How to be righteous (Romans 3)

Romans 3:10-18 “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one." "Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit." "The poison of vipers is on their lips." "Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; ruin and misery mark their ways, and the way of peace they do not know." "There is no fear of God before their eyes."

Oh the dilemma! God is a just God who demands justice. How then will we be saved when “no on is righteous” and when “all have turned away?” Everyone is accountable to God. No one has a good defense. We are ALL guilty before him.

Romans 3:19-20 says, “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.”

None of us will be declared righteous because we kept the Law or observed it. What good was the Law then? Why do we bother reading it? I though all scripture was useful for teaching, rebuking and correcting in righteousness? Well, it is but the Law doesn’t save us. It merely makes us conscious of what sin is and isn’t’. It shows us our need for a righteousness that comes apart from the Law, which saves no one.

Romans 3:21-24 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

Praise God! He has provided another way to righteousness. It doesn’t involve perfectly keeping God’s law. It’s a righteousness that comes by faith. We all have done wrong. But by faith he redeems us or buys us back from sin and death. He paid for our souls with the death of Jesus on the Cross.

Romans 3:25-28 “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

God didn’t just forgive us our sins. He paid the debt. His grace and love made him go to the cross for us but so did his justice and wrath. It’s a paradox. How can God be both just and merciful, vengeful and graceful, giving what is deserved and not giving what is deserved? He did it in the cross! He is just and the one who justifies. Praise God nothing is too hard for Him! So we can’t boast about how good we have been. We can’t proudly say we were saved on our own power. We all must repent. We all must confess the truth of who he is. We all must humbly admit that it is only by the grace of Jesus we have overcome sin and death. We must die to sin and be buried with him in baptism and then be raised to live a new life. Now we learn to live transformed lives that die to sin by the power of his death and resurrection.

We are NOT saved by obeying the law but we are saved by our faith in what Jesus did on the cross. And in this salvation we find the power to be transformed and in the grace of Christ fulfill the law and prophets.

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