Christ Took Our Punishment

21But now God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago.

22We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are.

-21 God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law, It can seem by this verse that there was a way to be made right with God through the keeping of the law

-But we know from reading verse 20 that no one can be made right with God by keeping the law

-In fact everyone in all of history who has ever been made right with God has always been justified by faith

-It is through, and in Christ alone that we are saved! By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone

-We will see in a few more verses Paul shows how the Saints of old were justified by faith

23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 

-This verse serves as the conclusion of Paul’s argument spanning Ch1:18–3:20, where he spent all that time telling us that every one both Jew & Gentile stand guilty before God, and that no one is justified by works of law .

-For everyone has sinned, is a snapshot of humanity's sinful condition (in the past tense) while the present tense, we all fall short, shows the continuation of mans failure to reflect Gods glory.

-These aren't separate events but interconnected realties: our sinful nature produces continual shortcomings. it’s an ongoing issue.

-Many scholars see the phrase, we all fall short of God’s glorious standard, as the loss of God’s glory due to the fall of Adam through the original sin in the garden. In turn it is impossible for us in our own power to accurately reflect the image of God because of our fallen nature no matter how hard we try.

-It doesn’t matter how many of God’s laws or mans rules we follow

-The term fall short has a particular significance, in the Greek is carries the meaning “come late”, or to “be behind”, it portrays a perpetual lagging behind.

-It sems to capture the human condition, regardless of our moral effort, our inherited sin makes it impossible for God’s glory to shine through.

-One commentator described it like this; whether a person stands at the bottom of a mine or on the top of the Alps both are equally unable to touch the stars.

-But through Christ we are able to reflect at least in part. One day in heaven we will be made perfect.

-1 Corinthians 13:12'Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

-Philippians 1:6 'And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

24Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 

- freely makes us right in his sight, Being in such a sinful state, the only way we can be made right is freely.

-We can’t purchase it with our good works at all. If it isn’t made free to us, we can’t have it all. 

- It is a giving motivated purely by the giver, and by nothing from the one who receives.

-Again, Paul’s gospel centers squarely through Christ Jesus. Salvation is possible because of the redemption found in Him. God cannot give us His righteousness apart from Jesus Christ.

-Redemption(he freed us from the penalty): This has the idea of buying back something, and involves cost. However, God pays the cost and so we are justified freely.

25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood.

-For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin (propitiation): Jesus, by His death (by His blood) was a propitiation (substitute sacrifice) for us. As He was judged in our place, the Father could demonstrate His righteousness in judgment against sin, while sparing those who deserved the judgment.

-The ancient Greek word for propitiation (hilasterion) is also used in the Septuagint for the mercy seat, the lid covering the Ark of the Covenant, upon which sacrificial blood was sprinkled as an atonement for sin. While it might be said that this passage means “Jesus is our mercy seat,” it probably has the more straightforward idea of propitiation – a substitute sacrifice.

-(issue a challenge to understand the Levitical law) At the same time, the “mercy seat” idea should not be neglected as an illustration of propitiation. Inside the Ark of the Covenant was the evidence of man’s great sin: the tablets of law; the manna received ungratefully; the budded rod of Aaron, showing man’s rejection of God’s leadership. Up over the Ark of the Covenant were the symbols of the holy presence of the enthroned God in the beautiful gold cherubim. In between the two stood the mercy seat, and as sacrificial blood was sprinkled on the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16), God’s wrath was averted because a substitute had been slain on behalf of sinners coming by faith. We really can say that Jesus is our “mercy seat,” standing between guilty sinners and the holiness of God.

25 Part 2 This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 

26for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.

-This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish, those Old Testament saints who trusted in the coming Messiah. At the cross, those sins were no longer passed over, they were paid for.

-Read Hebrews 11 the hall of faith.

-for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus. It’s easy to see how someone could be only just – simply send every guilty sinner to hell, as a just judge would do. It’s easy to see how someone could only be the justifier – simply tell every guilty sinner, “I declare a pardon. You are all declared ‘not guilty.’” But only God could find a way to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27Can we boast, then, that we have done anything to be accepted by God? No, because our acquittal is not based on obeying the law. It is based on faith. 

-Their is no room for boasting Because remember, Grace alone, faith alone, through Christ alone.

- It is based on faith: This is why the natural man hates being justified freely by His grace. Grace absolutely refuses to recognize his (imagined) merits and gives no place to his pride whatsoever.

28So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.

-I think we have pretty much worn this one out, right?

29After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. 

30There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. 

31Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? Of course not! In fact, only when we have faith do we truly fulfill the law.

-Well then, if we emphasize faith, does this mean that we can forget about the law? We can see how someone might ask, “If the law doesn’t make us righteous, what good is it? Paul, you have just made the law void. You are going against the law of God.”

- Of course not! Paul does not void the law. As the Apostle will demonstrate in Romans 4, the law anticipated the coming gospel of justification by faith, apart from the deeds of the law. Therefore, the gospel establishes the law, fulfilling its own predictions.