Declared Righteous

What have we learned about our condition before God so far?

Chapter 1

The wrath of God is set upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

God has clearly revealed Himself through creation, yet we have still rejected Him.

Those who practice sin deserve to die.

Chapter 2

No one will escape the judgment of God because He shows no partiality.

God will judge each person according to his own works.

Chapter 3 before verse 21

We are under sin.

No one is righteous, and no one does good.

Romans 3:21–24 ESV

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

God has now clearly revealed His righteousness to us.

God would have been perfectly just to leave us to the fate of our sin.

God gave us His expectations through the law, yet each one of us have failed to keep these expectations.

Despite this, God, in His mercy and grace, has manifested the righteousness of God.

The term 'manifested,' means to make something clear; but delving into the Greek language in which this text was originally written, we uncover an even deeper meaning.

The root of the word carries the idea of 'bringing to light' something that was previously obscured or hidden.

This brings to mind a spotlight in a theatrical play.

Often, a spotlight is used to bring attention to something, making it clearly seen.

It brings even more focus on the object than if everything was lit up.

In the same way, God shows us His righteousness to us amidst the darkness of our sin and despair.

So what is this righteousness of God?

The righteousness of God is Jesus Christ.

In this passage we see that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.

In contrast, Scripture also shows us that Jesus never sinned and fulfilled the glory of God.

Hebrews 4:15 tells us that Jesus was tempted in every way, yet He did not sin.

1 Peter 2:22 tells us that Jesus was without sin and that no deceit was ever found in His mouth.

Philippians 2:8 tells us that Jesus was obedient to death — even death on a cross.

Hebrews 10:7 tells us that Jesus came to do the will of the Father.

In every way that we failed, Jesus succeeded.

Where we have given into lust, Jesus resisted.

Where we have gossiped, Jesus spoke only words that bring life.

Where we have boasted in ourselves, Jesus humbly fulfilled the Father’s will.

Where we have envied others’ possessions, Jesus gave up His comforts.

Where we have harbored anger, Jesus offered forgiveness to those who crucified Him.

We clearly see that Jesus is the perfect righteousness of God.

So how do we receive this righteousness?

Romans 3:24–31 ESV

and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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. 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. Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

We receive the righteousness of God through faith.

The only way that we can escape the wrath of God, and not face an eternal judgment in hell is to be completely righteous.

Yet our problem is that Romans 3:10-11 told us that we are under sin, and that no one is righteous, no one understands, no one seeks for God, and no one does good.

If we cannot not produce any righteousness, we must receive it from someone else; someone who is righteous.

This is where verse 24 comes in:

We are justified in the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.

So what does this mean, what does it mean to be justified?

Justification is where God declares us as righteous by taking the righteousness of Jesus and giving it to us.

So when God looks at us, instead of seeing our sin, He sees the righteousness of Jesus.

Instead of seeing our lust, God sees Jesus.

Instead of seeing our gossip, God sees Jesus.

Instead of seeing our pride, God sees Jesus.

Instead of seeing our envy, God sees Jesus.

Instead of seeing our anger, God see Jesus.

Some of you may be asking how this is just, it may feel to you that God is just sweeping our sin under the rug and pretending we never did it.

This is why verse 25 is so crucial.

This verse tells us that God put forward Jesus as a propitiation by His blood.

The word Propitiation here means to satisfy the wrath of God.

Think of it this way.

Jesus acted like a sponge for our sins.

When Jesus went to the cross, He took on our sin.

Yet, while taking on our sin, He also took the wrath of God that we deserved.

Our salvation is not free, yes we receive salvation though faith alone, but the cost of our salvation is the blood of Jesus Christ which He shed on the cross for us.

Our culture has taken away the brutality of the cross.