How Grace Works

Reading:  Romans 4:1-8
    
    Jesus has opened a new path to God that hinges on grace rather than our own good deeds.  Here Paul calls two surprising witnesses to explain how that grace works—Abraham and David.  “For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God.  For what does the Scripture say?  ‘Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness’”(Rom 4:2-3).  If Abraham did enough good works that God had to save him, then he would have room to boast in his goodness.  Yet Paul insists that Scripture says Abraham was justified because he believed.  Faith is not the same thing as righteousness.  Righteousness means that we have met God’s standard and have lived perfectly.  Yet God counted Abraham’s faith as if it was righteousness.  This is how grace works.  To use another example, “to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due.  And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness”(Rom 4:4-5).  We do not earn our salvation as if it is our wages; instead we trust that God will count our faith as it was perfect righteousness.

    Paul also calls David to testify.  “David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:  ‘Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin’”(Rom 4:6-8).  Note the wording:  David is describing a sinner whose evil has been forgiven.  David does not boast in his perfection, but the blessing of the Lord’s forgiveness.  So we too do not have hope in our perfect lives, but in a righteousness that comes from forgiveness.  This is how grace works.

    Abraham and David show us the path of trusting obedience.  Paul is not arguing that we can merely trust in God’s grace and refuse to obey him; Abraham and David did not do this.  Rather, he is saying that the hints of grace are scattered throughout the story of Scripture because God has always been gracious.  We now have the opportunity to share in the relief and hope that comes from relying on God rather than ourselves.

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One Thing to Think About:  How have I experienced the relief of forgiveness?

One Thing to Pray For:  Deeper trust in “him who justifies the ungodly”
 

A New Way to Be Right

Reading:  Romans 3:21-31
    
    Since man has failed to respond to God’s message in creation and the Law, we need a new way to be right.  “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe”(Rom 3:21-22).  God has forged a new path for us to be right outside the Law.  We are no longer saved by living perfectly under God’s law, but through faith.  Just as sin is universal (Rom 3:9), so this new way is available to all people who are willing to believe in Jesus (Rom 3:22-23).  We “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith”(Rom 3:24-25).  Paul stresses that we do not earn this status by our good works; it is a gift.  The sacrifice of Jesus secures something that we could never achieve on our own.  Meanwhile God has found a way to be “just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus”(Rom 3:26).  He takes sin seriously enough to punish it (“just”) while loving us enough to rescue us from our condemnation (“the justifier”).  These are breathtaking thoughts.

    Since we have merely received a gift, Paul argues that our “boasting” is “excluded”(Rom 3:27).  “For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law”(Rom 3:28).  Boasting implies that we have earned our standing before God and can brag about our works.  This is not the way of Jesus because we are only right because of his sacrifice and mercy.  This new way to be right simultaneously exalts us and humiliates us; we become children of God but it has nothing to do with our own goodness.

    Everything has changed in Jesus.  The ignorance of the Gentiles has been expelled and they can be brought to God when they put faith in Jesus.  The Law of Moses, which only condemned those who lived under it and pointed them forward to Jesus, yields to this better way.  We lower ourselves before God and receive his goodness.  We now trust and obey Jesus, not ourselves.

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One Thing to Think About:  What is the appropriate way to receive a gift?

One Thing to Pray For:  Praise to God for his grace
 

Different Roads to the Same Place

Reading:  Romans 3:9-20
    
    While the Jewish people have certainly had some advantages (Rom 3:1-2), it has not led to them pleasing God.  “What then?  Are we Jews any better off?  No, not at all.  For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin”(Rom 3:9).  While Paul has detailed the sinfulness of the Gentiles (Rom 1:18-32), the Old Testament itself describes the continual rebellion and immorality of the Jewish people.  Paul strings together a series of Old Testament passages here (v. 10-18) to confirm this point.  

    The first reference is from Psalm 14 and summarizes the situation:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one”(Rom 3:10-12).  The wording here can be misunderstood.  Paul is not arguing that no one ever seeks God at all or ever does anything good.  His point is that even Jews, who have the Law of Moses and a special relationship with God, do not live righteously and follow him all the time.  If they are judged, they are also found wanting.  The charges that the Law makes against them (Rom 3:13-18) prove the point.  “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.  For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin”(Rom 3:19-20).  The fact that these condemnations are in the Law means that they are addressed to Jews and cannot be avoided.  No one can protest; God is right to condemn us all.  More, the Law does not save us from this condemnation, but only serves to condemn (v. 20).  We need a new way to be right with God.

