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Subject 9 : Romans (Commentaries on the Book of Romans)
[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.
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