[Chapter 3-1] Introduction to Romans Chapter 3
Paul
said that people’s disbelief did not make the faithfulness of God
without effect. Continued from chapter 2, the Apostle Paul pointed out
in this chapter that the Jews had no advantage over the Gentiles. In
this chapter, Paul compared the law and God’s law of righteousness
before he talked about the law of God’s righteousness, which allows
sinners to receive His righteousness and leads them to true life. He
also emphasized in this chapter that the salvation from sin is not
through our deeds, but through the faith in God’s righteousness.
The
Apostle Paul said that even if the Jews and other people do not believe
in God’s righteousness, their disbelief does not make His righteousness
without effect. God cannot lie and the faithfulness of His
righteousness will not disappear. The effect will not be nullified just
because the Jews do not believe in His righteousness.
The
righteousness of God that Paul preached about cannot be nullified just
because people disbelieve. Whoever believes in the salvation God gave to
sinners receives the righteousness of God, and this righteousness is
perfect beyond human morality or thought.
Paul
blamed those who did not believe in God’s righteousness for making Him a
liar. God said that He completely saved the people from their sins
through His righteousness but they did not believe in this, therefore,
He was made into a liar. However, God’s righteousness is not affected by
their disbelief.
How is God’s righteousness revealed?
Those
who do not believe in God’s righteousness will be judged for their
sins. We can all confirm God’s righteousness with the salvation that He
gives. Those who believe in His righteousness receive the forgiveness of
sins and obtain eternal lives. Therefore, everyone can be blessed by
believing in the faithfulness of God’s righteousness.
God’s
righteousness is not false, but true. Everyone is a liar before God.
But God works as He promised and fulfills the promises. Therefore, God’s
faithfulness wins over human lies. Human beings have to believe in
God’s righteousness. God does not change what He said, while humans
frequently change their attitudes according to their circumstantial
judgments. God always keeps true to what He has told mankind.
Romans
3:5 states, “But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness
of God, what shall we say?” Mankind’s unrighteousness reveals the
righteousness of God.
God’s
righteousness is revealed further by our weaknesses. This is because as
recorded, Jesus Himself acted righteously in order to save sinners from
all their sins. Therefore, God’s righteousness shines even more
brightly because of people’s infirmities. This truth can be found in the
gospel of the water and the Spirit, which is filled with God’s
righteousness. The reason for this is because all people sin until the
day they die and God’s love is greater than those sins. God’s love saves
all the fragile sinners from their sins.
Our
Lord overcame all the sins of the world and completed His salvation
through the forgiveness of sins. No person can live a sinless life.
Since people were meant to go to hell, God takes care of them with His
love, and this is His righteousness.
We
people were liars from the day we were born and rejected God’s
righteousness by not believing in His words. Mankind was due to be
doomed before God because none of their deeds were acceptable in the
sight of Him. But God saved us from our sins with His love because He
pitied us. All people were due to go to hell because they were corrupted
by the deception of Satan and all of them sinned. However, God sent His
only begotten Son to save the people from the hands of the devil and
the power of darkness.
The
Apostle Paul said that a human being may try to behave decently
everyday, but he/she cannot help but commit sin throughout his/her
entire life. However, that person’s evilness will further reveal God’s
righteousness and love. In truth, humans have no righteousness and thus
need a messenger like the Apostle Paul. He knew and received God’s
righteousness, and thus had the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. That was
why he could preach His righteousness.
The gospel Paul preached was based on God’s righteousness
The
gospel Paul preached was based on God’s righteousness. Paul had to
preach the gospel because God loved sinners and saved them from their
sins. God’s love of deliverance is in the gospel of the water and the
Spirit. Therefore, the forgiveness of sins depends on our belief in
God’s righteousness. However, the problem is that people generally think
that they have to live virtuously to be saved before God. Human beings
cannot be good based on their basic instincts; being good outwardly only
becomes an obstacle in accepting God’s righteousness. People have to
break their fixed thoughts of living virtuously in order to accept the
gospel of the spiritual circumcision, which God gave.
