16). We can see the truth of this by contrast. Anyone who wants to be saved by works can never be certain that he or she has performed well enough – assuming (wrongly) for a moment, that the standard can be less than utter perfection. If, by contrast, salvation is not by morality but by the grace of God received through faith, then salvation is certain – because God is faithful and does not waver in His promises. He has done what is necessary through the death of Christ. That work is a perfect and all-sufficient work. Nothing can be added to it. Consequently, the person who rests on that work can be quietly content and confident. (3) Faith opens the door of salvation to all (vv. 16-17).The final benefit of faith as the way of salvation is that it opens the door of salvation to everyone, not just to the Jew, who possessed the Old Testament law, or to the few favored Gentiles who had been taught a particularly high standard of morality. It’s open to everyone. All may enter. This is the point Paul particularly emphasizes in Romans 4, not only in these verses but from verse 9 to the end of the chapter.

I don’t know of any human benefit or award or promise of which that can be said, because all human offers have conditions and thereby always exclude some people. But this is not true of the way of salvation offered by God through the work of Christ. Because of this, I can say the door is open for you, regardless of who you are or whatever you may have done or not done. None of that matters because we are all reduced to the same level. Salvation is by the grace of God through faith. If you are excluded, it’s only because you have refused to walk through the open door. It’s because you prefer your own sullied morality to God’s grace.

Don’t let that be true of you. Instead of refusing grace, accept it and enter into the full joy of God’s salvation. That salvation is for you, whoever you may be – if you will have it.

Romans 4:13-17 Reflection Questions:

According to Paul in verses 13-15, what is the purpose of the law?

How does the knowledge that Abraham is the “father of many nations” (Gen. 17:5) and that you are a child of Abraham affect the way you view your faith?

We remember from our study of the first verses of Romans 4 that in this chapter Paul is attempting to prove the gospel from the Old Testament. His chief example and the basis of the proof is Abraham, patriarch of the Jewish people and the one to whom they looked as their spiritual model. If Paul can show that Abraham was saved by the grace of God in Christ, received by the channel of human faith, he has made his point and established the doctrine. Paul does show that Abraham was saved through faith and not by works by quoting Genesis 15:6. Having proved his point concerning Abraham, Paul then adds a second witness; David, and the words Paul cites in Romans 4:7-8 are drawn from Psalm 32:1-2. The case should be clear-cut: Abraham was saved by faith apart from human works; we must be saved by faith too.

If you are a Jew and are saved, it’s not because you are a Jew. It is because of the work of Jesus Christ. If you are a Gentile and are saved, it’s not because of anything you are or have done as a Gentile. It’s because of the work of Jesus Christ. No one is saved because he or she has been baptized or confirmed or gone to Mass or shared in the communion service. A person is saved through faith in the perfect and completed work of Jesus Christ. Either you have been saved by Him, or you have not been saved at all. It is by faith and not by works that one is justified.

There is a valid question still to be asked at this point: If Abraham was saved by faith apart from circumcision, which he must have been if he was declared to be justified fourteen years before circumcision was given to him, why was this rite given? If Abraham was not saved by circumcision, didn’t the giving of circumcision just muddy the waters? Or, to put the question in other terms: What’s the purpose of the sacraments anyway? This is a good Bible passage from which to ask these questions, because it contains in one verse (v.11) the two most important words in the Bible for understanding what the sacraments are about. The words are: “sign” and “seal.”

Let’s take the word “sign” first. Paul writes that Abraham “received the sign of circumcision” (v. 11). What does that mean? Well, in simple language a sign is a visible object that points to something different from and greater than itself. In the case of circumcision, it is a case of pointing to the covenant God established with Abraham based on the work of Christ. In the case of the New Testament sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper, it is the same. The Lord’s Supper in particular points back to Christ’s death (see Luke 22:19-20). But on another level, these sacraments also indicate ownership. They show that we belong to Christ and that we no longer belong to ourselves.

The second word Paul uses to discuss the nature of the sacraments, whether circumcision, baptism, or the Lord’s Supper, is “seal” (v. 11). In the case of Abraham, Paul says that circumcision was “a seal of righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised.” That is, after Abraham had believed God and God had imparted righteousness to him, God gave the seal of circumcision to validate what had happened. In the same way, baptism is a seal that the person being baptized has been identified with Jesus Christ as His disciple, and the elements of the Lord’s Supper, when received, indicate that the person has taken Jesus to himself as intimately and as inseparably as eating bread and drinking wine. Important? Yes, the sacraments are important as signs and seals of what has happened spiritually and invisibly, but not as a means of salvation.

The last portion of our text teaches that because Abraham was saved by faith before he was circumcised, he has become the father of all who are truly saved, both Jew and Gentile. This doesn’t mean that no one had been justified before Abraham. Adam, Enoch, Noah, and other early believers were also justified by faith. But is does mean that in Abraham’s case the way of salvation was made explicit in Scripture for the first time; therefore, all who have been saved trace their spiritual ancestry to him.

I don’t know who your ancestors have been, whether they have been worthy or quite undistinguished, or even whether you know who they are. But I know this: You can step into the long ranks of the greatest honor roll of ancestors any human being could ever have and it will not cost you a single cent – though it will cost you your pretensions. It is the ancestral line of Abraham. You need only believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, and this great company of the faithful will become your family tree.

