The Good News Is Greater Than We Can Imagine
The Good News Is Greater Than We Can Imagine
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
If you remember last time I titled my article: The Bad News Is Worse Than We Thought. And that is the complete, unvarnished truth. We looked at the first 20 verses of Romans 3 and there is no way to see it in any other light. It is terrible news. If you recall, those verses are set up like a trial and revealed in three parts. 1. The Judge (God) is introduced and His authority is established. 2. The charges (the indictment, if you will) against the whole of humanity are read to us. 3. The verdict is rendered. And, of course, the verdict against all people everywhere is the same: Guilty. And when you look at the list of charges leveled against the human race (Romans 3:9-18) you can clearly see that there is no other appropriate verdict. And that, indeed, is bad news. Worse than we could have ever imagined.
Then comes the most important “But” in the entire Bible. It is hard to believe that so much could hang on one three-letter word that we utter without any thought at all multiple times throughout our day. But (see?) that simple, three-letter word is about to usher in the most glorious news we could ever imagine. It is not hyperbole to suggest that these two verses are most impactful than any others in Scripture. Because after God spends 20 verses dishing out the bad news, we can only come to one conclusion. We are inherently, all of us, unrighteous in the sight of God. And it is hard to imagine the depths of our unrighteousness. And so, immediately after telling us this devastating news related to our complete unrighteousness, take a look at the first six words in the very next sentence. “But now the righteousness of God…”(Romans 3:21).
I hope you see the seismic shift here. Upon giving us the unflinching reality of our unrighteousness, Paul juxtaposes our unrighteousness with God’s righteousness. Why would he do that? I am so glad you asked. The answer lies in the rest of this verse and the one following it. First, Paul reminds us that this manifestation of God’s righteousness (manifested in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus) is not found in the law even though he tells us that the law certainly “bear witness to it”. So it is not a righteousness that can be earned by any works we do. And it is God’s righteousness. If we earned it, it would be our righteousness. He is making it clear that it belongs to God and Him alone. It is necessary that we understand this.
And then, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit does something incredible here. He tells us in verse 22 what happens to us when we are saved. And what happens is glorious beyond our ability to fully understand. After mentioning to us His righteousness…in direct opposition to our own unrighteousness…he explains what God does with His righteousness at the point of salvation. “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). Did you catch it? I hope you did. It is only 13 words. Not even a complete sentence from a grammatical standpoint. And once again it contains a three-letter word that we otherwise not even pay attention to. This time the three-letter word is “for”. Go back and read the verses again. I’ll wait. Are you back? Good. Do you see what God is saying through Paul here in this partial sentence? I hope so. Because it is almost impossible to believe.
The phrase “through faith in Jesus Christ” (v.22) is clearly referencing Believers. Though who have come to faith In Christ. Those who have been saved, redeemed, born again. And He is telling us here that when we are saved, redeemed, born again…that the perfect righteousness that belongs to God alone is “for” Believers. In other words, once we come to faith in Christ and we are truly Christians, that God doesn’t simply save us, which would be great news in and of itself. He then places His holy righteousness upon us. Let that sink in for a minute. And this isn’t a different kind or a lesser version. It’s not like God has righteousness 12.0 and He’s giving us the 1.0 version. He is imputing to us His actual righteousness. He is placing that on us and in us.
I cannot even fathom that. As much as Believers still struggle against our old nature of sin…and still fall regularly. God Himself sees us as righteous. Verses 1-20 shows us how He sees all of humanity. We are the picture of unrighteousness. However, when He adopts us as His own, He places His perfect righteousness on us. When is the last time you ever thought of yourself as righteous? Me? Never. But here we have God’s very own Word telling us that is exactly how He sees us. Not because of anything we have done. In fact, it is in spite of the things we have done. This is not a figure of speech. It is not analogy. It is the real truth. And He sees us this way because He has placed the righteousness of His Son on us because of what His Son did for us. Salvation doesn’t make us better…it makes us righteous. It is a cloak that covers our entire being. Which means that even when I am at worst, when God sees me, He does not see me. He sees His Son. And I don’t know about you…but that is greater news than I can ever possibly imagine. It makes me want to obey Him. It makes me want to follow Him. It makes me want to never take that for granted or live my life in a way that is contrary to what He wants. Why does He do that? For His glory. And what greater gift can he give His children than the gift of His righteousness? How cool is that?