    All people stand guilty before God.  “All, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin”(Rom 3:9).  Yet we have all arrive at this place by a different road.  Gentiles dismissed what they knew from nature; Jews violated what they learned from the Law.  Gentiles pursued riotous living (Rom 1:28-32); Jews ignored their sin and condescended to others (Rom 2:1-2).  Every person’s story is different.  Our histories, temptations, and trajectories differ, yet we all end up lost in sin and in need of a savior.

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One Thing to Think About:  In what ways have I rebelled against God?

One Thing to Pray For:  A heart to seek for God and do good 
 

Let God Be True

Reading:  Romans 3:1-8
    
    Paul anticipates some objections here to the arguments he has been making.  Surely some of his Jewish readers are baffled at his claim that circumcision doesn’t seem to matter (Rom 2:25-29).  “Then what advantage has the Jew?  Or what is the value of circumcision?  Much in every way.  To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God”(Rom 3:1-2).  Is Paul arguing that Jewishness is worthless?  Of course not.  The Jews know God and have a special connection with him, including his revelation in Scripture.  This is not his point, as we will see.  But is Paul saying, then, that the unfaithful Jews of chapter 2 have made God’s promises to Israel void?  “What if some were unfaithful?  Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God?  By no means!  Let God be true though every one were a liar”(Rom 3:3-4).  God will still keep his word, even when Israel sins against him.  This is also not his point.

     There is one more (rather challenging) objection he wants to head off:  “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?  That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us?  (I speak in a human way.)  By no means!  For then how could God judge the world?”(Rom 3:5-6).  If our evil shows God’s goodness, is God somehow unjust to punish us for the thing that shows his goodness?  Paul again defends God’s right to judge the world even if it means doom for us (Rom 3:7).   Paul’s actual point is not to demean the Jews, to argue that God has thrown out his promises, or to encourage sin.  His point is that our sin has caused the need for a new way to be made righteous—fulfilling God’s promises and eliminating national distinctions.

    “Let God be true though every one were a liar” reminds us that God does not change his will based on majority opinion.  There is no “safety in numbers” with God.  He is also not impressed that sometimes he can make our sin into something good, as if it makes our rebellion acceptable.  God will be right even if the whole world is condemned by his righteous standards.  My job is to acknowledge where I stand in this and flee to Jesus for safety from this judgment.

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One Thing to Think About:  Why is it hard for us to believe that many people could be wrong?

One Thing to Pray For:  Deeper appreciation for the righteousness and faithfulness of God 
 

Circumcision of the Heart

Reading:  Romans 2:25-29
    
    Paul’s words here were likely revolutionary and controversial to many of his Jewish readers, despite the fact that they have clear Old Testament precedent.  Having challenged the Jews to live by the Law they teach others, he goes a step farther.  “For circumcision indeed is of value if you obey the law, but if you break the law, your circumcision becomes uncircumcision”(Rom 2:25).  Circumcision does not make up for sin and disobedience; in fact, it is intended to signal our desire to obey God (Gen 17:1-2).  Meanwhile, what about the opposite combination, the righteous Gentile?  “So if a man who is uncircumcised keeps the precepts of the law, will not his uncircumcision be regarded as circumcision?  Then he who is physically uncircumcised but keeps the law will condemn you who have the written code and circumcision but break the law”(Rom 2:26-27).  This man’s lack of circumcision will not overrule his obedience to God; he will instead condemn the Jew who disobeys.

     What should we conclude from this?  “For no one is a Jew who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical.  But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not the letter.  His praise is not from man but from God”(Rom 2:28-29).  Jewishness—the deep connection between God and his people—is not merely a matter of birth or cutting the flesh.  Following God is a heart matter.  This is a truth God spoke to Israel repeatedly (Lev 26:41; Deut 10:16, 30:6; Jer 4:4; Acts 7:51).  When our hearts are given over fully to obeying God, we become part of God’s people—whatever nation we hail from.

    True devotion to God is an inward matter in which we turn our hearts toward obedience and surrender our lives to him.  We do not rely on our parentage or the faith of others for our standing before God.  We refuse to be stubborn any longer.  We seek to please him rather than ourselves.  We then are circumcised as “a matter of the heart,” a part of God’s new covenant and people.

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One Thing to Think About:  What is the posture of my heart toward God?

One Thing to Pray For:  The praise of God, not man