Romans 3:21-31: Justified by Faith Through Jesus


Welcome again to Grace Outpost, I’m so glad that you have joined me here again today.  Last week we took a break from our Romans series, this week we will finish up our look at the book.  So far in our look at Romans we have seen Paul layout the reality that no one can fulfill the requirements of the Law.  No one is saved by works, or by upholding the Law.  That is not where Paul will stop; if he did we are left with the reality that everyone deserves the punishment for sin, which is death.  In a fair world this is what we deserve.  Today we will see Paul layout the good news of Jesus.  Through faith in Jesus we are made righteous. 

3:21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.
(Romans 3:21-22a ESV)

We will begin in Romans 3:21-22a.  Here Paul states that God’s righteousness, hi standard of morality, has been made known apart from the Law.  He also says that both the Law and the prophets spoke about this manifestation of righteousness.  What is Paul talking about?  He is speaking of the reality that God incarnate, Jesus the Messiah, had entered the world and displayed the Law, or God’s righteousness through his life.  John 1:1-18 tells us that Jesus, also referred to as the Word, has always existed without beginning or end and is God.  John 1:14, gives to us this glorious imagery of God made flesh to dwell with us. 

For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
(Romans 3:22b-25a ESV)

Paul continues in Romans 3:22b-25a, which is one giant sentence.  We have all sinned, yet we have grace offered as a gift through faith in Jesus, who died as payment on our behalf.  I love what Paul says in verse27, so what can we boast in?  Nothing.  Because we don’t deserve our justification, we did nothing to earn it and cannot earn it, there we have nothing to brag about!

31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
(Romans 3:31 ESV)

Paul moves to the next logical argument that arises from the reality of scandalous grace.  In verse 31, he asks, “so then we don’t need to follow the Law then, right?” He answers his hypothetical with a simple statement, of course we uphold the Law.

We cannot perfectly uphold the Law, we are sinners in desperate need of Jesus who not only forgives us, but also promises to restore us.  Our faith in Jesus will drive us to see the sin in our lives, to bring it to him and ask him for help.  He restores us in our struggles with sin and we will no longer be ruled by it.  We will see progress and life change as our hearts desire to follow Jesus.

I know for some of you this sounds awfully ‘touchy feely’ or overly spiritual, but I know that you know there are places in you that are in desperate need of restoration.  Maybe you have a secret addiction, maybe you have hate swelling you, perhaps you lie to avoid the uncomfortable truths, or one of a hundred, or of a thousand other examples we could choose.  The bottom line is that I guarantee you look deep within yourself and the world around you and you know that something is wrong.  I can also tell you that Jesus meets us right there in the midst of our messy junk and our hurt. 

I call your attention back to John 3:16-17 as a reminder of his mission.  He did not come to condemn the world, but to save it.  Why?  Because he loves us, in spite of our junk and pain, he loves us right where we are at.  He also loves us enough not to leave us sitting there in our junk.

For those of us who are followers of Jesus, do not forget that Jesus is still meeting you in the middle of your junk; he is with you right where you are waiting for you to ask him for help and continuing to transform us.  When times are tough lean into him.  We will never outgrow our need for our Savior, there is always more to learn and areas to grow in.


These first three chapters of the book really set the foundation for the rest of the book.  Paul elaborates on many of the questions that arise from the gospel.  For our purposes this will be our exit point for now.  This book is so rich and dense with truth that many books have been and continue to be written on it.  I encourage you to continue to dig deeper and wade further in and discover it for yourself.

"God thank you so much for wonderful and scandalous grace!  I ask that you would open our eyes and ears to this reality, we cannot earn our way to you.  You have reached down in mercy and wrapped your arms around us, rescuing and restoring us in our broken.  Help us to live in your grace and obey you out of love not fear.  Be with each reader here and let this message sink deep within them.  It is in Jesus' wonderful name that I pray, Amen."

Popular posts from this blog

When Later is not Good Enough

Hello and welcome to Grace Outpost!   I am delighted to have you join me today.   This past week has been a tough and discouraging week.   I honestly thought about skipping today's message altogether and just have a stress free day.   However, I ran across the passage that we will look at today.   I kept running into this message throughout the week from more than one angle and place, it became obvious to me this morning that God was speaking to me and my discouragement today.   Before we can jump into Haggai we have to understand the scene upon which Haggai chapter 1 begins.   For this background we need to look in the book of Ezra, chapters 3 & 4, which give us the backstory of what Haggai will speak into.   These books cover a return to Jerusalem after the 70-year exile in Babylon.   King Cyrus who was king of the Persians sent out a decree allowing those from Jerusalem to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.   Zerruba...
Read more

Acts 3: Thanksgiving

Welcome again once again to Grace Outpost.   This past week I cut my finger bad enough to warrant a trip to the Emergency Room, where they promptly Derma bonded my finger back together.   Needless to say this has made for a tough week of getting anything done, as I have not been able to use my index finger for much.   This past week was Thanksgiving and I hope that all of you had a great holiday.   At my house it didn’t feel much like a holiday as my wife had to work and we decided not to cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal.   Normally I have a swell of feelings of thankfulness for family and provision.   This year that didn’t happen, perhaps it is because we chose not to partake in the normal festivities.   However, in the midst of this I came across Acts 3, which reminded me that all I need is Jesus and he is at the center of everything I give thanks for.   So we are going to put the Romans study on hold for this week. As we turn to chap...
Read more

Jeremiah 3: Wonderful Forgiveness

Happy Sabbath and welcome once again to Grace Outpost.  This week I have been reading in the book of Jeremiah and God impressed upon me his unchanging nature.  What do I mean by this you might ask?  Often it is argued that in the Old Testament God is a God of wrath and judgment and in the New Testament he is all about love and forgiveness.  At a cursory glance one could certainly make that assumption without taking the time to understand that the Bible is one story that records the unfolding story of redemption of man to God by God.  In chapter 3 of Jeremiah I found a wonderful picture of God's forgiveness and mercy.   Keep in mind that Jeremiah is speaking to Judah (the southern kingdom), Israel has already fallen, and Jeremiah is the last prophet to Judah prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity.   God through the prophet paints the picture of Judah and Israel (the southern and northern kingdoms) as a harlot who has ran out on her h...
Read more