Today's lesson comes from Romans 3: 19-31. In the latter part of chapter 2, Paul continues to address the Jews who felt they were a "guide of the blind, a light of them which are in darkness." (Romans 2: 19) However, the Jews were guilty of breaking the law just as the Gentiles. Paul gives us a truth that the true children of God were those who have had an inward transformation. Having established that all men are sinners, he then shows how they may become righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.
The lesson reemphasizes that all men have sinned and are sinners before a holy God. The law makes men aware of their sins, and brings them into condemnation. However, the law has no power to free men from their guilt. The key to the lesson is found in the second section. We read the "redemption that is in Christ Jesus." It is through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ that a person can be saved. The word believe is far more than mental assent. To believe something is to have that belief impact your life. In Hebrew, to "hear" something is not an auditory test, but instead to both understand what was said and to have it change your life accordingly. God has provided a way of salvation. Thus, He is just in condemning those who refuse His offer, and He is just in pardoning those who repent and believe.
The first section is "Condemned by the Law." vv. 19, 20 Verse 19 states, "What things soever the law saith." Law refers to the Old Testament Scriptures, which contain God's will revealed for our obedience. However, the law could not justify a person. By justify, we mean forgiveness and being received into the family of God. You can't earn your salvation. Salvation is by grace through faith. If you could earn your salvation, it would be owed to you as opposed to a gift from God. The law reveals sin and shows its true nature and consequences. Conviction, the consequences of guilt, is the first and immediate ned of all sinners. No one will seek God until he or she feels that they are guilty. Then, one will seek to be made right with God. The Law of God convicts the sinner of his or her sin which is the first step towards salvation.
The second section is "Justified by Grace." vv. 21-26 "The righteousness [which is] of God" is God's way for a person to be justified. The righteousness was provided through Christ, whose atoning death was sufficient to meet God's justice and to provide pardon for sin. The dilemna was that God is holy and just, but at the same time He is both merciful and loving. How to reconcile these different attributes of God was the issue. If God forgave man's sins without their being a penalty, He would not be just. If He did not forgive man's sins, He would not be merciful and loving. God "set forth" His Son to be the "propitiation" for the sins of men. The Greek word for "propitiation" points back to the mercy seat on the ark in the Holy of Holies. On the mercy seat was made the general atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. Christ is the Mercy Seat of the New Covenant. The means of the propitiation for the believer is "through faith in His blood." It is interesting to note that there is a second Greek word intrepreted as "propitiation" and that word means becoming a substitute for our sins and covering our guilt by the vicarious punishment He endured. Through the sacrifice and atonement of Jesus Christ, God remained both just and merciful. Now, mankind could be saved by grace which was activated by faith.
The third section is "Law and Faith Essential." vv. 27-31 Boasting and self-righteousness can have no part in God's plan of salvation. The law was necessary to convict us of sin and show us our need of salvation. Salvation draws men to God and away from themselves. We are justified by faith alone. If salvation could be earned then it would not be a gift, it would be an obligation on God's part to save us. This could never be!!! Faith does not end the law, rather is vindicated and established by the gospel of salvation by faith. The gospel is holy goodness, a love without feebleness, which pardons guilt and executes judgment at the same time. Therefore, condemnation appears in the pardon, and pardon in the condemnation. The same act proclaims the compassion of God and the inflexibility of His justice. The atonement shows us how much God would do that the law might be kept. Christ by His actions established the law. This is what can make a person holy.
The Golden Text is "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." (Galatians 2: 16) "Neither the works of the Jewish law, nor of any other law, could justify any man; and if justification or pardon could not have been attained in some other way (faith in Christ), the world must have perished. Justification by faith, in the boundless mercy of God, is as reasonable as it is Scriptural and necessary." (Adam Clarke)
My summary points:
1. The law condemns us, it never can save us.
2. We are justified by grace which is activated by faith.
3. The law has not disappeared. Through the atonement provided by Jesus Christ we can have salvation that will last for all eternity, if we persevere.
Next week, "Therefore Being Justified." Romans 5: 1-11
Don't forget to read the Sunday School Beacon for inspiration and encouragement.
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