The Book of Romans

Part 17: The Good News of Justification through Faith

Scripture: Romans 1:1 – 7:18.
Romans 1:16-17 (ESV)
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.”
1. The Thesis: Through Faith, the Gospel Provides Us with the Righteousness of God
2. Our Predicament: We are All Sinners Who Fall Short of God’s Glory
A. All of Us Our Ungodly, Unrighteous, Suppressers of the Truth
Romans 1:18 (ESV)
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
B. God Does Not Show Partiality Between Jews and Gentiles
Romans 2:9-11 (ESV)
9 There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11 For God shows no partiality.
C. None of Us Can Be Justified by Our Own Works
Romans 3:20 (ESV)
20 For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
3. The Solution: God Gives Us Righteousness through Faith in the Redemptive Work of Chrit
Romans 3:21-26 (ESV)
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
4. The Confirmation: Righteousness Has Always Come through Faith
Romans 4:3-8 (ESV)
3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin.”
5. The Benefits of Salvation: Justification through Faith Changes Our Relationship with God, Sin, and the
Law
A. Justification through Faith Gives Us Peace with God
Romans 5:1-2 (ESV)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
B. Christ’s Obedience Provides Righteousness and Life

Romans 5:18-19 (ESV)
18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19  For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.
C. Union with Christ Makes Us Dead to Sin and Alive to God
Romans 6:11-14 (ESV)
11 So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. 12 Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. 13 Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. 14 For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.
D. Justification through Faith Releases Us from the Law that Can Only Bring Death to Sinners
Romans 7:4-6 (ESV)
4 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. 6 But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.