Romans 4:9-12 Reflection Questions:

In Romans 4:3 and again in 4:9 Paul quotes Genesis 15:6. In 4:9-12 what does Paul point out about when Abraham was circumcised?

This passage was very controversial in Paul’s day because in it Paul is redefining the family of Abraham. How has the family of Abraham been redefined both in regard to Gentiles and in regard to Jews in verses 9-12?

The church today, and in every generation, must make sure the door is wide enough open to let in people of every ethnic group, every type of family, every geographical region, every sort of moral (or immoral) background. But it must also make sure that the defining characteristic of the membership of this multiethnic family remains firmly stated and adhered to: the faith that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. How can the church keep this balance and do so in the right spirit?

Paul had indicated that salvation through the gift of God’s righteousness apart from law had been announced beforehand in the Old Testament (Rom. 1:2; 3:21). Now he shows that it is not only something that had been previously announced, but was also the only way anyone either in the Old Testament period or the dawning New Testament era has been saved.

Paul begins with Abraham, and it’s clear why he does so; Abraham was the acknowledged father of the Jewish people and, with the exception of Jesus Himself, the most important person in the Bible. Abraham is a giant in Scripture. So where do we start in considering the case of Abraham? The place at which to begin – the same place we ourselves must begin, if we would be saved – is with the acknowledgment that there was nothing in Abraham that could ever have commended him to God. If Abraham had no natural good in him, it is certain that he was not saved by human goodness. How then was he saved? The answer, as we have seen several times already, is by God’s gift of righteousness to him, which he received by faith.

Paul refers to a specific Old Testament teaching concerning Abraham, and the text he refers to is Genesis 15:6. The context of the verse is the incident in which God took Abraham out under the night sky and promised him offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven, even though at this time Abraham was 85 years old and had no children, and Abraham believed God. From the viewpoint of the doctrine of salvation this is the single most important verse in the entire Bible. This is because in Genesis 15:6 the doctrine of justification by faith is set forth for the first time. It is the first reference in the Bible to (1) faith, (2) righteousness, and (3) justification. This is the first time that any specific individual is said to have been justified.

How was this accomplished? Here we have to be extremely careful. First, we need to dismiss what are clearly two serious misunderstandings of the text. One is the liberal misunderstanding, though it is probably what the great majority of Jews would have thought in Paul’s day. It supposes that when the text says “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,” it means that Abraham was just a good or pious man, and that he was justified in that basis. Obviously, if Abraham believed God when God promised him numerous children, Abraham was the kind of person who delighted in believing and obeying God, in doing what God told him to do. And, so this reasoning goes, it was because he was such a good man that God saved him. That is not justification by faith, of course. It is the opposite, justification by works. But it was what many people fervently believe and what liberal scholarship teaches.

The second misunderstanding is not a liberal but an evangelical one. It goes like this: Since Abraham did not have any righteousness in himself by which he could be justified before God – but since God wanted to save him – God looked for something He could accept in place of righteousness. Since Abraham had faith, at least a little bit, God said, “Even though this little bit of faith is not righteousness, it is something I can work with. I’ll treat it as righteousness and so save Abraham.” Even to put it like that shows the absurdity of this interpretation. For God is not a juggler of truth. God does not pretend a thing is something it is not. Consequently, if God counted Abraham as being righteous, it must have been on the basis of a true righteousness – either His or someone else’s – and not on the mere fiction of substituting apples for oranges.

There are several reasons why we should be warned against this second insidious but very common misunderstanding. First, when the text says that “it was credited to him as righteousness,” what does it refer to? The evangelical misunderstanding would have to maintain that the antecedent is the fact that Abraham believed God or the fact that he had faith. But this is hard to support grammatically. “It” demands a noun (or at least a verbal noun) as an antecedent, and the text supplies neither. This fact alone suggests that we should look further for what was actually reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. Second, there is the way faith is referred to in the rest of the Bible, specifically in the writings of Paul. It is never said that people are saved because of their faith or even on the basis of their faith. They are saved by faith. Third, faith cannot be a substitute for righteousness because the important word “credited” does not permit that interpretation.

When God saved Abraham He did two things, one negative and one positive. (1) He did what Paul quotes David as saying in verses 7-8 (a quotation of Ps. 32:1-2), namely, God did not reckon his sin against him. How So? It is not merely that God simply struck Abraham’s transgressions from the ledger book of his life and then forgot about them, as if they could simply be discounted. God does not play imaginary games. True, He did remove the list of Abraham’s sins from his ledger, but that was only because he had first transferred it to the ledger book of Jesus Christ. Jesus took the liability of those transgressions on Himself and paid their price by dying for them. Abraham’s sin was not reckoned to Abraham because it was reckoned to Jesus Christ instead. (2) In a parallel action, God then also reckoned the righteousness of Christ to Abraham, which is what Genesis 15:6 teaches. God took Christ’s righteousness and wrote it in Abraham’s ledger.

That is the only way anybody has ever been saved, and it is precisely what has happened for anybody who has been saved. It is true that there have been different degrees of understanding of what happened. The Old Testament saints understood less (although Abraham probably understood a great deal). New Testament saints understood more. But regardless of the degrees of understanding, the only way we or anybody else is saved is by the imputation of righteousness of Christ to our account.

