Romans 3:21-31 | By Faith Alone

Theme: EFCA SoF

Series: “But God” (Article 5: The Work of Christ)

In Christ Alone

By grace alone

Grace Transforms (Aaron Fowler)

By Faith Alone (Pt 1)

By Faith Alone (Pt 1)

Do you see the sequence? Salvation is in Christ Alone, by grace alone, by faith alone.

It answers the who, why, and how of salvation?

God saves us through Christ alone (who)

God saves by his grace alone (why)

God saves us by faith alone (how)

Here’s why this is so central: historical context and personal context:

Church Reformation in the 16th Century: A call to return to the Scripture’s authority .

Martin Luther, called the doctrine of justification by faith alone “the article on which the church stands or falls,”and John Calvin said it was “the main hinge on which religion turns.”

Personal context: Two friends converted to Roman Catholicism this year. One of them told me, “I’ve deconstructed from Protestantism two pillars: Sola Scriptura and Sola Fide.”

Sola Fide = By Faith Alone

I’ve been pouring many hours researching through audio, video, and written sources about what Roman Catholics believe about “Justification by Faith Alone.”

I came across the Council of Trent.

The Council of Trent (1545–1563) was the Roman Catholic Church’s response to the Protestant Reformation of 1517. Convened by the Pope, it aimed to clarify doctrine and reform Church practice. It rejected Protestant teachings like sola fide and sola scriptura, affirming the authority of both Scripture and Church tradition, and declared that justification comes through faith and works—not by faith alone.

Catholic view: Trent is infallible and binding, under the authority of the Church, which interprets Scripture and Tradition.

Canons Concerning Justification

Canon 1. If anyone says that man can be justified before God by his own works, whether done by his own natural powers or through the teaching of the law, without divine grace through Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.

Canon 9. If anyone says that the sinner is justified by faith alone, meaning that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification, and that it is not in any way necessary that he be prepared and disposed by the action of his own will, let him be anathema.

Canon 12. If anyone says that justifying faith is nothing else than confidence in divine mercy,[117] which remits sins for Christ's sake, or that it is this confidence alone that justifies us, let him be anathema.

Canon 24. If anyone says that the justice received is not preserved and also not increased before God through good works, but that those works are merely the fruits and signs of justification obtained, but not the cause of its increase, let him be anathema.

Let’s turn to Scripture to see what it has to say about Justification by Faith Alone (Romans 3:21-31)

In the margin of the Luther Bible, Martin Luther calls Romans 3:21–26 “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle [to the Romans], and of the whole Bible.” Leon Morris calls it “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.”

Now, as we read the passage, keep in mind that the original Greek uses one word family (δικ-) for righteousness, justice, and justification. In English, we use different words—“righteousness” and “justify”—which can obscure their deep connection. In Greek, it’s clear: to be justified is to be declared righteous.

Romans 3:20–31 “20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. 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. 27 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. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.”

Understanding Our Passage Within the Letter to the Romans

Greeting and Thanksgiving (Romans 1:1-15)

Central Theme: The Gospel (Romans 1:16-17)

Humanity’s Unrighteousness & Condemnation(Romans 1:18-3:20)

God’s Righteousness & Salvation (Romans 3:21-5:21)

Grim News: No One Can Merit Justification Before God

Merit: wage or reward.

No human being can ever earn justification before God.

Justification is the declaring of a person to be just or righteous before God.

Just/righteous (10x in vv.20-31)

No one is or will be justified or made justice on the merit of their own good works (v.20)

Good News: God Justifies Sinners Through the Merit of Christ ALONE

"The Righteous God Righteously Righteouses the Unrighteous" Andy Naselli.

“Propitiation is an act by which God becomes favorable to us. He is set over against us in wrath, but now by this sacrificial act he becomes favorable to us.” D.A. Carson

 “It is one thing to say that the wrathful God is made loving. That would be entirely false. It is another thing to say the wrathful God is loving. That is profoundly true. But it is also true that the wrath by which he is wrathful is propitiated through the cross. This propitiation is the fruit of the divine love that provided it. "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins" (I John 4:10). The propitiation is the ground upon which the divine love operates and the channel through which it flows in achieving its end. John Murray

How to receive God’s gift of justification?

By faith

9x in our text (vv.20-31)

Saving Faith: information, affirmation and personal trust.

Saving Faith is composed of information (correct understanding of the gospel), affirmation (intellectual assent), and personal trust (surrender your life to Jesus, give your life to Jesus, Jesus is a relationship, not a religion).

Demon Faith is composed of information and affirmation.

Galatians 2:16 “yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Ephesians 2:8 “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,”

Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—”

So then—how is a sinner made right with God?

Not by merit. Not by works. Not by performance. But by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Faith is not just knowing the facts or agreeing they’re true. Even the demons do that. Saving faith personally trusts Christ. It throws all hope onto Him.

And sometimes, the most powerful expression of that trust is the simplest one.

To close, I want to show you a short video clip that captures the heart of this truth. It’s the story of the thief on the cross—a man with no theology degree, no resume of good works, no chance to fix his life. And yet he was welcomed into paradise.

How?

Please turn your attention to the screen.