Romans: Bible Study 7
The Genius of God
Romans 3:21-31
"We need to be just as convicted of His righteousness as we are of our own sin." (Adrian Rogers)
"Through the death of His own Son, the payment for all sin was satisfied; therefore, God's heart toward us was ushered from a state of wrath to a state of tenderness." (Beth Moore, "Living Beyond Yourself")
Paul introduces the divine answer to the bad news by one of the biggest "buts" in world literature. From the New Living Translation:
BUT now God has shown us a different way of being right in His sight-not by obeying the law buy by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved, no matter who we are or what we have done.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when He did not punish those who sinned in former times. And He is entirely fair and just in this present time when He declares sinners to be right in His sight because they believe in Jesus.
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
After all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is He? Isn't He also the God of the Gentiles? Of coruse He is. There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by Him. He makes people right with Himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
THE DIVINE DILEMMA
From John 8:4-5 we find the account of a memorable day when the Lord Jesus was confronted by a group of religious leaders who interrupted Him as He was teaching in the Temple. They pushed an embarrassed woman into the center of the group.
They said, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?"
It was apparent that they had scant regard for the feelings of the woman and even less for the Lord. If, as they suspected, He would decline to endorse the stoning of the adulteress, they felt they could have conclusive proof of His disdain for the Sacred Law.
From the Lord's point of view, however, the matter of the woman's well-being had to be considered along with the integrity of the Law. To Him the woman's sin was a horrendous thing but He would not allow her to become a meaningless nonentity in a cold and impersonal struggle to prove a point.
The terror in her eyes, the uncontrolled shaking of her body, the tremors in her voice spoke deeply to His heart-she was a person. Her sin was manifest and could not be disregarded, but her need was equally obvious and must not be ignored.
What was the dilemma Jesus faced? ________
This incident in the life of the Lord illustrates in a specific sense the dilemma that confronts the Father on a divine scale.
The relationship between justic (that which is right) and righteousness (being and doing right) is clear, and from this basic understanding we can move to a position where we see justification as a divine declaration that before God we are "right".
This kind of dilemma appears to be far beyond human solution, but God's handling of the situation is a superb illustration of the genius of God, which He has revealed in the gospel of Christ.
THE UNIVERSAL SOLUTION
Briefly note man's two "options"...
So far in the epistle we have been introduced to God as the God of wrath and righteousness and judgment, but now Paul introduces us to the God of grace.
Behind the decision of God to provide the means of redemption for man through Christ lies a deep, beautiful facet of the character of God. It is because He is a God of grace that there is a gospel to proclaim and a Savior to extol. Far from tiring of His tiresome children, the Father chooses to deal graciously with them.
When men adequately understand grace, they no longer resist and resent God but long to draw near to Him.
Confronted with inevitable wrath, they look desperately for the mountains to fall on them. but grace sends them with happy feet to the mountains to publish glad tidings.
Redemption, Propitiation, The Blood of Christ
Christ's death is therefore seen as the means whereby the legitimate demands of God for justice against a sinful race are fully met, leaving Him free to be merciful to those who formerly merited only judgment.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive With Christ
Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil natures. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms-all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of His favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all He had done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
Titus 3:3-8
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled by others and became slaves to many wicked desires and evil pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us. But then God our Savior showed us His kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of His great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life. These things I have told you are all true. I want you to insist on them so that everyone who trusts in God will be careful to do good deeds all the time. These things are good and beneficial for everyone.
Romans 3:21-31
"We need to be just as convicted of His righteousness as we are of our own sin." (Adrian Rogers)
"Through the death of His own Son, the payment for all sin was satisfied; therefore, God's heart toward us was ushered from a state of wrath to a state of tenderness." (Beth Moore, "Living Beyond Yourself")
Paul introduces the divine answer to the bad news by one of the biggest "buts" in world literature. From the New Living Translation:
BUT now God has shown us a different way of being right in His sight-not by obeying the law buy by the way promised in the Scriptures long ago. We are made right in God's sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved, no matter who we are or what we have done.
