Romans 3:9-26 – Guilt And Righteousness

What’s The Point?

There is more Scripture today than the previous days, but it is important that we take the time to follow Paul’s reasoning in this passage. In verses 10-18 Paul hand-picks Scriptures from Psalms and Isaiah to highlight how wicked we are; each verse serves an an indictment against us. Paul isn’t pulling any punches. The language he uses is offensive, but he is trying to convey the weightiness of our sin and the reality of our terrible guilt before a holy God. We are guilty according to the law, and God will hold us accountable for our sin. We could never get out from under sin on our own. We could never fulfill all the law requires; we would never obey all of the law.

This truth is highlighted so beautifully in the contrasting realities of this passage. Over and over Paul speaks of our wickedness; then Paul uses one of his favorite words—a word that all Christians should love… “But.” Verses 10-20 make our reality seem hopeless. We deserve judgement; “No human being will be justified in his sight” (v. 20). We are done fore. What will we ever do?

Then there is a beautiful ray of hope for the believer, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law” (v. 21).  This is so good! God has shown us his righteousness apart from the law in the person of Jesus. Jesus, who came so we could see God’s righteousness and then fulfilled all the Old Testament laws. Guilt and condemnation came through the law, but righteousness comes “through faith in Jesus Christ” (v. 22).

Verses 23 and 24 sum up the whole point Paul is making here. All of us have sinned; none of us is worthy, but God has redeemed us by his grace. We have all fallen short of God’s perfect standard. Thankfully, our justification is by his grace, not by our works, not by the law, not our goodness or faithfulness, only by his grace. God knew that we would mess it up over and over and that he would have to come and rescue us. He knew that only Jesus could satisfy all of the law; only Jesus could be truly righteous, and in his grace, he gives us that righteousness.

Why does Paul spend so much time on this? Why all the Old Testament Scripture about how wicked we are? Because, we must dwell on the weight of our sins. This does not mean that God wants us to wallow in our guilt, but we need to know that we were truly guilty, deserving real, eternal punishment. Our sins really did condemn us. It is very humbling to realize that we were dead in sin, offering nothing to the Lord, and that is when he decided to save us.

The darkness of our sin and depravity should make the light of God’s grace and our forgiveness all the brighter. Jesus has satisfied the penalty for our punishment and now we have his favor with the Father—that is what propitiation means. He has loved us when we were unlovable and given us a gift that we can never repay, and he does not expect us to repay it. Let’s worship this Lord because of his goodness and kindness towards us. Let’s worship him because he is worthy and has redeemed us.

Scripture Memorization

Ephesians 2:4–5

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved.”

Prayer

Lord, we have fallen short. We could never measure up to your righteous standard. We praise you because you are so holy and so good. You are so much greater than we could ever imagine. You have not lowered your standards to let us in, but you have given us your righteousness and called us sons and daughters. We praise you for your mercy and grace. My sin should have destroyed me, but you loved me when I should have been unloveable. It is only by your grace I am saved. Thank you, Jesus, for rescuing me.

Reflection

1. The words propitiation and forbearance come up in this passage. Check out the Definitions Page to learn more about what they mean. Why are these words important?
2. Paul aims to make us think about the weight of our sin and guilt. Think about the position you would be in before God if it wasn’t for the grace extended to us in Christ.
3. Spend some time thinking and thanking God for a grace so massive that it paid a debt that would have taken you eternity to pay off.

Discussion Questions

1. How can Jesus’ life and death pay the sin debt that would have condemned us forever?
2. What was the purpose of the law if it could never provide salvation? What does the law reveal to us?
3. Read verse 25 again. It speaks of Christ’s blood and propitiation, God’s righteousness and forbearance, and our sin debt. Discuss these ideas and what they mean for believers.

If you have any questions feel free to reach out: harry@swoutfitters.com. All of the Scripture referenced in this study is from the English Standard Version (ESV) unless otherwise noted.