CAN SUCH AMAZING LOVE BE?
STUDIES IN ROMANS
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SESSION 5:
SOLA FIDE - BY FAITH ALONE
ROMANS 3: 20 – 4: 25
Everyone, without exception, is sinful, guilty and inexcusable before God.
Judgment is certain and unavoidable.
Then a ray of hope shines through the bleak reality: But now… (3:21).
God Himself intervenes: …a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made
known… (3:21).
A brilliant light pierces sin’s dark stranglehold – we can be made righteous before God!
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… (3:22).
Over the reprobate unrighteousness of the Gentiles, over the self-righteousness of the
moralizers, over God’s wrath over evil doers, Paul introduces God’s grace to sinners who
believe. Here is the gospel where justification is offered against judgement.
Leon Morris is of the opinion that Romans 3:21-26 may be “possibly the most important
single paragraph ever written.”
21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the
Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to
all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the
redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement,
through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his
righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand
unpunished— 26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be
just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
A. REDEMPTION TRUTHS EXPLICATED (ROM.3: 21-24)
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This is the newness of the Gospel, apart from the law.
…the righteousness of God has been made known: perfect tense referring to the
historical death of Christ and its abiding consequences.
This righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe… It is
offered to all because everyone needs it. It is available through faith.
There is no distinction among humans:
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…all have sinned… referring to everybody’s cumulative past summed up by an aorist
tense.
...and fall short of the glory of God… a continuing present tense. We continue to fail
to live up to God’s glory or image in which we were all made.
…all are justified freely by his grace through redemption…
Justification is a legal term that means the “bestowal of a righteous status, a sinner’s
reinstatement in the favor and fellowship of God.” Forgiveness says, “You may go;
you have been let off the penalty your sin deserves.”
Justification says, “You may come, you are welcome to all my love and my
presence.” (Sir Marcus Loane).
Forgiveness is the remission of punishment. Justification is to declare there is no
ground for punishment. Justification pronounces a person righteous; it does not make
the person righteous, which is the work of sanctification.
3 Truths of Justification (3: 24-26)
1. God Initiates Justification
…all are justified freely by his grace… (3:24).
The cornerstone truth of the Gospel is that God initiates salvation from beginning to end.
We are helpless and hopeless, incapacitated by sin to reach out to God.
Christ’s work on the Cross, albeit done voluntarily and freely, was in submissive response to
the Father’s initiative. …when Christ came into the world, he said… “Here I am…I have
come to do your will, O God” (Heb.10:7).
The first move was God’s.
What we receive, justification, is given freely, as a gift (RSV), by his grace, God’s
completely free and totally undeserved favor.
“Grace is God loving, God stooping, God coming to the rescue.
God giving himself generously in and through Jesus Christ”
John Stott
2. Christ and the Cross the Basis of Justification
How can a righteous God declare the unrighteous to be righteous without compromising His
righteousness, or condoning their unrighteousness?
God has declared, I will not acquit the guilty (Ex.23:7).
He pronounced condemnation on those who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to
the innocent (Isa.5:23).
How does God make right the unrighteous?
How can a righteous God act unrighteously and overthrow the moral order?
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The answer is the cross.
The only reason God justifies the wicked (4:5) is that Christ died for the wicked (5:6 REB)
(ungodly NIV).
What Christ did through the Cross:
a. He Has Redeemed His People.
We are justified through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (3:24).
In O.T. to be redeemed was used of slaves who were purchased so as to be set free.
Metaphorically, the people of Israel were redeemed from captivity in Egypt
(Ex.15:13).
Paul means that when we were helpless to save ourselves from captivity to sin and
guilt, Jesus redeemed us, bought us out of captivity with His blood as the ransom
price. Consequently, we are “ransom-rescued” to belong to Him.
b. He Has Propitiated God’s Wrath
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood (3:25).
Historically, two words have been used to translate hilasterion.
C.H. Dodd has famously preferred expiation, meaning to cover, or to annul guilt or
remove defilement.
However, if God is angry at sin, there is a need to avert that wrath (1:18; 2:5; 3:5).
Hence the need to propitiate, to placate God’s anger.
This is different from angry deities in pagan religions who are capricious, subject to
moods and fits. God’s anger is aroused by evil alone.
Only God in His undeserved love can make this sacrifice: God presented him as a
sacrifice… because we do not have any means or ability to do so ourselves.
This is love; not that we loved, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins
(I John 4:10)
Pagan propitiatory sacrifices are offered to bribe the deities.
In O.T. God has provided the sacrifices to His people to make atonement:
For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement
for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one’s life
(Lev.17:11).
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God’s deep love propitiated His own holy wrath through
the gift of His own dear Son, who took our place,
bore our sin and died our death.
c. He Has Demonstrated His Justice
He did this to demonstrate his justice… (3:25b, 26).
The cross was a public demonstration of the vindication of God’s justice.
God, in His forbearance overlooked the sins of past generations so that He could
demonstrate his determination to punish these sins in the death of His Son.
…he did it to demonstrate his justice…so as to be just and the one who justifies those
who have faith in Jesus (3:26). Only the cross could have achieved this.
