Romans 3:21 study

Righteousness of God

Shows God is perfectly righteous

Most clearly, it is GOD’S righteousness.

If you wanted to know what God was like, you would look to the law and to the prophets.

The law is a reflection of who God is. It is a descriptor of what he is like.

Now, the righteousness of God has been shown apart from the law. And if I were to ask a Jew, how can I know what God is like? He would tell me to look into the law and the prophets. If I were to ask you, what is God like? What would you tell me? How has it been shown?

In Jesus! What does the text say? This is where looking at different translations can be helpful

It is the faithfulness of Jesus that shows the righteousness of God. This is connected to Romans 3:2-3

Romans 3:2–3 ESV

Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?

So it’s always been about the faithfulness of God, and Jesus is the perfect representation of who he is in his righteousness.

2. Condemns us

Lev 19:2 ““Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.”

As we recognize the reality of the righteousness of God, we are also confronted with another truth: our own unrighteousness.

We read last week that the law (old RoG) stops everyone and condemns all

Here, we also recognize that we come short of the glory of God that has been displayed in Jesus

3. Is given to us by faith

But this doesn’t leave us hopeless when we look into the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ. Part of the work Jesus was doing and part of his faithfulness was to apply his own righteousness to sinful people.

Romans 3:24–26 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.

Jesus doesn’t just show us God’s righteousness, and he doesn’t just condemn us, but he actually give us the righteousness of God as well in our justification.

JUSTIFICATION: to declare someone “just” or “innocent”

And how do we receive this justification? How do we receive this righteousness?

By FAITH.

Romans 3:28 ESV

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

Are we saved by faith, or by Jesus?

Jesus does the work of salvation, and applies that work to individuals as they have faith in him.

So then we get to be done with the law and the Old Testament right? We don’t need it anymore? Wrong.

Romans 3:31 ESV

Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.

The law is still good, but we must recognize that it is not meant to save us and is only a shadow of the righteousness of God found in Jesus. That being said, it is still good and we ought to obey it.