Nobody
on earth can truly be good. Then, how could sinners be saved from all
of their sins? They must throw away the thought that they should live
good lives to be saved. Many people refuse to give up their thoughts and
standards; therefore, they cannot be completely saved from their sins.
God’s righteousness, which is revealed in the gospel of the spiritual
circumcision, made us aware of how our unrighteousness served to only
demonstrate God’s love and how great His righteousness was. For this
reason, those who believe in God’s righteousness are proud of His
righteousness and not their own. The righteous only boast of God’s
righteousness and raise His righteousness on high because it comes from
God.
The
Apostle Paul teaches the role of the law to legalists who believe they
will go to Heaven if they do good deeds, but if they do not live
virtuous lives after believing in Jesus, they can never reach God’s
righteousness. The law is like a mirror that reveals human sins. Paul
teaches that people have regal faiths and that their faiths are wrong.
This is Paul’s teaching and his guidance to God’s righteousness.
Paul
speaks to those who follow false teachers who don’t think they can be
righteous and sinless after believing in Jesus. He teaches unbelievers
to believe in God’s righteousness and to be free from condemnation. Paul
says that those who do not believe in the salvation of Jesus’ water and
blood are under the judgment and since they do not believe in God, it
is proper for them to be judged. He says that sinners should return to
God’s righteousness and receive His righteousness in order to be
delivered from the dreadful judgment.
Then can we sin more because we believe in God’s righteousness?
Verse
7 states, “For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His
glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner?” Then if we are called
sinless, can we sin freely? Paul demonstrates this point. Since God
saved you with His righteousness, then are you allowed to lie more
freely? If you believe so, then you should know that you do not know
God’s righteousness and that you are slandering His righteousness.
Even
today, there are many people who slander God’s righteousness in their
hearts; it is not very different from the old times. Paul wrote this
Scripture nearly 2000 years ago and even back then, there were people
who were wrapped up in their own ways of thinking.
Still
today, most Christians, who have not yet been born again, misunderstand
that if one becomes sinless, he/she might commit sins on purpose. Those
who have not been born again slander the righteous, who are born again
of water and the Spirit, according to the thoughts of their flesh and
speak ill of the born-again saints. Nominal Christians have slandered
the truly born again Christians with their faithless thoughts. True
faith cannot be understood by human flesh. Sin is something you commit
all your life. Both the righteous and unrighteous inevitably sin.
However, those who reject God’s righteousness are with sin while those
who believe in it are without sin.
Paul
said to unbelievers, “For what if some did not believe? Will their
unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!”
(Romans 3:3-4) Just because humankind does not believe in God’s
righteousness, their unbelief cannot nullify His righteousness. If a
person believes in God’s righteousness, he/she is saved. However, if the
person does not, he/she cannot receive His righteousness. That’s it.
God’s righteousness will stand steadfast forever. Those who go to hell
do not believe in Jesus’ baptism and blood and will never be able to
cleanse their sins. God’s righteousness, which leads believers to be
born again, will never be made without effect just because people do not
believe in it.
Obtaining God’s righteousness is regardless of human effort
Obtaining
the righteousness of our Lord has nothing to do with our human efforts.
It is simply related to our faiths in the truth that God’s
righteousness is the remission of our sins. A person who believes in the
truth of the water and the Spirit receives God’s righteousness by
faith, but one who does not believe in God’s righteousness receives
judgment according to the truth of God’s words.
Therefore,
God sent Jesus to this world and made Him become a stumbling stone and a
rock of offense to those who are disobedient to God’s righteousness.
There are many people who voluntarily ask for hell because they don’t
want to believe in God’s righteousness, even though Jesus, a stumbling
block and a rock of offense, gave them the righteousness of God by
becoming their Savior. Even the most evil person was given the way to
becoming righteous and obtaining eternal life. Even a person who does
many good works cannot be delivered from destruction if he/she doesn’t
believe in God’s righteousness, which makes him/her receive the
remission of sins and born again.
