Know: Grasp the foundational importance of Romans 3:19–28 in the flow of Paul’s overall exposition of “the gospel” in Romans.
Feel: Assimilate a strong sense of the utter importance of justification by faith alone in the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Do: Clarify his or her understanding of justification and be able to relate it properly to sanctification and a richer life in the Spirit.
Learning Outline:
Know: God’s Healing Grace and Redemption From Sin
Why is it important to realize that sin is a spiritual malady, not just a series of sinful acts and attitudes?
What is the proper sequence between spiritual healing and proper practice?
Feel: Internalize the Crucial Nature of the Themes Associated With Justification by Faith
Why is salvation by works of the law so futile?
Why do so many feel that God’s free forgiveness could lead to “cheap grace”?
Do: Take Practical Steps to Gain Greater Clarity on Justification.
What are the dynamics in justification by faith that can relieve a guilty conscience?
What is inherent in justification by faith that contributes to the assurance of salvation that salvation by works cannot impart?
Summary: The key passage for this week begins Paul’s direct exposition of justification by faith alone. With the “but now” of 3:21, Paul reaches an important turning point in Romans.
Learning Cycle
STEP 1—Motivate
Spotlight on Scripture: Romans 3:28
Key Concept for Spiritual Growth: We now celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the launching of the Protestant Reformation. At this time, we seek to understand fully the dynamics of justification by faith alone and its classic scriptural expression in the book of Romans. Hardly a more foundational issue for personal salvation exists than justification by faith.
Just for Teachers: Earnestly impress upon class members the crucial importance of clarifying their understanding of justification by faith alone.
Opening Discussion: Ask class members to share their respective personal journeys in coming to terms with the issue of pardon, forgiveness, and a new legal standing of acquittal before God. Which was hardest for them to attain: intellectual (doctrinal) clarity or the admittance of their great need? Invite them to share what it means, subsequently, to embrace God’s merciful pardon. Finally, what does their new legal standing as God’s adopted children mean?
Consider This: The true heart of the discovery of both the apostle Paul and Martin Luther was genuine clarity on how the demands of God’s justice could be satisfied without doing away with His law. Key for them was the fact that Christ met the demands of divine justice for us in His life of active, perfect obedience to the law and in His passive, substitutionary death for sinners. Thus, as the Sin Bearer, Christ satisfied the just demands of God’s law, which demands eternal “death” (Rom. 6:23) as payment for the wages of sin. And through Christ’s payment of the debt and His holy life, God has made full provision for the forgiveness of human sin.
Questions for Discussion:
What has been the hardest thing for you to face up to: admitting that you have great need because of your sinfulness, or simply depending totally on the free mercy of God?
What is it in our sinful human nature that always seems to drive us to meet the demands of God’s justice through our own merit?
STEP 2—Explore
Just for Teachers: The message found in Romans 3:19–28 has been characterized by venerable New Testament commentator Leon Morris as “the most important single paragraph ever written” (cited from Leon Morris’ commentary by George R. Knight in Exploring Romans: A Devotional Commentary [Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 2010], p. 88). The transitional expression “[b]ut now” (Rom. 3:21) is one of the most decisive moments in the flow of Paul’s argument in Romans, and it opens up to readers the possibility for the hopeful transformation of the sinful human predicament. Thus, we need to ponder these verses with the utmost care.
Bible Commentary
Introduction: What follows are the “high points” of Romans 3:19–28. The comments of the Standard Edition lesson are judiciously helpful here. To augment our study of the lesson, we will extract the most salient points and add a few supplemental comments.
