Romans 3: 21-31

Blessed morning, everyone! Thank you for joining us as we study this important and comforting passage from Romans, reproduced below for your convenience: 

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Romans 3:21-31(KJV)

In truth ladies and gentlemen, to prepare for this lesson, I didn’t just read this set of verses. I read the first three chapters of Romans in their entirety for context and understanding. I encourage you all to do the same if not more in your own independent studies of this text and scripture in general. 

Through my short stint as a Sunday school teacher, I have learned that above all things that we can do to deepen our understanding of God, building our biblical literacy and understanding of scripture, reigns supreme. So let’s get started with today’s lesson, shall we?

Righteousness, what does that mean? What does it mean for someone to be righteous? In his letters to the Romans, Paul does his best to show us what it means. Before we look at some of his examples, let’s look at a purely biblical definition of the word. Biblically, the word righteous refers to someone who is in right standing with God, living in obedience to His laws and moral principles. It signifies being blameless, just, and aligned with God’s will, often associated with faith and moral integrity rather than just outward actions. If we adhere to this definition, we see that there are examples of righteous people in the Bible, such as Job, Lot and Abraham. 

However, if we take into account the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of the same word we see that far less people would be considered righteous. In the Merriam-Webster dictionary righteous is defined as Acting in accord with divine or moral law; free from guilt or sin. Morally right or justifiable; feelings arising from an outraged sense of justice or morality.

Looking at the scope of this lessons through the Merriam Webster dictionary definition there’s only one person that I can think of that could be considered righteous. I think all of you know the person whose name is in the forefront of my mind. That of course, would be our savior, our king, our Lord Jesus Christ. Earlier in this book, a famous line of scripture is written. “there is none righteous, no, not one.” In this Paul is speaking to the Romans, but in truth, he is speaking to the entirety of humanity. 

This quote from Paul is a nod to Psalm 14: 3 “they are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. and Psalm 53: 3 which says almost the same thing with just a slight variation. “Every one of them is gone back: they are altogether become filthy; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” that variation is plain to see in Psalm 14 verse three it says everyone has gone astray or is going astray by saying they’ve all gone aside. Psalm 53 verse three points out that anyone who tries to do good without the Holy Spirit, without the righteousness of God, will go back to their old ways. It does this by saying simply. “Every one of them is gone back.” which to me says that they tried to do good failed and gave up.

But what does that have to do with today’s lesson? It has a lot to do with it. In fact, I dare to say that these scriptures could be additional scriptures for today’s lesson. These two scriptures show that it is easy for us humans to sin. It shows that sin is simple, sin is quick, and sin is comfortable. In contrast to righteousness that takes work, takes commitment to the standard of God and takes a level of both willpower  and spiritual fortitude that we do not possess on our own.

Now that the tone of this lesson has been set, let’s begin to break down today’s scripture. Jesus Christ is God in human form, infinite power, infinite knowledge, infinite wisdom, infinite love, infinite sight, holiness, and righteousness personified. Paul said there is none righteous, no not one. That was just for us, the creations of God, whom he himself breathed life into. The creations of God who are not holy, who are not perfect and are not set apart as he is. Did he make a mistake when he made us? No, he made us perfect in our imperfections. Through our imperfections, we seek perfection through our faults we seek he who is faultless, through our weakness, we seek strength…through everything that makes us flawed. We seek the one who is flawless. It is our imperfection that drives many of us to seek God. 

So I believe he allowed us to become who we are on this earth, the flawed human beings that we are so that we would learn to seek him for and in all things. That is exactly what Paul encourages the Romans to continue to do in his letters to them. In fact, that is exactly what each of the 12 apostles does as they travel the world preaching the gospel throughout the New Testament and that is what we as modern day saints (or believers) in Christ, Jesus should be telling the world to do. Seek God in all things, seek his love his power, his strength and his righteousness seek to always be in his presence because he is the only one who is righteous. He is the only one who is perfect and he is the only one that truly loves us unconditionally.

As believers in and followers of Christ, we are “clothed in his righteousness”. This is directly stated in Isaiah 61:10 which says “He has clothed me with the garments of salvation and covered me with the robe of righteousness.” Clothing is not something that comes from you, but instead, something that someone else either gives to you or sells to you. It is not made by our own hands but instead by the hands of another. Our salvation and the righteousness, we strive to live by are the same. God did not sell us his righteousness, instead he paid the highest of prices for us. We did not make our own righteousness, but we were instead closed in the righteousness of God, a righteousness that he himself made by his own hands, and that we could never procure on our own. This shows that the righteousness that true followers of Christ operate in and live by does not come from us, but instead is a gift from Christ himself. We are the bride of Christ according to scripture. So I have begun to see it, the righteousness of God and every other gift he gives us as wedding gifts. He gave these things to us because he loves us and is committed to us for eternity.