Because
the wages of sin is death, anyone with sin will go through the
judgment. Jesus becomes a stumbling stone and a rock of offense to those
who try to establish their own righteousness and enter Heaven without
believing in God’s righteousness. Therefore, the reason people get
ruined, though they somehow believe in Jesus, is because they don’t
believe in His righteousness.
Some
people say that they are sinners who have been saved from their sins,
but there is no such thing as a ‘saved sinner.’ How can one become a
sinner again after being saved from sin? One is sinless if one has been
saved from sin, and one is with sin if one has not yet obtained
salvation from sin. There won’t be a single person with sin in the
Kingdom of Heaven. God says, “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in
the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous” (Psalm
1:5).
People
pose themselves the big question of how they can become righteous while
committing sins everyday. However, there is no need for them to worry
about that. Becoming righteous by believing in God’s righteousness is
possible only because the Lord already took all the sins of the world,
along with their future sins, onto Him by receiving baptism at the
Jordan River and dying on the Cross, thereby fulfilling all the
righteousness of God. Sinners can become righteous just by believing in
God’s righteousness. Are you still debtors even if all of your debts
have been paid off?
Our
Lord eliminated all of our sins with His righteousness. The Lord saved
those who have complete faith in the gospel of the water and the Spirit,
so there is no condemnation to them, no matter how weak they may be. We
can all become righteous by believing in God’s righteousness.
Human thoughts lead us to death
Human
thoughts lead us to death and they originate from the carnal mind.
Spiritual thoughts originate from the faith in God’s righteousness. It
is possible for the devil to dominate human thoughts. Human beings have
no other choice but to sin with their flesh. However, a person who has
faith in God’s righteousness becomes righteous by the faith in the
baptism and blood of Jesus. One cannot become righteous by avoiding the
committal of sin. One cannot become completely sinless by going through a
physical transformation to reach a holy state. It is foolish for a
Christian to think that he/she can enter Heaven by becoming a holy
person who never commits sin in front of God.
We
can be saved from our sins all at once by believing in God’s
righteousness. Moreover, every sinner can be completely saved from
his/her sin if he/she believes in the grace of the gospel of the water
and the Spirit, which leads believers to be born again. It may seem
impossible for one to become sinless from a human point of view.
However, it is possible by the faith in the word if God. One cannot live
without sinning through the human body, but one’s heart becomes sinless
if one truly believes in God’s righteousness. Human bodies need to
satisfy their desires and it is impossible for bodies to restrain from
sinning since they constantly crave pleasure. God speaks the truth; one
can become righteous only by having faith in the gospel of the water and
the Spirit, which our Lord has given. We cannot enter the Kingdom of
Heaven by doing good deeds with our flesh. We can only enter Heaven by
believing in the righteousness of God.
There is a difference between a spiritual mind and a carnal mind
Carnal minds cannot understand the truth that they can only become sinless by faith and that they are able to become the righteous, the born-again Christians. Because they think that even if a person repents for his/her wrongdoings, he/she will sin again the following day.
However,
even though it is not possible for a person to become righteous through
the human deeds, it is perfectly possible by God’s righteousness. This
is because one can receive His righteousness by believing in Jesus’
baptism and His blood. God’s righteousness is capable of eliminating the
sins of all the people. It allows us to be righteous and to call God
our Father. Therefore, you should know that true faith starts with the
faith in God’s righteousness. True faith does not start with the carnal
mind, but with the faith in the words of truth.
Many
people who have not been born again are unable to escape from their own
thoughts because they are always locked up inside them. These people
can never say that they have become righteous because they think only
with carnal minds, even though they say they believe in Jesus. One can
say that he/she is sinless before Jesus only when he/she believes in the
words of the spiritual circumcision, which contains God’s
righteousness.
Therefore,
if a person wants to receive God’s righteousness, he/she should listen
to the words of truth from the truly born again people and believe them
with their hearts. The Holy Spirit dwells in every saint who believes in
God’s righteousness. I hope you brethren keep this truth in mind. If
you truly wish to obtain the blessing of being born again, God will
allow you to meet a born again person who believes in His righteousness.
You say that there is none righteous?