3. Faith the Means to Justification
…through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe (3:22)
…through faith in his blood (3:25)
God justifies those who have faith in Jesus (3:26)
Thrice Paul repeats the necessity of faith.
Justification is by grace alone,
in Christ alone,
through faith alone.
The value of faith rests entirely and exclusively in its object, Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Justification by faith is effectively justification by Christ alone.
Faith is the eye that looks to Christ, the hand that receives his free gift, the mouth that
drinks the living water.
“Christ justifies the believer – not because of the worthiness of his belief but because of
Christ’s worthiness who is believed” – Richard Hooker
The good news of the Gospel is that God’s grace has turned away His wrath, God’s Son has
died our death, and there is nothing left for us to do, or even contribute.
Faith’s only function is to receive what grace offers.
The difference between grace and law, mercy and merit, faith and works, God’s salvation and
self-salvation is absolute!
We are forced to choose.
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B. GOD’S REDEMPTION IN CONTINUITY WITH O.T.
Paul takes the entire Chapter 4 to let Jewish Christians understand that Christ’s work on the
Cross was not a separate track from O.T. He also seeks to inform Gentile Christians of the
rich spiritual heritage they have entered into, in continuity with the O.T. people of God.
This is to underscore that there is only one way to salvation from the beginning.
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Abraham was not justified by works (4:1-8)
Abraham was considered the father of Israel, held in the highest esteem by the Rabbis as the
embodiment of righteousness and a special “friend of God” (e.g. Isa.41:8). Jews have held
that God promised to bless Abraham because he had obeyed God. They perceive Abraham
merited justification because he obeyed God.
So Paul starts out by asking, What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather discovered
in this matter? (4:1) Paul argues that If…Abraham was justified by works, he had something
to boast about – but not before God (4:2). The unrighteous can never establish their
righteousness before God.
He then asks, quoting Gen.15:6: What does the Scripture say? ‘Abraham believed God, and it
was credited to him as righteousness” (4:3).
Paul explicates, Now when a man works his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an
obligation. However to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked,
his faith is credited as righteousness (4:4-5).
Using an accounting term ‘credited’ (5 times in 6 verses), Paul argues that if justification
were credited to us because we worked for it, then it signaled that we deserved it.
But when it is credited because a person trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is
credited as righteousness (4:4-5). Justification is then not earned, but credited to us as a free
gift in response to our faith. In this case, Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as
righteousness (4:3). There is nothing to boast about here.
Paul alludes to King David who came to the same conclusion when he speaks of the
blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: ‘Blessed are
they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin
the Lord will never count against him’ (4:6-7).
God credits our account with righteousness, as a gift, by faith, totally apart from our works.
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Abraham was not justified by circumcision (4:9-12)
Is this blessedness of justification only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised?
(4:9). Paul argues, We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as
righteousness. Under what circumstances was it credited? Was it after he was circumcised,
or before? It was not after, but before! And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the
righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised (4:10-11).
Abraham received two gifts from God: justification and circumcision. He received
justification by faith before he was circumcised. Then he received circumcision as a visible
sign and seal of justification.
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So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that
righteousness might be credited to them. And he is also the father of the circumcised who not
only are circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham
had before he was circumcised (4:11b-12).
Abraham is the father of all believers, whether circumcised or not. Where circumcision
divides, faith unites.
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Abraham was not justified by the Law (4:13-17a)
Paul declares It was not through the Law that Abraham and his offspring received the
promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith
(4:13). The negative, It was not through the Law, is emphasized. In prophetic language, the
promise that Abraham would have innumerable posterity is the vision that “all nations of the
earth” would be blessed through him.
Therefore the promise comes by faith (4:16).
Abraham’s own story testifies to God’s grace in providing a son in advanced years.
Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations (4:18).
In conclusion, Paul assures that God who credited righteousness to Abraham will credit
righteousness to us if we believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead (4:24).
IMPLICATIONS
1. In the light of our complete helplessness and inexcusable sinfulness before a thrice
holy God, there is no room for boasting, only for praising Him for the Cross.
That is what we shall be engaged in doing for all eternity:
…there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation,
tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb…And
they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb’…All the angels were standing around the throne…They fell down
on their faces before the throne and worshipped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and
glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for
ever and ever. Amen!’ (Rev.7:9-12).
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2. Paul writes that the object of Abraham’s faith is the God who gives life to the dead
and calls things that are not as though they were (4:17). REB renders calls into being
things that are not.
God is the answer to humanity’s two greatest fears: death and emptiness.
Existentialists are in ‘angst’ over their dread of the ‘abyss of nothingness’. That
nothing matters in the end, not our achievements, relationships or our existence.
Death is an event we have no control over, but from which we cannot escape.
Woody Allen, the American playwright has famously said, “It’s not that I’m afraid to
die, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
But death and nothingness are not problems to God.
He created the universe out of nothing; He raised Jesus from death!
What situation are you in that renders you helpless, hopeless and fearful?
Is there a situation in your life that only God can resolve? Like nothingness or death?
Abraham believed against all hope and in hope (4:18a).
Creation ex-nihilo and resurrection are the prerogatives of God!
3. Having “faith in God” is believing that God is faithful to Himself, His promises and
His love. It is not forcing our will on God.
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