Main Idea: Those who place their faith in Christ and his gospel become recipients of God’s grace, which justifies, redeems, and atones for their law-breaking and empowers them for law-keeping.

Head Change: To know that right standing with God comes through faith in Jesus Christ apart from the law.

Heart Change: To feel the freedom that God’s grace offers us through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ.

Life Change: To exercise our faith in God by obeying his law.

OPEN

Have you ever taken what you would describe as a “leap of faith”? What was that experience like for you?

While we inherently seek to earn God’s favor through law-keeping, the apostle Paul describes true salvation in another way entirely. Not by earning, but by receiving. Not through law-keeping, but faith. In this session, J.D. will introduce us to these ideas found in a passage scholars call the single most important paragraph in the whole Bible.

READ

Read Romans 3:21–31.

WATCH

Session 5: Romans 3:21–31 (12 minutes).

DISCUSS

J.D. pointed out that what many Bible teachers and evangelists call the Romans Road to salvation begins here in this paragraph. How familiar are you with the Romans Road? Have you ever heard it being used for evangelism, or have you used it yourself?

Paul concluded the previous section of this chapter by stating that “no one will be justified by the works of the law” because the law brings only the knowledge of sin.

But Paul says in verse 21 that we can now know God’s righteousness “apart from the law.” Why is it significant that the righteousness of God is now revealed “apart from the law”?  How is it good news for us?

Paul’s use of the phrase, “attested by the Law and the Prophets” in verse 21 is his way of grounding the argument in the Old Testament Scriptures. Grace is not a New Testament idea—since the time of the Law and the Prophets, salvation has always come through grace. When you think of the Old Testament, do you think of grace? Why or why not? 

In what ways does Paul’s argument change the way you view the Old Testament?

Verse 22 makes it clear where the righteousness of God can be found, how it can be received, and to whom it is offered. How do we become righteous? To whom is God’s righteousness offered?

What difference has it made in your life to know that the phrase “to all who believe” applies to you? How could that phrase embolden your evangelism?

In verses 22–23, Paul says that we all are offered God’s righteousness because we all have sinned. Anyone who believes in Jesus is justified, or declared righteous, freely by God’s grace. Why is it good news that God freely justifies those who have faith in Jesus?

When we are justified by God we are declared righteous, but we still struggle with sin. Has your struggle with sin caused you to doubt or question your justification? How so?

What can you do to keep your justification front of mind, even while you battle your sin?

J.D. highlighted and defined the word redemption. To redeem, he said, is to “buy something back,” or “to bring it back from destruction.” When God redeemed you, from what destructive habits and patterns did he buy you back? 

In what ways are you experiencing freedom from those patterns and habits?

Paul ends this part of his argument by saying that Jesus is an “atoning sacrifice”—an appeasement for God’s wrath—which covers not just current and future sins but sins “previously committed.” What difference does it make to your faith to know that Jesus’s death and resurrection cover sins “previously committed”?

By sending Jesus to atone for our sins, God showed that he could be righteous and declare righteous those who have faith in Jesus. So now, when God sees us, he doesn’t see broken sinners, but beloved sons and daughters. How does the cross deepen your understanding of God’s love for you? How does knowing the full work of grace shape your understanding of the gospel?

J.D. summed up the gospel with four words: Jesus in my place. “Jesus took your place,” he said, “receiving the punishment you deserved so you could receive the acceptance he deserved,” all of which is received by faith. What strikes you about the simplicity of the gospel? Why?

Does it feel easier or more difficult than earning our salvation? Explain your answer.

In these verses, Paul stops to ask us a pertinent question: “Where, then, is boasting?” In other words, since salvation is a gift what do we have to brag about? We didn’t do anything to be made righteous—Jesus did it all. The gospel works to combat our pride, which so naturally springs up in our hearts. In what ways does pride still manifest itself in you? In what ways can the gospel correct you when you notice pride in yourself?

Paul ends chapter 3 by returning to the law. As J.D. said, the law serves as a mirror that reveals our sin, driving us to Christ and his gospel. The gospel then drives us back to the law, guiding and empowering us to live obedient lives. In other words, the grace of God gives us the power to obey. How have you seen the grace of God work in your life to bring about greater obedience to God’s law?

What could it look like to depend even more on God’s grace to obey him?

The linchpin of God’s grace is faith. The Greek word for faith is pistis, which means “to lean your weight on” or “join yourself to.” While faith may seem like an easy path to receiving God’s grace, the reality is it’s sometimes hard to “lean our weight on” God. In what situations do you find it most difficult to lean on God?

What can you do to exercise and build up your faith in God? What could it look like for you to live a life marked by faith?

LAST WORD

No amount of religion or morality can mend the rupture that sin has caused between us and God. Despite our efforts, religious obedience cannot change the substance of sinful hearts. We are fully incapable of removing our guilt; we need help from outside of us

And that’s precisely what Paul says Jesus has done. Through Christ, we are offered justification, redemption, and grace, all of which put us in right standing with God—we need only to receive it by faith. Have you “leaned your weight on” Christ, and Christ alone?

Commit to “join yourself to” Christ, who absorbed God’s wrath so that you might receive his righteousness and be welcomed into life with him forever.