I. The Role of the Law in Justification (Review Romans 3:19, 20 with your class.)
The role of the law in leading to justification is essential. When Paul refers to “law” in the broad sense of torah, he refers to the first five books of Moses and more generally to the entire Old Testament. Yet, very often, he has in mind the moral law and its biblical amplification in the statutes, judgments, and ceremonial precepts. To be “under the law” means to be bound to the law’s jurisdiction as the definer of sin and the generator of guilt before God. Yet, the key point here is that, while the law has no power to redeem, it can very forcefully lead the sinner to seek a remedy for sin. In other words, the law cannot make a person just in God’s sight. As has been said, the law can no more save than the symptoms of a disease can cure the afflicting disease.
Consider This: Sinful humanity’s law-keeping is laudable, but why does keeping the law have no power to justify any sinner?
II. Contrasting the “Righteousness of God” and the Righteousness of the Law (Review Romans 3:21, NKJV, with your class.)
Read Romans 3:21. What is the meaning of this crucial text? The “righteousness of God” is clearly contrasted with the “righteousness of the law.” This “righteousness of God” comes from God; indeed, it has been provided by Him, based on what has been done in the life and death of Jesus. And this divine “righteousness” has been offered to all who will receive or accept it by faith—not because they deserve it but because they absolutely need it.
Discussion Question: Selected Messages, book 1, page 367, contains what is probably the clearest Ellen White statement ever rendered on justification. Ask the class how this statement has affected them and their attitude to Ellen White and her views on justification by faith. (It also may prove helpful to urge them to ponder prayerfully pages 300 to 400 in the same volume.)
III. The Connection of Justification and “Righteousness” (Review Romans 3:24, NKJV, with your class.)
Romans 3:24 clarifies the key Greek term that has been translated as “justified,” and follows it with a discussion of the connection between justification and “righteousness” (Rom. 3:25).
Consider This: One of the key results of “grace” is the blessing of God in “declaring” repentant sinners to be “righteous before God.” Now, in one important sense, justification is “punctiliar” (happening at a particular point in time). But it also can be “linear” (ongoing) in the sense that, because of our human weakness, we need Christ, as a living Intercessor, to be constantly making up for our unavoidable deficiencies in our faith and in our walk with God. Ask the class: After carefully pondering these crucial points, why do you agree or disagree?
IV. Differentiating “Propitiation” and “Remission” (Review Romans 3:25 with your class.)
Romans 3:25 leads us to the meaning of two key Greek words, hilasterion and paresis, which are normally translated into English, respectively, as “propitiation” and “remission.” These terms in this context are critically important for defining the work of Christ in behalf of sinners. Christ has made provision for the satisfaction of the demands of God’s justice. The requirements having been met, God can then offer the repentant sinner “remission,” or forgiveness and pardon, for his or her sins.
Consider This: What are some ways that we can translate more clearly these key terms in our cultural context?
V. Justification and the Fairness of God’s Forgiveness of Sinners (Review Romans 3:26–28 with your class.)
In Romans 3:26, 27, Paul sums up the saving implications of Romans 3:24, 25. Because of what Christ has done, God can declare sinners to be righteous; yet, He can still be seen as totally fair in the eyes of the onlooking universe.
And in Romans 3:28, Paul can conclude that the sinner is justified “without,” or “apart from” (NKJV), the deeds of the law.
Consider This: Acts of obedience have no power to justify. But they do have the positive effects of vindicating both the genuineness of a person’s faith and the declaration of God’s forgiveness. Yet, some mistakenly assert that Paul’s diction in Romans 3:26, 27 (as reflected in the words “without,” or “apart from”) suggests that grace does away with the law and the obedience of faith. Based on a correct interpretation of Romans 3:24, 25, why is the opposite true?
STEP 3—Apply
Just for Teachers: As has been pointed out, this week’s passage is utterly foundational. And here we need to challenge the class to sense not only the theological and doctrinal importance of this passage but also the utter seriousness that these truths imply for personal sanctification. Thus, invite serious consideration of the following questions:
Application Questions:
In what possible ways does this theology of Paul inform how believers should live out their lives before both the church and the world?
How does this message of Paul seem to inform the counsels of Ellen G. White and her understanding of the life and death of Christ? And how should these both, in turn, inform the believer’s experience of salvation from the guilt and power of sin?
