Romans 3:19-28
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.
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. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and 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. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Welcome to Getting ready for Sunday, a podcast of first Lutheran Church. Each week I introduced the readings for the upcoming Sunday with some notes and explanation so you can be ready for worship when you arrive. I look at the Old Testament, Psalm epistle and Gospel reading for the upcoming Sunday and offer a few notes and explanation. The Epistle reading for reformation Sunday, October 29 2023, comes from Romans chapter three, verses 19 through 28. It reads, 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. 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, for there is no distinction, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and 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. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins, it was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just, and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus, then what becomes of our boasting, it is excluded by what kind of law by a law of works, no, but by the law of faith, for we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. here since the reading. This is all about the law and the gospel of fantastic division about the way God speaks to us that Lutherans are at the heart of the way we speak about God's work among us is dividing what the law can do, and what the gospel can do. And St. Paul begins with something about the law. He says, 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 the works of the law, no human being will be justified in His sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So here we see what God's law is. God's law is the demand that he makes on all human beings to be obedient to His Well, now is this isn't so much demand that is like, tyrant, up in Heavens shouting, you will obey me. It's more about being the people that God created us to be like, he has a purpose for each of us, for all of us, for all of humanity, and we're all to live up to it. And when we fall short, we are falling short of his law. And so when we see the law, then this thing that God calls us to be he says, We must be to be perfect, to be holy to be His people. The only thing it does is point out our sin, as St. Paul says, Since through the law comes knowledge of sin. So when we look at the 10 commandments, we say to ourselves, whoa, I am not a good person. Because when God says You shall not murder, he also says to me, murder is not just killing someone, but God calls me to love to love with my whole heart, that makes me a sinner. And so when the law speaks, it's perfect demands on our obedience, it means that every mouth is stopped. That is, before the law, no one can boast about our holiness. Everyone is a sinner, and everyone is held accountable to God. Now, if this were the only thing that God said, we'd all be lost and condemned to hell. But God has a righteousness that is apart from the law. He says that the law and prophets bear witness to it. It is the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. So what he's saying there is that the Old Testament has a witness of a righteousness that does not come from God's demands, but comes through Jesus Christ. For all who believe Paul writes, For there is no distinction, For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So everyone is a sinner. Everyone falls short. No one does anything that is good. And this is a thing Christians must always remember. And as we look at the world, and we say, Whoa, the world is so crazy, they do so much bad stuff. We must always say to ourselves We are sinners, we cannot boast. We cannot stand and look at the world and say, You sinners, we're sinners to. The only difference between them and us is that we have received this gift of grace through Jesus Christ, through the redemption that he offers us as a gift. While continues, it is in Jesus Christ whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. We got to know what that propitiation is, propitiation is a word that talks about a sacrifice that pleases God. And so this propitiation is an offering made to God, so that that he would be pleased for with us because of it. And we receive this this good pleasure that had God has this God's grace, by faith. Paul continues, this was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance, he had passed over former sins, it was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. One of the questions we think about with with this grace that God gives, is that it actually sounds really unjust. I mean, people will think you've been a horrible human, your whole life, you your murderer, drug dealer, all sorts of terrible things, you do the worst of the worst, awful, awful, awful person. And then on your deathbed, you turn and you say, I repent, you receive baptism, and all of a sudden you're in and people go, how is that even remotely fair, that is just terrible. Like people follow God their whole lives, and then turn away at the end. And there. You can do whatever you want your whole life, and then repent at the end and you're in. Well, here's the thing. The The idea here is that God is both just, and the justifier, which means that God actually has to punish sin. And he also wants to justify sinners. And so what we do is we say, the punishment that goes out for sin that was put on Jesus, as this propitiation, the sacrifice to be received by faith, which means that what God does in Jesus Christ is not offer or just a, like a free out for anyone, just so all you have to do is this easy flip of the switch, what it is, the divine Son of God sacrificed himself, for human beings, the infinite God of creation, died, so that every human being could be offered the gift of salvation. That means that it is not a little thing, to turn and receive Christ by faith. What it means is that when we receive this gift of faith, we are all of a sudden given the infinite sacrifice of Jesus. So God can be both just and the justifier just in that he punishes sin on Christ, and justifier for the one who has faith in Jesus. Paul finishes up, then what becomes more boasting is excluded. That means we can't boast. Christian Christians are not good, because we are good. Christians are good because we have Jesus. We're just as bad sinners as anyone else. Everything that is good in us is Christ. What a great way to end the our chapter today. That's it. We'll see you on Sunday. Bye
Transcribed by https://otter.ai