4 Assertions from the Proposition of Romans
#1 - The Gospel leads to SALVATION #2 - The Gospel is the POWER of God. #3 - In the Gospel is the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God. #4 - A right standing before God is received through faith ALONE.
2 Key Truths from Romans 3:9
1) the UNIVERSALITY of sin (Jews and Greeks are ALL under sin and no one has any excuse or is exempt).
2) they are all UNDER sin (we are under the rule of sin…doesn’t merely mean we are sinners, but he means that we are helpless pawns under sin’s power…we are in bondage under its domain.
The meaning of Total Depravity
Sin has affected every aspect of our human existence. Corruption has extended to every part of human nature - the mind, heart, & will.
How Paul applies this doctrine in Romans 3:19-20
- “Guilty” has the idea of “accountable” - a courtroom scene - the purpose that he has written everything in the 3 previous chapters is so that each one would see himself as a defendant in the courtroom of the almighty.
- The necessary prerequisite for receiving the gospel is to come to the point where we stand speechless before God with nothing to say in our defense.
- This application becomes a test as to whether we have understood what Paul has said thus far in the epistle.
Definition of Justification
Justification means “to declare righteous.” It is a legal, forensic pronouncement by God. It does not mean “just as if I had never sinned” nor does it mean “to make righteous.”
Contrasts between Biblical and Roman views on justification
Biblical:
- Instantaneous (the Bible teaches we are instantly and immediately justified)
- Declared (we are declared righteous)
- Imputed (Christ’s righteousness is imputed to our account)
- Faith Alone (we receive the righteousness of justification solely through faith alone)
Roman:
- Gradual (justification is a gradual process)
- Made (we are made righteousness - this confuses sanctification with justification)
- Infused (Christ’s righteousness is infused into us at baptism)
- Faith + (it is received through faith plus the sacraments)
Three observations from Romans 3:21-31 on justification from this lecture (lecture 8)
- Justification is the MOST PROFOUND turning point in our lives (“but now” in vs 21 indicates a transition…we have moved from a state of wrath to a state of righteousness).
- Justification centers on a DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS (vs 21-22, “righteousness of God” - the only way we can be right with God is if God provides us with His righteousness…we have no righteousness of our own).
- The righteousness of justification is received through faith ALONE.
Seven clarifying observations on justifying faith
- the faith of justification involves intellectual context (there are certain basic facts we must grasp).
- the faith of justification involves assent (it is one thing to know intellectually the facts of the gospel, but it is something else to BELIEVE that those things are true of ME).
- the faith of justification involves the will (there must be a choice; there must be a conscious reliance of the sinner on Christ alone).
- faith is the channel of justification (faith is the means by which the righteousness of Christ is received and appropriated by the sinner unto justification).
- the faith of justification is not a work (1689 London confession)
- the faith of justification operates alone (there is a difference between asserting that faith is a necessary cause of justification or asserting that faith is a sufficient cause of justification).
- the strength of one’s faith is not relevant to justification (our faith doesn’t save us - the object of our faith saves us).
The meaning of “all sinned”
The verb “have sinned” is in the aorist tense in the Greek text.
Summary aorist - snapshot look at our history and the summary of everyone’s past is that all have sinned.
Greek here is literally “all sinned” (all sinned in Adam)
The meaning of “come short”
We lack…
Marathon Illustration - all of the runners did not make it to the finish line.
There is no insinuation here that we come close to the glory of God, but just fall short of it, rather it is something we are totally devoid of.
To lack God’s glory
The meaning of “the glory of God”
In this passage, the glory of God, which fallen man is said to lack, has to do with the glory with which man was first created, that original sin, lost by the fall to be restored in the future.
The meaning of “redemption”
Freedom or liberation by the payment of a price - it is the making free by payment of a ransom (Bondage ->payment that brings freedom).
The meaning of “propitiation”
The Bible teaches, like it or not, that God is angry with the world, so angry in fact, that His wrath is already falling on the world as Paul teaches in Romans 1, and there is a futer day of wrath where His judgement will forever be dropping on the sinner just like an incessant waterfall. And unless something is done to deal with this wrath, all will be devastated.
The prime sense of propitiation is that the divine wrath is turned away or adverted when God is satisfied by a sacrifice.
