Category Righteousness

Justified Freely by His Grace

crandallgl Leave a comment

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.“

Romans 3:19-20

We are all sinners before God. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). We are all, both Jews and Greeks, charged “under sin.” “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one” (Rom. 3:9-10). None of us can receive the gift of righteousness by the works of the law. We are all guilty before God. Since we have all sinned against God, we all therefore deserve death (Rom. 6:23a). We all are deserving of God’s wrath and judgment.

But, the good news now is that “the righteousness of God apart from the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Rom. 3:21-22).

You cannot save yourself by your own good works, by “doing right.” For all the good that we think we do, that we do in our own flesh is considered “filthy rags” (Isa. 64:6). But, the good news is that “God [the Father] spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all” (Rom. 8:32). God’s wrath/judgment fell upon Christ Himself. It wasn’t because He knew any sin. For the Lord was and is perfect and sinless. But, he was “made to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). The Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for all of our sins, was buried, and rose again the third day, so that you and I could have eternal life with God in Heaven! The way to receive this free gift of eternal life, the righteousness of God, is by faith. Titus 3:5 tells us that it is “not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by his mercy he saved us.” When we believe the gospel (Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection), God the Father then justifies or declares us righteous. He counts our faith as righteousness (Rom. 4:5). It is not that we become righteous in and of ourselves. But, instead we are made the righteousness of God in Christ! It is Christ who is our righteousness! We have been delivered from the law (Rom. 7:6) and are now joined to Him, to His own Body. We can now stand before God, because we are in Him. God looks at us and sees His Son.

“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:“

Romans 3:24

Every person that believes in Christ and His finished work on the cross is “justified freely by His grace.” The word “freely” means “without a cause.” There is nothing inside us that would cause us to be justified by our own good works. Rather, we are justified freely by His grace. It is entirely a free gift that God offers to all, but only those who believe will be justified. And all of this is “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” It was made possible through his death and resurrection!

I thought I would end with a couple of excerpts from William R. Newell’s commentary on Romans, concerning chapter three. 

“Therefore, on seeing your failures, you should say, I am nothing but a failure; but God is dealing with me on another principle altogether than my works, good or bad,-a principle not involving my works, but based only on the work of Christ for me…Yet none of these things justifies me! I had justification from God as a sinner, not as a saint! My saintliness does not increase it, nor, praise God, do my failures decrease it!“1

William R. Newell

The things that we do in our own flesh, whether good or bad, does not justify us before God. While we were still sinners, we simply believed and therefore, received justification from God. In Romans 5:6 it says “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.” And Romans 5:8 says that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Our justification is entirely based on the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. This is true of every believer. Nothing can separate us from the love of God and the love of Christ (Rom. 8:35-39). We stand before God as righteous, not in ourselves, but in the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior!

If you are an unbeliever and are reading this, I beg you that you would believe. Simply believe that Christ died on the cross for your sins, buried your sins away forever, and rose again the third day, so that you will have eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord! He satisfied God the Father’s wrath/judgment against sin by shedding His own blood on your behalf, so that you might be made the righteousness of God in Him!

“Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:“

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

Believe and you will be saved! You will be declared righteous in Christ! This is the best gift that you will ever receive!

Notes

  1. William R. Newell, “Romans: Verse by Verse,” (Chicago: Chicago Moody Press, 1938), 129.

God’s Righteous Standard

crandallgl

Our God is righteous and holy. For he is perfect in His character and in all that He does. He loves righteousness, because He is right. He loves those that practice righteousness. It says in Pro. 16:13 that “righteous lips are the delight of kings.” And we know that Jesus Christ is the King of kings and Lord of lords (1 Tim. 6:15).

Psalms 116:5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

To be allowed entrance into the presence of the Father, righteousness is the requirement. But, not just any righteousness. Our own self-righteousness will do nothing for us (Titus 3:5). Only having the righteousness of God will make us right in the Father’s eyes.

Righteousness has always been a requirement in every age and dispensation. We see in Zech. 3:3-4 that the angel of the LORD caused the filthy garments (representing Joshua’s iniquity) to pass from him and that the LORD clothed him with a change of raiment (NKJV says “rich robes”). In Matt. 22:1-14, we have the example of the servant that didn’t come to the wedding in the proper garments, which is again used to represent righteousness. His punishment was that he was cast into outer darkness. And today, the man who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ is declared righteous (Rom. 4:3-5). We are clothed with Christ Himself (but, I’m getting ahead of myself).

How do we get the righteousness of God? Under the law, God said that a man is considered just (righteous) if he keeps His statutes and His judgments (Eze. 18:5-9). Under grace today, it is by faith in the finished work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Many people today, both Jews and Gentiles, still think that if they do good works, keep the law, etc. that they will get to Heaven on their own merit. This is what the Jews even in Paul’s day had trouble with. They tried to go about establishing their own righteousness. How? By keeping the law. They didn’t seek it by faith, but by the works of the law.

Romans 9:31-32 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

But, the Gentiles (it says in Rom. 9:30) who didn’t even follow after righteousness have attained to it. How? Because the Gentiles sought it by faith.

Now, why can’t we try to obtain righteousness by the works of the law? Because, by nature we are all sinners. We have all sinned against God. We have all fallen short, and will continue to come short of God’s glory. To obtain righteousness by the law, you would have to obey all of the law, all of the time. But, as James says in his epistle, “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all (James 2:10).” None of us are perfect.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

But, there is good news! It comes from Jesus Christ our Lord. The only way to the Father is through the Son. For He is “the way, the truth, the light (John 14:6).” For Christ Jesus has done something for us on our behalf that is truly wonderful. Christ died on the cross for all of our sins, was buried (He buried all our sins away), and rose again the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4).

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

He took the law, that which was against us, and nailed it to His cross (Col. 2:14). “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (2 Cor. 5:21).” He took the very thing that we were in bondage to and delivered us from it, so that we could come to Him and be able to have a relationship with Him and serve Him in Heaven for eternity!

Romans 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

In the previous verses, Paul uses the analogy of marriage to explain that once the husband dies, the wife is now free from the law of her husband (and vice versa), and is able to then marry again. Likewise, we become dead to the law through the body of Christ (through His death) so that we can be married or joined to another, specifically Christ Himself. Verse 6 continues to say that we are delivered from the law, the thing that we were held by so that we can be joined to Him and bear fruit unto God. Prior to the preaching of the cross, we were in bondage to the law, in that it condemned us (Rom. 3:19-20), and therefore we could only bear fruit unto death (Rom. 7:5; 6:23). But now, we are set free and are able to serve God, because we are joined to Christ, when we believed the gospel.

The moment you believe that Christ died for your sins and rose again, you are saved! You are joined to Christ, to His body. You are made the righteousness of God in Christ! You weren’t made the righteousness of God by the works of the law, but instead by the faith of Christ (His death, work on the cross). It was His work that saved us. We simply put our trust in Him to receive the gift of eternal life, the gift of the righteousness of God, which we have in Christ!

1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

Christ Jesus is our righteousness! There’s no falling short anymore, at least not in Christ, that is. We are complete in him (Col. 2:10)!