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior? That’s what God declares Him to be. Abraham believed what God had revealed to him concerning Jesus Christ, and the righteousness of Christ was credited to Abraham as if it were his own. Adam, Jacob, Moses, David, John the Baptist – all believed the same thing. No one has ever been saved in any other way. So I say, if you have not believed in Jesus Christ as your Savior, believe now. Today is always the day of salvation.

Romans 4:1-8 Reflection Questions:

On what basis do you expect to obtain salvation?

What do you believe concerning Jesus Christ?

Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Savior?

Two studies back, we saw that in the final paragraph of Romans 3 (vv. 27-31), it contains three conclusions from or implications of the gospel. They may be expressed by saying that the doctrine of justification by grace through faith in Jesus Christ: (1) Excludes boasting (vv. 27-28), (2) Establishes one way of salvation for everybody (vv. 29-30), and (3) Upholds the law of God rather than subverting it, as some seem always to suppose it does (v. 31).

The last of these points (v. 31) is an answer to a false conclusion or erroneous implication that some people, particularly religious people, might draw from the gospel. Paul has spoken forcefully about salvation by grace apart from law. He has repeated the idea of salvation being apart from law twice, once in verse 21 (“apart from law”) and once in verse 28 (“apart from observing the law”). “Well then,” such a person might argue, “if salvation is apart from the law, as you say, doesn’t the doctrine of salvation by grace set God’s law aside and thus show it to be worthless? And if it does that, shouldn’t your gospel be rejected as being quite false? Aren’t we obliged to reject any doctrine that would nullify the revealed law of God?”

Paul’s reply is that the gospel of grace does not nullify God’s law. God forbid that it should! If it did that, it would be a false gospel, one rightly to be rejected. But it does not nullify the law of God. On the contrary, it establishes the law and is, in fact, the only thing that does or could establish it.

There are two ways in which this objection to the gospel may be raised. The first is: “If we don’t have to keep the law of God in order to be saved, why should any of us want to keep it? If we are saved by grace apart from obeying the law, we must be free to sin. So let’s all sin. Let’s indulge ourselves by doing any and every sinful thing we want to do – because, after all, we will get to heaven anyway.” It shouldn’t be too difficult to see what is wrong with this argument. It’s wrong psychologically, if for no other reason. It assumes that the only motivation for right moral conduct is fear of hell or of losing heaven, when actually those are the least significant motivations. The highest motivation for godly conduct comes not from fear of hell but from love of God. It’s because God has saved us by grace entirely apart from any merit in ourselves that we love and want to please Him. Moreover, we recognize the importance of what we have become a part of by God’s grace – the kingdom of God on earth – and we want to advance the goals of that kingdom.

The second error is theological. It’s the false assumption that when a person is justified by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, he or she is personally unchanged by that process. Or, to put it in other terms, it is to suppose that one can be justified without being regenerated or born again. Actually, the one effect never occurs without the other. So the one who is justified always shows it by striving for righteousness. If a person does not strive to live a moral life according to the law of God, the failure proves that he or she is neither regenerated nor justified.

The theme of Romans 3:21-31 is not sanctification (important as that is) but justification, which is achieved for us by the work of Christ. So it’s not that the law is upheld by “our faith” in the sense that we inevitably live moral lives if we are living by faith, true as that is, but that the “faith” Paul is describing – that is, the doctrine of justification by grace through faith – upholds the law. This is so important let me state it in a different way. The point is not that the law is somehow established by what we do as Christians by the power of the new life of God within. It is rather that the Lord Jesus Christ has established the law in the process of providing salvation for us by His death on the cross. Or, to put it in still other language, God has established the law by seeing that the demands of the law were met in the way He provided salvation for us.

We have now come to the end of the most important single passage in the Word of God. Romans 3:21-31 is the very heart of the Bible, the most important and critical passage in all Scripture. To review, there are four great doctrines: (1) God has provided a righteousness of His own for men and women, a righteousness we do not possess ourselves. This is the very heart or theme of the Word of God. (2) This righteousness is by grace. We don’t deserve it. In fact, we are incapable ever of deserving it. (3) It is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for His people, redeeming them from their sin, which has made this grace on God’s part possible. Redemption describes the work of Jesus Christ in relation to ourselves; propitiation describes the work of Jesus Christ in relation to the Father; justification describes the act by which God the Father declares us to have met the demands of the law on the basis of Christ’s work for us. It is because of Jesus’ death that there is a Christian gospel. (4) This righteousness, which God has graciously provided, becomes ours through simple faith. Believing and trusting God in regard to the work of Jesus is the only way anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved. Faith is essential. “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb. 11:6).

The important point is: Have you been saved by what is described in these doctrines? Have you been saved from your sin by Jesus Christ? Do you know that He died in your place to bear the punishment for your sin and offer you, in its place, His own perfect righteousness? Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior?

We live in a day – perhaps every age has been like this – when people are trying their best to establish other “gospels,” other ways of salvation. Some are into good works, some into yoga or reincarnations or crystals or something else. But the Bible’s gospel is not a human gospel, as those all are. The Bible is God’s Word, and this is God’s gospel. It is the only true gospel. It is the only way in which a sinful man or woman can be saved. But, praise God, it is the way by which man or woman may be saved – yourself included. Believe it, and thank God for it!

