Romans: Session 4 – Justified Freely by His Grace

Notes:

Justified Freely By His Grace – Rom.3:24-31    See Session Slides Here

God’s righteousness in Christ:

  • Has been given “freely” i.e. without a cause. Greek = dorean, occurs 8 times in the New Testament. Example: “But this happened that the word might be fulfilled which is written in their law, ‘They hated Me without a cause’” (Jn.15:25). Just as there was nothing in Christ that deserved the hatred He received, so there is nothing in us that made God reach down to us. Thus:
  • As we did not receive it by our performance, it cannot be lost by our failure;
  • This characterises the whole Christian life, not just how we got saved. God does not bless us when we do well, but for Jesus’ sake. E.g. Everything God wants to do in your life has already been paid for. Rom.8:32.
  • It has been given “by His grace.” If it’s not because of us then it must be because of Him. It is all of God. Therefore, the righteousness of God gives glory to God and not to man (Rom. 3:27). There are no grounds for boasting. All those who understand grace want to give God all the glory.
  • How can He do that? It is through the “redemption that is in Christ Jesus”. The Greek root word for ‘redemption’ is lytrosis = deliverance brought about through the payment of a ransom; to release on receipt of a ransom; to buy back, like a slave from the market place.

Some argue that the word redemption can just mean deliverance from the mess we have got ourselves into. We reap what we have sown. If this is so it changes the nature of the gospel entirely:

  1. God is not personally affected by our sin;
  2. Sin is not a direct assault on God’s holiness; it does not evoke the response of His wrath;
  3. Jesus’ death is not a payment for our sin to satisfy the justice of God, but to show His love.

Contrast exegesis (leading out) vs eisegesis (into). What have we seen so far?

  1. The gospel reveals the righteousness of God, which is our greatest need because the wrath of God is revealed against all unrighteousness. Sin demands the forfeiture of life. Death is God’s response to sin. This will be without restraint in the day of judgement (Rom. 2:5-6)
  2. God has confined all the world under sin, guilty before Him and deserving of His wrath (Rom. 3:19)

Throughout the New Testament the death of Jesus is clearly set forth as a payment for our sin. E.g. Mark 10:45;  1 Tim.2:5-6; 1 Pet.1:18-19; Gal.3:13;  1 Cor.6:20; Eph.1:7, etc.

Rom. 3:25. But God has set forth Jesus to “be a propitiation through His blood”. Not our sin only:

  1. God was not unjust in holding back His wrath for four thousand years, from Adam to Christ, because His mercy was with a view to Christ one day satisfying all the legal demands of the whole history of human sin at the cross.
  2. “He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world” (1 Jn.2:2). See John1:29.

The Chinese have a character in their language for righteousness. It is made up of two separate characters – one representing ‘a lamb’, the other representing ‘me’. The character for ‘lamb’ is placed directly above the character for ‘me’, and this forms a new character, ‘righteousness’. When God’s Lamb, Christ, is placed between God and me through faith, I am righteous in His sight. This is the righteousness of God.


# Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.