The Righteousness of God Rom. 3:19 CLICK TITLE FOR AUDIO

This lesson is on the righteousness of God by the faith of Jesus Christ without the deeds of the law.  For a Jew to admit that he is not righteous under the law and to then turn to Jesus Christ for his righteousness is very difficult.  So, Paul demonstrates in this passage that the righteousness of God cannot be attained through the deeds of the law and is only available to us as a free gift.  Therefore, as a free gift, it is not only available to Jews, but to Gentiles, as well.

The righteousness of God cannot be attained by the law because by the law:

Mouths are stopped – Rom 3:19 – the classic example is Job in Job 40:1-5.  Job holds his peace because he knows that by speaking there is no way that he can justify himself [Job 9:20].

All become guilty – Rom 3:19, 23 – all the world…, all have sinned…, there is no difference [Rom 3:22, 9].

No flesh is justified – Rom 3:20 – in Ps 143:2 David said that no living man is justified in his sight.  See Gal 2:16; 3:11.

Sin is made known – Rom 3:20 – see Rom 7:7.

The law was never given to justify a man with the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God is only attained by the faith of Jesus because:

The righteousness of God without the law is manifested in the gospel – Rom 3:21 – but now [not before] the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel [Rom 1:16-17].  Rom 10:3-4 says Christ is the end of the law for righteousness… and the gospel is not something you work for but rather something you believe [Rom 9:30-32].

The righteousness of God without the law is witnessed by the law and prophets – Rom 3:21 – so you can see in the Old Testament the testimony that the righteousness of God is not given to a man for keeping the law.  Two classic examples are Abraham and David [Rom 4:3-7]. See also Is 53:4-6, 10-11; Ps 22:30-31; Ps 98:1-3; Is 45:22-24; etc.

The righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ is given to all those who believe – Rom 3:22.  In Jn 6:28-29 the work of God is to believe on Jesus.

Because of the righteousness of God in Jesus, Jesus is:

Our justifier – Rom 3:24, 26 – this is the conclusion of the whole matter [Rom 3:28].  See Eph 2:8-9.  Justification is by faith [Gal 3:11].

Our redeemer – Rom 3:24 – Gal 3:12 Christ redeemed us being made a curse for us.  See 1 Cor 1:29-31.

The propitiation for our sins – Rom 3:25 – See 1 Jn 2:1.  Propitiation is the sacrifice that appeases the wrath of God.  Christ’s shed blood is the propitiation [Heb 9:12; Eph 1:7; Col 1:14].  So, God had been remitting sins in the past and had been forbearing judgment against them, waiting to declare Christ’s righteousness to justify those who believe in him.

When we believe in Jesus for the righteousness of God:

We are justified – Rom 3:26 – See Rom 5:1, 9 and Gal 2:16.

We cannot boast –Rom 3:27 – because Jesus did it not you [Eph 2:8-9].

We establish the law – Rom 3:31 – because the law leads to faith in Christ.  The end of the law is faith unfeigned [1 Tim 1:5].  The law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ [Gal 3:24-25].

Conclusion: Rom 3:28-30 a man is justified by the faith of Christ whether he is a Jew or Gentile.