Romans 3:31 Reflection Questions:

In verse 31 Paul says that the law is not abolished. Rather, he says that the law cannot be fulfilled by works. Instead it is fulfilled by faith. How does reliance on the law of faith instead of the law of works put Jews and Gentiles on the same footing before God?

This passage explains the very foundation of the Christian faith. How could you take these verses and restate them in a way that would communicate the message of Christ to people around you who do not know Him?

Spend several minutes thanking God for His act of mercy in fulfilling the law through Christ and providing a way for all those who have faith in Jesus to be members of the new covenant family. Then pray for one friend who does not know Jesus. Pray that God would give you opportunities to communicate the message of the gospel in relevant ways.

In this second paragraph of Romans 3 which we have been studying, Paul is providing three natural conclusions or inferences from these doctrines, among which is the teaching that in terms of salvation is but one way of salvation for everybody (see verses 27-28; 29-30; 31). Today we will be studying the second point which is the one Paul develops in Romans 3:29-30. These verses teach that the fact that there is only one way of salvation follows from the fact of their being only one God. God is the God of all. So the salvation He provides is but one salvation for all. Far from being narrow or sectarian, this truth actually swings the grand door of salvation wide open for everybody.

The gospel that Paul has been expounding maintains the great high principle of monotheism, for it is the gospel of this one God. It flows from His grace. It has been accomplished by His Son, who died for us. It requires us to be like Him. At the same time, the gospel does not promote any kind of exclusiveness, for it is a gospel offered to all alike – apart from their religious advantages or disadvantages, understanding or lack of understanding, good works or very evil deeds. It presents a God as equally a God of the Gentiles as of the Jews. God deals with both classes on precisely the same principles; He pursues, with regard to both, the same plan, and offers salvation to both on exactly the same terms.

That is what I want to do (and you should too); to apply the gospel developed in Romans 3 as universally as possible. My method is simple. I want to tell you that whoever you are or whatever you may or may not have done, this gospel is for you, because it is for everybody. I want you to see that if you will come to God in the way He has appointed for you to come – He will receive you and will never cast you out.

I can only think of one thing that could possibly turn you away from this gracious, embracing, “all are welcome” gospel. And that is that you do not want to go into the Father’s house with all those other types of people. But if that is so, do not call Christianity narrow or bigoted or mean or self-righteous or sectarian. It is you who are sectarian, and Christianity is the only thing I know of that can cleanse you of that blight. Only Jesus can give you grace to place your pride aside and step through that wide door of salvation as the rebellious sinner you truly are. No one else will go through – only sinners who have confessed their sin, turned from it, and believed on Jesus Christ as their Savior.

Romans 3:29-30 Reflection Questions:

Paul says that Jesus’ faithfulness was His dealing with sin to the point of death. How does the death of Jesus show God’s willingness to deal with sin when He had earlier left it unpunished, perhaps making Him look unjust?

Did you know that the gospel is for everyone? If so, how are you showing and telling the gospel to everyone?

This next section of chapter 3 (vv. 27-31) is a postscript to verses 21-26. The earlier verses, the first paragraph, tell of the plan God has devised to save men and women. It is by the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and can be summed up in the words “justification by grace through faith alone.” The next five verses, which make up a second paragraph, present three consequences or implications of this plan. The first is that this way of salvation “by grace through faith” excludes boasting. The second is that it provides one way of salvation for everybody. The third is that, far from allowing a person to indulge in immorality or lawbreaking, as some suppose, it actually upholds the law. God’s way of salvation provides a level of morality of which mere adherents to law, apart from the grace of God in the gospel, cannot even dream.

With today’s study we will study the first implication of the doctrine of justification by faith, which concerns boasting. For boasting is related to pride – it is an expression of it – and pride is the greatest of all sins according to biblical Christianity. If pride is the greatest of all sins and God’s plan of salvation does not destroy pride – rooting it up, casting it out, and even dusting off the place where it stood – then it’s not a good plan. It has failed, and we need a faith other than Christianity. Pride was the very first sin (see Isaiah 14:13-14). Pride made Satan want to ascend into heaven to the very throne of God, but the Bible says it actually brought him “down to the grave, to the depths of the pit” (v. 15).

Where in the range of human experience and relationships is pride most evident and at the same time most clearly wrong and inappropriate? The sphere of life in which people show the most pride is religion. And there is a good reason for this. Religion – not true Christianity, but religion in the generic sense – is the ultimate setting for the very worse expressions of pride. For it is in religion alone that we are able to claim that God, and not mere human beings, sets His approval on us as superior to other human beings. Moreover, the more demanding or rigorous our “religion is, the more prideful we become. Do we need an example? The Lord Jesus Christ provided one when He compared the humility of the tax collector, who was saved by faith in the mercy of God made known in the sacrifices, with the pride of the Pharisee who boasted of his goodness (Luke 18:11-12).

