Romans is one of the greatest resources available to the Christian faith and life. Written in the mid-to late AD 50s to the congregation in Rome, Paul sent this pastoral letter to make clear the gospel, that salvation is from the Lord, that it is and has always been by his free favor alone (sola gratia), through faith alone (sola fide), in Christ alone. Jesus the Servant of God is the Savior promised to Adam and Eve, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to David, and to the prophets. To make clear the centrality of Christ and the good news—the power of God for salvation of the ungodly—he lays out the greatness of our sin and misery (1:18–3:20), how we are redeemed from our sins and misery by the grace of God in Christ (3:21–11:36); and how we ought to live thankfully for such a redemption (12:1–16:27). In this episode, Chris and I look at the end of Romans 1 and the first part of Romans 2.
Here is the episode.
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Thank you for this discussion on our need of Christ as our righteousness representative. So many people get law and gospel confused. They think that when God commands obedience, it is because they have the ability to do what God requires. When it is brought to their attention that they can never be perfect as God requires, they will say that Christ makes up for their sin and imperfection through His death on the cross, but that we have to do our part through personal obedience, to which God graciously imputes perfection, as long as we do our best, which is to do our part. In this way they mix and confuse justification and sanctification, making sanctification the ground of our final acceptance before God. Essentially what they are saying is that Christ makes it possible for them to be saved by covering what is lacking in their obedience, but that salvation depends on doing our part, as though Christ is only a partial savior and that final acceptance with God depends on how well we have done our part. Such people say they look to Christ as savior, only to ultimately depend on their best efforts for acceptance with God. They confuse sanctification for justification. Although works are necessary, and a faith without works is dead, those works are simply fruit and evidence of the grateful Christian who trusts and leans on Christ for his ONLY righteousness and acceptance before God. For the justified Christian, the law is a norm or guide for showing how he loves God and neighbor, not a requirement for doing his part for justification. He trusts that he is already and eternally, completely justified by the perfect righteousness of Christ.