The Righteousness of God

Romans 3:21-4:25

Intro.:

1.  What do you think about God when the word righteous comes up?  The word means doing what is right, the standard of right versus wrong, the rightness of God.

In Nov. 1515, Martin Luther, Augustinian monk and Professor of Sacred Theology in the University of Wittenberg began to expound Paul=s Epistle to the Romans to his students and continued this course until he following September.  As he prepared his lectures he came more and more to appreciate the centrality of the Pauline doctrine of Justification by faith. 

He wrote,
"I greatly longed to understand Paul's Epistle to the Romans, and nothing stood in the way but that one expression Athe righteousness of Gode because I took it to mean that righteousness whereby God is righteous and deals righteously in punishing the unrighteous....Night and day I pondered until ...I grasped the truth that the righteousness of God is that righteousness whereby, through grace and sheer mercy, he justifies us by faith.  Thereupon I felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors into paradise.  The whole of Scripture took on a new meaning, and whereas before the righteousness of God had filled me with hate, now it became to me a gateway to heaven."  (Bruce, Romans, p. 59)

2. What is the righteousness of God?   It is not a new relationship among men.  It is not an inner quality of man that is spoken here.  The passage can be translated better by saying righteousness from Christ.  It is an objective act by which God has given man a new status through Christ.  By the act of Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection we have been made acceptable (forgiven) in the beloved presence of God.  This righteousness, or right standing, is something that God gives to the believer in Jesus.

A German pastor explained it by telling a story.  ASometime ago I had the opportunity of look at the memoirs of a man convicted of a serious crime and was imprisoned.  Among other things he wrote that the most painful part of his punishment came immediately after entering prison when he had to lay out all his personal belongings under the eye of a warder: his comb, pencil, pen, dairy, pen knife, watch, wallet, and finally his clothes.  And there he stood naked before putting on a strange, cold prison uniform. 

When we read the third chapter of Romans we experience something of the pain of our past sin, we have sinned against God and stand condemned in his presence.   Unlike the prisoner before the warder, we have to change the scene,   because of God's righteousness, his grace, we are handed different clothes, not a strange cold prison uniform, but new clothes.  We hear the voice of the Father calling, Abring forth the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.  Now we are to be invested and adorned as children of the father. The righteousness of God is the robe of our acceptance with God, our forgiveness, our gift of everlasting life in the presence of the Father.  God has changed us and our relationship with him.

I.  We are accepted because of his grace as a gift 3:24

1.  Paul is emphatic, and we must be likewise, in distinguishing between law and grace. The motive for our salvation is grace and love.  This is proven from the fact that God does not deal with us according to the strict letter of the law.  If God had dealt with us according to our offenses there would be no salvation for anyone. The just consequences of sin is immediate punishment.  If I seek to be accepted in the presence of God on the basis of the Ten commandments apart from grace there is not place for permitting time lapse for offenses.  If God chose to police the world by a strict offense penalty way justice would be short and swift.  But this is the very point of Paul--God has not so chosen.  He has been merifcul so that the very point of mergy might lead us to repentance and accept his gift.  Grace has been at work since the beginning of the world.  Even when men sinned and departed from obedience to God, God was was slow in dealing with us hoping we would repent and turn to Him.

2. The grace of God has made the way free and clear.  We mereloy accept God's acceptance of us.  People often distrust the grace and gift of God. We would rather pay our own way if possible.   If salvation could be achieved by climbing Mt. Everest backwards or crawling around the world on our hands and knees people would be willing to try it rather than accept God's gift of life.

A man once recounted his experience of being poor.  Travelling variety shows would come to our village occasionally and because my family was poor, we children were not always given the money to go and see it. What a delight it was then when ome generous person took pity on us and said, "Go on in, my lad, I'll pay for you."  And this was a mere variety show. How infintely greater our delight must be to find Somebody standing at the gate of heaven, and saying, "Go on in, my child, I have paid for you."   Not that ent;ry into Heaven is naturally cheap or free in itself, it is dear.  It is to costly that we are all, without exception, poor children who have nothing with which to pay.  But He stands there and says, "go on in, I will pay."  God has decided to provide the entrance money Himself.

3.  Do you accept the free gift of God without guilt?  Do you accept his gracious gift without thinking you must do something to gain it?

II. We are accepted through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus   3:25

1. In ancient times there was a writer, Horace, a Roman poet, who laid down guidelines for writers of fiction.  Many of them resolved easy problems by appealing to a god to solve the problem.   His advice was: "do not bring a god on to the stage, unless the problem deserves a god to solve it."

