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Grace and peace to you from God our Father and (from) the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

The word of God recorded for us in Romans chapter 3 verses 19-28.

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^19 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. ^20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.

^21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. ^22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, ^23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. ^25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ^26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

^27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. ^28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

 

This is the word of the Lord.

 

One of the world’s greatest theologians was coming under attack. People who called themselves “Christians” could not understand why he would preach against the law. He preached that it is by faith we are justified apart from law. These people wanted nothing to do with that drivel. They believed that you must continue to follow law so you can gain favor with God. I bet you think I am talking about Luther. But before Luther had these problems, an even greater theologian was going through this. The theologian was Paul. He had to deal with Judaizers, those Christians who believed that the Law of Moses and all its regulations had to be followed. An example of a law that must be kept was the law of circumcision. They believed that a Gentile had to be circumcised before he could be saved. But Paul was very clear that only through faith and not by works of the law is a person saved whether Jew or Gentile. Now fast forward 1500 years later. Martin Luther read Paul’s letters over and over and he could not escape the simple truth that we are saved through faith apart from works of law. This free gift of salvation which Luther preached came straight from the pen of Paul. Though circumcision was not the main issue, Catholic laws that were issued by Popes and councils came under attack by Luther. He saw how these laws were attempts by men to earn salvation. Earning salvation is completely opposite of what Paul writes in the 3^rd chapter if his letter to the Romans. In this chapter Paul tells us that all flesh, that is all people are in the same boat. 1.) All have sinned! 2.) All are justified!

 

The first thing that we want to pay close attention to is the word “law”. Law is a term that can refer to different things.

 

So how does Paul use this word “law” in our section of God’s word? Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law. The first way Paul uses law is to refer back to verses 10-18 where he quotes from the OT. “All have turned away; they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” He quotes these passages to explain how all people are in the same boat that all have sinned. This is not a new concept.

 

But who are those under the law that Paul is talking about at the end of verse 19? Here Paul is talking about the Israelites who were given the law, the Ten Commandments. The Jews were also the one who received all of God’s word, the Old Testament. They were directly under the law.

 

However in verses 20, 21, 27, and 28, Paul uses “law” in a different way. In these cases Paul is not talking about a specific law. The definite articles are not present in the original Greek language. The point Paul is making is that no matter what law you are trying to keep whether its God’s law or man’s law, because of our sinful nature we cannot keep any law perfectly. We cannot justify or make ourselves right in God’s sight by observing law.

 

With a clearer understanding of how Paul uses the word “law”, let’s look at our verses. “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.” God gave the Old Testament to the Jews. They were supposed to keep the Law perfectly. But as we know from history, they were unable to do so. So if the people of God could not keep the law perfect, what chance is there that heathen or Gentile person would be able to follow and keep God’s commands perfectly? That would be impossible and that is exactly the conclusion that Paul wanted to make. All of the world must remain silent and held accountable to God.

 

Paul wanted no one to be exempt from God’s judgment. The entire world is accountable to God, whether Jew or Gentile. “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law.” Does this mean that the law is useless? If no one can be made right in God’s sight through law, why do we need the law?

 

Paul answers these questions right away. There is a purpose for the law. “Through the law we become conscious of sin.” The law is a mirror showing us how dirty and disgusting our sins are. We see the sin that God sees in our hearts. We see how we deserve eternal punishment.

 

Paul clearly shows how all humans are in the same boat. He says, “There is no difference, ^23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Who here can stand before the judgment seat of God and tell him that you were perfect all the time? Who out in the world can say that they have been perfect every single moment of their lives? No one can be that confident. Because we all know the sins we have committed, and so does the Almighty God.

 

What do all people earn for their sins? Paul tells us in Chapter 6, ^{ “}For the wages of sin is death.”  If you sin you earn death. There is no wiggle room. All people will die because of their sins. That includes you and me. But this death does not just mean physical death but also spiritual death. All sinners deserve an eternity of hell and punishment for their sins.

 

How is this all possible? Why can there be no one who is righteous? What if we lived a really good life? Unfortunately, we were born this way. No matter how hard anyone tries, you cannot escape our heritage. I cannot be any less German than I was yesterday. We cannot escape our sinful nature. The sin of Adam is passed on from child to child. Just the fact that we were born with a sinful nature, we deserve death and hell. The sins we commit are reflections of our sinful nature. It doesn’t matter who you are or how hard you try to live a good life. The fact remains, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We are all in the same boat.

 

We are surely in the same boat. And that boat is sinking to the depths of hell. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is no one righteous not even one. Yet we are all in another boat. All people are in the same boat. All are justified!

 

Once again we want to take a look at the words Paul uses. He uses the words righteous, righteousness, justify, grace, redemption, sacrifice of atonement, and faith.

 

The first three terms can be taken together. Righteous, righteousness, and justify are all forensic terms. They are used in court. To declare someone righteous is to say that they are innocent of the crime. Righteousness is a quality in someone who is innocent of any crime. The word “right” is in these two words. The third word “justify” is to declare someone “not guilty”. We see this happening at the end of a trial when the judge reads the verdict of the jury declaring that a defendant is not guilty.

