Romans 3:21-31: Are You Righteous?

Introduction

https://www.npr.org/2025/10/31/nx-s1-5593052/67-dictionary-word-of-the-year-2025 - The word of the year a set of numbers with no meaning? The whole point of the dictionary is to DEFINE words…

We want clarity - How many times have you asked, “What does it mean?” If you’re a parent and your teenager says, “It’s mid…” Or, your doctor says, “You have a mild arrhythmia.” Or your spouse says, “I just feel off.” Or, when someone says, “It’s complicated.” We often find ourselves asking, “What does it mean?”

Maybe in your walk with the Lord, you asked yourself, “What does it mean to be righteous?” You know that God is righteous, and you know that God wants you to be righteous, but what does it mean to be righteous?

God is righteous - always right, always just… But, are you righteous?

Lots of people assume they are righteous, but Paul’s been crystal clear: none are righteous. That’s bad news because you must BE righteous to gain eternal life.

Here’s the question: How can you be righteous? Your eternal destiny hinges upon how you respond to these questions.

Paul’s answering these questions in Romans 3:21-31. I want you to see three truths in this passage to help you know what it means to be righteous.

You cannot produce righteousness.

vs. 21 - “apart from law righteousness of God has been revealed.” Righteousness of God = God is right in everything He does. Always just. Always faithful to His promises. The righteousness of God seen in the Law - His standard - His holy character seen in the law.

The bad news: our unrighteousness is seen in the law. vs. 20 - no one justified by the works of the law. Your unrighteousness makes you guilty before God and deserving of His wrath. Law reveals an internal problem - Paul has been showing us this for two chapters.

The law is not a ladder you can climb to reach God. It’s a mirror to show you who you really are.

The law is good because it reveals who we really are… We need to see the truth about ourselves. Think through the ten commands and evaluate your life by just the ten commands. Or just take one… Have you ever coveted? Dishonored parents? How can you claim righteousness?

Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed. God not only shows His righteous character in the law, He also shows it in Christ. In the Gospel, we clearly see love, grace, mercy, holiness, and righteousness. (Not that those characteristics of God were not in the Law, but they are abundantly clear in Jesus.)

vs. 22 - Righteousness of God is through faith to ALL who believe. Righteousness of God available to us. Righteousness is not something we can obtain because of our sinful hearts, but it is something we can receive by faith.

Faith = active trust. NOT I’m trying harder or I’ve finally gotten my life together - BUT God has done something for me. (E.g., I have faith in my wife that she won’t leave me because of her proven character. I trust her.) Trust that it is something given to me rather than something I earn.

Righteousness for all - Christ is the fulfillment of Abrahamic covenant. Always been God’s plan that all people can have a relationship with Him.

These two verses reminding us:

We want to earn. Something inside of us wants to think that we are able to make ourselves right with God.

We are an “I can do it” kind of people. “I can close the rings on my apple watch…” “I can master DIY projects in my house.”

In a performance-based culture - always telling ourselves, “I can do it.” But Paul reminding us that because of the condition of our hearts, we can’t.

God wants to give. Glorious thought - God doesn’t want to condemn you (give you what you deserve.) He wants to save you - give you eternal life in spite of your sinful heart. THIS is the fundamental truth of the Gospel - God gives…

We have a hard time embracing God’s gift because we want credit, not grace. We want God to notice our goodness instead of looking to His.

You must receive righteousness.

You can’t produce righteousness - Why? Because you fall short. BUT… you can receive righteousness.

Romans 3:23 - One of the most famous verses in the Bible that exposes the greatest problem the world has ever known: sin.

Sin is consistently missing the mark, consistently choosing to NOT live by God’s standard. It’s consistently choosing another mark all together: my will instead of God’s. (Think archery - there’s a clear target - but you choose to aim your arrows elsewhere.)

vs. 24 - This is the GOOD NEWS of the Gospel. All the bad news to get us to the good news.

We fall short, yet God freely justifies by His grace. Paul uses some heavy theological ideas in these verses. Let’s think through them. In these theological ideas Paul is reminidng us:

Salvation is free. Aren’t you glad!

Salvation has a price (but you don’t have to pay.)

Justify = to pronounce or declare right. You can’t declare yourself right. BUT - God does FREELY declare you right by grace.

Think courtroom. You’re standing before the judge. All the evidence makes your guilt clear. You’re condemned. But, also in the courtroom is the Son of God. Everyone knows that He is completely innocent. Yet, the judge (the Father) gives His Son the punishment you deserve, and gives you what His Son deserves: a declaration of innocence. You’re declared innocent because the Son of God was willing to take your place. That’s justification. Not because you proved yourself but because Jesus stood in your place.

Justification is NOT a process - don’t confuse it with sanctification. Rather, a one time declaration over your life that will not be reversed.

