5 Sept. Paul reveals God’s way of putting people right with himself
"We know that the law's commands are for those who have the [Jewish] law. This stops all excuses and brings the whole world under God's judgement, because no one can be made right with God by following the [Jewish] law. The law only shows us our sin."
"But God has a way to make people right with him without the [Jewish] law, and he has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about."
"God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: all have sinned and are not good enough for God's glory, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift."
“They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ. God gave him as a way to forgive sin through faith in the blood of Jesus's death. This showed that God always does what is right and fair, as in the past when he was patient and did not punish people for their sins."
"And God gave Jesus to show today that he does what is right. God did this so he could judge rightly and so he could make right any person who has faith in Jesus..."
"A person is made right with God through faith, not through obeying the [Jewish] law. Is God only the God of the Jews? Is he not also the God of those who are not Jews? Of course he is, because there is only one God."
"He will make Jews right with him by their faith, and he will also make those who are not Jews right with him through their faith. So do we destroy the [Jewish] law by following the way of faith? No! Faith causes us to be what the law truly wants."
(Romans 3:19-31)
In this part his Letter to the Romans, Paul explains that no-one can be put right with God by trying to keep the minutiae of the Jewish law. Even the Ten Commandments, while providing good guidelines for a godly life, are too difficult for anyone to keep all of the time (see Exodus 20:1-17).
Coveting your neighbour’s house (or anything else that belongs to your neighbour) is still a widespread ‘sin’ in affluent Western societies today. Unfortunately, everyone ‘sins’ by falling short of God’s standards, and no-one can ever earn the right to spend eternity in the loving presence of God (see Romans 3:23).
But Paul has the answer: “God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ” (Romans 3:22). Jesus died in our place to take away our sins. “God gave him as a way to forgive sin through faith in the blood of Jesus’ death” (Romans 3:25).
This act of unmerited love (or ‘grace’) is a free gift from God that no-one deserves (see Romans 3:24), and to claim ‘justification’ (being put right with God), we need a living faith in Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. The Holy Spirit, who then comes to live in us, takes away our desire to do wrong and encourages us to spread God’s love to others.
This amazing way of entering a new and living relationship with God is referred to by theologians as ‘justification by grace through faith’.
The photo shows the Pantheon, a temple to all the Roman gods, in Rome.
You can read more from Paul's Letter to the Romans @ https://www.thebiblejourney.org/…/how-to-be-put-right-with…/