Sermon Tone Analysis

(KJV)

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; 22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

2 Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

As we look at Romans, it “Reveals Paul’s concern to teach God’s plan of salvation—from humanity’s universal sinfulness through justification in Christ.

(Klein, 426)

We also learn that, the foundation for the way of salvation lies in justification, not by the Gentiles' works of nature, nor by the Jews' works of the law.

By those standards, both the Jews and the Gentiles were liable to the curse; but only by faith in Jesus Christ, could they receive salvation.

Let’s set the backdrop, for this letter written by Paul, to the saints in Rome.

The city of Rome was filled with all kinds of people with many different beliefs.

It is believed the church in Rome was founded by either converts of Peter after the day of Pentecost or people from Paul’s ministry.

Either way, these Christians were in small pockets, spread out all over the city.

And the “church” had very little organization.

It was for this reason Paul addressed this letter to the “those called to be saints” and not the church at Rome like some of his other letters.

Let’s set the backdrop, for this letter written by Paul, to the saints in Rome.

The city of Rome was filled with all kinds of people with many different beliefs.

It is believed the church in Rome was founded by either converts of Peter after the day of Pentecost or people from Paul’s ministry.

Either way, these Christians were in small pockets, spread out all over the city.

And the “church” had very little organization.

It was for this reason Paul addressed this letter to the “those called to be saints” and not the church at Rome like some of his other letters.

Let’s set the backdrop, for this letter written by Paul, to the saints in Rome.

The city of Rome was filled with all kinds of people with many different beliefs.

It is believed the church in Rome was founded by either converts of Peter after the day of Pentecost or people from Paul’s ministry.

Either way, these Christians were in small pockets, spread out all over the city.

And the “church” had very little organization.

It was for this reason Paul addressed this letter to the “those called to be saints” and not the church at Rome like some of his other letters.

Henry, Matthew.

Unabridged Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (best navigation) (Kindle Locations 269287-269289).

OSNOVA.

Kindle Edition.

Let us first set the backdrop, for this letter written by Paul, to the saints in Rome.

The city of Rome was filled with all kinds of people with many different beliefs.

It is believed the church in Rome was founded by either converts of Peter after the day of Pentecost or people from Paul’s ministry.

Either way, these Christians were in small pockets, spread out all over the city and the “church” had very little organization.

It was for this reason Paul addressed this letter to the “those called to be saints” and not the church at Rome.

These Christians were in a mecca which housed all sorts of idol worship and there were many little “g” gods they had to contend with.

These believers mainly consisted of Gentiles, so Paul not only had to deal with the rampant idolatry they were accustomed to, he had to deal with some false teachings coming from inside the church.

How many know the enemy is not always from without?

Sometimes you can get bad information and teaching from within.

He begins the letter with his credentials.

Stating he was a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, and set apart for the gospel of God.

Paul was letting them know he was well qualified to write and give them this information.

He wrote this letter to help fortify them against the Judaizers.

The Judaizers were teaching that non-Jews had to adopt Jewish customs to become Christians.

This was the internal problem of the saints at Rome.

If that were truly the case, then salvation wasn’t really for everyone, it was still only for the Jews.

If the law was still in effect, then Jesus’ sacrifice was for naught.

We know that the law kills but the cross redeems.

Praise God for Paul and his boldness and passion to teach the truth.

In this letter, we see that the Old Testament is truly a foreshadowing of the New Testament, and in fewer places is that more evident than in our text today.

3 For what if some did not believe?

shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

1. God’s righteousness is manifested independent of the law.

(3:21)

4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

In the Old Testament, the Jews were given the ten commandments through Moses.

They were told they must obey the Ten Commandments which became known as the law of Moses, one of the problems was, by the time they finished adding to the 10 commandments God had given Moses, there were 613 laws the Jews were expected to not only know, but also to keep.

So, because it was impossible to keep all of those laws, the people had numerous sacrifices they had to perform to atone for their sins.

A lot of animals died each year for the sins of the people.

And still it wasn’t enough.

Today, in a time where we are told we must work for everything; that there is nothing free in this world; that no one is going to give you anything; this passage of Scripture tells a whole different story, first and foremost, and point #1 - this passage tells us that the righteousness of God is manifested without the law.

5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say?

Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance?

(I speak as a man)

To be manifested means to be made known.

The righteousness of God is made known to us - He has shown us a way to be made right without having to keep the requirements of the law.

But this wasn’t new, the law of Moses and the Old Testament prophets told us this would be the case.

And the Good News of the Gospel is that, there is nothing you have to do, in fact, there is nothing you can do to earn this promise of righteousness.

There is no amount of knocking on doors, no number of services you must attend, no minimum number of times you must come to the church each week and no amount of money you must give to earn or buy God’s righteousness, because there are none righteous in and of themselves.

To be able to work for or buy righteousness would imply we have control, or that we can manipulate things to our liking.

It would also say we could keep the promise from certain people, when nothing could be further from the truth.

This righteousness which came through Jesus Christ, is our second point, it was the promise made in the Old Testament by the law and the prophets.

We can see references to the coming Messiah in the 40th chapter of Isaiah.

a.

The Promise of Moses and the Prophets (3:21b)

Jesus made reference to his own coming in when he said, “For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me.”

So not only is Paul telling us this, Jesus said it also.

So this was not new information Paul was giving to the primarily Gentile believers in Rome, but it was relevant information.

So this was not new information Paul was giving to the primarily Gentile believers in Rome, but it was relevant information.

We must remember the time period in which Paul wrote this letter, was after the birth, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.

So, like us, Jesus had left them with the new dispensation, but there were those who didn’t want to let go of the customs they were so familiar with.

For both the Jews and the Gentiles, these were practices their ancestors had taught them, things that had been passed down from generation to generation and for some letting go wasn’t so easy.

How many know it’s just as hard to let go of something you’ve always done, as it is to start doing something new, even if that new thing gives you more freedom?

This is the situation the saints at Rome were finding themselves in.

Faith in Christ gave them freedom, but there were those who wanted to keep people bound by the laws of Moses, which were now nothing more than Jewish customs, not laws new Gentile converts had to be bound by.

6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

b.

Righteousness for all believers (3:22)

7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

Our third point is that, this righteousness, comes from God and we can access it simply by placing our faith in Jesus Christ.

It is a gift and a promise for everyone who believes, by faith.

It has the power to save every believer.

Not only that, we are made right with God by the same faith and belief in Jesus Christ.

While we know that God is faithful, this verse is talking about the faith of the believer.

While we know that God is faithful, this verse is taking about the faithfulness of man.

And as long as a person has faith in Christ, it’s important to understand, there is no difference among believers, in fact the Galatians were dealing with a similar issue and Paul tells them in : (NRSV) beginning at verse 23 Now before faith came, we were imprisoned and guarded under the law until faith would be revealed.

24 Therefore the law was our disciplinarian until Christ came, so that we might be justified by faith.

25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian, 26 for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith.

27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come?