Romans 3:21-31
21But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;
23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;
25whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;
26for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27Where then is boasting? It is excluded By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.
28For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
29Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,
30since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one.
31Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.
Today Paul gives us some relief. After going on about how we are all condemned sinners and nothing we do can make us good enough in God’s eyes, we are introduced to how we can become righteous.
All it takes is faith. “That’s it?” yeah, that’s it. Paul explains how and why God sacrificed His perfect son for us. By believing these things Paul says, we enter into the Kingdom. Christ redeemed us on the cross and by believing that, by receiving that free gift, we are saved from ourselves: past, present, and future.
But faith isn’t always that easy, is it? Over the past year I’ve learned that if I pray for the same thing over and over and over, am I really trusting God with that? If you ask someone to do something for you, then you check up on them because you aren’t sure if they did it, isn’t that a lack of faith that they would follow through? I do the same to God. When I realize this, I start praying for more faith. Not surprisingly, I do receive that extra faith. It’s funny how sometimes I struggle having faith that God will answer my prayers according to His will, but that I always tend to trust that He will give me more faith.
Paul’s segue is about the Law and faith. Where is your faith at in relation to the Law today?
