Romans 3 is critical and transformational teaching about the work of Christ. We are in a section in which Paul profoundly proclaims what Jesus did that changed everything for us. Our theme for this year is Jesus Is: Pictures of Our Atonement. At the same time we have been looking at the book of Romans and learning the great gospel of God from this book. These two series intentionally collide in the next couple of lessons as we look at the redemption of the gospel and Jesus is our redemption. Open your copies of God’s word to Romans 3 and we are going to spend our time primarily in verse 24. But we need to begin reading in verse 21 to understand the context for this great teaching about our redemption.
Faith To Faith (Romans 3:21-22)
We observed in our last lesson from Romans that the law shows that there is no one who is righteous. No one has an advantage before God. All are under the power of sin. We also noticed that God is always faithful even if every person is unfaithful. This sets up for us where Paul is going in verse 21. The righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the law. We looked at the righteousness of God in Romans 1:17. Often the question is debated whether the righteousness of God is referring to God making us right before him or whether the righteousness of God is referring to God’s own righteousness and faithfulness. What is important to remember here is that both of these are true and both appear to be what the apostle Paul is teaching. God is going to faithfully keep his word and fulfill his promises. But the key promise of God that he made was that he would have a people and through Abraham all the peoples of the earth would be blessed (this will come to light more fully in Romans 4). We noted in Romans 1:17 that God’s faithfulness and righteousness is to bring about our faithfulness and cause us to have faith in him. This is what we see in verses 21-22. The righteousness of God would not be through the Law of Moses, which is what the Law and the Prophets proclaimed. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus for all who believe. It is the clear that the law is not the answer. The law does not show us how good we are doing. The law shows us how far we are from God’s righteous standard. The law shuts our mouths and puts completely accountable to God (cf. Romans 3:19). No one can be justified in God’s sight through the law (cf. Romans 3:20). Therefore, God’s faithfulness to his promise to bless the world and make people right before him cannot be through the law.
I would like for us to consider a deeper level here in verse 22 because there is another way to read Paul’s argument here. You might notice that verse 22 is a little redundant in most translations. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. Through faith in Jesus and all who believe is to say the same thing. It is certainly possible that Paul is simply emphasizing this truth. God would not make people right before him and show his righteousness through our keeping the law but through our faith in Jesus. This is absolutely true and right. But I would like for us to see another dimension to this reading that a few translations have and some translations footnote as a possible reading.
The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe (Romans 3:22 KJV)
The righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. (Romans 3:22 NET)
What this is doing is adding the work of Jesus to this equation. The righteousness of God (the way God shows his faithfulness to make people right before him) is through Jesus’ faithfulness to God which is available to all who believe. I want us to see this because this is also true and important to our faith. Our faith becomes empty if Jesus does not live in complete faithfulness to the Father. While the law condemns us, showing that there is no one righteous, it did not do that with Jesus. The law showed that Jesus was righteous. Jesus is the perfect lamb of God who can take away the sins of the world due to his complete submission to the Father. This now sets up for us the work of Jesus and the picture of our atonement in verses 23-24.
Failure Defined (Romans 3:23)
In Romans 3:9-20 the apostle Paul clearly argued from various quotations of scripture that there is no one who is righteous. Paul reminds us of this truth in verse 23. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I want us to consider that Paul does not merely repeat the point that we all have sinned and that there is no one who is righteous. Please consider this next level of failure. All fall short of the glory of God. We were made in the image of God. But sin has ruined the image so that we are no longer reflecting the glory of God to the world. Israel so fractured the image so that the world blasphemed God rather than seeing the glory of God (cf. Romans 2:24). Jesus himself said that this is the mission for all people.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 ESV)
When people see us, it is supposed to cause others to give glory to God. Everyone has fallen short of this goal. We fall short of the glory of God. We are not reflecting the light of God as we were intended. Everything we say and do are to be to the praise of God’s glory (cf. Ephesians 1). All things are from him, through him, and to him so that he would be glorified forever (cf. Romans 11:36). Paul taught that whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31). So we are not right before God. No one is righteous. All have sinned. No one has fulfilled their creation purpose. All fall short of the glory of God. So what is God’s answer? Look at verse 24.