STEP 4—Create
Just for Teachers: In response to the above two questions, ask the class how these passages from Paul and the commentary of Ellen G. White have shaped their theology of the meaning of Christ’s life and death. Challenge the class to review carefully the chapters entitled “Calvary” and “ ‘It is Finished’ ” from Ellen White’s book The Desire of Ages. How does the author either vindicate or reject the concepts that Christ’s perfect life and death were given to satisfy the demands of God’s justice so that He could offer merciful forgiveness for our sins?
Activity: Plan a follow-up meeting to address the questions presented under “Just for Teachers” for Step 4.
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Key Text: Romans 3:28
The Student Will:
Learning Outline:
Summary: The key passage for this week begins Paul’s direct exposition of justification by faith alone. With the “but now” of 3:21, Paul reaches an important turning point in Romans.
Learning Cycle
STEP 1—Motivate
Spotlight on Scripture: Romans 3:28
Key Concept for Spiritual Growth: We now celebrate the 500-year anniversary of the launching of the Protestant Reformation. At this time, we seek to understand fully the dynamics of justification by faith alone and its classic scriptural expression in the book of Romans. Hardly a more foundational issue for personal salvation exists than justification by faith.
Just for Teachers: Earnestly impress upon class members the crucial importance of clarifying their understanding of justification by faith alone.
Opening Discussion: Ask class members to share their respective personal journeys in coming to terms with the issue of pardon, forgiveness, and a new legal standing of acquittal before God. Which was hardest for them to attain: intellectual (doctrinal) clarity or the admittance of their great need? Invite them to share what it means, subsequently, to embrace God’s merciful pardon. Finally, what does their new legal standing as God’s adopted children mean?
Consider This: The true heart of the discovery of both the apostle Paul and Martin Luther was genuine clarity on how the demands of God’s justice could be satisfied without doing away with His law. Key for them was the fact that Christ met the demands of divine justice for us in His life of active, perfect obedience to the law and in His passive, substitutionary death for sinners. Thus, as the Sin Bearer, Christ satisfied the just demands of God’s law, which demands eternal “death” (Rom. 6:23) as payment for the wages of sin. And through Christ’s payment of the debt and His holy life, God has made full provision for the forgiveness of human sin.
Questions for Discussion:
STEP 2—Explore
Just for Teachers: The message found in Romans 3:19–28 has been characterized by venerable New Testament commentator Leon Morris as “the most important single paragraph ever written” (cited from Leon Morris’ commentary by George R. Knight in Exploring Romans: A Devotional Commentary [Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Publishing Association, 2010], p. 88). The transitional expression “[b]ut now” (Rom. 3:21) is one of the most decisive moments in the flow of Paul’s argument in Romans, and it opens up to readers the possibility for the hopeful transformation of the sinful human predicament. Thus, we need to ponder these verses with the utmost care.
Bible Commentary
Introduction: What follows are the “high points” of Romans 3:19–28. The comments of the Standard Edition lesson are judiciously helpful here. To augment our study of the lesson, we will extract the most salient points and add a few supplemental comments.
I. The Role of the Law in Justification (Review Romans 3:19, 20 with your class.)
The role of the law in leading to justification is essential. When Paul refers to “law” in the broad sense of torah, he refers to the first five books of Moses and more generally to the entire Old Testament. Yet, very often, he has in mind the moral law and its biblical amplification in the statutes, judgments, and ceremonial precepts. To be “under the law” means to be bound to the law’s jurisdiction as the definer of sin and the generator of guilt before God. Yet, the key point here is that, while the law has no power to redeem, it can very forcefully lead the sinner to seek a remedy for sin. In other words, the law cannot make a person just in God’s sight. As has been said, the law can no more save than the symptoms of a disease can cure the afflicting disease.