Paul is not writing fiction and in the 3rd chapter the condition of mankind is so hopeless that only God can solve it.  We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.  Thus we have redemption as a necessary thing.  Redemption as a word admits the helpless condition of man.  Redemption recognizes man's slavery to the powers of destruction.; Redemption means that man is taken from his salvery and helpless condition and made a new creation in Christ.  Redemption means buying back, or ransoming. It has the idea of emancipation or deliverance.  Redemption implies a third party, an outsider who enters and rescues man from the prison house of sin.

2.What is the basis of our redemption?   The Greek word hilasterion which means expiation can also mean "mercy seat."   In the Old Testament the mercy seat was where Moses met with God in the tent.  Exo 25:22 " I will meet you there, and from above the lid between the two winged creatures I will give you all my laws for the people of Israel."   God manifests his glory at the mercy seat.   When on the day of Atonement the high priest enters the Holy of Holies, he must berar incense with him, that the fcloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he die not. (Lev. 16:13) and he must sprinkle the blood of the victim seven times before the mercy seat, to make atonement for the people and turn God's wrath away from the victims.

These are the thoughts that Paul has in mind.  He present the same conceptsBthe manifestation of God, God's wrath, His glory, the blood, the mercy seat.  Just before this he has spoken of mankind under the wrath of God which falls short of the glory of God.  But now God has manifested his righteousness to man, in that He presents Christ as a mercy seat.  In Christ God reveals himself in his glory. Now he does not, as before, hide it behind a cloud of incense in the Holy of Holies.  On the contrary, He has now put Christ forward before all the world as our hilasterion, our mercy seat.  Whoever believes in Him is no longer under the wrath of God, but as Paul says, he can rejoice in hope of sharing the glory of God.

3. There are two other ideas involved in this passage:
1) Sin has been removed from the believer as well as from the presence of God.  This brings to pass the words of the prophet Jeremiah that God will remember our sins and iniquities no more. (Jeremiah 31:34)
2) The mercy seat which is Christ has been thrust forward and averts the wrath that would fall to us because of our sins.  God does not deal lightly with sin. He was no unrighteous in the past times when he passed sover the sins of people, but was waiting to deal with it in his Son.  It cost Him dearly.

This is the means of our acceptance with God...the redemption which is in Christ due to his being offered as a sacrifice for sin. 

III.  We are accepted on the principle of faith 3:27

1. Paul says concerning the salvation of God, "then what becomes of our boasting?  It is excluded.  On what principle?  On the principle of works?  No, but on the principle of faith alone. Did Paul say faith and works?  No. Faith alone.  Where God's salvation is concerned there is no basis for human boasting, human achievement, or human pride.  Who said that man could be justified by his own works?"  God did not say so.  That is only the opinion of proud human beings.  When we believe, God's righteousness becomes ours.

2. Paul illustrates the principle of faith by appeal to the Old Testament.   First, is the example of Abraham.  He was a great man, loved peace, stood head and shoulders above men.  Surely Abraham had much to boast about before men, but before God Abraham had nothing to boast about.    We are old bluntly and frankly that Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness.    Second, David did not appeal to the Law for support, but rested in faith in God.  Could David have had such great hope for his sins of adultery and murder?  What was David's hope?   "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputes no iniquity." (Ps.32:1)

3. What is the factor in faith for Abraham?  Is it to believe the impossible?  No Faith is not believing the impossible, or the absurd, believing in the face of evidence.  No, faith for Abraham was to hold to God's promises.  That is faith. Although Abraham's human resources were weak, he held to God's promise.   From the human viewpoint he had no reason to hope.  He could hope against hope because he had the sure promises of God.  To depend on human achievement was out. When our own possibilities fail, faith increases, for it does no rest on ourselves, but on God and His promises.

Conclusion:

1. Such is the righteousness of God in which he gives us his righteousness when we put our faith in Jesus.
There is a story of two men working in a barge above the Niagara Falls.  They found themselves unable to manage the boat and it was being carried swiftly down the current and would inevitably be dashed to pieces at the fall. Persons on the shore saw them, but we unable to do much for their rescue.  At last, one man was saved by floating a rope to him, which he grasped.  The same instant that the rope came into his hand a log floated by the other man. The thoughtless and confused bargeman instead of seizing the rope laid hold on the log.  It was a fatal mistake.  They were both in imminent peril, but the one was drawn to shore because he had a connection with the people on the land, while the other clinging to the log was swept forward and never heard from again.   The point: faith is a connection with Christ.  Christ is on the shore, so to speak, holding the rope of faith, and if we lay hold if it with the hand of our commitment he pulls us to the shore.   

2. The words of Scripture about Abraham were written not for his sake but for ours also. Read 4:24-25.