Dennis' Sermon Prep Workflow | Romans 3:21–26

Colin Kruse calls vv. 21-26 “the Heart of the Gospel”. There are perhaps no verses more packed with truth, and more succinctly distilled than this one statement.

Paul concludes the truth of our sinful condition with the statement, “for by the works of the law no human being will be justified in His sight...” so the natural question is “how is one justified in His sight?”

To be justified is to be made right before a judge or court. It is a judicial word, a word of legal proceedings. Paul is visualizing God as a righteous judge proceeding over sinful man.

The purpose of legal proceedings is to right a wrong. It might be a financial wrong whereby a judge will issue a judgement where damages or restitution be paid for losses incurred. It might by a physical wrong where one loses an ability such as hearing or the ability to hold gainful employment whereby the wronged party is due some sort of settlement to cover living expenses and lost wages.

In each case a certain dollar amount is the propitiation, the required sacrifice to pay for the damages.

But in this heavenly courtroom, the judicial proceeding is much more serious. We have been found to be rebels against a holy and righteous God.

So what must be paid to provide for our restitution, our restoration before God?

The CAUSE of Our Justification: By GRACE Alone

Paul first makes the argument that our source of justification is the grace of God.

Grace is unmerited favor, and God in his meritless favor has given to us grace that is undeserved and the greatest expression of that grace is the forgiveness of sins that he give to those who repent and believe in the name of Christ.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Our righteousness is all by grace. This is why Paul notes in v. 27

Romans 3:27 ESV

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.

Paul is shutting up the pride of both the gentile with his philosophy, and the Jew with his religious superiority. In both cases, Paul notes that God saves all by faith in Christ alone.

It’s not the good that we do but the gracious goodness of God that saves us.

Many look at God as a tyrant. They see God not as good and deserving of our praise and our repentance. They see us as the wronged party.

In our vanity we put God on the witness stand and ourselves on the judges bench. But scripture makes clear that it is God who is the aggrieved party and the judge. But that same judge is also our Public Defender.

What a glorious truth that the good, noble, righteous, faithful God of the universe is both our righteous judge but also the one pleading our case. It is God who makes the way for our salvation.

This is Grace. God is the wronged party, but he is also pleading for us.

As John Stott notes, “Grace is God loving, God stooping, God coming to the rescue, God giving himself generously in and through Jesus Christ.”

Romans 8:28–33 ESV

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.

Here’s the great truth that we must hold to:

God justifies sinners freely by his grace alone.

The COST of Our Righteousness: Through Christ Alone

So how does a righteous God make restitution for sinful men? Well, Paul makes that clear, “The righteousness of God through…Jesus Christ.”

It is through Jesus Christ that God makes restitution for us.

The righteousness of God is God’s SAVING Righteousness. So how can a righteous God forgive sinners without compromising his righteousness or condoning their unrighteousness?

The answer is the cross.

Christ Jesus became our propitiation on the cross.

The word propitiation is an interesting word. It’s only used here by Paul. It is a word used in the Old Testament for the space on the ark of the covenant where God’s presence was said to dwell, the space between the two cherubim called the Mercy Seat. Paul, a trained Pharisee and one who probably grew up with both the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, and the original Hebrew knew this.

Paul is making a point. Jesus is the mercy seat.

The writer of Hebrews speaks of the Mercy Seat in Hebrews 9:3-5

Hebrews 9:3–5 ESV

Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant. Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

The mercy seat was the most holy place in all of Jewish religion. It was the place of God’s glory. The place where Moses would go to see God’s glory, the place where the High Priests would go to make intercession for the people on the day of Atonement.

Paul knowing this states clearly that Jesus is the “mercy seat” the place of atoning for all who believe.

Part of the Day of Atonement was the picture of God’s atoning work: The scapegoat.

In Leviticus 16:8-10

Leviticus 16:8–10 ESV

And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel. And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.

In this ceremony, the sins of the people would be placed by the priest upon a goat that would be sent into the wilderness to die, thus expiating - taking away, the sins of the people of God. In the same way, Paul notes that Jesus expiates the sins of us all.

The writer of Hebrews speaks about this same truth.

Hebrews 9:11–14 ESV

But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the sprinkling of defiled persons with the ashes of a heifer, sanctify for the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.

and

Hebrews 9:24–26 ESV

For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.

Jesus, according to scripture put our sins upon himself and as John the Baptist noted became

John 1:29 ESV

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

It is through

The MEANS of Our Justification: By Faith Alone

So how are we justified? We are justified by faith in Christ Jesus. Over and over Paul makes this clear,

Romans 3:22 (ESV)

the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.

Romans 3:25 (ESV)

whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.

Romans 3:26 (ESV)

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.

Romans 3:28 (ESV)

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

Over and over throughout his gospel Paul makes it clear that God saves by faith alone in Christ alone.

This is clear throughout scripture.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

and Phil 3:9

Philippians 3:9 ESV

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—

Romans—Righteousness From Heaven The Miracle of Justification: Righteousness by Faith (vv. 22, 23)

When Martin Luther translated this verse into German he felt the sense of it so strongly that he added the word “alone”—“by faith alone!” Sola fide.

“The miracle of justification is possible because God’s special righteousness comes through faith. Considering the depths of our sin, there is no other way any of us could make it.”

The Reason for Our Righteousness: For the Glory of God Alone