The Glocal Church

“But now righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, to all who believe….for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice… (to) those who have faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:21-26

Paul makes a big shift in verse 21…He shifts from the revelation of God’s wrath, which he identified in chapter one, to here in chapter three, where he focuses on God’s righteousness…and the righteousness which He provides us…. Our righteousness, as we know, is as filthy rags….So God does not transform us into a Righteous people but He declares us righteous through faith in Jesus.

There are two key actions outlined in this text that provide clarity to the righteousness bestowed to us by God. Building on verses 21-25, Paul provides further clarity in verse 26 on God the Father’s justice, through Christ’s sacrificial atonement. He does so in two specific ways.

First, He gave His Son– God takes sin so seriously, that since we are incapable of freeing ourselves, He sent His Son who knew no sin, to become sin. Then through Christ’s resurrection, God the Father Exonerated His Son and defeated death itself.

Second, through Christ’s act of freeing us from the bondage of sin, He has given us a brand new outlook on life….A new landscape, if you will…In which all things have been made new by Christ’s atonement, which provided the means to free us from sin’s indictment, and for God to declare us Just.

We can best demonstrate our gratitude to God for the righteousness which He so wonderfully bestowed upon us, through Jesus’ sacrifice, by modeling Paul’s exhortation in Galatians 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus….The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.”