Verses
9 and 10 state, “What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we
have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under
sin. There is none righteous, no, not one.” It is written that there is
none righteous, no, not one.
What
does this mean? Do these words talk about our state before or after we
are born again? We were all sinners before we were born again. The words
“there is none righteous” refers to the state before Jesus fulfilled
the ministry of eliminating all the sins of the world. One cannot become
righteous without believing in Jesus.
Therefore,
the words ‘incremental sanctification’ came to exist through people who
served heretic religions or idols. “There is none righteous, no, not
one.” Do you think that a sinner can possibly become righteous by going
through self-training and cultivation? One cannot become righteous on
one’s own.
“There
is none righteous, no, not one.” There is no one who will become
righteous or has become righteous through one’s own decent living. There
is not a single person who has become sinless through his/her own
efforts. It is only possible through the faith in the spiritual
circumcision that contains God’s righteousness.
Verse
11 also states, “There is none who understands; there is none who seeks
after God.” There is no one who understands his/her own evils. In other
words, there is none who understands that he/she is one who will be
sent to hell. A sinner is not even able to understand that he/she is a
sinner. A sinner lives while not even clearly understanding that he/she
will go to hell due to his/her own sins. Therefore, such a person has to
try to receive salvation from sin by understanding that he/she deserves
to go to hell due to sin. However, there is not even one who
understands one’s sinful nature before God or his/her fate to go to
hell.
Are
we profitable or unprofitable beings in front of God? The whole of
mankind is useless until they are born again. Even though we all have
become righteous thanks to Him, weren’t we once people who fought
against God, refused to believe in the truth and even blamed Him?
Then,
how can a sinner glorify God? How can a sinner, who has not even
settled his/her own problems of sin, praise God? Praising God in a
sinner’s state cannot be true adoration. How can a sinner possibly
praise God? A sinner can never give glory to God, and He doesn’t accept
anything from such a person.
Nowadays,
praise ministries have been spread throughout the world. However, only
those who believe in God’s righteousness can praise God. Do you think
that God will be pleased by the praise of a sinner? A sinner’s praise is
like Cain’s offering. Why would God accept the meaningless praises and
sinful hearts of sinners?
Verse
12 states, “They have all turned aside; they have together become
unprofitable. There is none who does good, no, not one.” Those sinners
who have “turned aside” do not know the great works God has done for
them, and do not believe in Him or the Word of truth. Moreover, sinners
not only refuse to uphold God’s word or to believe in it, but they
always think of carnal biases based on their own thoughts. So, they can
never discriminate between what’s right and wrong before God.
Correct
judgment is only possible by the words of truth that contain God’s
righteousness. Good decisions and correct judgments can only be made
within God’s righteousness. You should know that all lawful judgments do
not rest inside humans, but inside God’s righteousness. Human thoughts
have all turned aside and rejected God’s righteousness. People say, “I
think in this way and believe according to my own thoughts, no matter
what the Bible talks about.” But, I hope you realize that one who does
not discard one’s own thoughts such as this is one who rejects God’s
righteousness with one’s egocentric stubbornness. Therefore, thinking
this way does not allow one to return to God’s righteousness.
The carnal mind leads one’s spirit to death
One
who has not been born again is one’s own judge. These kinds of people
don’t really care about what is written in God’s words, but instead, if
something is different from their own thoughts, they say it is wrong and
agree only with a part of the words that tally with their own thoughts.
The Bible states that humans turned aside to their own thoughts and
self-centeredness. If one hopes to be delivered from his/her sins in the
most proper way, he/she needs the righteousness and justice of God.
Then what is His justice?
God’s
justice is God’s righteousness and you should know that the word of God
is the criterion for the righteous justice of God. “In the beginning
was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John
1:1). Who is this Person who is called “the Word”? Who is the Person who
was with God the Father and the Holy Spirit? He is our Savior, Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ became our Savior and the King of kings. Jesus is
God.
It
was said in John that there was the Word in the beginning, and the Word
was with God. Yes, the Lord Jesus is our Savior. The Word is God and He
is the express image of His Person (Hebrews 1:3). The Savior is God.