In justification righteousness is imputed to us. OR, credited to our account. We’re given something we don’t possess apart from God’s gracious gift. God credits righteousness to me WHILE I’m still a sinner (Romans 5:8).

Sanctification = the life-long process of God making you more like His Son as you cooperate with the work of the Spirit.

Redemption = to buy back or to restore. It’s slave-market language. You were the slave - a slave to sin. Yet, Jesus redeemed you - bought you out of slavery at the price of His own shed blood. As a slave to sin, you had a death penalty hanging over your life. But, redeemed you by taking your penalty upon Himself. He paid the price.

Your justification before God is a free gift, but that free gift didn’t come without a price. Jesus paid it all, all to Him I owe.

Redemption isn’t just “I forgive you…” But, “I absorb the debt. I bought you. You’re free.” Do you walk in freedom? Walking in freedom means you’re renouncing sin and walking in a different direction by the power of the Spirit.

Mercy Seat - (vs. 25) God presented Jesus as the mercy seat. Think tabernacle/temple. The mercy seat represented the throne of God and once a year the high priest went behind the veil of the curtain in the temple to offer an atoning sacrifice for the sins of the people. The idea - the blood of Jesus is the atoning sacrifice that satisfies the wrath of God (propitiation).

In restraint, God passed over sins. In other words, the sacrificial system did NOT atone for sins. (Hebrews 10:4 - Impossible for blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.) Sacrificial system pointed to the time that God would decisively deal with sin at the cross. The wrath of God and love of God most clearly seen at the cross, not the temple.

vs. 26 - Once and for all, in Christ, we see the fullness of God’s redemptive work. The death and resurrection of Jesus is the most amazing event in the history of the universe. God’s righteousness is clearly seen - justice and mercy meet in an amazing demonstration of the love of God - and at the cross you see the way that you can be declared righteous before God.

This is the Good News! Our hope is in the cross of Christ!

Paul wants the believers in Rome to KNOW the significance of the cross but also join him in the mission to make the message of the cross known.

You must embrace the Gospel if you’re going to share the Gospel.

If Romans 3 doesn’t make you worship God and give you a burning passion to share this good news - then you need to hear this Gospel again.

What are you depending on for your salvation? Yourself? You can’t produce righteousness, but you can receive it by faith. It’s a joy to share what we’ve experienced. It makes no sense to share what we have not experienced.

You must know the Gospel if you’re going to share the Gospel. Are Gospel conversations are often devoid of the Gospel - “ask Jesus into your heart, pray this prayer, repeat after me, follow Jesus’ example, God has a wonderful plan for your life, etc” The Gospel is the bad news that you’re a sinner and the Good News that there is a Savior who came to rescue you by dying for you and rising again.

Gospel sharing basics:

The problem of sin.

The uniqueness of the person of Christ.

The sufficiency of the work of Christ.

You can rejoice in Christ’s righteousness.

If righteousness depends on you, you’re tempted to boast when you compare yourself to others (vs. 27). “Look at me… I’m better than… Surely God loves someone like me… I’m a better parent than… My family has always attended this church, etc.”

Jewish people - “Look at us - we’re the people of God!” Could they boast in their ethnic identity? What good was their ethic identity if they lacked faith?

When you realize that Jesus paid it all, and you in no way contribute to your righteous standing before God- eliminates all boasting. The only ONE to boast in is Jesus.

How often do you brag about Jesus? About His work in your life? His goodness to you? His faithfulness?

vs. 27-31 - Paul’s conclusion - a list of rhetorical questions to complete his argument for justification by faith.

vs. 29-30 - God is the God of all who trust Him by faith. Your ethnic identity does not guarantee a right standing before God. Whether circumcised or uncircumcised (Romans 2) - we’re justified by faith alone.

vs. 31 - Faith in God puts the law in its proper place. Trusting God gives us a desire to live out the commands of God as an act of devotion/thanksgiving rather than a mean to obtain salvation.

We need a lot more gratefulness and a lot less obligatory performance. Every act of Christian service should flow out of a heart of gratitude rather than a sense of obligation “I must do this to make God happy with me.” God is already pleased with you in His Son Jesus. You’re saved! You can serve Him with a thankful heart! Because you want to NOT because you have to.

Evaluate the way you serve, or the reason why you live the Christian life. Is it out of a sense of obligation or a sense of gratitude?

Maybe if you told God “thank you” more often it would actually change the way you serve.

We need a lot more embracing the Gospel and a lot less excuses.

Some in this room are not followers of Jesus. You’ve been giving excuses rather than surrendering to Christ. You come to church every sunday but you give excuses like:

I need more time to think about it.

I don’t think this is that important. (You couldn’t be more wrong.)

I’m basically a good person. (Paul has shown you that you are not.)

I’ve prayed the prayer before. (But have you surrendered your life to Jesus?

For some, time to quit with the excuses and time to surrender to the One who lived, died, and rose again for you. Today, repent of your sins and turn to Him by faith.