“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it therighteousness of God is revealed [a]from faith to faith; as it is written, “[b]But the righteous man shall live by faith.” Romans 1:16-17
The General theme for Romans verses 1:18‐3:20 is that no one is Righteous by the Law! All have sinned, all are condemned! The Gospel is the lightning rod that conducts God’s creative and loving power, because it reveals the justice of God in the justification of the ungodly! Our justification rests solely on the mercy of Yeshua, and not on the Law or anything we can do. Yeshua lived a perfect life and died as a sacrifice in our place, to take away our sins.
What does this all mean to my life here and now? We are not to be embarrassed of who we are as Christians, nor should we fear to share our faith! We have the Power of Salvation; it is by the work of Yeshua alone, through the Holy Spirit. It is for all people universally, the only requirement is to accept the work of our Lord by faith.
Salvation means to be rescued from a terrible situation. Ultimately it means being delivered from God’s wrath. It is God’s redemptive work for us! Justification and sometimes righteousness are synonyms in English Bible translations. Likewise, justification can be a synonym of salvation, or it can refer to the future work of redemption. These works are from our Lord Yeshua and from no other! This means Yeshua’s righteousness is given to us (imputed, propitiation) by our faith, which we did not earn; hence grace is the ultimate free gift.
The righteousness of God is His character that vindicates His people. His people are to show their faithfulness back to Him. Justification is God’s righteousness covering us! Righteousness is His character. This is not passive on our part; we are active in our faith. (Rom. 2:5-16; 3:22; 5:10; 9:30)
Faith is still trusting what is not seen and believing our God (Rom. 1:16-32; 5:1-11; 10:14-17; Gal. 3:1-4; Eph. 2:8-9; James 2:14-26)! God imputes His righteousness unto us by what Yeshua has done by declaring us righteous (Rom. 3:21-26; 5:10-19; 10:3). This declaration means we as the elect are free from our debt of sin, but we as debtors are to be witnesses to the lost! This is the verse that helped convert Martin Luther from a religion to a faith! This is what Yeshua did for us to have faith: He took our place in life and in death. He took our place in judgment before God’s just wrath, something we could never attain by ourselves, no matter how good and faithful we are.
Our creation and salvation is by His choosing and purpose, as Christians we are not our own but belong solely to our Lord. We must live our lives as a reflection of His glory and not of ourselves, because there is nothing we can do alone that deserves any kind of Merit to please God for salvation. God desires and deserves our whole-hearted loyalty, allegiance, trust, obedience, and devotion; so, what is stopping you?
Have you realized that your debt has been cleared, your sin has been covered, and your dread has been replaced with Wonder and Eternity? Then how has it affected your life? Do you obey His call and precepts? Does this transformed life impact others around you? Do you “get it” so all that you are is because Yeshua is in you? If not why and what is in the way? Are you willing to bow down and seek His face and His righteousness for your life? Without it, you have nothing but debt and sin!
Our response to Yeshua and what he has done is by godly living, exercising out our faith with trust and obedience, whatever we face! This does not earn us Salvation, rather it build us more in Him. In Yeshua we deal with God as a Man, a God/Man, and a mediator on our behalf.
Questions
1. Does the redemption that Yeshua gave, cause you to feel relief and comfort?
2. Yeshua’s righteousness is given to us, this is called “imputed” this means the pureness, the sinlessness of Yeshua has been ascribed to you as a Christian who accepted Him as Lord and Savior. We are not necessarily made pure (because we still sin), we are declared pure. What do you think is the difference between being made and being declared?
3. Read Habk. 2:4; how does this passage compare to the Romans passage?
4. Justification can be a synonym of salvation, or it can refer to the future work of redemption. These works are from our Lord Yeshua and from no other! What ways have you tried to look for ‘justification’ outside of Yeshua? Maybe the approval of a parent, boss, identity in your clothes, work, education, money, car.
5. How do you live out your faith with passion and conviction?
6. How can you live out your faith better with passion and conviction?
7. What do you grasp about verse 17? Is there something that makes you think or stutter, such as there is something missing from your life?
8. How can you show your faithfulness back to Him?
9. Our response for what Yeshua did for us is godly living, exercising our faith with trust and obedience, whatever we face! How have you done this? How can you do this better?
10. What about when your life is crashing all around you? Maybe a job loss, death or divorce of a spouse, cataclysmic sickness or everything all at once?
11. Have you ever faced a lot of adversity?
12. What was your response? What did you learn?
13. How would you respond now that you have been through it (if you have)?
14. Do you feel better, stronger and more mature and ready to face things, now that you have gone through adversity?
15. What can you do specifically to give God your whole-hearted loyalty, allegiance, trust, obedience, and devotion?
16. What are the things that stop you?
17. How would you explain verse 17 to someone turned off to Christianity?
18. What do you still need to do so this passage is real in you?
© 1998, 2001, 2003, Richard J. Krejcir, Ph.D., Discipleship Tools www.discipleshiptools.org