Friday, June 2, 2023 – Romans 3:21-31
As we started with Romans 1 at the beginning of the week, I said that we were diving into a long, developed argument through chapter 3 and that a lot of it would be hard to hear. Remember, I said it was like getting a diagnosis of a disease, which is the essential first step to healing from the disease. Paul looks you and me in the eye and says you are not good enough to be right with God, and that is what the law is ultimately for. It tests us to tell us that we have failed and that we are utterly helpless. But there is more to the story. The law doesn’t have the last word. The law’s main purpose is to set us up to hear the gospel—the Good News.
Do you see how God uses Paul’s words in the verses leading up to 3:20? The Word of God cuts us to the quick. It doesn’t just sting, it kills. But there is purpose in that death because God has the answer to death. God resurrects the dead, starting with Jesus. Now hear the way Romans 3 starting with verse 21 gives immeasurable hope. God has shown a way to be made right with him! (3:21) We don’t have to earn this, but it is a gift that comes by faith, and it is for everyone! (3:22) Through Jesus, God made us right despite our sin, and this shows that God is not only fair, but abounding in kindness to make even sinners right with him, so not one person can be excluded because they aren’t good enough! (3:23-26) In this we discover the true meaning of the law, and that it is fulfilled by believing in Jesus! (3:31)
This is what makes Christianity different from literally every other religion or worldview that has ever existed. In every other system, a person tries to get closer and closer to God by becoming holier and better. Not every system has the same measure of “better” or the same ways to get there, but the principle is the same, it is humanity on the way up. In Jesus, we have God who comes down. We connect with God by admitting and embracing our guilt. This might make you uncomfortable. The point is not to revel in our guilt and celebrate it. The point is to be truthful about it because in doing so we are separated from our sins like water being wrung out of a sponge. Our sin doesn’t cling to us, and our identity in it is completely replaced by identity in Christ. Praise God!
Wonderful Savior! It humbles me to know that you died for me. You had heaven, but you left it because you refused to have heaven without me in it. I put my trust and hope for salvation and every good thing in your hands. Help me have greater faith in your faithfulness. Be with those that struggle to believe and make me a light of your loving Gospel so that they can believe in you. Amen!
Questions for reflection:
- Is it hard for you to embrace guilt? What keeps us from doing so freely?
- Think about the difference between shame and guilt. Do you use those words synonymously? Shame tells me that I am bad, but guilt tells me that I have done bad. How can this distinction make a difference?
- How can God be just and forgiving as well? If God overlooks my sin, does he say that sin is OK?