The Problem of Righteousness

INTRODUCTION:

For the last several months we’ve been in the book of Genesis. We’ve seen how the book of Genesis provides the BEST answers to life’s most foundational questions.

This morning, we’re going to take a break from our journey through Genesis to do a message entitled “The Problem of Righteousness.” It’s actually a message I wrote a while back but have yet to preach in our church.

The reason I’d like to share this message today is because I think it’ll give a framework for how to understand the Gospel in light of Genesis 1-3.

If we want to be a disciple-making Church then we need to be a Gospel-centered people.

We need to live lives that are transformed by the Gospel and be effective at verbally expressing the Gospel.

One of the ways to become that kind of church is to see the threads of the Gospel in every Old Testament Book.

The Five Second Gospel

When I’m sharing the Gospel with children one of the tools I’ve used is called “The 5 Second Gospel.” It’s just four sentences long.

(1) God loves us. (2) We Blew it. (3) Christ paid for it, (4) We must receive him. What’s interesting is that we’ve seen each of these four pillars in our journey through Genesis 1-3.

Last week we left the book of Genesis in chapter 3 with what scholars call “The Fall of Man.”

God’s glory and love for his creation are clearly seen in Genesis 1-2.

Man’s corruption and inclination towards sin in established in Genesis 3.

Followed by God’s provision to address our sin through the means of atonement.

What Genesis 3 anticipates Jesus Christ fulfills through his life and atoning death on the cross. Thats’ what I’d like to show you this morning.

The Romans Road

To do that, I’d like us to turn to the book of Romans chapter 3. Romans is one of my favorite NT books.

It takes the beauty and brilliance of the Gospel, like light glimmering from a well cut diamond, and displays it in all of it’s glory.

This morning we’re going to focus on a conclusion that Paul has been building since Romans 1 and God’s provision for our sin problem through the person of Christ.

We left Genesis 3 with Adam and Eve searching for salvation. They were looking for some way to “be made right” with God. In their sin they realized they were “cut off” from that former relationship.

God provides a covering but that righteousness they were after is never really restored. In fact, the story of the OT is about man’s search for righteousness. They know they need it, but through their own efforts they cannot attain it.

That search for righteousness is what Paul addresses in our text this morning.

Romans 3:21–26 (ESV)

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. 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. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The Problem of Righteousness

I’ve entitled the message “The Problem of God’s Righteousness” because the concept of God’s righteousness shows up over and over again in this text.

The Greek word is δικαιοσύνη (dikaiosyne) which comes from the Greek root “dike” which means justice (or “rightness” meaning it is the way it’s supposed to be.)

The concept of God’s justice and righteousness shows up SEVEN times in this text.

V 21 - “the righteousness of God has been manifested...”

V 22 - “the righteousness of God is received through faith in Jesus...”

V 24 - “we are justified (made righteous) by God’s grace as a gift...”

V 25 - “this was to SHOW God’s righteousness...”

V 26 again “this was to SHOW God’s righteousness at the present time...”

So that, V27 - “God could be “just” (aka righteous) AND the “justifier” (the one who makes righteous) of the one who has faith in Jesus.

What’s the Problem?

So what is the problem of righteousness?

In a sentence, the problem IS GOD is righteous but WE are NOT.

It’s common in our culture for people to question God. “How can a loving God send ‘good people’ to hell, a place of eternal torment?”

Romans 3:23 asks the opposite question: “How can a JUST God send unrighteous people to heaven.”

That is the problem of God’s righteousness.

Moral Law = Moral Law Giver

If there is a God then by virtue of being God he must also be RIGHTEOUS. (the source and standard of all that is good and right in this world)

Why else would we feel the moral intuitions we feel? Where does this deep unshakable sense of “oughtness” come from anyway?

Things “ought” to be a certain way.

We “ought” to live a certain kind of life.

People “ought” to be treated a certain kind of way.

But we don’t just sense a moral standard. We also sense a moral deficit. We look around and within and think...

Things in this world “aren’t” the way they’re supposed to be.

People “aren’t” treated the way they’re supposed to be treated.

Deep down we intuitively sense an unrighteousness in our personal life and injustice in the world around us.

THAT is the problem of God’s Righteousness and THAT is what Romans 3:23 is all about.

