Rambling through Romans (17): 3:21-31(2)
21 But now God’s
righteousness has been revealed apart from the Law, which is confirmed by the
Law and the Prophets. 22 God’s righteousness comes through the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who have faith in him. There’s no
distinction. 23 All have sinned and fall short of God’s glory, 24 but
all are treated as righteous freely by his grace because of a ransom that was
paid by Christ Jesus. 25 Through his faithfulness, God
displayed Jesus as the place of sacrifice where mercy is found by means of his
blood. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness in passing over sins that
happened before, 26 during the time of God’s patient tolerance.
He also did this to demonstrate that he is righteous in the present time, and
to treat the one who has faith in Jesus as righteous.
27 What
happens to our bragging? It’s thrown out. With which law? With what we have
accomplished under the Law? 28 No, not at all, but through the
law of faith. We consider that a person is treated as righteous by faith, apart
from what is accomplished under the Law. 29 Or is God the God
of Jews only? Isn’t God the God of Gentiles also? Yes, God is also the God of
Gentiles. 30 Since God is one, then the one who makes the
circumcised righteous by faith will also make the one who isn’t circumcised
righteous through faith. 31 Do we then cancel the Law through
this faith? Absolutely not! Instead, we confirm the Law.
Let’s back up for a moment to v.23: “All have sinned and fall short of God’s
glory.” Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? We’ve violated God’s Law and stand guilty
before God, right? Perhaps not. Or at least that’s not what’s really at issue
here.
What would you say is the key word in this sentence. I’d say “glory” because that is the word that
doesn’t seem to quite fit our normal understanding of this sentence. “All have sinned and fall short of God’s . .
. Law, Standards, Justice – that would make good sense with our usual
understanding. But “glory”? Not so much.
At least on the surface.
What is God’s “glory” and how does our sin cause us to fall
short of it? In the Old Testament God’s
glory most often refers to or stands for his presence. On this rendering our sin has caused us to
fall short of God’s presence. How
so? Human beings were from the beginning
meant to reflect God’s glory as his image-bearers. In relationship to God we were to reflect his
will and character and serve as ambassadors of his rule throughout
creation. God’s presence in creation is
us – living as we were meant to live!
Irenaeus (2nd century) captured his best with his
saying: “The glory of God is humanity
fully alive, and life is beholding God.”
Our sin, then, breaks the relationship with God that makes
us his glory, his presence, in the creation.
That’s the tragedy of sin as Paul sees it here. Not merely a legal infraction or a missing of
the mark. No, sin is always personal and
relational. It is a breaking faith with
God. Disloyalty. Treason.
Seeking to become our own “glory.”
Sin, our sin, then, needs forgiveness. But even more it requires a restoration of
right relationship to God. Then we may
once again begin to live in such a way that God’s presence is seen among us and
in his creation.
How God did just that is the burden of the rest of this
section of Romans 3. But it is important
to be clear on just what is at stake here before we dive into the depths of
Paul’s exposition. God’s glory is his eternal
purpose of having a world filled with creatures who reflect his will and
character and care for one another and the creation itself as his
stewards. Nothing less than the very
heart of God, fully invested in this creation project, is what is spurned and
broken by our sin. We make ourselves
opaque, no longer able to reflect that love which is life itself and
life-giving to all it touches! God’s passion
and energy are devoted to not simply reclaiming us from our folly and sin, but
in restoring us to that purpose for which he originally made us. And that what the rest of this passage deals
with.
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