Romans Chapter 3

vs. 1- 2- Responsibility

- Paul starts by asking if there were benefits to being a Jew. If everyone has an equal chance, what then was the point of being a Jew? They had been special up to this point... and now they were equal with the rest of the world's population.
- The benefit(s) were this:
- Firstly, they were entrusted with God's laws. They had the
whole revelation of God before any other group of people.
- Two, they were the people through whom God chose to send
His Son, the salvation of the world.
- Three, they were beneficiaries of the first covenants made
with God himself.
- These privileges did not mean that the Jews were above the rest of the world. It meant they had a bigger responsibility to live up to God's standards.

vs. 3-4- God is Faithful

- Some of the Jews down through time were unfaithful. They broke the covenants God made with them and they at times completely turned their backs on Him. But 2 Chronicles 7:14-16 speaks of God's unending mercy.
- Even though they were idolatrous, and turned away time and time again, God ALWAYS provided a way back for them. And eventually, He provided the ultimate and ONLY true path to Him, Jesus.
- When all else is proved to be unfaithful, or a lie, or untrustworthy... God is proven, God is true, God is forever faithful.

- Romans 9:30-33
- Psalm 100:5
- Lamentations 3:22-25

vs. 5-8- worried about sin?

- God does not need our help in showing His righteousness. These verses talk about people who were claiming that because of their sin, God appeared more righteous; however, in the end, God is righteous no matter what. Whether or not there is sin in the world to contrast that righteousness doesn't really matter.

- Romans 6:1-4
- Heb. 10:26-31
- Romans 3:23

- These verses have been a hard one for me to grapple with. This was the clearest written version that I found thus far. It's a New Century Translation.
- “5 When we do wrong, that shows more clearly that God is
right. So can we say that God is wrong to punish us? (I am
talking as people might talk.)
6 No! If God could not punish us, he could not judge the world.
7 A person might say, "When I lie, it really gives him glory,
because my lie shows God's truth. So why am I judged a
sinner?"
8 It would be the same to say, "We should do evil so that good
will come." Some people find fault with us and say we teach
this, but they are wrong and deserve the punishment they
will receive.”
- my footnote in my NLT says this- “Some may think they don't have to worry about sin because 1. it's God's job to forgive; 2. God is so loving that He won't judge; 3. sin isn't so bad—it teaches valuable lessons; or 4. we need to stay in touch with the culture around us. It is far too easy to take God's grace for granted. But God cannot overlook sin. No matter how many excuses they make, sinners will have to answer to God for their sin.”
- What I get from all of that above, (ha ha) is that no matter how you try to justify it, no matter how you try to get around it, sin is still sin and God will still judge accordingly.
- I was trying to think of how to relate this in a more clear way, and this is the only thing I can come up with. Superman was born Superman. He had his arch nemesis and so on... but Superman had his power regardless of whether or not he had anyone to fight. And sometimes there were people who would try to make him show himself. Prove who he was. Make him save someone to prove that he had the ability to do it. But you know? It didn't change who he was. It didn't make him more powerful in any way. Probably actually caused some stress on his part considering the whole secret identity thing... (ha ha). But just like that, God doesn't need our help in making him more holy or righteous. He is who He is. Nothing we can do will change that. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

vs. 9-20- No not one...

- All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. None are righteous.
- All people are born into sin and Paul goes on to quote scriptures relating to that which explain the attributes of evil people, or people who are living without God in their lives.
- The one that sticks out to me in this set is that they don't fear God. They don't feel the need to be held accountable for their actions. In their minds, there's no one to chastise them.
- The law was given to prove to us how unworthy we are. We can follow the law to the best of our ability, and it still won't measure up. We are all guilty before God. The law cannot purify you. Only through Christ are we made righteous.
- Don't get me wrong, it's good to follow God's laws. But the law
does not save you. Only Christ saves you. THEN you follow
the law because you are grateful that you were set free from
sin. It's kind of like when you fall in love with someone. When
you're dating or you get married, you don't want to do
anything to hurt them. And you want to please them. You
want them to be happy with you. Following the law pleases
God, therefore you follow it out of love.

- Proverbs 25:26
- Matthew 5:17-20
- Romans 4:13-16
- Romans 6:12-18
- Romans 7:4-13

vs. 21-22- The way!

- There is a way to be free from the restrictions of the law! JESUS!
- We are not made right with God through our keeping of the law... rather through FAITH in JESUS.

- John 14:6
- Romans 6:14
- Galatians 3:1-14, 18-20, 26-29
- Romans 4: 4-8
- I Peter 3:18

Questions:

- Have you given your heart to Christ?
- Have you been made right with God?
- Do you have faith that your sins can be washed away? Do you have faith that Christ provides a salvation for your soul?
- If not, will you take some time to consider the above?

vs. 23-26- We are not perfect

- We are all human. We are all fallible. We all miss the mark.
- But the great thing is, that GOD in all His mercy and grace, provided a way! He didn't cast us off when we failed.
- Through Christ, He takes what is unrighteous, and makes it righteous. Through Christ, He takes what is unclean, and makes it clean.
- Through belief in Christ (again back to faith) we are made right with God. The penalty that we SHOULD have received, was placed on the back of Christ and He bore OUR cross and took OUR punishment upon Himself so that WE could go free.
- Through Christ, God provided a way that we could leave our past behind. Set sail on a new sea. New start. Clean slate. No punishment for our crimes. What's in the past, has no lasting effect on the present or future.
- What's cool, is that God had this already planned out. There was a master plan for the salvation of mankind from the very beginning of the world. Even before that!

- Romans 9
- Psalm 51
- Luke 15:3-7
- Isaiah 59:12-21. 64:6-9
- Psalm 40:5
- Jeremiah 29:11-14
- II Timothy 2:9-11
- Micah 7: 18-20

Questions:

- Have you given your burdens to Christ?
- Have you given him your past to heal, your present to direct, and your future to write?
- Will you admit that you need God in your life to help you accomplish His plan in your life?

vs. 27-28- Can we boast?

- On our own, we have done nothing to be accepted by Christ. There is nothing that we ourselves can do to make ourselves worthy of his notice.
- We are made right with God through faith. Not through the law, not through works, not through being a good person, but by faith in Christ alone.

- Romans 9
- Romans 7:4-13
- Ephesians 2:8-10

Questions:
Have you ever found yourself trying to make yourself right before God before asking God to help you?
Have you found yourself failing in trying to maintain your perfection?
Will you admit that you need God to make you perfect in His sight?
Will you admit that you can't do it on your own?

vs. 29-31- One God for ALL people

- God is God of all. Not just the Jews, not just the Gentiles, but EVERYONE.
- No matter your background, no matter your family, no matter who you are or were, there is ONE God, whose name is JESUS, who through FAITH, makes you righteous and pure in His sight.
- This does not mean to forget the law. Does not mean that you now have the right to do whatever you want to do, however you want to do it. There are still regulations on your life.

- Isaiah 43:10-13
- I John 1:8-10
- Joel 3:28-32 (Acts 2:17-21)
- Romans 10:4-17

Questions:

Why does God save us by faith alone?
Why is this concept important?
Are there things you need to do to maintain your salvation? (as in maintenance, not as in keeping it yours. A house needs maintenance—new roof, new plumbing, new carpet, general repairs... how does this relate to your salvation?)
Is there something that you're allowing to keep you from the Grace of God? Are you waiting until you're perfect? Are you letting guilt and past sin hold you back from the love and acceptance of Christ?