Therefore, because the Word is God Himself, His words of righteousness
are different from the thoughts of us humans. You have to realize that
sinners dare to understand God’s righteousness through their own
perceptivity when they are ignorant in His righteousness. One who stands
fast by the faith in God’s righteousness is a profitable person who
will be put into good use by God. One who stands fast and holds the word
of God is a person of faith and is profitable in front of God. This
kind of person is also blessed.
All
people fight against God with their own thoughts and sins. You should
know that one’s pretending to be holy and good, or pretending to be kind
and having mercy on others, are all hypocritical deeds that come from
human thoughts that deceive God. Pretending to be good is against God.
No one is good but Him. If a Christian does not accept the love He
accomplished and His righteousness of salvation without having been born
again, it is against God and disobedient to the truth.
Do
you think that only those who commit great sins in this world are going
to receive the condemnation of God? All those who do not believe in
God’s righteousness will not be exempted from God’s furious rage.
One
who does not believe in Jesus in truth is filled with the imperative
conception of having to live a good life. Who taught such ideas? It was
Satan who did it. However, human beings are not capable of living good
lives starting from their births. Therefore, the word of God tells us
that we must receive the remission of sins. Does this mean that we
should do evil things on purpose so that grace may abound? Certainly
not. Since human beings were infected with sin starting from the day
they were born, they are destined to go to hell due to the wounds of
contaminated sin. Therefore, God told them to receive the remission of
sins Jesus had already prepared for them. He is the God of salvation and
advises all of us to receive salvation by accepting the word of His
righteousness, which is the truth, into our hearts.
What is a human being by nature?
Verses
13-18 state, “Their throat is an open tomb; with their tongues they
have practiced deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; whose
mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood; destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace
they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
“With
their tongues they have practiced deceit.” How well all those people
deceive! In John, it was written, “When he speaks a lie, he speaks from
his own resources” (John 8:44). “I’m telling the truth, it’s the truth.
Do you understand me?” All of the words that a person who has not been
born again strongly asserts to be true are false.
A
person who has not yet been born again cannot help but tell lies
whenever he/she talks to people. He/she stresses that all of what he/she
has said is true, but it is the paradoxical evidence that proves that
every time he/she tells a lie, he/she deceives people by saying that
it’s the truth. All of the things that a person who has not yet been
born again says are false because he/she does not believe in God’s
righteousness.
A
swindler can never make fraudulent practices to people after they all
know that whatever he does is fraudulent. He talks as if it were
genuine. He talks to people realistically and sincerely to make them
trust him. “I tell you the very, very, very truth. If you invest some
money in this, you will earn tons of money in return. Just invest a
million dollars and within a year, you will get about two million
dollars more than you have invested. In the next couple of years, you
will earn so much money. This is the newest type of business and it is
absolutely safe. Come on, you must hurry and make up your mind because
many others are waiting.” This is what a swindler tells people. You
should keep in mind that a person who has not received the forgiveness
of sins practices deceit with his/her tongue.
The
Bible says that when Satan speaks a lie, he speaks from his own
resources. Everything a person who has not been born again from sin says
is a lie. It is no wonder that a minister who has not been born again
deceives the church members by saying they will become rich if they
offer large amounts of tithes to the church. Moreover, he may say that
once a person becomes an elder of the church, the person will become
rich by ‘the irresistible blessings of God.’ Why do people try so hard
to become an elder? It is because of the lies of the false ministers who
claim that God will fill one with material wealth once he/she becomes
an elder. There are so many Christians who have been deprived of their
properties after trying to be an elder. They have paid excessive
devotions for their swindling ministers because they wished to be
elders.
Let’s
pay attention to Romans 3:10 again. The phrase, “as it is written,”
indicates to us that the following verses are quotations from the Old
Testament. Rather than giving additional explanations, Paul quoted the
exact phrase from the original Scripture: “For there is no faithfulness
in their mouth; Their inward part is destruction; Their throat is an
open tomb; They flatter with their tongue” (Psalm 5:9). “Their feet run
to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are
thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths”
(Isaiah 59:7). People who go to hell because they do not know God’s
righteousness are so pitiful.
