Week 4

Last week, Paul persuaded us that we are sinners and cannot escape God’s righteous judgment. He runs this idea into the ground for a while. We might even say that Paul was the first “hellfire and brimstone” puritan preacher. Hopefully, Paul makes us more uncomfortable by the verse. As if this wasn’t enough, he introduces the idea that the physical descendants of Abraham are not God’s literal people, an idea that, too, that is central to his New Testament teachings. If we let Paul shake us up a bit we can better understand his point. As we said before, it must get worse before it gets better. I might also add that to some, these might seem like elementary theological truths. However, it is essential for us to grasp these concepts to understand God’s love for us. He is a jealous husband who delights in the praise of His wife (us). If we remember even the most elementary facts of the gospel, we are moved to a place of gratitude and will respond with the praise of Christ. That being said, let us begin.

Romans 3:1-2 What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision? Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.

Suppose that you are Jewish (if you aren’t) and you read the book of Romans. You think of the entire history of Israel and the enormous testimony of the Old Testament. You draw the conclusion that Paul is insane. “Paul is making me nervous/Paul is making me scared/Into this room he swaggers like he’s God’s own messenger,” as one Jewish songwriter puts it (Glen Philips, Toad the Wet Sprocket). You ask, “If this is so, why did God establish circumcision? Why did God deliberately set a physical nation apart, physically, if an ‘outward’ Jew is not a Jew after all? And, if what Paul says is true, then what advantage does the physical Jew have as Paul asks here in 3:1.”

Paul addresses these questions, beginning with the latter. Most importantly, he teaches, unto the Jews are committed the “oracles of God.” What are the oracles? The prophecies are the oracles Paul speaks of. If what Paul says is true, these really shouldn’t be new teachings to his readers because they know these oracles. Remember what Jesus says: You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me (John 5:39).” Paul was a Jew. He counted himself as blessed because, unlike the Gentiles, the gospel was available to him through the Scriptures.

Romans 3:3-4 For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged.”

Still supposing that you are a Jew, you realize that if this is true, most of the Jews throughout history have missed the point. Were you to ask Paul about this he would tell you that, even though it is true that most Jews have missed the point, God is still righteous in his judgment. In other words, if one rejects this idea of inward circumcision, that is faith in Christ, he is still under the curse of the law. He will not be exempt from God’s judgment (2:3). You can follow Paul’s train of thought from verse 5 through verse 20. In week 4, however, we skip down to verse 21.

Romans 3:21-25 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness…

If you’ve been sweating in the pew as Paul has taught of the hopeless condition of man before a righteous and holy God, consider verses 21-25 a fresh breeze and cold drink. Just when we thought we couldn’t take any more, Paul introduces the Good News. Up until now, we have been taught that whatever righteousness we can muster up does not change the fact that we are destined to suffer God’s wrath. Isaiah says our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). All of this talk of judgment and sin is according to the Law. The Law is the measuring stick by which God judges. He has spoken what is good and anything outside of that is considered sin. But the Good News is “apart from the law.”

Paul says, as we covered in week one, that the Law, itself, and the prophets, that is the Old Testament, has “witnessed” this “righteousness of God apart from the law.” This implies that God intended salvation to happen “apart from the Law.” This should exclude any notion that the Gospel was God’s plan B. Lets look at Exodus, chapter 24. Moses takes the Book of the Covenant and reads it to the Israelites. The Israelites then respond: “all that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.” Moses then sprinkles the people with blood and says, “this is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words.” The lesson we should learn from the Israelites is that to be totally obedient to God is impossible. We should not shake our heads at them as if we could have kept the commands of God. We should know better. This is exactly why Moses sprinkles the blood. He prefigures the blood of Christ. By sprinkling the people, it is as if he is saying, “it is not your obedience that will save you but the blood.” The blood of what? Hebrews 10:4 says, “for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” So the literal blood that Moses sprinkled did not take away the peoples sin; there is no way that it could. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, the spotless lamb, could do such a thing. This is what Paul means when he says the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is witnessed by the Law and the prophets.

But what is this “righteousness apart from the law,” how do we have access to it, and why should we want it? Lets address the last question first. Why should we even be concerned with the righteousness of God. After all, it is His righteousness and not ours? The answer: He expects from us the same righteousness that He possesses (Lev 11:44). As verse 23 states, we have all fallen short, and therefore we are to be judged by one who does no wrong. Now we can see why possessing His righteousness would be desirable. So how do we access His righteousness? Paul tells us in verse 22: through faith in Jesus Christ. Before we continue, we must stop and realize what Paul means by “through faith.” As we have learned in preceding weeks, Paul has discouraged us from trying to attain salvation by obeying the law. Even in our best attempts we fail. The phrase “by faith” stands in direct contrast to the idea that we can earn righteousness. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now think about the contrast between faith and the Law. Which is easier? It is a trick question, really. So we have access to the righteousness of God through faith, but what is the righteousness of God? We find the answer in 1:16-17: “…I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ…for in it the righteousness of God is revealed.”

So there we have it. If we, by faith, believe that Jesus Christ is God and He offered Himself as the sacrifice that Moses prefigured, then we have attained salvation apart from the law.

We covered little ground on week 4 but chapter three is quite heavy. Paul summarizes the point he is trying to make in verses 27-31. We can chew on this for a while. In week 5, we take a look at Abraham and explore this concept of the righteousness of God apart from the law, that is, the concept of faith.