Lesson 4

GOD’S DECLARATION OF NOT GUILTY IS FOR ALL PEOPLE

Romans 3:21 – 3:31

REVIEW

Why do we need to continually apply the law to our own heart?

Romans 3:21-24

Paul stated the dreadful predicament every human being faces before God in the previous chapters. Every single person, no matter what race, Jew or Gentile, moral or immoral, religious or irreligious, is guilty and without excuse before God. Suddenly in vs 21, he begins, “But now.” There is a righteousness (see Greek word below), a declaration of innocence that has its source in God. It has nothing to do with obedience to the law. God has revealed it. He has put it out into the open for all to see. The Law and the prophets (Old Testament writers) spoke of free forgiveness through faith not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles. Twice (vs 21,22) Paul emphasized this righteousness comes from God. How does this righteousness come to an individual person? Through faith in Jesus, we simply believe what God has said.

Once again he states that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile – every single human being has sinned. Those same people, every single human being, were declared not guilty by the payment Christ made for the world. God repeatedly says that the whole world was declared not guilty through Jesus sacrifice. God recorded John the Baptists words for us, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of [the world]{.ul}.” (Jn 1:29) God’s Word says, “God was reconciling [the world]{.ul} to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them” (2 Cor. 5:19). The Bible says, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for [all men]{.ul}.” (1 Tim. 2:5) Of course we could simply recall Jesus words, “For God so loved [the world]{.ul} that he gave his one and only Son” (Jn 3:16). Jesus didn’t give himself for some percentage of the world’s population. He gave himself for the world – yes all human beings. Every single human being has been declared not guilty before God through Jesus. That declaration is given freely. We can’t in any way earn it or somehow pay for it. It is a gift from God.

KEYWORD: RIGHTEOUSNESS – Declare not guilty.

A word that comes from the courtroom of the Romans. It means that a judge has declared a person cleared of the charge that was brought against him.

DISCUSSION

  1. How does this section of Romans and all of Scripture bring out the teaching that the whole world has been declared not guilty before God?

  2. How does God’s world-wide declaration of innocence become the possession of an individual person? (22)

  3. Since the whole world has been declared innocent, why doesn’t everybody go to heaven?

  4. Why can you walk up to any person anywhere and confidently say to them, “Jesus has paid for your sins. You are forgiven before God”?

ROMANS 3:25-26

Paul continues to describe how God had all people declared not guilty before him without compromising his holy justice to punish wrongdoing. In vs 25 the word translated, “God presented him” has the idea of something or someone set out in front of people, doing a public display. God did something very public with his Son. He calls it “a sacrifice of atonement.” That is an interesting word. It means “to satisfy someone so his anger is gone.” The word is also connected to the Old Testament Great Day of Atonement, celebrated every year. Professor Panning explained one aspect of that festival in the People’s Bible. There is another aspect to it. The high priest took the blood of an animal into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant. Atonement was made for sin. God was satisfied so his anger over sin was gone. Everybody knew an animal didn’t take away sin before God, but this symbolized what would take place when Messiah came. Jesus blood was offered in the Holy of Holies in heaven (Heb 9:11-14). The cover of the ark was where God’s justice and his mercy meet. With Christ’s sacrifice God’s justice and mercy met. The sin of the world was not forgotten but was punished through Jesus blood. Paul emphasizes that God had left the sins of Old Testament people unpunished. He was patient, waiting until Jesus came. So God is just – he punishes wrong doing and also the one who justifies. Jesus payment for the sin of the world becomes ours simply through faith as we believe what Jesus did.

KEYWORD: SACRIFICE OF ATONEMENT – Satisfy someone so his anger is gone

DISCUSSION

  1. What comes first God’s declaration of not guilty because of Jesus or faith in Jesus?

  2. Jesus paid for the sins of everybody. That means even the people that end up in hell had their sins paid for. Why did they end up in hell if Jesus paid for their sins?

ROMANS 3:27-31

Boasting is a part of our self-centered sinful nature. Some cultures may express it more forcefully in words and other cultures or people may keep boasting confined to their thoughts. But all boasting is excluded in the Christian faith because we do nothing to get acquitted before God. Jesus did it all with his life and death for all people. God gives us a right standing before him simply through faith in Jesus blood. The word translated, “we maintain” vs. 28 has the idea of thinking something through very carefully and then the word can include what one realizes after thinking it through carefully. After thinking through carefully what God’s Word says, it is obvious we are acquitted before God through faith in Jesus and not by anything we might do. Jew and Gentile alike are not guilty before God through faith in Jesus. I suspect you noticed in vs 30 the words, “will justify”. How does that fit in with everything Paul has been saying? Remember the first point – Jesus came to take away the sin of the world. His life and death for all humans produced the Father’s verdict of not guilty for all humans. The second point made: that universal acquittal becomes the possession of an individual person through trust in Jesus. Faith being created in people will continue into the future and they will receive the benefit of what Christ did for them. Faith doesn’t contribute anything to our acquittal before God. It receives that acquittal through believing what God has said.

Paul doesn’t want a wrong impression to be given. He isn’t saying in all of this that the law is useless. It has a very important purpose. The law still reveals our sin and the very just anger God has with us. If we don’t understand the anger of God over our rebellion against him, we can’t understand it being satisfied at the cross through Jesus death for us. God’s law and gospel are vital in the Christian faith.

DISCUSSION

  1. Why is boasting about ourselves and how we live contrary to the Christian faith?

  2. Why are law and gospel both important to be shared with people?

[PREPARING FOR NEXT WEEK’S CLASS]{.ul}

  1. Read Romans 4:1 – 15

  2. Read Romans – the People’s Bible Pages 67-74

  3. Read Romans 4:1 – 15 a second time but this time out loud.

Review Scripture and be prepared to talk about how Jesus life, death and resurrection resulted in God declaring everybody not guilty before him.

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