Greatest Cure For Sin Is Faith!

But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him . . . . We are made right with God by placing our faith (belief and trust) in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone have sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, with undeserved kindness (grace), declares that we are righteous (justified and declared not guilty). He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us (redeemed or ransomed) from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin (atonement). People are made right with God when they believe (trust) that Jesus sacrificed His life, shedding His blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when He held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for He was looking ahead and including them in what He would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate His righteousness, for He Himself is fair and just, and He declares sinners to be right (justified) in His sight when they believe (trust) in Jesus. . . . our acquittal (justification or righteousness) is not based on obeying the Law. It is based on faith. So we are made right (justified and made upright) with God through faith . . . and not by obeying the Law. . . . There is only one God, and He makes people right (justified or not guilty) with Himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. Romans 3:21-28, 30 (NLT)

The next section of Romans is Romans 3:21-4:25. This section is further divided into Romans 3:21-31 and then Romans 4:1-25. Previously, the Apostle Paul revealed that all people (both Jews and Gentiles) are unrighteous (Romans 1:18-3:20). In this next section, the Apostle Paul teaches that God has revealed our complete cure from the sin disease and unrighteousness that has infected all people. The main focus of the book of Romans is revelation God’s righteousness (Romans 1:16-17). Evident is the fact that both Jews and Gentiles alike are ALL unrighteous sinners before a holy and righteous God. Even more, all people are lost, infected with a sin disease, and fall short of God’s righteousness and glorious standards (Romans 1:18-3:20, 23).

Yet, God has graciously provided a cure to our sin disease that was also previously revealed by the Old Testament Law and the Prophets (Romans 3:21; see also Micah 6:6-8). We are cured from our sin disease and declared righteous (justified and not guilty) by wholeheartedly believing and trusting in God’s saving activity through the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God’s unique Son, who in His kindness freely takes away our sins (Romans 3:21-24). This is God’s free gift and to receive God’s free gift only requires faith. This faith (trust) means placing our personal confidence in Jesus Christ to forgive our sins, to make us right with God, and to empower us (through the Holy Spirit) to live holy lives in accordance to God’s righteousness. Even more, God's solution to sin is available to all people regardless of our backgrounds or past behaviors. God sent His one and only Son (Jesus Christ) to take the punishment for human sins and to reconcile all people to God through our faith (Romans 3:25; see also 2 Corinthians 5:21). When we believe and trust God, a great exchange takes place. We give Jesus Christ our sin disease, and He gives us His righteousness, forgiveness, and salvation (see also 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). In other words, God places the righteousness of Jesus Christ on our records in the place of our own sinfulness. And no one can change this record. As the righteous Judge, God declares us humans not guilty, removes all charges of sin from our record, and set us from the bondage (power) of the sin disease (Romans 3:24).

In the Person of Jesus Christ is revealed God’s perfect righteousness. God used Jesus Christ’s sacrificial blood on the Cross and our faith in God’s saving activity as the means of saving humans from His holy wrath and curing our sin disease. Our righteous and acquittal as not guilty is based not based on our good deeds but on what Jesus Christ has done and our wholehearted faith (trust and belief) in Him (Romans 3:27). So, we all saved (Jews and Gentiles) by faith in Jesus Christ from our sin disease and God’s wrath against all sin (Romans 3:28-29). God treats all people the same, whether Jews or Gentiles, and we are all acquitted from guilt, sin, and God’s wrath (punishment) by faith.

Then, the Apostle Paul illustrates our righteousness (or justification) by faith alone from the life of Abraham (Romans 4:1-25). The Holy Scriptures teaches that Abraham simply believed God, and that is why God canceled Abraham’s sins and declared him righteous or “not guilty” of sin (Romans 4:1-3, 22; see also Genesis 15:6). “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness” (Romans 4:3, NIV). In other words, God “reckoned” (Romans 4:4, 9-10) and “imputed” (Romans 4:6, 8, 11, 21-24), as well as “counted” Abraham as righteous as a gift received through Abraham’s faith in Him. The Apostle Paul quotes Genesis 15:6 in Romans 4:3 and Genesis 15:6 is also quoted two more times in the New Testament to demonstrate that our salvation by faith was nothing new (see Galatians 3:6; James 2:23). Even in the Old Testament, God looked for wholehearted faith and trust in Him, not perfection (see also Psalms 1:3; Psalms 40:4; Jeremiah 17:5-10; Habakkuk 2:2-4). God’s blessings were given to people by faith (trust) in Him and not obedience to any rules, rituals or ceremonies (Romans 4:16). “Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence” (Jeremiah 17:7, NLT).