A Moral Law implies a Law Giver. And moral guilt implies some form of accountability to that Law Giver?

That’s the problem Paul is dealing with in Romans 3:23. It’s not a uniquely Christian problem. Every thinking person has to wrestle with this question.

How do we solve the problem of a moral standard we cannot attain and a moral deficit we cannot change?

Or, as Paul says in verse 26, how God can be both just AND the justifier of those who “fall short of his glory.”

An Unattainable Prize (God’s Glory)

The starting place for how to answer that question is Romans 3:23 ends.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

It’s interesting how Romans 3:23 defines the essence of sin as “falling short of God’s glory.”

It’s the greek word Doxa - It carries the idea of God’s radiance, presence or splendor.

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that “the chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.”

The reason it says that is because that’s how the Bible opens and that how the Bible closes.

In Revelation 21 God creates a new heaven and a new earth and Mankind glorifies God as they enjoy his presence in the Paradise he creates.

You see the same thing in the opening chapters of Genesis.

All of creation was made to reveal God’s glory but ESPECIALLY the creation of man. Why? “[because] God created man in his OWN image. In the image of God he created him. Male and female he created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

Our Mirror & God’s Glory

As we’ve seen in Genesis 1=2, we were given a unique ability and responsibly to “image” or “represent” the reality of God in this world.

Through our enjoyment of God and our dominion over creation we were called to beautifully display God’s glory and goodness.

Man was made to glorify God. It’s central to our “telos” or purpose in life.

It’s core to what it means to be made in God’s image.

We’ve been given unique - God-like - abilities to do things the other animals CANNOT do.

The Three R’s

We’ve been given a unique capacity for rationality: we have a “God-like” ability to reason, reflect, regret and respond. (you don’t see monkeys bow their heads in prayer or raise their hands in worship. Maybe you can train the instincts but there’s no self-awareness or intuition.)

We’ve been given a unique capacity for relationship: we have a “God-like” ability to love, serve, sacrifice and protect; even when it goes against our interests. (there’s a sense in which animals might serve each other to improve their odds against natural selection. But humans are unique in their willingness to put the interests of others ahead of their own.)

We’ve been given a unique capacity for responsibility: we have a “God-like” ability to rule over, cultivate and steward creation for God’s glory and our good. (When’s the last time you saw a horse put together a symphony like Mozart? Man is an apex predator because we’re the crown of creation. We dominate the created order unlike any other animal.)

You see each of these things in Genesis 1-2.

Man is dependent on God like the rest of creation but he’s also different from creation in that he’s made in the likeness of God.

He can reason and think with a God-like mind.

He can relate to others with a God-like love.

He can rule and create with a God-like beauty.

An Unattainable Standard

But Genesis doesn’t stop there (nor does Paul in Romans.)

The image of God in man is not just a gift. It’s a responsibility. (Capacity AND Calling)

We were given the ability AND responsibility to reveal the righteousness of God.

People were supposed to be able to look at our lives and say, “there must be a creator God and this must be what that God is like...”

The Fall

Unfortunately, that “God-like” glory in Genesis 1-2 got corrupted by sin in Genesis 3.

Our unique capacity to “image God” got functionally broken by Adam’s sin and unbelief.

God made us rational so we might “know the truth.” We were to use our minds to love God, worship and adore God.

Now we suppress the truth and use our minds to justify unbelief.

God made us relational so we might “seek goodness for our beloved.” We were to put the interests of others ahead of ourselves.

Now we exploit relationships to advance our own agenda.

God made us responsible beings so we might “cultivate beauty in God’s creation.” We were to steward our creativity for God’s glory and our joy.

Now instead of cultivating creation we destroy it. Instead of living for God’s glory we advance our own and put ourselves in God’s place.

In other words “The Fall of Man” threw a rock into the mirror that IS the image of God.

The Result

We still mirror and represent God in this world but our effectiveness in doing so is severely damaged.

The structure is there but the function has been marred. The image of God is present but perverted; intact but impaired.

This is Paul’s MAIN ARGUMENT in the verses leading up to Romans 3:23.

God’s glory is unattainable because we’ll ALWAYS FALL SHORT.

