Thank you for reading this sermon from Christ Fellowship. I hope and pray that this sermon will be a blessing of grace and truth to you. With that said, let me encourage you not to use this sermon as a replacement for your local church. Christ Jesus did not establish his Church simply for us to consume content. Instead, He calls us to be part of a real, covenant family.
In the city of Rome, there’s a stone bridge that has been standing for over 2,000 years. It’s the oldest bridge in the city and it was built about a hundred years before Paul wrote the book of Romans. The original audience of this letter walked across this bridge.
It’s called the Pons Fabricius, and it’s held up by a series of arches. Large stones are placed in an arch, and at the top, they all lean against one stone—the keystone. Without the keystone, the whole arch would fall.
I’m not exaggerating when I say that today’s text is meant to explain the keystone of Christian theology. Without this specific doctrine, the whole story of the Bible would collapse.
For the first three chapters of Romans, Paul has been building a bridge between God and sinners. But we still need the keystone.
[21] But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
Leading up to this, Romans has exposed our lack of righteousness. The normal way to get righteousness would be to earn it. But no one has done that, not even the most religious people we can think of.
Paul also hints at something here that he’s going to defend in the next chapter. He’s not teaching something new. God dealt with His people the same way in the Old Testament.
And here it is… the keystone. It answers the question: how can sinners become righteous?
[22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
By faith in Jesus Christ. That’s the keystone. Paul has talked about faith numerous times, but for the first time, he explicitly gives our faith an object.
Who or what are we trusting? We are trusting Jesus. And why is this necessary? Because there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, religious or pagan…
[23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Not some of us. Not most of us. All of us!
But look carefully at the language. This isn’t obvious in English. All “have sinned” past tense… and “fall short” which in Greek is a continuing present.
In other words, we’re all guilty of past sins, and we still, even as believers, fall short. This is important because our need for Christ isn’t a one-time thing. It’s a daily, continuous thing.
Think about the stone bridge. The keystone stays in place. You can’t remove it after the bridge is built. In the same way, we are still leaning on Christ as believers.
But what does it mean to have faith in Christ? What are we trusting Jesus to do? What does He accomplish?
[24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
The word justified was used in chapter 2. It’s a legal term to describe legal standing. God the judge declares us “not guilty”. By grace means it’s a verdict we did not earn. And gift means we didn’t pay for it or bargain for it.
It comes from God and it’s accomplished by God through the work of Jesus. But how is it possible for God to declare us “not guilty” when we are guilty? Through Jesus,
[25] 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.
In other words, God created a way for sinners to be forgiven of their sins without condoning or ignoring their sins. Paul calls it propitiation, and his audience knew exactly what he meant by it.
In chapter 1, the Apostle told us about two things being revealed to mankind – God’s righteousness and God’s wrath. We need God’s righteousness, but we’ve earned God’s wrath.
Propitiation is the word that explains how God makes us righteous, while at the same time satisfying the wrath of God for our sin.
Some have tried to explain this word in different ways because they don’t like how it sounds. But Paul’s audience knew exactly what he was teaching, and softening the language weakens the Gospel.
God is angry with sin. He fully intends to punish sinful people. Even the pagans understood that. But the pagan religions tried to deal with it by making their own sacrifices.
God even commanded the Israelites to make sacrifices to help them understand their need for atonement. It was bloody and public on purpose. Sin, death, and judgment are uncomfortable realities.
In fact, the cross was an intentionally public demonstration. That’s what Paul means when he says God did this to “show” His righteousness.
The cross was a public execution and forces us to look at two realities. Look at what our sin does to God but look at what God was willing to do to love us despite our sin.
Jesus died the death we deserve to give us a legal status we don’t deserve. It’s much more than a legal status, but it’s not less than a legal status.
[26] 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.
Just and the justifier… God’s love for sinners and His wrath for sin met at the cross in Jesus. This is how God accomplished salvation and we contribute nothing except to receive the gift by faith.
And now, Paul applies it for us.
[27] 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.
I can’t boast, because I’m not providing any righteousness. God is. I’m coming with empty hands.
[28] For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
That’s the basic summary of the first 3 chapters. If you want to be right with God, look to Jesus… not the law.
[29] Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
And now he’s back where we started. The Gospel is for anyone who believes.
[30] since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
We all get to God the same way, by faith in Christ.
[31] Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
This was, and still is, the great objection to Paul’s teaching about the Gospel. Religious people hear that the Gospel is a gift of grace apart from works and they get nervous.
There’s a fear that relying on grace will cause people to disregard or dishonor God’s law. On the contrary, Paul says, the Gospel upholds the law. And this is something that he will explain as we get further into Romans.
At this point, I think it would be helpful to bring back a diagram I used when we studied James chapter 2. What’s the relationship between faith, works, and salvation?
- Works alone à Salvation
- Faith + Works together à Salvation
- Faith alone à Salvation
- Faith alone à Salvation + Works
I’m not aware of any professing Christians who teach the first view, but the second view is very common. Catholics, Orthodox, and many other traditions teach some version of the second view. The third view is sometimes taught by Protestants who are trying to protect the church from works-righteousness, but it is incomplete. I believe the fourth view is correct and keeps us from the errors that both Paul and James were concerned with.
This is a big deal. This really is the keystone holding up the whole bridge. This is the Gospel. And I’m really not interested in a version of Christianity that looks more like 1, 2, or 3. If we get the Gospel wrong, it confuses unbelievers. But it also confuses believers.
99% of the problems you will encounter in the Christian life will have something to do with you forgetting or failing to believe that God fully loves and accepts you in Jesus Christ alone… and that you’ve done nothing to add to or subtract from that reality.
One final story, to make sure I’m being clear. Years ago, I heard a campus minister talking about one of his students. The young man was in the ROTC program during college. But when it was time for him to graduate, the military didn’t need any more officers in his field.
Guess what they did… they graduated the young man with honors, made him an officer, and then honorably discharged him all in the same day! Not only that, he also got all the benefits of being a former officer, even though he never actually served! He didn’t earn that status. He received it because of someone else’s decision.
Justification is God crediting us with stuff we never actually did. Just like the keystone in an arch, Jesus does the heavy lifting. We lean on him. He bears all the weight.
If you’ve never come to God that way, if you’ve been nervously hoping your own record, your church attendance, or your effort would be enough, then today is the day to set that down. Look to Jesus. Lean on Him. Rest in Him. Receive what God has done for you in Christ.
And if you are a believer, you know that we still fall short. Don’t let the enemy crush you under the weight of your failures. Go back to the keystone. You are fully loved and fully accepted in Jesus Christ alone.