Forgiveness, Finally!
In Bible class this morning, there was an attitude of thankfulness that we were finally going to talk about the forgiveness of sins instead of the demands of the law and God's wrath. For the last four weeks, we have been studying Paul's words concerning Gods wrath and judgment against sinners. Today, we made the transition to Paul's words concerning the salvation we have received by faith in Jesus which he writes at the end of Romans chapter 3. Today's challenges in Bible class were not about facing the law of God, but in understanding what Paul says about our salvation.
Paul begins by saying that there is no righteousness before God through the law, but only through faith in the gift of God's grace; the blood of Jesus that makes atonement for our sins. There are a lot of things happening in that statement. To start with, Paul makes a distinction between being justified before God by our works and being justified by the gift of God. He says that being justified before God based upon works of the law is impossible for us. To say it a different way, nothing we do is justifiable to God. We cannot justify any of the works we do because they are all corrupted by our sins, even the good we try to do. So works are not an option for us.
Instead, Jesus makes atonement for our sins and redeems us. To make atonement means to take God's wrath upon himself (this is a cultic analogy). To redeem means to pay the price (this is an analogy to debtors prison, it was called redemption if someone paid your debt). In this way, Paul covers all the bases. Not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins through his death, but he also took the wrath of God upon himself, so that it will not be placed upon us. In this way we are justified before God, but not because we did anything. We are justified because Jesus took the judgment upon himself. Although our works cannot be justified before God, we are not responsible for the punishment either. We have been set free from this by the gift of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Paul qualifies this by saying that you have to have faith. Because of the many ways faith can be and are defined in the different traditions of the church, this is a very hard term to understand. Is faith something we do? Is faith something God does to us? Is it more about our faithfulness or God's faithfulness? So many ways to take this word. In the context of Romans, Paul uses it as the opposite of works of the law. If one way to be right with God is to be obedient to the law, then the other way is for God to give it to you as a gift you receive. According to the context here, to receive this gift by faith then means to do nothing. When I say I have faith, what I am really saying that I did not do anything, but I received something based on the word of someone who is faithful and trustworthy.
We can have sure and certain confidence in our salvation because our confidence is not in ourselves, but it is in God. Thank God that our confidence is not in ourselves. We are too tricky to be able to count on ourselves. But instead, we count on God and his word. We may not always be able to understand God or his plan, but we can count on his love and his faithfulness to us. Of course, as Paul points out, there is no longer any room for boasting. When we boast, we must boast in the Lord, for he has done it all.
Paul begins by saying that there is no righteousness before God through the law, but only through faith in the gift of God's grace; the blood of Jesus that makes atonement for our sins. There are a lot of things happening in that statement. To start with, Paul makes a distinction between being justified before God by our works and being justified by the gift of God. He says that being justified before God based upon works of the law is impossible for us. To say it a different way, nothing we do is justifiable to God. We cannot justify any of the works we do because they are all corrupted by our sins, even the good we try to do. So works are not an option for us.
Instead, Jesus makes atonement for our sins and redeems us. To make atonement means to take God's wrath upon himself (this is a cultic analogy). To redeem means to pay the price (this is an analogy to debtors prison, it was called redemption if someone paid your debt). In this way, Paul covers all the bases. Not only did Jesus pay the price for our sins through his death, but he also took the wrath of God upon himself, so that it will not be placed upon us. In this way we are justified before God, but not because we did anything. We are justified because Jesus took the judgment upon himself. Although our works cannot be justified before God, we are not responsible for the punishment either. We have been set free from this by the gift of Jesus' death and resurrection.
Paul qualifies this by saying that you have to have faith. Because of the many ways faith can be and are defined in the different traditions of the church, this is a very hard term to understand. Is faith something we do? Is faith something God does to us? Is it more about our faithfulness or God's faithfulness? So many ways to take this word. In the context of Romans, Paul uses it as the opposite of works of the law. If one way to be right with God is to be obedient to the law, then the other way is for God to give it to you as a gift you receive. According to the context here, to receive this gift by faith then means to do nothing. When I say I have faith, what I am really saying that I did not do anything, but I received something based on the word of someone who is faithful and trustworthy.
We can have sure and certain confidence in our salvation because our confidence is not in ourselves, but it is in God. Thank God that our confidence is not in ourselves. We are too tricky to be able to count on ourselves. But instead, we count on God and his word. We may not always be able to understand God or his plan, but we can count on his love and his faithfulness to us. Of course, as Paul points out, there is no longer any room for boasting. When we boast, we must boast in the Lord, for he has done it all.
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