That doesn’t mean we’re not still made in God’s image. We are. But the corruption of that image makes God’s standard unattainable.

So we have a hunger for God’s glory and a craving for God’s presence but that thirst cannot be quenched because of the reality of sin.

Our Universal Problem (Sin)

Which leads me to our second point in Romans 3:23: human depravity is universal.

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

The PRIZE is unattainable (God’s glory) and the PROBLEM is universal (Human Depravity).

This has been Paul’s main argument leading up to Romans 3:21.

Notice the first two words: “But now...”

Anytime you see a “big but” like that you need to stop and figure out what that big but is about.

If you go back and look, you see Paul has been building this case that ALL men are sinful.

There is a universality to the sin nature of man.

In Romans 1 he deals with the irreligious Gentiles. He shows how God’s wrath is being revealed against those who reject His truth for a lie; those who worship the creation other than the creator.

Romans 1:18 (ESV)

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 1:23 (ESV)

23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Then, in Romans 2 he shifts from the irreligious Gentiles to the religious Jews. Even though they were aware of God’s righteousness through the Law (Old Testament) they STILL proved themselves breakers of God’s Law just like the godless pagans of chapter 1.

Romans 2:23–24 (ESV)

23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. 24 For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

So whether it’s the irreligious Gentiles in Romans 1 or the religious Jews in Romans 2, ALL are guilty before a Holy God.

There is No Distinction

So Paul concludes in Romans 3:9-10

Romans 3:9–10 (ESV)

What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;

When it comes to the problem of sin religion doesn’t really help you. The religious and the irreligious stand condemned before the Lord.

That’s the problem of righteousness. Our human righteousness is a “polluted garment” before the Lord. Even on our BEST DAY it’s insufficient.

Isaiah 64:6 (ESV)

6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

If we keep reading in Romans 3:11-18

Romans 3:11–18 (ESV)

no one understands; no one seeks for God.

12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless;

no one does good, not even one.”

13 “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.”

“The venom of asps is under their lips.” 14 “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”

15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 in their paths are ruin and misery, 17 and the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

So when Romans 3:23 says ALL have sinned it means ALL. God’s glory is unattainable because man’s sin is universal.

The Purpose of the Law

None if this is to say there wasn’t something really special about Israel. God chose Israel and entrusted them with the Law.

The Law was given to Israel to help them understand God and live according to His designs.

As they did that, they became a light to the nations. They showed, through their lives, how God’s blessing falls on those who live according to His truth.

In that way, the Law was a tremendous gift. It revealed the righteousness of God, his covenantal love and faithfulness in all things.

But what was given as a gift ultimately became a curse. Why? Because they looking for the law to do something it was powerless to do.

God’s righteousness was revealed IN the Law but could never be attained THROUGH the Law. It reveals God’s JUSTICE but cannot JUSTIFY the unrighteous.

Romans 3:20 (ESV)

20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.

The Law can’t save us but it can show us what we NEED.

It’s a tutor and a mirror that teaches and informs.

It shows Justification is required but cannot itself provide it.

We can’t be saved by works of the Law because human righteousness is deficient.

The Uniqueness of Christ

That tension is what informs the “but now” of Romans 3:21. It’s the problem of righteousness.

God glory is unattainable and our depravity and universal. So what now?

If we can’t attain that righteousness through moral effort and the Law, how can it be received?

That’s where Paul goes next.

Romans 3:21–22 (ESV)

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. For there is no distinction:

The OT Law showed God is just but could not justify.

But God’s justice was not the only thing revealed in the Old Testament. God also revealed something else.

Law & Gospel in the OT

The OT isn’t just a book of Law. It’s a book of promise. It doesn’t just show us how we should behave. It shows us why we should believe!

God didn’t just give us the Law in the Old Testament. He also gave us Gospel. It’s a tension. There’s an emphasis on works (of the Law) but also an emphasis on faith (in God’s promise)

You see it in the story of Cain and Abel. By faith Abel pleases God.

You see it with Noah and the Ark. By faith Noah’s family escapes God’s judgment.

By faith Abraham receives the child of promise. By faith Isaac and Jacob continue in the covenant.

By faith Moses renounced his Egyptian privilege and led Israel out of bondage and slavery into the promised land.