For all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious standard. Yet now God in his gracious kindness declares us not guilty. He has done this through Christ Jesus, who has freed us by taking away our sins. For God sent Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to satisfy God's anger against us. We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us. God was being entirely fair and just when He did not punish those who sinned in former times. And He is entirely fair and just in this present time when He declares sinners to be right in His sight because they believe in Jesus.
Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds. It is based on our faith. So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
After all, God is not the God of the Jews only, is He? Isn't He also the God of the Gentiles? Of coruse He is. There is only one God, and there is only one way of being accepted by Him. He makes people right with Himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.
THE DIVINE DILEMMA
From John 8:4-5 we find the account of a memorable day when the Lord Jesus was confronted by a group of religious leaders who interrupted Him as He was teaching in the Temple. They pushed an embarrassed woman into the center of the group.
They said, "Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do you say?"
It was apparent that they had scant regard for the feelings of the woman and even less for the Lord. If, as they suspected, He would decline to endorse the stoning of the adulteress, they felt they could have conclusive proof of His disdain for the Sacred Law.
From the Lord's point of view, however, the matter of the woman's well-being had to be considered along with the integrity of the Law. To Him the woman's sin was a horrendous thing but He would not allow her to become a meaningless nonentity in a cold and impersonal struggle to prove a point.
The terror in her eyes, the uncontrolled shaking of her body, the tremors in her voice spoke deeply to His heart-she was a person. Her sin was manifest and could not be disregarded, but her need was equally obvious and must not be ignored.
What was the dilemma Jesus faced? ________
This incident in the life of the Lord illustrates in a specific sense the dilemma that confronts the Father on a divine scale.
The relationship between justic (that which is right) and righteousness (being and doing right) is clear, and from this basic understanding we can move to a position where we see justification as a divine declaration that before God we are "right".
This kind of dilemma appears to be far beyond human solution, but God's handling of the situation is a superb illustration of the genius of God, which He has revealed in the gospel of Christ.
THE UNIVERSAL SOLUTION
Briefly note man's two "options"...
So far in the epistle we have been introduced to God as the God of wrath and righteousness and judgment, but now Paul introduces us to the God of grace.
Behind the decision of God to provide the means of redemption for man through Christ lies a deep, beautiful facet of the character of God. It is because He is a God of grace that there is a gospel to proclaim and a Savior to extol. Far from tiring of His tiresome children, the Father chooses to deal graciously with them.
When men adequately understand grace, they no longer resist and resent God but long to draw near to Him.
Confronted with inevitable wrath, they look desperately for the mountains to fall on them. but grace sends them with happy feet to the mountains to publish glad tidings.
Redemption, Propitiation, The Blood of Christ
Christ's death is therefore seen as the means whereby the legitimate demands of God for justice against a sinful race are fully met, leaving Him free to be merciful to those who formerly merited only judgment.
ADDITIONAL SCRIPTURES:
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive With Christ
Once you were dead, doomed forever because of your many sins. You used to live just like the rest of the world, full of sin, obeying satan, the mighty prince of the power of the air. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passions and desires of our evil natures. We were born with an evil nature, and we were under God's anger just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and He loved us so very much, that even while we were dead because of our sins, He gave us life when He raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's special favor that you have been saved!) For He raised us from the dead along with Christ, and we are seated with Him in the heavenly realms-all because we are one with Christ Jesus. And so God can always point to us as examples of the incredible wealth of His favor and kindness toward us, as shown in all He had done for us through Christ Jesus. God saved you by His special favor when you believed. And you can't take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God's masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things He planned for us long ago.
Titus 3:3-8
Once we, too, were foolish and disobedient. We were misled by others and became slaves to many wicked desires and evil pleasures. Our lives were full of evil and envy. We hated others, and they hated us. But then God our Savior showed us His kindness and love. He saved us, not because of the good things we did, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins and gave us a new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us because of what Jesus Christ our Savior did. He declared us not guilty because of His great kindness. And now we know that we will inherit eternal life. These things I have told you are all true. I want you to insist on them so that everyone who trusts in God will be careful to do good deeds all the time. These things are good and beneficial for everyone.
posted by Andrew Brown at 6:04 PM
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