Sadly, many other religions do not realize or even acknowledge that Christ is the only way to reach salvation, and the only way that we as humans can be known as righteous. Many of them, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Catholicism teach a false works based route to salvation. This flies directly in the face of the foundational scripture of today’s lesson and also scriptures like Ephesians 2 8-9 lest we forget. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Faith is demonstrated by action, despite not seeing things. 

It pleases God, Who Is The Unseen One, and yet Is The Only Faithful One (PRAISE). He Is Pleased when we demonstrate faith In Him, and rewards us when we diligently seek His (As-Yet-Invisible) Face (PRAISE YOU LORD) 

My precious and wonderful wife has a wonderful list of wonderful scriptures for you wonderful people:

Hi! Ok, my first thoughts were the following verses: 

2 Corinthians 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight.

And 

Without faith it is impossible to please God 

And the one about Faith the size of a mustard seed.  

Then I asked myself the same question Malcolm did a second ago: What IS faith, again?

And I looked In The Bible for the only answer that I trust: 

Hebrews 11:1 (NIV): “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.”

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV): “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 (NIV): “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV): “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”

Romans 10:17 (NIV): “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” 

James 2:17 (NIV): “In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

Matthew 17:20 (NIV): “…Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move.”

James 1:2-3 (NIV): “…whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.”

Mark 9:24 (NIV): “…’I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!’”

Romans 15:13 (NIV): “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

1 John 5:4 (NIV): “…this is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.

Back to you, chief! :))

With all of this said, I have a question that I want all of us here to take the time and Selah or, stop and think about or meditate on it. Have you ever thought about what salvation based upon our works would actually mean? That would mean that we would have to keep every one of God’s laws and commandments. Every single one observed and executed perfectly at all times, never wavering, never faltering and never failing for our entire lives. All 623 laws given to the jews by God through the 10 commandments and their own additional 613 laws that they follow. These laws are known as the 613 laws of mitzvot. In my research for today’s lessons, I found all 613 of those laws. However, in the interest of time and mercy to your ears I will save you from the reading of such an expansive list.

But you just have to hear some of these; Sally?

IMPOSSIBLE??

68. Men must not shave the hair off the sides of their head—Leviticus 19:27

69. Men must not shave their beards with a razor—Leviticus 19:27

DOES SOCIETY DO THIS TODAY?

16. To reprove wrongdoers—Leviticus 19:17

17. Not to embarrass others—Leviticus 19:17

70. Men must not wear women’s clothing—Deuteronomy 22:5

71. Women must not wear men’s clothing—Deuteronomy 22:5

REAL ONES

5. To fear Him—Deuteronomy 10:20

7. Not to profane His Name—Leviticus 22:32

12. To cleave to those who know Him—Deuteronomy 10:20

56. Not to make a covenant with idolaters—Deuteronomy 7:2

While I have the floor—sorry, y’all! I forgot to mention it earlier :))

Ok, then:

One more thing: you know all about The Hall of Faith in Hebrews 11, right? 

Well, I don’t know about you, but I always heard it out of context by faith, Noah, by faith, Rahab, all that. 

 I didn’t realize how connected it was and I didn’t know how connected they were and how they were following a particular order. 

But the passage shows you in order how the obedience of one man led to the obedience of his son and his son, and it kept going.

 Consider this:

Abel, enoch, noah… 

8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. 11 And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she[b] considered him faithful who had made the promise. 12 And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.

13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[c] 19 Abraham reasoned that God could even raise the dead, and so in a manner of speaking he did receive Isaac back from death.

20 By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future.

21 By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

RAHAB, MOSES, JOSEPH …

All the way up To THE Way, aka JESUS!

Back to you, Malcolm <3 

In closing, I have said all of this to show you that righteousness can ONLY come through faith in our lord Jesus Christ. To be righteous is a state of moral being that we humans CANNOT achieve. We are broken, we are flawed, we are ignorant and incomplete. We need our loving God, our creator and savior to cover us with and lead us by his righteousness because anything else just simply does not measure up and it never will.

I thank you all for listening to this lesson today.