By faith the people of Israel covered their door posts with the blood of the lamb so that the angel of death might passover their children.

In these ways the Law and the Prophets point beyond themselves to something else. Someone else. And that someone is Jesus.

Jesus Alone Can Save

Everything in the OT that revealed God’s righteousness was also given to bear testimony about Jesus.

Everything in the OT prepares the way for Jesus, his person and work.

The sacrificial system was instituted by God not just to show us that God is Holy and we are sinful. It was given to prepare us for Christ and His Cross.

God’s deliverance of Israel to slavery in Egypt was ultimately pointing to an even greater deliverance in Christ. In Christ we are freed from slavery to sin and through his person & work we are given an even greater “Promised Land.”

Every OT prophet paved the way for his Word.

Every OT priest paved the way for his love.

Every OT king paved the way for his kingdom.

He is the ULTIMATE prophet, priest and king and in HIM God’s righteousness is supremely revealed.

Christ: Just & Justifier

We were made in God’s image but fell short of His glory. Christ Jesus WAS God’s image and the exact representation of his nature.

Everything we were required to do but failed - he perfectly accomplished. He was tested in every way that we were but lived a perfect life without sin.

That is why, Paul says, “Christ alone can save.” Only through Christ can God be both JUST and the JUSTIFIER of those who believe.

This is why by bad news of Romans 3:23 is followed by the good news of Romans 3:24

Romans 3:23–24 (ESV)

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,

Christ is able to accomplish what the Law could not. In Christ is our “justification.” We are “justified” in that it is “just as if I’d” never sinned.

How can this be? It’s not through human effort. It’s an act of divine GRACE.

“We are justified by his grace as a gift...” (Rom 3:24)

How God’s Justice Is Satisfied

But how can a holy God take unrighteous people and clear them of their guilt? Wouldn’t that be unjust?

If you had a criminal who committed a crime and his guilt was known by the judge: the just thing to do is punish the criminal and “by no means clear the guilty.”

Yet, verse 26 maintains God IS JUST even though he justifies sinners by his grace.

So we’re back to our original question, the problem of righteousness. “How can a holy God send sinful people to heaven?”

According to verse 24 there’s something special about Jesus. So how does Jesus uniquely solve the “Problem of God’s Righteousness?”

The answer is tied up in the word “redemption.” Jesus Christ is our redeemer.

Let’s read the rest of our text. Romans 3:23-26

Romans 3:23–25a

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.

Redemption

The word translated “redemption” is a powerful and important word in the NT. Scholars debate it’s meaning.

Basically it carries the idea of “paying a cost to set someone free.”

If you owed me $100 but you “fell short” of paying back the full amount and only paid $60 - you’d still “owe me;” you’d still be “in debt.”

Somebody else would need to compensate - at their cost - the shortage you could not cover. In that way they released you from your debt by doing for you what you could not do for yourself.

That is what the word “redemption” means in the Scripture.

Jesus is our “redemption” in that HE suffers a cost to set us free by doing for us what we could not do for ourselves.

What price does Jesus pay? If you read on it’s pretty obvious. Jesus sets us free from our slavery to sin through his substitutionary death on the cross.

The cost was his life. That’s what verse 25 means. Jesus willingly gave up his life as an atoning sacrifice to do for us what we could not do for ourselves.

In doing so, he has set us free from our guilt of “falling short of God’s glory” and made us able to receive the righteousness of God.

Propitiation

This is the idea present in that other big word in verse 25: propitiation.

Usually, when this word shows up in the OT it’s in reference to “the mercy seat” in the temple.

If you know your OT you know the mercy seat was that gold covered surface in the Holy of Holies that the High Priest would use to make atonement for sin.

An animal would be sacrificed and his blood sprinkled on the surface of that mercy seat.

As a result, God would “pass over” or “postpone judgment” for the people of Israel because of their faith in that sacrifice to stand in their place.

In other words, a cost was paid to do for God’s people what they could not do for themselves.

In Romans 3 Paul is saying the death of Jesus does the same. He is our mercy seat. His death in an atoning sacrifice for our sin.

ON HIM God is choosing to pour out his judgment and

THROUGH HIM God is choosing to wipe away sin.

