Righteousness Through Faith Romans 3:21-28
There are a lot of different religions in the world and they believe many different things. Most believe in a supreme being and the fallibility of man. But what they do about it differs.
Some believe that to be in the presence of God you need to be perfect on earth, if you’re not you keep coming back. Some believe you have to be good more often than bad; a life that’s 51% good is good enough. I know one that says your good works in the name of God may get you to heaven, the problem is you have to be better than someone else because there’s only so many spots open in heaven. Don’t worry about heaven filling up because if you’re good enough you can bump someone out and take their place.
All these systems rely on your actions, you are totally reliant on your good actions; problem is, who judges what’s good and what’s not? This leaves a vast interpretation, what if I’m nasty to someone, am I still good because I believe they deserved it?
Christianity is different, it relies on faith. We look to the unfaltering word of the creator of the universe. God’s word written by forty men over centuries, men led by God and influenced by the Holy Spirit.
God gave us the Ten Commandments to show us what he considers good, it’s not left up to us to decide. And God tells us he requires us to keep the spirit of the law; not getting angry at someone for no cause has as much weight as not physically murdering them.
As humans we must recognize we are fallible at this. Romans 3:10, “There is no one righteous, not even one;” That can make it seem like we have no hope. Not true. God tells us our hope almost as soon as he creates us. Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers, he will crush your head and you will strike his heal.”
As soon as sin entered the world God devised a plan. He instills in us the ability to see evil and he will send a savior born of a woman to crush sin; and even though we may still sin it can only cause us discomfort in this world but it cannot separate us from God.
Other religions say you have to be good in your works in able to see God; Romans 3:20, “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather through the law we become conscience of our sin.” The law shows us our inequity. And unlike other beliefs where we have to overcome our sinfulness on our own, our hope lies in our creator; God did for us what we could not do ourselves. Romans 8:3, “What the law was unable to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own son…” John 6:47, “…he who believes has eternal life.”
This is how we can rest in Christ. We no longer need to work at gaining God’s favor, Romans 3:22, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Now this is something we need to spend a little time on, what is this faith by which we are saved? It’s not just a simple acknowledgement that God exists or that Jesus is his son, even demons know that. In Luke 4 Jesus casts demons out of the sick and they shout at him in Luke 4:24, “I know who you are, the Holy one of God.”
Christian faith is acknowledging we cannot live up to God’s demands, it is a full reliance on the blood of Christ at the cross, it is our dependence on Jesus as our redeemer and our desire to know him personally.
Paul writes that God gave Jesus to be the atoning sacrifice and his sacrifice is to be accepted by each person through faith. And when you have that faith; Romans 3:24, “… (You) are justified by (God’s) grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
Next question, if salvation is given can it be taken away? There are several Christian denominations that think you can lose God’s salvation. They believe you can go in and out of salvation depending on what you are doing, but what does scripture say about this?
Genesis, God had just created mankind. Adam and Eve were sinless until they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It would have been easy for God just to start over, but God didn’t take his blessing away, there were repercussions yes; but they lived long lives and were blessed with children.
We know the story of Noah is a representation of a sinful world where God saves the righteous in Jesus. By surviving the flood in the Ark, Noah is a shadow of all men turning from sin and to Christ. And what does Noah do after he leaves the Ark? He gets drunk; a picture of men even after they are saved still sinning. Does God punish Noah, take away his righteousness? No, the Bible records in Genesis 9:28, “After the flood Noah lived 350 years.”
Christian, Jew and Muslim all trace their lineage back to Abraham. Abraham was a man who believed and trusted God; Genesis 8:9, “Abram believed in the Lord and he credited it to him as righteousness.” This man of righteousness must have always followed God right? Abram disobeyed God when he brought his nephew Lot with him on his journey even though God told him not to. This righteous man when in a foreign land, in order to save his own neck passes his wife off as his sister not once but twice, and God honors his promise and Isaac is born.
Sampson, a man whose life is dedicated to God, turns away from God; again there are repercussions but God doesn’t abandon him, he still uses Sampson to deal with Israel’s enemies.
David, another man of God, has an affair with Bathsheba and has her husband Uriah killed, yet God kept David on the throne and blessed him with our savior coming from his line.
I say the Old Testament shows us God’s plan, but it also shows us God’s personality. These examples show us that once God accepts you as righteous he never changes his mind; once righteous always righteous.
I’ve heard someone say that eternal salvation is only for God’s original chosen people; the Israelites. When you read the Book of Ruth you will see that Gentile blood enters Jesus lineage through her. Ruth places the blood of all people into Jesus family. Isaiah 49:6 says this of Jesus, “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant and restore only the tribes of Jacob…I will also make you a light for the Gentiles that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”
Through the Old Testament we can see that God’s salvation is offered to all people, and that once seen as righteous it is forever. Granted this is seen by interpreting Old Testament scripture so what does the New Testament say on the topic?
John 14:6, “Jesus answered ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” Jesus himself tells us that to get to the Father, to be redeemed and saved, we need him. But what do we need to do for Jesus in order to get God’s grace? Paul tells us in Romans 3:22, “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.” God sees us as righteous through our faith and trust in the sacrifice of Jesus.
Does the New Testament say this salvation is offered to everyone? Romans 4:16, “Therefore the promise comes by faith so that it may be by grace and may be guaranteed to all Abraham’s offspring – not only those who are of the law but also those who have the faith of Abraham.” In other words, Jewish and Gentile people.
No discussion on this topic would be complete without mentioning what is known as the unforgivable sin. Mark 3:28-29, “…people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; they are guilty of an eternal sin.”
This unforgivable sin affects two different groups. The first were the Pharisees’ that were alive during Jesus life time. Matthew 12:22-24, “Then they brought to him a demon possessed man who was both blind and mute and Jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, ‘Could this be the Son of David?’ But when the Pharisees heard this they said, ‘It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons that this fellow drives out demons.’”
By accusing Jesus power of being from Satan they deny and refuse to see the power of God manifested through the work of the Holy Spirit. By saying Jesus comes from Satan and not God they committed the unforgiveable sin.
All of us are the second group that this unforgiveable sin can affect. For us on this side of the cross the unforgiveable sin is the sin of rejection. It is the sin of deliberately rejecting Christ’s salvation.
God gives us up to the moment of our death to accept Christ but if die without accepting Christ, without giving recognition to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives; then we die rejecting God himself and that is the one thing a Holy and just God cannot forgive.
I know this has been a twisting journey through the Old and New Testaments but I hope it shows you that Christianity is not a religion, Christianity is a faith. It is an unshakable trust in God the Father, it is an unshakeable reliance on the blood and sacrifice of the cross and an acceptance of Jesus as our savior. It is a recognition of our fallibility and a confidence in the work of the Holy Spirit.
God wants us to live a good life by his standards and because he knows we can’t he did all the work of rectifying this at the cross.
God’s grace is given through faith and not our works in righteousness and therefore cannot be taken away because we fail at doing them. All the works required for our salvation are not ours but God’s responsibility; and they were met by Jesus on the cross.
And the only thing that can now condemn us is our rejection of Christ.
God bless you.