Wholehearted faith and trust in the true and living God has been the standard since the Law of Moses and proclaimed by Joshua, David, Elijah, Jeremiah and many other Old Testament prophets (Romans 3:21). For example, Moses taught that we must “love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, NLT). Joshua proclaimed to the people, “Now respect the Lord and serve Him fully and sincerely. Throw away the gods that your ancestors worshiped on the other side of the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord. But if you do not want to serve the Lord, you must choose for yourselves today whom you will serve. . . . As for me and my family, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:14-15, NCV). The Prophet Elijah proclaimed: “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that You are God in Israel . . . . so these people will know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You are turning their hearts back again” (1 Kings 18:36-37, NIV). Most important, Jesus Christ came to point people back to God and to love Him with our lives. Jesus Christ taught, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38, NLT). Therefore, the teaching of wholehearted faith (trust and belief) by the Apostle Paul and throughout the New Testament is not new but has also been proclaimed throughout the Old Testament Scriptures. We are saved by faith in the true and living God — the same way people were saved in the Old Testament! Twenty-one times in Hebrews 11 you find the same words “by faith” – wholehearted faith in the true and living God. Even more, the clause “living by faith” is quoted frequently in the New Testament to support the teaching that people are saved by God’s grace through faith (Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Ephesians 2:8; Hebrews 10:38-39). In other words, God declares us righteous because of our faith in Jesus Christ. This has been called God’s free gift, by God’s grace, “through the redemption that come by Jesus Christ”, and “through faith”.  Furthermore, our genuine faith brings glory to God. “Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God” (Romans 4:20, NLT).

To reinforce his teaching on faith, the Apostle Paul used Abraham as a good example of living by faith (Romans 4:1-25). When God spoke to Abraham, Abraham listened. God asked Abraham to trust Him and His promises. Abraham trusted and obeyed God and God declared Abraham righteous because of this trust (Genesis 15:5-6). God accepted Abraham not because he led a perfect life but because of his responsiveness to God’s promises (Romans 4:13). When God told Abraham to look at the stars and said “So shall your offspring be” (Genesis 15:5, NIV), Abraham believed God's promises. The Hebrew word translated “believed” means “to say amen.” God gave a promise, and Abraham responded with “Amen!” Simply put, Abraham trusted God to keep His promise of providing him and his wife Sarah a son even though Abraham and his wife were old and well past childbearing age (Romans 4:18-19). When God told Abraham that he would give him and his wife a son who would have many descendants and become a great nation, Abraham believed! And because his faith was strong, Abraham did not worry about the fact that he was too old to be a father at the age of one hundred, and that Sarah his wife, at ninety, was also much too old to have a baby. Abraham never doubted God but believed God and Abraham praised God for this blessing even before it happened (Romans 4:-18-20). Abraham was completely convinced and sure that God was well able to do anything He promised. And because of Abraham’s faith, God forgave Abraham’s sins and declared him righteous (Romans 4:21-22). The Apostle Paul used the example of Abraham to assure the church in Rome and all people today that God will accept us as He accepted Abraham — when we believe the promise that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again to make us right with God, filling us with God’s goodness (Romans 4:24-25).

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of the Jewish nation (Romans 4:1, 12). Yet Abraham is also declared the spiritual father of who believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 4:11; see also Galatians 3:1-18). In other words, Abraham is the father of all who truly believe and trust God, both Jews and Gentiles (Romans 4:16; Galatians 3:7, 29). Abraham did not become righteous (justified) by his good actions (Romans 4:4) because he was far from perfect. The book of Genesis reveals that Abraham’s life was full of bad moments as well as good moments because Abraham's life was marked by mistakes, sins, and failures as well as goodness. Sometimes, Abraham even strayed from God’s path. Yet, Abraham ALWAYS remained faithful to God and trusted in Him, similar to other Old Testament heroes like Noah, David, and many others (see Hebrews 11). In other words, Abraham always looked to God and God alone as his Leader and King for all of life. Like Abraham, God wants everyone to have faith in Him and His promises. God wants us to follow Him completely and make Him the center of our daily lives (see also Matthew 6:33). “Those who are right with God will live by trusting in Him (Habakkuk 2:4, NCV). Our righteousness (justification) from God does not come by our obedience to rules, rituals or good deeds but by faith alone in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the Cross for our salvation and righteousness (Romans 4:5-9; see also Ephesians 2:8-9). The true and living God graciously accepts all people from every nation who wholeheartedly (sincere and genuine) trust in Him as Abraham (Romans 4:17).

