The Journey to Grace
Romans 3:21-22 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.”
When Paul wrote the letter to the Romans, he addressed two different people groups: the Gentiles (who were irreligious) and the Jews (who were religious).
The Gentiles believed that they could find life outside of faith in Christ. Even though they knew God, the Bible says that they chose not to glorify Him as God. They wanted to live life their own way and develop their standard of righteousness. They exchanged God’s truth, which is the only truth, for a lie that they wanted to believe. The more they ran away from God, the darker their heart became and ran further into deception. The life they were looking for could not be found in their own opinion or standard. Faith in what Jesus had done for them was, and is the truth, they are looking for.
On the other hand, Paul was addressing the Jews, those who trusted in their own ability to keep the Law. They compared their “good works” to those around them and justified themselves by their own effort. The issue with living by our self-effort is that our works are as “filthy rags” compared to the holiness of God. (Isaiah 64:6) This way of living made them prideful and hard-hearted.
Relying on our own works is like running on a treadmill, a lot of exertion and effort is put in, but we will never arrive at the desired destination: righteousness.
Neither the Gentiles, those who wanted to live life their own way, nor the Jews, those who trusted in their own works could bring them to righteousness. There is only one path to righteousness and that is the path of grace!
Paul boldly declares in Romans 3:21 that righteousness has now been revealed, and it is through faith in Jesus, that it is available to all who believe! That is the Gospel!
How good and merciful our God is! We don’t have to try and figure life out on our own, we don’t have to trust in ourselves and our own works to earn righteousness. God’s very own righteousness has been given to us and it is revealed from faith to faith. That means we can’t grow in righteousness because it is a gift, but we can grow in our understanding of righteousness.
Praise God! Let’s grow together as a church family, in our understanding of who we are. Let’s build up one another and remind each other of the righteousness of God that has been given and revealed to us!
Remember, we love you, and we are praying for you.
Blessings,
Chloe