Verse
19 states, “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those
who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the
world may become guilty before God.”
The
law brings about wrath (Romans 4:15). God gives the law to those who
have not yet been born again in order to make them perceive themselves
as sinners. The law teaches every sinner that he/she is incapable of
living according to His law. It was clearly said that God did not give
us the law for us to live by it. Then does God make the law void? No, He
does not do that. God said that He gave us the law through Moses in
order to teach us that we are sinners. He wants us to realize our sinful
natures through the law and that it was not given for us to keep it.
The role of the law is to point out how insufficient and infirm we are
as human beings.
So,
verse 20 states, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be
justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” No
flesh will be justified in His sight by the deeds of the law. Not only
for Paul himself, but also for all the other servants of God, “by the
deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” There is none
who can keep the law, none who will be able to keep it, and none who
has kept it. Therefore, the conclusion is that one cannot become
righteous by the deeds of the law.
Can
we be transformed into righteous people by keeping the law? When we see
these passages, we can easily think that we may become holy,
step-by-step, to finally reach sanctification by living good lives
through our deeds after we become believers in Jesus. However, this is
not true at all. Saying that one can enter the Kingdom of Heaven by
being sanctified incrementally is absolutely false.
All
those who have not been born again are still under the law of God, the
law of sin and death (Romans 8:2). It is because once a person becomes a
Christian, he/she thinks that he/she must live by God’s words.
Christians feel obligated to keep the law with their deeds, but in
actuality, they cannot live by the law at all. That’s why they come to
say prayers of repentance every day. They don’t realize that they are
falling into the mire of a hopeless religion; namely Christianity. This
proves that living this sort of religious life is wrong from the start.
Trying to keep God’s law after misunderstanding the law leads
Christian-religionists to the confrontation of God’s righteousness, even
though the law is only there to teach people that they are sinners.
The
Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification in Christianity is the same
religious doctrine as of the heathenish religions of the world. Similar
to the doctrine of entering Nirvana in Buddhism, in Christianity, the
Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification states that one’s flesh and
spirit becomes holier and holier after one starts believing in Jesus,
and one finally becomes holy enough to enter Heaven.
One
who has been born with the infection of sin can only do the work of
spreading sin during one’s entire lifetime. The reason for this is
because one has already been infected with sin. The virus of sin comes
out of one’s body even if one does not mean to spread sin. There is only
one cure for this disease. It is to listen and believe in the word of
the gospel of truth that contains God’s righteousness. One can be saved
from all sin and even receive eternal life if one hears and believes in
the words of the true remission of sins, which enables us to receive the
spiritual circumcision.
How
can there be a person in this world who lives perfectly according to
the law even after he/she is born again? There is none. The Bible
states, “By the law is the knowledge of sin” (Romans 3:20). Isn’t this
truth clear and simple? Adam and Eve left the word of God by not
believing and falling into sin by being deceived by Satan in the Age of
Innocence, and they came to pass on all the sins to their descendents
after the incident. However, even though all human beings inherited sin
from their ancestors, they did not even know that they were truly born
as sinners.
Since
the time of Abraham, God gave mankind the concrete knowledge on His
righteousness to let all people receive the remission of sins by
believing in the word of God.
Paul talks about the righteousness of God apart from the law
Verses
21-22 state, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is
revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the
righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all
who believe. For there is no difference.”
It
is said that the righteousness of God is revealed, “being witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets.” “The Law and the Prophets” implies the Old
Testament. Now, Paul talked about the gospel of God’s righteousness that
was revealed through the sacrificial system of the tabernacle. The
Scriptures clearly show us God’s righteousness by which one can receive
the remission of sin through the sin offering, and Paul’s faith was also
based on the faith in God’s righteousness, which is revealed in all the
Scriptures.
Paul
declares that anyone who has faith in Jesus Christ can indiscriminately
obtain God’s righteousness. One’s being saved or not is absolutely up
to one’s belief or unbelief. So, he says that the righteousness of God
is revealed “through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who
believe. For there is no difference.”
