The courtroom is full to capacity. Curious to hear what his argument is. In comes Paul. The Apostle. It is rumored that he has a strong believe that salvation is not only for the jews but also to the gentiles.
An ex Pharisee they say.
He seems ready to present his argument.
Silence
"Members of the jury".
Pitch silence
Romans 1:16 "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 the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Silence
He starts to exclaim how the gospel is the full power of God.
An incredible statement.
The word he uses for power is "dynamis" from which we get the English word for dynamite, an explosive and self-contained power.
"For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written - "The righteous will live by faith" [Romans 1:17]
His first blow
The most profound statement for the day.
One that has the ability to revolutionize the entire courtroom lives. But in the same way, the most under taught.
He continues, how it is the way we begin with God and the only way we finish by being righteous.
Righteousness is the “state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God. Integrity, virtue, purity of life, rightness, correctness of thinking, feeling, and acting.”
This is what God gives to the believer. By faith we accept this as part of our salvation. The forgiveness of sins and righteousness are indivisible.
“Here we are shown the inseparability of the two things - God imputing “righteousness” and God not imputing “sins". The two are never divided, unto whom God imputes not sin He imputes righteousness, and unto whom He imputes righteousness, He imputes not sin.”
Second blow
Paul is building a case to prove the Gentiles [those outside of God’s Covenant people] are guilty before God because of their refusal to acknowledge Him.
Silence
Sudeenly, he turns the table and focuses on the Jews.
The Jews are God’s special people, and because of this relationship, they think that they have the right to judge and condemn others.
Paul shows that the Jews are just as guilty, if not guiltier, than the Gentiles.
Clearly, some tension is raising at this point.
The Jews are starting to feel uncomfortable.
The Gentiles on the hand seem to have a strong case.
Paul’s assertion is that the Jews have no right to pass judgment on others because they are just as guilty of exactly the same things.
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The problem is when we don’t understand our righteousness in Christ. Imagine you are in debt to a bank and owe a lot of money.
Imagine also that you have no way of paying off the debt. Then the bank comes along and forgives the debt. That would be great, right? Your debt is paid, you no longer owe anything, and you are starting with a zero balance, sounds wonderful right?!
The problem is that you still have a zero balance, which means you either go to work to make money or fall in debt again. While the forgiveness of debt is a step in the right direction, it doesn’t solve the problem because debt is only half the issue. The other half is that without money, you are still poor.
What if, in the same gracious act, the bank not only forgave your debt, but then announced that the resources of the bank fully belong to you? You then have access to the fullness of the bank’s riches, and you can use whatever you need at any time. That would solve the issue of poverty. You wouldn’t need to go off to work to earn a paycheck, you would own what the bank has and gain access to it.
Jesus graciously forgives our debt and still gives us His very own righteousness. This means we are not starting at zero with God. Instead, we do not need anything. In this way, we are starting in the fullness of Christ’s perfection that brings us into a right relationship with God while owing nothing. It gives us equity with God. In Christ, His righteousness gives us all that God requires us to be, but what we could never be in ourselves. In Christ, we start perfect and end perfect with a righteousness that is by faith from first to last.
On the other hand from a human perspective, it is easy to start comparing ourselves to others. It is also easy to assume that the longer we walk with Christ, the more we have the right to judge others, but this simply isn’t so, even if we are not participating in the same offenses as those we judge. The Book of James explains “Whoever keeps the whole Law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” [James 2:10].
Therefore, it is in our best interest to leave judgment to God as all of us at one point or another have disqualified ourselves from this role.
The logic Paul is building is that when we judge others, we prove that we have an awareness of right from wrong, and this knowledge makes us liable for our actions.
Paul also explains that at whatever point we are passing judgement, we are proving the case against ourselves that we, too, are guilty.
Here’s the good news in all of this instead of condemning us, God extends us grace. The Apostle John wrote, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him” [John 3:17].
If we recognize Jesus as our Savior, we will escape God’s judgment against our sin.
Because we have been extended grace in place of judgment, we, too, should be quick to offer grace to others.
Romans 1 & 2
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