In this episode, we delve into Paul’s profound insights on righteousness and its revelation apart from the law. We’ll explore the significance of faith in Jesus Christ and understand how it transcends our human efforts. Discover how Christ’s faithfulness brings hope and righteousness to all believers, and why it matters immensely in understanding salvation. Join us as we unpack these biblical truths and challenge common misconceptions about righteousness by law.
So, after Paul says that there is no righteousness in the law because the law brings only a knowledge of sin, he then introduces God’s righteousness, and that we now need to explore. You remember when we were in Romans chapter 1, and Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also the Greek, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. You remember when we read that, it is not exactly clear what Paul means. And many people misunderstand what this means, and we don’t have an answer to it until we come to an explanation of it in chapter 3, verse 20 and 21. So, what it means in Romans 1, verse 17, is explained more clearly in Romans 3, verses 21 and 22, and we’ll look at that in a minute. But I want to say to you that it is so easy to listen to what I’m saying or to read about, say, a commentary on the book of Romans and still not get it, because we are so attuned to right and wrong and our consciences of good and evil, and we’re so attuned to the law. And so when we hear Paul say that the gospel, I’m proud of it, because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, we very often tend to think, oh, I see, Paul is now telling us, okay, I couldn’t get righteousness by the law itself, so now Jesus is coming along, and he’s going to help me to get that righteousness by the law. Well, that is precisely what Paul does not mean. And you say, well, does it matter? Yes, it does matter. I belonged to a church for 45 years that believed that the way to become obedient to the law is by Jesus Christ’s help. In other words, Jesus was a means to the law. The gospel was not about Jesus, it was about the law. Well, the gospel is about Jesus, of course. But to my misunderstanding, I thought it was still about the law and Jesus was simply there to help me. Well, let’s go then to what Paul says in 3 verse 21. He says this, But now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, apart from the law, is revealed. Now, understand that when Paul says apart from the law, he’s talking about our ability as humans to produce anything righteous, anything good. Apart from the law means apart from our human effort. Well, if it’s apart from our human effort, then what is it? He says it’s, first of all, he says it’s apart from the law being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Now, wait a minute. What is being witnessed by the law and the prophets? Well, do you remember, there are many passages, of course, but I want to take one that’s absolutely right on. And, of course, it’s Isaiah chapter 53. Do you remember what it says there? Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Now, can you not see how clearly this is describing the death of Jesus Christ and what it means? That on him was laid our iniquity, he died for our sin, our iniquity. So you see, the law and the prophets testify to this righteousness. It is Christ’s righteousness that is given to us, imputed to us. It is not our attainment by the law. Well, now, wait a minute. We haven’t even come to that point about Christ’s righteousness, have we? Well, look at the next verse. Let’s read verse 21 to get the connection. For now the righteousness of God, apart from the law, is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Well, now, what is it then? Even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. Wow, now you have here the righteousness of God. What is it? It says through faith in Jesus Christ. But wait a minute. The word faith can mean faithfulness. And it does mean that because it talks about our faith in the next clause. So it needn’t be talking about it twice. Let’s read it as it can read in the Greek. Even the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. Now, this is astounding. What it is saying is that God’s righteousness is to all and on all. That is, I talked to you the other day about being clothed with this righteousness. It’s laid upon us. We are cloaked with it. We are dressed with it to all and on all. Well, how does that come about? for all who believe. When you recognize that Jesus Christ did not die for his own sins, that he wasn’t an ordinary man, yes, he was a true man, but he was not just a regular man dying for his sins. He was a perfect, innocent lamb, and he was dying for the sins of the world. That’s what the law and the prophets are testifying to. Jesus didn’t come out of the blue like a guru. in the East and in the Asian countries, he was prophesied. And it was very clear that Jesus as the Messiah would carry the burdens and the sins of Israel. So Jesus came, and he bore those sins, so that we are accounted righteous in him. The righteousness is laid upon us. It is on all and for all who believe. What do we believe? That God sent his Son, the Son of God, to the world, and God took the judgment of all humanity upon himself through the person of his Son by his Son’s death. Now, again, I say to you, and I’ve said to you in previous days, this cuts into humanism out of the picture altogether. You understand that humanism is pervading Christian thought throughout the United States of America and Europe. Humanism is the belief that people are basically good at heart, and that all that they need is some improvement, some repentance of their sins, some surrender and dedication, and that when that happens, they will be very good, saved people. They don’t see the need, the humanist doesn’t, for the sacrifice, substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ. They say, what in the world is that for? Why would God need his son to die in order to forgive us? Doesn’t he love us already? Why does he need help in forgiving us? They don’t understand the issues that God has to deal with. We can forgive another person, but God has a big issue that the whole universe is looking on to, and we will see more of that as time goes on. But you see, we need to accept that Jesus Christ, his death, was not simply a nice example for us to follow. It was not a humbling of himself before God. Yes, it was both those things. And it was not an expression of the love of God. Yes, it was certainly that. But it was a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins because humanity is corrupt. Now, the humanist sort of rolls his eyes at this and thinks, boy, you have a very miserable view of humanity. Well, don’t be defensive and say, oh, no, we don’t. Yes, we do. We have a very miserable view of humanity, but we have a very hopeful view of what Christ is for us. The man who believes that Jesus is the substitute for our sins and has sacrificed himself for our sins is the most hopeful human being in the world. And let me tell you this. It is only the substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus that can give us hope that God can save all humanity. Because if he has sacrificed himself for everyone… then the judgment for all human sin has already taken place. What a wonder this is! Now notice then that Paul says, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. How was Jesus faithful? Well, he was faithful to his Father. He walked with his Father humbly throughout his life, and then he even went to the cross, knowing that it was his Father’s plan that his Son take the burden of humanity’s sins. It was a terribly difficult thing for Jesus to do. Remember, in the Garden of Gethsemane, the night before, he prayed to God. that this burden could be taken from him. But then he said, not my will, but yours be done. And so Jesus going to the cross was his submission to God. It was his faithfulness to his Father. He was not killed. He was not murdered as if it were an accident. He went to Jerusalem willingly. He walked to Jerusalem. He walked into his own death for our sake, remember, for our sake. And then Paul says, “…to all and on all who believe, for there is no difference.” Now, why would he say that, for there is no difference? Because he’s pointing out that faith, that is, belief, is an equalizer. We don’t have some people who are saved by stint of their discipline to keep the law. We don’t have some people who are born in the educated countries or the enlightened countries, so-called, in the West. and who therefore have access to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, and they have an advantage by their faith, whereas others who don’t know the law and know what’s required of them, they don’t have an advantage. We don’t have that sort of thinking here. What we have is, it’s by faith. And what Paul means by faith is that faith is a leveler. It is an equalizer. Everybody can receive faith. How so, you say, because so many people do not believe. But God will bring them to belief because faith comes in crisis. No one believes in tranquility. No one believes that when he thinks everything’s going well. We only throw ourselves on God when God throws things at us in love, knowing so that we learn to know that we are helpless and we have nothing and we need his righteousness. Thank you for listening, everyone. Colin Cook here. It’s available on Amazon. It’s called God’s Unbreakable Oath, and I truly recommend it to you. It will keep you going in Bible study for, I would say, a year if you take the book seriously. Well, thanks for listening today. I appreciate your tuning in. And remember, you can online by going to soundcloud.com. and key in how it happens with Colin Cook when you get there. See you next time then. Cheerio and God bless.