What
is true faith? Who is the substance of faith? It is Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 12:2 states, “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith.” We should learn about God’s truth from a born again saint and
receive salvation in Jesus Christ by believing in this truth and then
live by the faith in God’s words. Believing in the Lord’s righteousness
with the heart is to have true faith.
Romans
10:10 states, “For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and
with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” We can become
righteous by believing in Jesus’ baptism and blood with our hearts and
be confirmed in our salvations by confessing our faiths with our mouths.
The remission of sins cannot be obtained by our deeds, but just by our
faiths in God’s righteousness.
Verses
23-25 state, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through
faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God
had passed over the sins that were previously committed.”
The
Bible states that all have sinned, and therefore, they fall short of
the glory of God. Sinners had no other choice but to go to hell.
However, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and God’s
righteousness, people received the remission of sins freely. People
became sinless because they believed in God’s righteousness. God set
forth Jesus as a propitiation by His blood through faith.
When
we take a look at verses 25-26, it is written, “whom God set forth as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His
righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus.”
Here,
the phrase, “to demonstrate His righteousness” refers to God’s
righteousness, which was accomplished by the righteous act of Jesus
Christ. The reason Jesus shed blood on the Cross was because prior to
His death, He had fulfilled all the righteousness of God by being
baptized by John at the Jordan River (refer to Matthew 3:13-17). God the
Father made Jesus into a sacrifice of propitiation for the sin of this
world in order to make peace between human beings and Himself. Jesus was
the incarnation of God’s righteousness.
Jesus
took away all the sins of this world by receiving baptism from John.
Jesus became the alpha and the omega. This means that everyone can
receive salvation from sin if he/she believes in the words that state
that the Lord blotted out all the sins of the world, from the very
beginning until the end.
God’s
righteousness that Jesus fulfilled allowed us to be at peace with God.
It was made so that only a person who was at peace with God would be
able to enter Heaven. Only after I started believing in the gospel of
truth did I come to understand the verse, “God set forth Jesus as a
propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His
righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins
that were previously committed.” In the time of His forbearance, I came
to understand and believe in God’s righteousness through Jesus.
God’s
righteousness was fulfilled in the past perfect tense, which indicates
that it had already been fulfilled. We received the remission of sins by
faith in the true Word that says that Jesus eliminated all our sins by
His baptism and blood. Even though our spirits have been forgiven of sin
all at once, our fleshes still cannot help but commit sin. God referred
to the sin we commit in this present world as ‘sin committed
previously.’
Why?
God set up the baptism of Jesus as the starting point of salvation.
Therefore, the remission of sins was fulfilled all at once through the
righteousness of God, which Jesus Christ had fulfilled. The sins we
commit with the flesh at this time are sins that have already been
eliminated through the baptism of Jesus in God’s view. All the sins of
the world have already been forgiven in the sight of God. ‘To pass over
the sins previously committed’ means ‘to consider the wages of the sins
to have already been paid.’ All the sins of this world are sins that
have already been washed away by the baptism the Lord received and His
blood on the Cross.
Therefore,
all the sins of mankind from the beginning of this world until the end,
from the time of Adam until the last day of the earth and even the sins
that people are currently committing are the sins ‘previously
committed’ that Jesus had eliminated in the past. Those who believe in
God’s righteousness are without sin. This truth is that the previously
committed sins have been passed over already. Even the sins we are
committing at this very moment are also part of the sins previously
committed and forgiven in God’s view. People of this world are
committing the sins that had been eliminated by God’s Son, who was sent
to this world to take away all the sins of the world. The sins we are
committing right now are sins that our Lord had already eliminated. Do
you understand what this means?
Jesus
said that He had already blotted out the sins of this world by God’s
righteousness. One could misunderstand this if one doesn’t really
understand the meaning of this passage. In the Lord’s perspective, the
sins we human beings commit are sins that had already been put into
judgment since He Himself got baptized at the Jordan River and was
judged at the Cross. The reason God tells us not to worry about the sins
is because Jesus came to this world and made people perfectly
sanctified all at once.
