Beauty in the Book: Romans 3
Themes
This chapter of Romans answers key questions regarding how to interpret the law now that Jesus has come, and describes how God’s magnificent mercy is displayed through our own evident shortcomings.
Questions
This chapter addresses the following questions:
When it comes to being seen as “good” by God, does it make a difference if you have a Jewish background or not?
Is sin still considered “bad” if it shows off how good God is is?
Is the Old Testament law irrelevant now that Jesus came?
What does Jesus’ sacrifice have to do with the law of the Old Testament?
Moving Forward
This writing will break down the chapter section-by-section, offering commentary for your reflection. Don’t miss the ending titled Beauty in the Book where it all gets wrapped up in a bow—highlighting how every chapter is woven with uplifting realities of God’s goodness and grace.
Romans 3:1-2
Transitioning from the previous section regarding circumcision: Paul dives into a crucial and groundbreaking new reality for the Jewish people:
Having God’s law doesn’t equate to having God’s heart. At the end of chapter 2—just before this section—Paul uses circumcision as an illustration for what the new covenant of Jesus reigns in: a circumcision of the heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
We need a total inner transformation, which has only been made possible according to God’s all-sufficient grace. His exuberant glory is magnified by our relentless shortcomings.
All that God gives us by his grace was intended to magnify his goodness. Let’s take a little detour into Ephesians 1, which spells out the spiritual riches handed to us in Christ, and includes the key note that these riches are for the praise of God’s glory.
I’ve bolded that part so you can’t miss it. ;)
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of His glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. Ephesians 1:3-6 NIV
I love that note in Ephesians 1 about the adoption handed to us in Jesus. You see, we have all been—Jews and Gentiles alike—invited into God’s family through Jesus.
The Jews had a special relationship to God the Father with their history being wrapped up in all the parts of the story leading up to Jesus coming. But that’s the thing—it all was meant to point ahead to Jesus.
Jews were entrusted with the very words of God. These words bore the purpose of increasing an awareness of man’s fallenness, and by so doing, highlighting the need for a Savior. Romans 5 will touch on this a bit more:
The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 5:20-21 NIV
The purpose of the the law—of God’s entrusted words to the Jews—was that God’s ultimate grace might reign. That his true righteousness—one of mercy, love, and generosity—might be put on display at the coming of Jesus.
It was all meant to point to Jesus!
Romans 3:3-8
Essentially, as the people find that God’s mercy was put on display in the person of Jesus, making the grandeur of his glory more evident, they may have been curious about if their sin was still considered, well, sinful.
I’m paraphrasing, but here’s the type of questions floating around in this chapter: “Is it fair for God to judge us if our sin points to his glory? If my unfaithfulness shows off how faithful he is, why would I still be worthy of condemnation?”
Paul likens this to one saying: “Why don’t we just do evil so that some good might come of it?!” Paul quickly puts the kibosh on this manner of thinking.
God’s ability to make his light shine bears no weight on the reality of darkness. Without Christ, we are worthy of condemnation for our sin no matter how much God finds a way to make his glory possible through it!
Romans 3:9-20
He quotes the Old Testament next (Psalm 14:1-3 and Psalm 53:1-3), and I find it thought-provoking that these pieces of Scripture were held by Jewish audiences alongside their Mosaic law-codes.
These passages about no one being righteous are relayed by (and for) the same people who kept a law-code to attain righteousness! The law—and the anguish felt by those who tried to keep it—point to humanity’s desperate need for a salvation by grace. For undeserved mercy.
It’s as if Paul is building to the crescendo we find in verses 19-20:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. Romans 3:19-20 NIV
It says that for those under the law, every mouth will be silenced. There is no worthy justification for righteousness apart from Jesus Christ.
What the law serves to do, is to make clear that no one will be made righteous in God’s sight by their own means of self-righteousness. They always needed a God-righteousness—that which was delivered in the person of Jesus. (Thank you Lord!)
Onto the next section…
Romans 3:21-24
Oh baby, how can I not quote the whole thing?! I think I have to!
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-24 NIV
The law and the prophets—a tandem effort—point to our messiah, Jesus. Because you see, whether a person is “under the law” (Jewish) or apart from the law (Gentile), this fact remains: every single person is unworthy, in their own right, of being in a relationship with God.
And yet, to those who receive Jesus, not only do they get to be in a relationship with God, but they are given the right to become his beloved children.
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God—children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. John 1:12-13 NIV
This piece from John sweetly relays what Jesus has brought us:
Out of his fullness we have all received grace in place of grace already given. For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. John 1:16-17 NIV
Because of the Father’s sweet benevolence—his grace—we have been given the free gift of a “right standing” by faith.