The fact that the Pharisee did not see himself as a sinner in need of mercy shows that he did not know God at all. Here is the way C. S. Lewis puts it: “How is it that people who are quite obviously eaten up with Pride can say that they believe in God and appear to themselves very religious? I am afraid it means they are worshiping an imaginary God. They theoretically admit themselves to be nothing in the presence of this phantom God, but are really all the time imagining how he approves of them and thinks them far better than ordinary people: that is, they pay a pennyworth of imaginary humility to him and get out of it a pound’s worth of Pride towards their fellow-men… Whenever we find that our religious life is making us feel that we are good – above all, that we are better than someone else – I think we may be sure that we are being acted on, not by God, but by the devil. The real test of being in the presence of God is that you either forget about yourself altogether or see yourself as a small, dirty object. It is better to forget about yourself altogether.”*

But how can we forget about ourselves – we who are filled with pride? It’s the very nature of pride to do the opposite. The answer is that in ourselves we cannot. That is what being saved by grace means; it means that we cannot save ourselves. We are no more able to save ourselves or forget about ourselves than are other human beings. But we are enabled to forget about ourselves when God turns our attention to Jesus, who died for us and binds the whole of our hope and life to Him through faith. Which brings us to our Romans 3:27-28 text. Salvation by grace is the one doctrine that undercuts all boasting.

So let’s be done with boasting in the church of Jesus Christ – “except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6:14). Christians are all nothing but sinners saved by grace. If you do not believe that, you are not saved. You are still trusting in your own good works, your feelings, your superior religious knowledge or your faith – not in Jesus. Jesus saves! That is the message of Christianity. If you believe that, you will forget about yourself and bow low before Him.

Romans 3:27-28 Reflection Questions:

How often do you give yourself credit for doing some good works, instead of giving God the praise and credit?

Are you worshiping an imaginary god?

What do you do daily to forget about yourself?

*C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1958), p. 96, 97.

It’s time to talk about faith. Wonderful as the salvation that has been accomplished by Jesus Christ may be, it is of no use to us unless it becomes ours personally – and the way the work of Christ becomes ours personally is through faith. That is why the Bible says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God…” (Heb. 11:6) and why the apostle Paul speaks of faith so often in the section of Romans we are now studying – eight times in verses 21 through 31.

What exactly is faith? Of the writers on faith, John Calvin perhaps had the strongest point of view, for he found it necessary to oppose a very serious error about faith that had developed in the teaching of the medieval church. In the years before the Reformation the church had been derelict in teaching the Scriptures to the people. Consequently, most people were ignorant of the true gospel of salvation, and most clergy were ignorant of it also. Calvin argued that “the object of faith is Christ” and that “faith rests upon knowledge, not upon pious ignorance.” Calvin wrote, “We do not obtain salvation either because we are prepared to embrace as true whatever the church has prescribed, or because we turn over to it the task of inquiring and knowing. But we do so when we know that God is our merciful Father, because of reconciliation effected through Christ (2 Cor. 5:18-19), and that Christ has been given to us as righteousness, sanctification and life. By this knowledge, I say, not by submission of our feeling, do we obtain entry into the Kingdom of Heaven.” This ancient debate has bearing upon the “faith” of many persons today, for although many probably do not exercise “implicit” faith in the church or in any other authority, they seem to have implicit faith in themselves or merely “faith in faith,” which turns out to be almost the same thing.

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, Calvin is so concerned about stressing the importance of knowledge as the first element in faith that he rightly presents it in another way, showing the necessary link between faith and the Word of God, or the Bible. Reduced to its basics, Calvin shows that: (1) faith is defined by God’s Word; (2) faith is born of God’s Word; and (3) faith is sustained by God’s Word.

The first of these points is particularly clear in Romans 3. For Paul speaks of faith after having spoken of the righteousness of God (that is the gospel) in verse 21. It is after this that he says, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (v. 22). In other words, the faith in Christ about which he is speaking is faith in that work of Christ previously revealed in and explained by the Old Testament. There cannot be any true faith without the Word of God, for it is in the Word alone that we learn what we are to believe.

The second way in which faith is linked to the Word of God is that faith is created, born, or awakened in us by that Word. Apart from the Word, we are like Lazarus – as dead in our transgressions as he was dead in his cold Judean tomb. What will awaken us from that sleep of death? Only the call of the life-giving God can produce such new life. The only place where we can hear the voice of God is in the pages of the Bible, where alone God speaks.

The third link between faith and the Bible is that it is through the Bible that faith is strengthened or sustained. Why? Because the Bible directs us to God and His promises, and only God is strong enough to support us in this matter of salvation. The conclusion is that if you wish to be strong in faith and grow in it, you must spend time studying the Bible and appropriating the promises of God that are found there.

As important as biblical content of faith is and which Calvin stressed so strongly, it is nevertheless possible to know this content and yet be lost – if it has not touched the individual personally at the heart level. Here is how Calvin put it – after a long section (forty out of fifty pages on “faith”) dealing with the element of knowledge or content: “It now remains to pour into the heart itself what the mind has absorbed. For the Word of God is not received by faith if it flits about in the top of the brain, but when it takes root in the depth of the heart that it may be an invincible defense to withstand and drive off all the stratagems of temptation.”

The third element of faith is a real yielding of oneself to Christ, which goes beyond having knowledge, however full or accurate, or even being personally moved by the gospel. (Many are moved, even to tears, but are not saved.) It is the point at which we pass over the line from belonging to ourselves (as we think) and become the Lord’s disciples. It is what was seen in Thomas when he not only believed in Jesus and his resurrection but fell at His feet in worship, exclaiming, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28). It is at this point that faith joins hands with love, which it closely resembles, and hope is born from that union.