 

Grace is God’s undeserved love or favor for sinners. God did not have to send his Son to save us. There is nothing in us to cause God to want to save us. The motivation to save us is his own love for us. That is grace.

 

Redemption or redeem is a word still used today. The image of a person buying groceries comes to mind. We redeem coupons to receive money back. Jesus redeemed or bought back sinners with his blood.

 

When Paul wrote “sacrifice of atonement” he is referring to the OT sacrificial lamb. The Jews were commanded by God to observe a day in which the High Priest would sacrifice a lamb without blemish or defect, and go into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the ark cover. This was to cover the sins of all the people. The day was called “The Day of Atonement”, Yom Kippur. Atonement is to be “at one” with God. God used this special day to be a foreshadow of the perfect sacrifice of his Son. Through Jesus’ sacrifice we are made “at one” with God the Father.

 

The final term we want to pay special attention to is the word “faith”. First of all faith is not a feeling or a decision, but it is a trust. We trust that what God reveals to us is true. Faith receives the promises of salvation. Faith is given to us by the Holy Spirit through his Word.

 

Now with an understanding of the terms Paul uses let’s take a look at our verses. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  The OT testifies to a righteousness apart from Law, that righteousness is Christ. Paul devotes all of chapter 4 with the account of Abraham believing God’s promises and it was credited to him as righteousness. Abraham trusted that God would send a Savior though his descendants. Abraham looked forward to the day when Jesus would die to take away his sin. Jesus would redeem Abraham by his sacrifice on the cross.

 

By why is there need for a sacrifice? Paul tells us why. He says, “He (God) did this (sacrificed Jesus) to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— ^26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” God could have made people pay for their sins as soon as they committed them. But God was patient. Instead he waited for his Son to go up on the cross to exact his wrath and punishment for those who broke his law. God would not be just if he did not have a payment for sin. Forgiveness came at a price. The price was the perfect life his Son. Jesus was the perfect lamb of sacrifice that covered over the sins of the world.

 

There is no difference, ^23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ^24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” We are all in the same boat. Yes we all have sinned. But we all have been declared not guilty in God’s sight because of his undeserved love for sinners, through the sacrifice of Jesus, who bought us back with his blood. Our sins have been paid for by the holy precious blood of our Savior.

 

This brings us to an important question. If all people are in the same boat, does this mean that everyone will be saved? The answer to that is no. Just because the sins of all people have been paid for does not mean that all people will be saved. The ones who will be saved are those who believe or have faith or trust in the promises of God. “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”

 

Luther saw how the church had made up rules and regulations for people to justify themselves before God. Indulgences and monastic orders were ways for people to make themselves righteous. But Luther could not overcome his conscience. He tried to follow monastic vows, but he always feared God because he never knew if he had done enough. This led him to search the Scriptures. The Holy Spirit, through the Word, led Luther to confess that it is not by law that we are justified but rather through faith alone in Christ.

 

The papists would jump all over Luther for adding “alone” to this verse. But Luther said about adding this word, “I knew very well that the word solum is not in the Greek or Latin text; the papists did not have to teach me that. It is a fact that these four letters sola are not there. They (papists) do not see that it conveys the sense of the text; it belongs there if the translation is to be clear and vigorous.” Luther saw that the conclusion that Paul was making was that we are justified by faith, not by works of law. There cannot be a mixture of the two. We are either justified by law alone or by faith alone. Once any regulation is added to faith, faith becomes a law. When someone says that you have to decide for Christ before you can be saved, they are turning faith into a law. That is not how Paul uses the word faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.

 

Confessing Christians hold God to the promise of salvation. We trust that when Jesus said “It is finished”, he meant it. We are declared not guilty, because Jesus stepped into our place and took our punishment. Every sin that we have committed and every sin that we will commit are taken to the cross and they are paid for by the blood of Jesus. Now we have heaven as our home. But what about those who do not know their Savior, they are lost.

 

With this knowledge in mind, Jesus gave us a task of reaching out to those who do not know that they are justified by God’s grace. This is the essence of the Great Commission. We have plenty of ways to accomplish this goal. We are part of a Synod. We give our offerings to the Synod so that they can train our future pastors and teachers and to send out missionaries to the far reaches of the world.

 

But we don’t have to look far for people that are in the dark. We have a great opportunity within our own community to bring the good news of salvation to those who do not know their Savior. You may have family, friends, classmates, or co-workers who may not know their Savior. God gives us plenty of chances to speak the good news of forgiveness.  

 

Let us joyfully spread the news that Jesus has accomplished our salvation. Let us take seriously the task of reacting out to those who do not know that there sins are forgiven. They are precious to our Savior, so precious that he willingly took their sins upon himself. We are all in the same boat. All are justified. Now go and spread the good news. To God be the Glory! Amen

 

May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it. Amen.