Day of Atonement

All of this language is being pulled from the Old Testament sacrificial system. In particular, the Jewish Festival called the Day of Atonement..

As our mercy seat, Jesus was both our propitiation AND our expiation.

These two ideas were brought together on the day of atonement because two goats would be taken to make atonement for sin.

One goat was sacrificed as a substitute. It received God’s wrath so other might receive mercy.

The other goat was released as a pardon. It’s freedom was an object lesson of God’s forgiveness and grace.

This is exactly what Jesus accomplishes through his death on the cross.

He dies as our substitute, an object of wrath, in our place, for our sin…

His death also provides our freedom. Through Jesus’ work on the cross, God forgives us of sin and frees us from its consequence.

The righteousness of God can be ours through Christ. He bears our sin and credits us his perfect life. But this righteousness cannot be earned. It must be RECEIVED by faith. “this redemption and propitiation must be received by FAITH.” (Romans 3:25)

I won’t develop this point because future speakers will cover it. But I show it to you now because it’s central to Paul’s logic.

Summary & Conclusion

Paul closes this section with an answer to our original question: the problem of righteousness.

The question of how a JUST God could JUSTIFY sinful man.

Romans 3:25–26 (ESV)

25 ...This [Jesus making atonement for sin] was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

What’s Paul saying?

He’s saying all those people in the Old Testament who God “let off the hook” because they made a sacrifice and believed in God’s provision - he wasn’t letting them off the hook because of the blood of bulls and goats.

The blood of bulls and goats can’t atone for human sin! It’s obvious.

The reason God “postponed” judgment is because he was awaiting Christ the Son. He was patient in the past because of what He knew about the future.

You might say the OT saints were saved “retroactively” through their faith in Jesus even though they only had types and shadows.

Truth & Mercy Kiss

The reason - in Christ - God can be both JUST and JUSTIFIER - is because Jesus’ death on the cross perfectly unites both things.

I love the way Psalm 85:10 puts it. I want to read it from the NLT.

Psalm 85:10 (NLT)

10 Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed!

There’s no better description of God’s glory in the cross: righteousness and peace have kissed.

God’s righteousness demands are met in the sinless life of Christ. The depravity of man is covered by the blood. A great exchange takes place.

He made him who knew no sin to be sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Cor 5:21)

The glory of God can now be attained. Our universal problem is solved. Because Christ our Redeemer brought reconciliation. Through his atoning death on the cross.

Application

So what should we take away from this passage? I want to draw out two things very quickly.

The Ground Is Level

First, remember the ground is LEVEL at the foot of the cross.

Romans 3:23 emphasizes the universal nature of our sin. But Romans 3:24 emphasizes God’s universal offer of salvation.

Romans 3:23–24 (ESV)

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,

This should keep us humble and prevent us from cherishing inflated ideas of our own self-importance.

The ground is level at the foot of the cross. At the cross we’re reminded of two fundamental truths.

We are ALL far worse off than we could have ever imagined.

We are ALL far more loved that we could have ever dared hope.

If ALL have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and Jesus - through the cross has made atonement for sin - then ALL can be justified by God’s grace through faith. (not just the people you deem worthy of salvation)

We have a tendency, especially if you’ve been a Christian a while to get prejudicial about who and who cannot be saved. It’s up to GOD - not us - who he allows in this Kingdom.

Remember, we don’t contribute anything to our salvation. Jesus does it all. And that means Jesus can save to the uttermost those who believe - whoever they are.

The Glory Is Restored

Secondly, remember that Christ can restore what was lost in the Fall.

Our craving for God’s glory has not ceased. It’s why so many people spend their whole lives searching.

That hunger and thirst can be quenched in Jesus Christ. Not only that, in Christ can recover and restore what was damaged by sin.

The role of the Holy Spirit in sanctification is to “renew the image of God in us.”

Scripture says we are being transformed from one degree of glory to the next and this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:18)

So in our rationality can we have God’s glory restored.

In our relationships we can see God’s glory restored.

In our responsibilities and creativity God’s glory can be restored.

Holy ambition should be celebrated and embraced!

Until Christ comes again we will still “fall short of God’s glory.” But the day is coming soon when that restoration will come.

So start today what God promises to finish some tomorrow. You’re not getting any younger and each day we’re getting closer.