-Dr. Danny Purvis
By: Dr. Danny Purvis
If you remember last time I titled my article: The Bad News Is Worse Than We Thought. And that is the complete, unvarnished truth. We looked at the first 20 verses of Romans 3 and there is no way to see it in any other light. It is terrible news. If you recall, those verses are set up like a trial and revealed in three parts. 1. The Judge (God) is introduced and His authority is established. 2. The charges (the indictment, if you will) against the whole of humanity are read to us. 3. The verdict is rendered. And, of course, the verdict against all people everywhere is the same: Guilty. And when you look at the list of charges leveled against the human race (Romans 3:9-18) you can clearly see that there is no other appropriate verdict. And that, indeed, is bad news. Worse than we could have ever imagined.
Then comes the most important “But” in the entire Bible. It is hard to believe that so much could hang on one three-letter word that we utter without any thought at all multiple times throughout our day. But (see?) that simple, three-letter word is about to usher in the most glorious news we could ever imagine. It is not hyperbole to suggest that these two verses are most impactful than any others in Scripture. Because after God spends 20 verses dishing out the bad news, we can only come to one conclusion. We are inherently, all of us, unrighteous in the sight of God. And it is hard to imagine the depths of our unrighteousness. And so, immediately after telling us this devastating news related to our complete unrighteousness, take a look at the first six words in the very next sentence. “But now the righteousness of God…”(Romans 3:21).
I hope you see the seismic shift here. Upon giving us the unflinching reality of our unrighteousness, Paul juxtaposes our unrighteousness with God’s righteousness. Why would he do that? I am so glad you asked. The answer lies in the rest of this verse and the one following it. First, Paul reminds us that this manifestation of God’s righteousness (manifested in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus) is not found in the law even though he tells us that the law certainly “bear witness to it”. So it is not a righteousness that can be earned by any works we do. And it is God’s righteousness. If we earned it, it would be our righteousness. He is making it clear that it belongs to God and Him alone. It is necessary that we understand this.
And then, Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit does something incredible here. He tells us in verse 22 what happens to us when we are saved. And what happens is glorious beyond our ability to fully understand. After mentioning to us His righteousness…in direct opposition to our own unrighteousness…he explains what God does with His righteousness at the point of salvation. “The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:22). Did you catch it? I hope you did. It is only 13 words. Not even a complete sentence from a grammatical standpoint. And once again it contains a three-letter word that we otherwise not even pay attention to. This time the three-letter word is “for”. Go back and read the verses again. I’ll wait. Are you back? Good. Do you see what God is saying through Paul here in this partial sentence? I hope so. Because it is almost impossible to believe.
The phrase “through faith in Jesus Christ” (v.22) is clearly referencing Believers. Though who have come to faith In Christ. Those who have been saved, redeemed, born again. And He is telling us here that when we are saved, redeemed, born again…that the perfect righteousness that belongs to God alone is “for” Believers. In other words, once we come to faith in Christ and we are truly Christians, that God doesn’t simply save us, which would be great news in and of itself. He then places His holy righteousness upon us. Let that sink in for a minute. And this isn’t a different kind or a lesser version. It’s not like God has righteousness 12.0 and He’s giving us the 1.0 version. He is imputing to us His actual righteousness. He is placing that on us and in us.
I cannot even fathom that. As much as Believers still struggle against our old nature of sin…and still fall regularly. God Himself sees us as righteous. Verses 1-20 shows us how He sees all of humanity. We are the picture of unrighteousness. However, when He adopts us as His own, He places His perfect righteousness on us. When is the last time you ever thought of yourself as righteous? Me? Never. But here we have God’s very own Word telling us that is exactly how He sees us. Not because of anything we have done. In fact, it is in spite of the things we have done. This is not a figure of speech. It is not analogy. It is the real truth. And He sees us this way because He has placed the righteousness of His Son on us because of what His Son did for us. Salvation doesn’t make us better…it makes us righteous. It is a cloak that covers our entire being. Which means that even when I am at worst, when God sees me, He does not see me. He sees His Son. And I don’t know about you…but that is greater news than I can ever possibly imagine. It makes me want to obey Him. It makes me want to follow Him. It makes me want to never take that for granted or live my life in a way that is contrary to what He wants. Why does He do that? For His glory. And what greater gift can he give His children than the gift of His righteousness? How cool is that?
-Dr. Danny Purvis
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