Consider This: Sinful humanity’s law-keeping is laudable, but why does keeping the law have no power to justify any sinner?
II. Contrasting the “Righteousness of God” and the Righteousness of the Law (Review Romans 3:21, NKJV, with your class.)
Read Romans 3:21. What is the meaning of this crucial text? The “righteousness of God” is clearly contrasted with the “righteousness of the law.” This “righteousness of God” comes from God; indeed, it has been provided by Him, based on what has been done in the life and death of Jesus. And this divine “righteousness” has been offered to all who will receive or accept it by faith—not because they deserve it but because they absolutely need it.
Discussion Question: Selected Messages, book 1, page 367, contains what is probably the clearest Ellen White statement ever rendered on justification. Ask the class how this statement has affected them and their attitude to Ellen White and her views on justification by faith. (It also may prove helpful to urge them to ponder prayerfully pages 300 to 400 in the same volume.)
III. The Connection of Justification and “Righteousness” (Review Romans 3:24, NKJV, with your class.)
Romans 3:24 clarifies the key Greek term that has been translated as “justified,” and follows it with a discussion of the connection between justification and “righteousness” (Rom. 3:25).
Consider This: One of the key results of “grace” is the blessing of God in “declaring” repentant sinners to be “righteous before God.” Now, in one important sense, justification is “punctiliar” (happening at a particular point in time). But it also can be “linear” (ongoing) in the sense that, because of our human weakness, we need Christ, as a living Intercessor, to be constantly making up for our unavoidable deficiencies in our faith and in our walk with God. Ask the class: After carefully pondering these crucial points, why do you agree or disagree?
IV. Differentiating “Propitiation” and “Remission” (Review Romans 3:25 with your class.)
Romans 3:25 leads us to the meaning of two key Greek words, hilasterion and paresis, which are normally translated into English, respectively, as “propitiation” and “remission.” These terms in this context are critically important for defining the work of Christ in behalf of sinners. Christ has made provision for the satisfaction of the demands of God’s justice. The requirements having been met, God can then offer the repentant sinner “remission,” or forgiveness and pardon, for his or her sins.
Consider This: What are some ways that we can translate more clearly these key terms in our cultural context?
V. Justification and the Fairness of God’s Forgiveness of Sinners (Review Romans 3:26–28 with your class.)
In Romans 3:26, 27, Paul sums up the saving implications of Romans 3:24, 25. Because of what Christ has done, God can declare sinners to be righteous; yet, He can still be seen as totally fair in the eyes of the onlooking universe.
And in Romans 3:28, Paul can conclude that the sinner is justified “without,” or “apart from” (NKJV), the deeds of the law.
Consider This: Acts of obedience have no power to justify. But they do have the positive effects of vindicating both the genuineness of a person’s faith and the declaration of God’s forgiveness. Yet, some mistakenly assert that Paul’s diction in Romans 3:26, 27 (as reflected in the words “without,” or “apart from”) suggests that grace does away with the law and the obedience of faith. Based on a correct interpretation of Romans 3:24, 25, why is the opposite true?
STEP 3—Apply
Just for Teachers: As has been pointed out, this week’s passage is utterly foundational. And here we need to challenge the class to sense not only the theological and doctrinal importance of this passage but also the utter seriousness that these truths imply for personal sanctification. Thus, invite serious consideration of the following questions:
Application Questions:
STEP 4—Create
Just for Teachers: In response to the above two questions, ask the class how these passages from Paul and the commentary of Ellen G. White have shaped their theology of the meaning of Christ’s life and death. Challenge the class to review carefully the chapters entitled “Calvary” and “ ‘It is Finished’ ” from Ellen White’s book The Desire of Ages. How does the author either vindicate or reject the concepts that Christ’s perfect life and death were given to satisfy the demands of God’s justice so that He could offer merciful forgiveness for our sins?
Activity: Plan a follow-up meeting to address the questions presented under “Just for Teachers” for Step 4.