Jesus pledges Himself to us; He has already done it. We pledge ourselves to Him through the third element of faith: commitment. He died for us, demonstrating the nature of His true love and sterling character. He wooed us getting us to love Him who first loved us. Now He takes the wedding vow, saying, “I Jesus, take thee [put your name in the space], to be my wedded wife; and I do promise and covenant, before God the Father and these witnesses, to be  thy loving an faithful Savior and Bridegroom; in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, in sickness and in health, in this life and for all eternity,”

We then look up into His face and repeat the words: “I [your name], take thee, Jesus to be my loving Savior and Lord; and I do promise and covenant, before God the Father and these witnesses, to be thy loving and faithful wife: in plenty and in want, in joy and in sorrow, and in sickness and in health, for this life and for all eternity.” God the Father (not an earthly minister) then pronounces the marriage, and you become the Lord Jesus Christ’s forever.

Have you done that? Have you believed on Jesus Christ? Do you love Him? Do you know yourself to have been made His forever? You may say, “Well, I don’t know if I have or not.” If you don’t know, settle the matter right now! Perhaps you say, “But I’m unworthy.” Of course you are. How could anybody possibly be worthy of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ? All are unworthy, but it is precisely your awareness of your unworthiness that makes it possible for you to know you need a Savior. Paul reminds us that God has shown “His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).

You might say, “But my faith is so weak.” Yes, and your love and hope and everything else are weak, too. But it does not take strong faith to be saved, just faith. Charles Spurgeon wrote, “The weakness of your faith will not destroy you. A trembling hand may receive a golden gift.”* Reach out your hand. Place it in that pierced hand that is stretched out to you. Clasp it to your heart, and love Jesus forever.

Romans 3:25-26 Reflection Questions:

What is your faith in; the church, some other authority, yourself, in faith, or in Christ?

How much time do you spend daily or weekly studying the Bible? Now compare that with the time you spend on your phone, the internet, or the T.V.

Has the Word of God touched your heart? How do you know?

*Spurgeon, All of Grace, p. 43.

For two and a half chapters of Romans, we have been looking at the sad story of the ruin of the race because of sin. Now we reach a new and glorious point in Paul’s letter. Instead of reviewing the grim story of sin and God’s wrath, we turn with relief to the wonderful news of God’s great grace to sinners through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In Romans 3:21-31 we are dealing with themes that are the very heart, not only of Paul’s letter, but of the entire Bible and therefore of reality itself. In all life and history there is nothing more important than these teachings. But who today thinks this way? Who is willing to acknowledge this in an age when abstract thought – even thinking itself – is suspect? Who even among the masses of Christian people really appreciates what Paul is saying here? Ours is an age in which people are self-absorbed and focus on immediate gratification. We tend to evaluate any religious teaching according to its apparent relevance to our present “needs” and short-term goals. No one can have success teaching basic truths about man and the universe unless our closed ways of thinking are changed. But, then, this has always been the case. It was no easier for the apostle Paul to preach the message of salvation to a generation that was busy entertaining itself by sex and circuses than for today’s Christians to minister that same word to an age that has anesthetized itself through all the media devices available to them. But we must try! We must try as Paul did! We must teach the Word of God, because it is by the Word alone that God speaks to us about what really matters.

At the beginning of Romans 3:21 we come to two tremendous words: “But now”! If we had not studied the first two and a half chapters of Romans carefully, we would not be in a position to appreciate these words, because the change they speak of would not seem to be a change at all. With no understanding of the past, we can never appreciate the present. But now we can! We have studied the past. Therefore these two words become for a cry of great joy and thanksgiving. The words “But now” indicate that something of great importance has taken place, and that this is the substance of the good news being proclaimed by Paul and other messengers of the gospel.

Here is a simple outline of this teaching: (1) God has provided a righteousness of His own for men and women, a righteousness we do not possess ourselves. This is the very heart or theme of the Word of God. Although it is new in its fulfillment, it had nevertheless been fully prophesied in the Old Testament. (2) This righteousness is by grace. We don’t deserve it. In fact, we are incapable ever of deserving it. (3) Its the work of the Lord Jesus Christ in dying for His people, redeeming them from their sins, that made this grace on God’s part possible. This is the reason for the “now” in “but now.” It is because of Jesus’ death that there is a Christian gospel. (4) This righteousness that God has graciously provided becomes ours through simple faith. Believing and trusting God in regard to the work of Jesus is the only way anyone, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved.

We can see the importance of these teachings by noticing that they are nearly exact repetition of what Paul has already stated as the thesis of the letter. They were stated in his opening address in Romans 1:1-5. It is also what we have found in the initial statement of Paul’s thesis in Romans 1:16-17. So I repeat what I said at the beginning of this study: There is nothing in all life and history that is more important than these teachings. The issues of eternity hang on these truths, and we must be faithful to them regardless of the resistance or scorn of our contemporaries.

When a person is first presented with this pure core of Christianity, the reaction is usually revulsion. We want to save ourselves, and anything that suggests that we cannot do so is abhorrent to us. We do not want a religion that demands that we throw ourselves entirely upon the grace and mercy of God. But Christianity is not only the religion we need so desperately. It is also the only religion worth having in the long run. Let’s review why.

