Passage
God brought Him forth through faithfulness as a means to
forgiveness in His blood. This is evidence
of His righteousness through the disregard of the sins that have happened
previously, in the patient endurance of God, for the demonstration of His
righteousness in the present age, in order that He is to be righteous even
while declaring righteous the one out of the faithfulness of Jesus.
Thoughts for Today
First Thought:
There are two words in today’s reading that are spoken again
and again by Paul. The first word is
faithfulness. The second word is
righteousness. These two concepts are
interconnected. Jesus is righteous because
He was faithful. The forgiveness of sins
comes to us because Jesus was faithful.
Our righteousness is therefore connected directly to the faithfulness of
Jesus. I am not declared righteous
because I have faith in Jesus. I am
declared righteous because Jesus was faithful.
I merely receive that gift of righteousness that has been offered to me
through the faithfulness of Christ.
Do you see the difference between saying “I am declared
righteous through the faith in Jesus” and “I am declared righteous through the
faithfulness of Jesus?” When push comes
to shove, would you rather have your salvation based upon your ability to
believe or upon Jesus’ ability to be faithful?
Second Thought:
Because of Christ’s faithfulness, the gift of salvation has
been offered to us. Yet, we must receive
it. Christ died for all – that is, so
that all may be offered the gift of salvation.
Salvation based upon the faithfulness of Christ is offered to all. Yet, we all have the ability to receive it or
reject it. This is why Paul concludes
this section by speaking about God declaring righteous “the one out of the
faithfulness of Jesus.” There are those
who are saved out of Jesus’ faithfulness and those who reject salvation out of
Jesus’ faithfulness. Either way, though,
salvation is still solely because of Jesus’ faithfulness.
What does it mean to you to receive the gift of
salvation? What does it look like for you
to live out that salvation? Why did you
choose to receive salvation?
Third Thought:
God has disregarded our previous sinfulness. That alone is incredible. God could have been just and let us
perish. But to demonstrate His
righteousness He patiently endured our rebellion, sent us Jesus to atone for
our rebellion, and then declared us righteous through Jesus in spite of our
rebellion. This is the true character of
God. God is not an angry God who seeks
to punish us. God is one who loves us
into a relationship we do not deserve for no other reason than it is His character.
Why is it easy to be angry with God and see Him as a
vengeful and wrathful God? Why is it
easy to overlook God’s true character of love?
When is the correct time and a place for focusing on both judgment and
forgiveness?
Passage for Tomorrow: Romans 3:27-31
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