Redemption In Jesus (Romans 3:23-24)
The picture that is given to us is redemption. We are justified freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. How amazing are these words! We are justified freely! How could this be? We are justified freely through redemption in Christ. Redemption has a rich history in God’s dealing with Israel. Redemption is the word God used to describe what he did when he set Israel free from Egyptian slavery (cf. Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 7:8; 9:26; 15:15; 24:18). The imagery is that Israel was enslaved and a price was paid to deliver his people from that slavery. In our language today we probably use the word “redemption” the most when it comes to coupons. You can redeem this coupon to get a discount for something you are purchasing. The company is basically buying the piece of paper from you for a price so that you get a discount.
One of the things I want us to think about is that redemption appears to be one of the most frequently used images to describe what Jesus did. Romans 3:9 says that we are all under the power of sin and no one is righteous. Therefore, redemption is needed. We need to be set free from the power of sin (cf. Romans 6:6). When the two men are walking on the road to Emmaus, they say that they had hoped that Jesus was the one who was going to redeem Israel (cf. Luke 24:21). Galatians 3:13 says that Jesus redeemed us from the curse of the law. Titus 2:14 says that Jesus redeemed us from all lawlessness. This is why we must understand the power of sin. We want to think that we are all fine and that we are free. But God is trying to show us through the scriptures that everyone is enslaved to sin and we need someone to deliver us. We need a redeemer (cf. John 8:34-36). In fact, I want us to think about all the ways Jesus could have described what his work looked like. Here is what he said:
“…even as the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28 ESV)
This needs to be a powerful thought to us. The redemption that we need is in Christ. Not only is the redemption that we need is in Christ, but that price would need to be Jesus’ own life. Hebrews 10:4 tells us that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. This tells us something important. This tells us how deep the problem is with our sins. Sin is no small problem. Falling short of the glory of God is not a minor issue.
For you know that you were redeemed from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb. (1 Peter 1:18-19 CSB)
God was showing through the repetition of sacrifices that animals were not enough to pay for our sins. We needed something more powerful than the blood of animals. God is communicating to the world the high, high cost of our sins. We simply cannot overstate the debt we have incurred from our sins. Only the blood of Christ was enough to deal with the power of sin.
Redeemed From Futility
But I want to focus on what Peter says that we were redeemed from because of the blood of Christ as we conclude this lesson. We have been redeemed from our futility or our empty way of life. To say this another way, you were not redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus to go back to living in sin. You were not redeemed to go live your life seeking the futile and empty ways of this world. God is trying to picture our slavery to sin. Why would we want to go back to this slavery? Why would we forfeit the freedom that Christ has accomplished through his sacrifice and go back to the empty and sinful way of life? The imagery is just as shocking as what we read in Israel’s history. When the people of Israel were delivered from Egyptian slavery, there were times when fear and hardships caused the people to want to return to their slavery. They would cry out that they wanted to go back to the place of their oppression. Now they would not say it this way. They would remember their slavery as good times rather than for what it truly was. They did not think about how the Pharaoh was killing their children (cf. Exodus 1:16). They did not think about how their lives were bitter and hard (cf. Exodus 1:14). Rather, they remembered the fish, cucumbers, and melons that they ate in Egypt (cf. Numbers 11:5). They did not remember the reality of life.
Unfortunately this is what we are tempted to do. We have been redeemed from the power of sin. We have been set free from our slavery to sin. But then we think that the life of sin and futility was so much better than what it is. The problem is we are looking at the wrong things. We are looking a momentary pleasure. We are not looking at our oppression, our enslavement, and our certain eternal death. To use the picture Peter gave to us, we are not looking at our lives of emptiness and futility with Christ.
But I want us to reverse the picture and tell it the way God told it to the prophet Hosea. We belonged to God because he made each person on earth. But we have all turned aside and gone our own way (cf. Romans 3:12; Isaiah 53). God sends his only Son as the perfect lamb to redeem us from our sins, setting us free from our futile ways. Then we look at our rescuer and tell him that we would rather return to our slavery and oppression. It is a shocking truth and we can see how we are trampling underfoot the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant, and insulting the Spirit of grace when we do this (cf. Hebrews 10:29). Friends, you have been redeemed. You have been set free. You have been rescued. Further, God has paid the price for you! Do not miss this in verse 24. You have been justified freely by his grace! Live for your Rescuer! Live for your Deliverer! See the emptiness of the life of sin. Do not live in sin. Live as people who are set free from sin.
He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works. (Titus 2:14 CSB)