• If salvation is by the gift of God, apart from human doing, then we can be saved now. We don’t have to wait until we reach some high level of attainment or pass some undetermined future test. Many people think in these terms, because they know (if they are honest with themselves) that their lives and actions are far from what they should be now and they keep striving. But this means that salvation can never be a present experience but is something always in the future. It is something such persons hope to attain, though they are afraid they may not. It is only in Christianity that this future element moves into the present. And the reason it can is that salvation in not based on our ability to accumulate acceptable merits with God, but rather on what God has already done for us. When Jesus said on the cross, “It is finished,” He meant what He said. His finished work is the sole grounds for our being declared righteous by God. And since it is a past accomplishment, salvation can be ours now, solely by the application of Christ’s righteousness to us as God’s gift.
• If salvation is by the gift of God, apart from human doing, then salvation is certain. If salvation is by human works, then human works (or a lack of them) can undo it. If I can save myself, I can unsave myself. I can ruin everything. But if salvation is of God from the beginning to end, it is sure and unwavering simply because God is Himself is sure and unwavering. Since God knows the end from the beginning, nothing ever surprises Him, and He never needs to alter His plans or change His mind. What He has begun He will continue, and we can be confident of that. Paul expressed this confidence in regard to the church at Philippi in Philippians 1:6.
• If salvation is by the gift of God, apart from human doing, then human boasting is excluded, and all the glory in salvation goes to God. The boasting of human beings is bad enough in this world, where all they have to boast of is their own good looks (for which they are not responsible), their money, their friends, or whatever. Imagine how offensive it would be if they were able to brag about having earned heaven. But it’s not going to be like that! Salvation is a gift. It is receiving God’s righteousness – apart from law, apart from human doing. It is, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “not by works, so that no one can boast” (Eph. 2:9). No one in heaven will be praising man. In heaven the glory will go to God only. Thank God it is that way.

Romans 3:21-24 Reflection Questions:

When have you received grace from someone when you’ve fallen short?

What does God’s fulfillment of His covenant promises to Israel reveal about Himself?

We see that the “righteousness” or “justice” referred to in Romans 3:21-24 means showing God’s faithfulness to the covenant. How does Paul say God did this inn verses 21-24?

From Romans 1:18, where the argument began, and up to this point, Paul has been proving that the entire race lies under the just condemnation of God for its wickedness. His argument is an all-embracing negative, which precedes the even greater positive statements of Romans 3:21 and what’s to follow. How is this great argument summarized? Quite simply; Paul says that no one will be saved by good works: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law; rather through the law we become conscious of sin.” Why is it that no one will be saved by good works? If not the utterly immoral person, why not at least the virtuous pagan or the righteous Jew? Why not you? Why not me? Paul’s answer takes us back over the chief points of the preceding chapters.

The first reason in Paul’s argument is one we have already looked at several times in various forms. It is that, far from pursuing God and trying to please Him (which is what most of us mistakenly think we are doing), the entire race is actually trying to get away from God and is resisting Him as intensely and thoroughly as possible. You remember from our previous studies how Paul says that we “suppress” the truth about God, much of which is revealed even in nature, not to mention the written revelation of God, which is the Bible. But because we don’t want to serve a deity who is like the One we know is there – the God who is sovereign over His creation, altogether holy, omniscient and immutable – we suppress the truth about this true God and try to construct substitute gods to take His place. And, says Paul, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all [this] godlessness and wickedness” of mankind (Rom. 1:18).

The second reason why no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law is that no one actually does observe it. This is the explanation of the apparent contradiction between Romans 2:13, which says that “it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous,” and Romans 3:20, which says that “no one will be declared righteous in [God’s] sight by observing the law.” Both are true because, although anyone who perfectly obeys the law would be declared righteous – the righteousness of God requires it – in point of fact no one actually does this; rather, all disobey God’s law. At this point Paul speaks in almost identical terms to both the Jew, who actually possessed the revealed law of God, and to the Gentile, who did not possess it. So the second reason why no one will be declared righteous by observing the law is that no one actually does observe it. We fail to observe even the tiniest part, and we certainly do not observe the whole!

The third reason why no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by observing the law is that, far from observing the law (or even trying to observe the law), we are all actually violating the law in every conceivable way and on every possible occasion and are therefore actively, consistently, thoroughly, and intentionally wicked. This is the meaning of the two long lists of descriptive vices found in Romans 1:29-31 and Romans 3:10-18. These verses don’t mean that every human being has done every bad thing possible, but they do mean that the human race is like this. We are members of that human race, and, if the truth be told, the potential for every possible human vice is in everyone. It is because of this inward potential that Scripture says, “The Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6”5).

The fourth reason why no one will be declared righteous before God by observing the law is that God is concerned with true or actual observance – that is, with the attitudes and actions of the heart – and not with any outward acts that appear pious but actually mean nothing. The chief example of this wrongheaded attempt at justification is the faith that certain people have placed in circumcision. Circumcision is neither extra-biblical nor unimportant. It was an important rite, just as baptism, the observance of the Lord’s Supper, church membership, and similar religious practices are important today. But the error of the Jew (and the error of many contemporary Christians) is in thinking that a person can be declared righteous before God by these things. That is not possible. Sacraments do have value once one is justified; that is, they are valuable signs of something that has occurred internally (if it has occurred internally), and they are meant to remind us of that experience and strengthen it. But no one can be saved by circumcision or by any other external religious act. God is not taken in by mere externals. There are no substitutes for faith.

We have been looking at the first part of our text which is a definite negative statement, declaring that no one will be declared righteous by observing God’s law. It tells us what the law cannot do. By contrast, the second half of the sentence contains a great positive statement, telling us that, although the law is unable to justify anybody, all of us being sinners, it is nevertheless able to show where we fall short of God’s standards and thus point us to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone God provides salvation.