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23 (NIV)

What is the meaning of the word “sin”? Some sins seem bigger or worse than others. Yet, the Holy Scriptures states that any sin – big or small – makes us humans sinners and separates us from a holy and righteous God. All sin leads to death regardless of how great or small the sin may seem. The word “sin” either as a verb or noun has three dimensions. First, sin can mean breaking God’s Old Testament Law such as lying, committing adultery, coveting (jealous), or murder. These sins are direct violation of God’s Commandments and normally defined as sin. This can also be defined as transgression or breaking the Law. Second, sin is also defined as the failure to become what God has entrusted us to become as defined at Romans 3:23 in stating “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” This has been described as sins of commission and sins of omission. In other words, this dimension of sin is not transgressing God’s Commandments or breaking the Law but “falling short of the glory of God” and failing to become what God intended for all people to become from the beginning of creation. All humans were created in God’s imagine and was created to reflect God’s glory (Genesis 1:26-28; Psalm 8:4-8; see also Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:10; Hebrews 2:5-9). We often fail to become when we waste our opportunities and live our lives contrary to God’s intentions. Third, sin is defined as rebellion. Rebellion is probably the most fundamental aspect of sin. Not only does one disobey God’s Command and fall short of God’s glory, but one does not WANT to become what God wills. In essence, this sin is selfishness and wanting to be god – a “me focus.” The first definition of sin is action while the second definition of sin is inaction. However, the third definition of sin is an internal attitude of the heart and of the mind. While the first and second definitions sin can be done in ignorance, but the third dimension of sin is simply a willful rejection, disobedience or rebellions against God and God’s will. This definition of sin is described as “heart hardened” or a willful neglect of God and God’s will. Through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, God empowers believers in Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit to WANT to live holy lives in accordance to God’s righteousness and holiness.  In other words, God gives genuine believers of Jesus Christ a new heart and new internal attitude that wants NOT to rebel against God but to want to obey God wholeheartedly.

By the Apostle Paul emphasizing faith, he is not saying that God's Laws and Commandments from Old Testament are unimportant (Romans 4:13). Instead, the Apostle Paul is teaching that Jesus Christ saves us by FAITH ALONE from our internal sin and rebellion. Then, God empowers from within through His Holy Spirit to obey God’s moral laws and commandments and perform good deeds (Titus 3:3-8; see also Ephesians 2:8-10). “But—When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His grace and mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of His grace He declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life” (Titus 3:4-7, NLT). The Holy Spirit not only helps us do the right thing but helps us do the right thing with pure motives – a heart obedience or “circumcision of the heart.” Therefore, through faith in Jesus Christ’s finish work, we are declared righteousness by God and we are also sanctified whereby God makes the believer more and more like His Son, Jesus Christ. God's saving power and abundant blessings are experienced by those who genuinely believe in Jesus Christ (Romans 1:16-17). God’s righteousness is graciously given to those who BELIEVE (Romans 3:22; see also Hebrews 10:19-25). The object of our faith is Jesus Christ who died for our sins and rose again from complete death.

Abraham was, humanly speaking, the founder of our Jewish nation. What did he discover about being made right with God? . . .  For the Scriptures tell us, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” . . . So Abraham is the spiritual father of those who have faith . . . That is what the Scriptures mean when God told him, “I have made you the father of many nations.” This happened because Abraham believed in the God who brings the dead back to life and who creates new things out of nothing. Even when there was no reason for hope, Abraham kept hoping—believing that he would become the father of many nations. For God had said to him, “That’s how many descendants you will have!” And Abraham’s faith did not weaken, even though, at about 100 years of age, he figured his body was as good as dead—and so was Sarah’s womb. Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. He was fully convinced that God is able to do whatever he promises. And because of Abraham’s faith, God counted him as righteous. And when God counted him as righteous, it was not just for Abraham’s benefit. It was recorded for our benefit, too, assuring us that God will also count us as righteous if we believe in Him, the One who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was handed over to die because of our sins, and He was raised to life to make us right with God. Romans 4:1, 3, 11, 17-25 (NLT)

References

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New Student Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992.

The Amplified Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1987.

Zondervan NIV Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.

Loyd, Melton, Ph.D., Professor of New Testament. Columbia Campus: Erskine Theological Seminary, 2014.

Wiersbe, Warren W. Bible Exposition Commentary. Victor Books, 1989.