Despite our many shortcomings, God somehow found a way to remain perfectly fair and perfectly kind in one fell swoop. Through Jesus, God has made us worthy. And it’s an incalculable gift.
Romans 3:25-26
Even when folks were doing their best to abide by the law, there were still things that God was enduring. He was walking in forbearance, holding off executing justice until Jesus Christ came.
Forbearance is in his very nature. (The same nature that develops in us as the life of the Spirit develops within, as seen in Galatian 5:22-23’s description of “The Fruits of the Spirit”.)
The word, forbearance indicates a holding-back or tolerance, of the weakness or wrongdoing of others. God’s “slowness” in executing the fullness of justice serves to bring us a fuller understanding of the nature of his righteousness. It’s a righteousness that longs not for the punishment of the wicked, but for their salvation. (John 3:17)
This is the same righteousness that lays an impact on Christ’s second coming as well. 2 Peter tells us that some will scoff about the delay of his second coming, questioning if it’s even coming at all. (2 Peter 3:4) But here’s the beautiful truth we hold onto:
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9 NIV
He even gives Paul (the author of Romans) a little shoutout, which I share mostly for fun:
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation,just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. 2 Peter 3:15 NIV
This is God’s righteousness: a patience that wants no man to perish. A righteousness revealed fully in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus; Jesus makes God’s true nature known:
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known. John 1:18 NIV
Let’s pause and recap. What do we learn about God’s righteousness here? Simply put: it’s patient, generous, loving, salvation-prone, and entirely just.
That’s what we see in this bit of Romans, specifically 3:26: God is both just and the one who justifies. He is both the one who makes the rules, and the one who gets us out of trouble.
He’s just the greatest! ;)
Romans 3:27-30
All we have covered so far makes one thing clear: nobody has a place to go around bragging about getting-it-all-right. Humbly, we all get it wrong.
And yet, by grace, there’s a place for us in the family.
Jew or gentile, the door is open wide. And that door… it’s Jesus himself!
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6 NIV
By faith in Jesus, we are justified—or given a supernatural right to stand before God with a clean slate. That right is given by faith to Jews and Gentiles alike.
Our God miracle-working, all-loving, powerful, and generous!
Now, don’t miss the final kicker…
Romans 3:31
The law isn’t nullified, voided, or marked as inconsequential simply because Jesus came offering a means to salvation; on the contrary, the law was always forward-focused for his arrival. The law-code wasn’t mean to be the end-all; Jesus was meant to be the end-all. He is the alpha and the omega—the first Word and the final word. (More on this topic here.)
God was holding off on making the fullness of his righteousness known until Christ came. (3:26) Now that Jesus has come, it all makes sense.
We see that the law exposed our sin problem. For which, we needed a salvation solution.
Jesus was our breakthrough. The light in the darkness. The one who provided for us what we could never provide for ourselves: the right to be called deeply beloved children of God.
Beauty in the Book
Honestly, I can hardly even breathe when I think about the generosity of God displayed in this chapter. Okay… okay… maybe you think I’m being dramatic… but can I keep it real?
My personality bend loves law. I love a neat structure in which I can know the rules and try to keep them; of course, the downside of that is when I inevitably fail—because I am imperfect—shame can feel crippling. The painful awareness of missing the mark can leave me heartbroken.
The only thing that heals my broken heart is remembering God’s benevolent grace.
Shame isn’t sticky when grace is in center view. It washes away with the cascade of his goodness, leaving me purified, grateful, and utterly refreshed.
It makes me choke back tears in a coffee shop! This is who God is! The God of Romans 3. The God who—for so many years—would provide a law-code for his people to guard them, protect them, and set them apart as his chosen people—only to reveal that his love was evermore extravagant than that. That as this law revealed the tragedy of humanity’s fallen nature, the evident grandeur of his majesty increased all the more.
This circumstance showed the fullness of his righteousness: he who doesn’t just “make the rules”, but who walks in prolific patience and abundant kindness, ultimately paying the price for his people who couldn’t cut the mustard.
There is no love like this love. It’s a love that continually reminds us: our shortcomings don’t exclude him from wanting a relationship with us.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 NIV
Furthermore, we are forever unseparated from this remarkable love that God displayed to us in the person of Jesus Christ:
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:31-39 NIV
No sin, temptation, torment or turmoil—can stop us from God’s cascading love pouring over our lives, beckoning us toward himself. May he be forever praised! Amen?!
