Romans 3:24-31
by:
Dan Hill, PhD
Pastor, Southwood Bible Church
7655 South Sheridan Avenue
Tulsa, Oklahoma 74113
E-Mail: hill918@aol.com
Romans 3:34
Being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is
in Christ Jesus;
Redemption: Three Greek concepts:
1. AGOPAZW : To be purchased as a slave in the salve market
but not removed. Emphasis on the price being paid and on the fact that Christ
died for the entire human race.
II Peter 2:1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as
there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable
heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves
swift destruction.
2. EXAGORAZW : Means to be purchased and removed from the slave market.
Looks at being redeemed from one thing to another. From the Law to Christ.
Galatians 3:13
3. LUTPOW : Means to be bought, taken out, and then set free. Emphasis is
on the believers position in Christ as a free agent.
Ephesians 1:7, "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness
of sins, according to the riches of his grace."
Here we have the last word used but with a prefix, APO which intensifies
the act of taking us away from the slave market of sins once and for all.
We are set free because the ransom has been paid. The emphasis is on the
RANSOM being paid by Christ. We were held captive in sin but he wages of
sin being death were paid by Christ.
In the next verse we are told of the ransom price
This REDEMPTION can be found in only one person, in Christ Jesus. The dative
of advantage.
This REDEMPTION was a result of GRACE and brings about the gift of JUSTIFICATION:
What Justification is not:
1. Justification is not forgiveness. It is more than forgiveness.
While forgiveness is a part of it, it is not all of it. A child may throw
a rock through a window and admitting wrong be forgiven, but he is still
guilty. Justification removes the guilt.
2. Justification is not a pardon. It is more than a pardon. A pardon covers
sins of the past. No judge has ever issued a pardon for future crimes. Justification
deals with the sins of the past, present, and the future.
3. Justification is not a change in character. It is a change in position.
Men and woman who have been justified by faith remain sinners. Sanctification
is the process of dealing with changing the believer into an imitator of
Christ. Justification provides a new position and not a new person.
4. Justification is not a return to innocence. It is not "just as if
I'd never sinned". It is a state of righteousness not innocence. The
fact that we have sinned and fallen so short is the basis for greatness
of what God had done in justification.
Justification is a legal term and looks at the pronouncement of a verdict.
God declares the believing sinner righteous on the single condition of faith
in His Son. It is a declaration of a verdict, not the infusion of a quality.
It does not build a holy and righteous character in the believer. That is
process of sanctification:
Romans 3 deals with Justification
Romans 5 deals with Sanctification
Topic: REDEMPTION
Romans 3:25
Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.
This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of
God He passed over the sins previously committed;
God is the one who is offended by our sins and thus He alone is the one
who must be propitiated. That word means satisfaction and through the ransom
paid by Christ at the Cross to the Father, the Father's righteous demands
were paid.
The Cost: The Blood of Christ . . .
The phase Blood of Christ or (Colossians 1:20) Blood of the Cross refers
to the sum total of the violent deaths experienced by Christ on the Cross.
1. The word blood is used as a METONYMY, a figure of speech
in which a noun is used to describe a larger event or whole.
ENGLISH EXAMPLE: I was reading Shakespeare the other evening . . . what
was I doing?
OR He wrote a bad hand . . . means his grammar, style, form left much to
be desired.
2. The use of the word blood then should remind the reader of the total
violence of the Cross.
3. Christ did not bleed to death and death by crucifixion did not produce
that much blood.
4. We are saved by the finished work of Christ on the Cross and that work
was finished when he said It is finished (John 19:30).
5. After that he volitionally gave up His spirit into the hands of the Father.
John 19:30 Jesus . . . said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and
gave up his spirit.
6. The two deaths of Jesus Christ are mentioned in the plural use of the
word death in Colossians 1:18 and in Isaiah 53:9
7. Our salvation is related to the Spiritual Death of Christ while our future
resurrection is related to the physical death of Christ.
Topic: BLOOD OF CHRIST
The death of Christ upon the Cross demonstrated God's righteousness. In
the OT economy God passed over sins.
There was an atonement but not a taking away of sins.
When John the Baptist saw Christ and said "Behold the Lamb of God who
takes away the sins of the World", he introduced something so new that
it was unknown in the OT. The taking away of sins, not merely the covering
up of sins as in the Ark, but the taking away once and for all of all sins.
Romans 3:26
For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time,
that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
In the past the perfect righteousness of God was demonstrated in His covering
of the sins of His people.
But now, His righteousness is demonstrated in that He is both just and the
justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
IN JUSTIFICATION GOD'S great character is demonstrated in that He was able
to save us and make us a part of His family:
SUMMARY OF JUSTIFICATION:
1. The source of justification is God the Father: He is the
highest of all the courts and all the judges and He has ruled that by His
supreme power that we are righteous. Who can over turn his ruling.
2. The nature of justification is that it is a free gift: The word used
in v 24 indicates that which is without payment and totally undeserved.
In John 15:25 this word is used in a negative way: Jesus said They hated
me without cause.
There was nothing in Jesus that deserved hatred and in there is nothing
in us that deserves salvation.
3. The principle of justification is grace: Grace is the single principle
by which God bestows blessing on man. Grace is unaffected by the merit and
demerit of the object of blessing.
God saves a part from any merit or demerit on our part.
4. The basis of justification is the Cross: The Cross was the place where
the full demands of God were meet. Sin with its guilt and penalty was poured
out upon Christ who said YES to every sin of every member of the human race.
The issue then is faith is Christ and what He did.
5. The condition of justification, the only condition is faith:
Romans 3:28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from
works of the Law.
Faith is our decision that we make to trust in the Cross work of Christ.
6. The agent of justification is the Holy Spirit: At salvation it is the
Holy Spirit who applies justification to us.
I Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you; but you were washed, but you
were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and in the Spirit of our God.
The Father initiates justification, the Son executes justification, and
the Holy Spirit applies justification to the believing sinner.
7. The position of justification is union with Christ:
II Corinthians 5:21, He made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf,
that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 3:27-28
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works?
No, but by a law of faith.
For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the
Law.
The result of understanding justification is that is should humble us.
BOASTING looks more at self congratulation rather than bragging but there
is not room to congratulate self when we are justified by God.
EXCLUDED is an aorist tense verb and conveys three concepts:
1. It has a summarizing force: it is the bottom line.
2. It is a decisive force: Right here, right now.
3. It has a final force: This is once and for all.
BY WHAT KIND OF LAW:
The question is: What kind of law excludes boasting, a law of work? NO!
A law of works would lead to boasting, to bragamonies, to emphasis on self.
Only by the law of faith is boasting excluded.
Romans 3:29-31
Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also?
Yes, of Gentiles also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcised
by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary,
we establish the Law.
Paul has said a lot about the Law and now it may appear that the Law was
useless, but may it never be.
The law brings awareness of the need and the necessity for redemption and
justification.
End of Lesson 15
Grace Notes
Warren Doud
1705 Aggie Lane, Austin, Texas 78757
Phone: 512-458-8923
E-Mail: wdoud@bga.com
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