Apart from God’s law we may consider ourselves to be quite upright, model citizens who are fit candidates for heaven. But when we look into the law closely we soon see that we are not fit candidates at all. We are not upright. We are morally crooked. And we discover that if we are to become acceptable to the only upright, holy God, we must be changed by Him. If you are placing your hope in your supposed ability to keep God’s law or even just in your ability to do certain good things, your case is hopeless. Your heart needs cleansing, and no effort of your own can ever cleanse it.

Where will you find cleansing? You will find it only in Christ, to whom the law drives you. I trust you have found cleansing where so many others have found it. The apostle Peter declared “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

Romans 3:20 Reflection Questions:

What is your faith in; good works, church membership, the Lord’s Supper, baptism, or in Jesus Christ?

Have you found your cleansing? Do you see how the law points you to Christ?

How often you find yourself running from God? What are you substituting God with?

When was the last time you read the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7?

Now the apostle Paul comes to the end of the first main section of his letter, concluding that every human being is (1) accountable to God for what he or she has done; (2) guilty of having done countless wrong things; and (3) will never be justified by God on the basis of any supposed good works. His exact words in Romans 3:19-20 are: “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in His sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” These two verses are very important, because to understand them is to understand the great foundational truths of Christianity. We will study these verses separately, mainly because verse 19 has played such an important part in the conversion of many, many people.

Follow me here; let’s say that you and I had lunch together and when we leave and start walking down the sidewalk together a swerving automobile comes up on the sidewalk and kills the two of us. In the next moment we would be what men call “dead.” We brush aside that absurd folly that we are going to meet St. Peter at the gate of heaven. (That exists only in jokes about two Irishmen.) We are going to meet God. Now suppose that in that moment of ultimate reckoning God should say to you, “What right do you have to come into My heaven?” What would be your answer? There are only three possible answers to be given. That is, all the many varieties of answers ultimately boil down to just three. One of which involves the text I am considering, which is why I tell this story.

The first answer people give to the question is a common one. It is that they have done certain things and therefore want to be accepted by God on the basis of these achievements. Some people have a very high opinion of themselves, of course. They think they have been models of righteous conduct – that they have never done anything bad, only what is good. In fact, they believe they have done a great deal good! Others know that they have not been consistently good, but they still want God to take note of what good works they have done and accept them into heaven on that basis.

You must clearly understand that no one is going to be justified before the bar of God’s justice on the basis of his or her good works, however great they may be. Your record will not save you. It is your record that has gotten you into trouble in the first place. Your record will condemn you. The only way anyone will ever be saved is by faith in Jesus Christ, who paid the penalty of our misdeeds for us and, in place of our misdeeds, offers us the gift of His great righteousness.

What would you say to the question, “What right do you have to come into My heaven?” The answer is that you wouldn’t say a thing. This brings us to the second answer which is our verse in Romans 3:19 where God had said, “Every mouth [will] be silenced.” At God’s judgment no one will be able to offer any good works as grounds for his or her justification or offer any valid excuses for bad conduct. All mouths will be made mute, and everyone will know that he or she is guilty and deserves God’s just condemnation. The reason of course, is that this is God’s judgment. The person we must appear before is God. We do not have the same experiences when we appear before mere men or answer before a mere earthly tribunal. If there were to be any spoken words spoken before the bar of God by those who have rejected the grace of God in this life and are being sent to outer darkness forever, it will be – not excuses – but a resentful acknowledgement of the truth of God and the justice of their own condemnation.

It’s clear that what we have been seeing is that the only saving answer to the question being posed – “What right do you have to come into God’s heaven?” – focuses not on the works of the sinner, but on the achievements of Jesus Christ. If we are to be saved, it will not be on the basis of anything we have ever done or can do, but solely on the basis of what He has done for us. Christ died for us. He suffered in our place. He bore the punishment of our sins. All who come to God on that basis and with that answer will be saved. No others will be. Only those who come to God trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

I end this study by asking that same question to you. Someday you will die. You will face God, and He will say to you, “What right do you have to come into My heaven?” What will your response be? Perhaps you will say, “Well, here is my record. I know that I have done some bad things, but I have done a lot of good things, too. I want you to look at these and see if they are enough for me to have deserved heaven. All I want from you is justice.” If you say that, justice is exactly what you will get. You will be judged for your sin and be condemned. Your good works, however fine they may seem in your sight or even in the sight of other people, will not save you. No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the law of good works, for it is by the law that “we become conscious of sin” (Rom. 3:20).

Perhaps you will not plead your good works, but instead will stand before God silenced. This is better. At least you will have recognized that your goodness is not adequate before God. You will know you are a sinner. But it’s still a most pitiful position to be in: silent before the one great Judge of the universe, with no possibility of making a defense, no possibility of urging extenuating circumstances, no hope of escaping condemnation.

So what will you say? I trust you will be able to answer – I hope this study had helped you to the point of being able to answer, if you have not come to it already – “My right to heaven is the Lord Jesus Christ, He died for me. He took the punishment for my sin. He is my right to heaven, because He has become my righteousness.”

Romans 3:19 Reflection Questions:

So what is your answer to the question above?

Who do you know needs to know the points of this study?