This
truth Paul talks about in this passages is very important to one who
has been saved by believing in God’s righteousness. However, people who
have not been born again ignore God’s righteousness and will go to hell.
Brethren, you should listen and fully understand the word of God. Only
then will it be good to the establishment of your faith and to the
preaching of the gospel to another person. Do you know that God convicts
the world of sin, righteousness, and of judgment in order to finally
mention His righteousness? (John 16:8)
God
set forth Jesus as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to
demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance, God had passed
over the sins that were previously committed. Since God set forth Jesus
as a propitiation, He teaches us that even the sins previously
committed had already been eliminated. Therefore, we became righteous by
believing in God’s righteousness.
In
verse 26 it is written, “to demonstrate at the present time His
righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who
has faith in Jesus.” ‘At the present time,’ God allows us to have
eternal life, and He doesn’t want to condemn the world. ‘At the present
time,’ when God sent Jesus Christ to ‘demonstrate His righteousness’,
the Lord demonstrated God’s righteousness by His baptism and blood. God
made His only begotten Son come to this world to be baptized and
crucified and thereby demonstrated to us His love and righteousness.
God
fulfilled all His righteousness through Jesus. Every believer in God’s
righteousness is righteous. Our God fulfilled the righteous act of
blotting out the sins of the world once and for all. Can we then believe
in God’s righteousness with our hearts? God says that we are righteous
and without sin when we believe in His righteousness. Why? Isn’t a
believer in Jesus sinless since He has already done the righteous act of
washing away all of our sins? A believer in God’s righteousness is
righteous because he/she possesses no sin. Because the Lord had blotted
out all the sins we commit during our entire lives, we are able to
believe in God’s righteousness. Otherwise, we would never have been able
to receive the righteousness of God.
There is only God’s righteousness to boast about
Verses
27-31 state, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of
works? No, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is
justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. Or is He the God of
the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the
Gentiles also, since there is one God who will justify the circumcised
by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. Do we then make void the
law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the
law.”
Establishing
the law means that we cannot be saved from sins by our deeds. We are
weak and imperfect creatures, but God’s righteousness made us perfect by
His word. Believing in God’s word of righteousness has saved us. Even
after we are saved from sins, our Lord continues to speak to us, saying,
“You are insufficient, but I made you sanctified. Therefore, you should
draw near to God with His righteousness.”
In
verse 27, it is written, “Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By
what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.” One should know the
law of God’s righteousness that God has established and believe in this
law of His righteousness. “By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of
faith.”
You
should know that we are delivered from our sins only when we believe in
God’s righteousness and cannot be saved by our own deeds. Romans
chapter 3 talks about this part through Paul the Apostle. “Will their
unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not!” A
believer in God’s righteousness will stand fast, but one who doesn’t
believe in God’s righteousness will fall.
Romans
chapter 3 reveals God’s righteousness clearly. You should keep in mind
that God established the law of His righteousness to make those who
believe in their own thoughts fall. God completely saved us from all
sin. Therefore, we can be saved from all sin by believing in God’s Word
that reveals His righteousness. We come to inherit the Kingdom of God
and have peace with Him by believing in His righteousness.
Those
who don’t believe in God’s righteousness cannot have peace in their
hearts. The question of whether one is blessed or cursed depends on
whether one believes in God’s righteousness or not. If one does not take
in the words of God’s righteousness, he/she will be judged according to
the just condemnation of God’s words. Salvation originates from God’s
love and then we receive salvation from our sins by believing in His
righteousness. We praise our Lord who gave us this faith in God’s
righteousness. Let’s give thanks for the fact that we have the same
faith Paul the Apostle had! We praise the Lord.
We
also praise and give thanks to Him for we have been delivered from all
sin by believing in Jesus’ baptism and His blood on the Cross. If it had
not been for this salvation, the faith, or the church of God, we would
have never been able to receive the remission of sins. We truly believed
in God’s righteousness with the heart, and confession was made into
salvation with the mouth. We give thanks to God who saved us from all
sin with His righteousness.
No comments:
Post a Comment