To obtain this righteousness, you have to admit you don’t have it and could never produce it on your own because you are unrighteous.
Following Jesus is not complicated. In some ways, it’s the simplest thing in the world. Salvation is by grace through faith on account of Christ and then lived out in love. It doesn’t get much simpler…until the questions come.
In these verses, the questions begin with wondering, “Can it be that simple? Does it even work?” What raises the questions? Paul has just explained the plan of salvation to the Romans, and then he anticipates the question that will come from this congregation which is a mix of Jew and Gentile Christians. If it’s really that simple, if it really works, why do so many of the Chosen People who had every advantage want nothing to do with Jesus? How could so many of those who did so many good things, things we find right in the Bible, be lost? That troubles Paul, too. On top of that, how could the Gentiles, many of whom had sinned terribly in all sorts of ugly and disgusting ways, how can they be saved?
Here’s what should be even more troubling to you: this situation doesn’t just describe first-century Rome. There are plenty of people right now who would claim the name Christian, who have every spiritual advantage, who have done a lot of good things, checked the boxes for all the commandments, went to Christian schools, sat in worship all the time, gave time and money and obedience to Jesus, but none of that makes them righteous. And if that’s where they are looking for righteousness, they will be lost. On top of that, there will be people who were terrible sinners and did great evil who will be in heaven because they were counted as righteous in the end. How can that be?
It all comes down to the righteousness that avails before God, the righteousness that truly counts in God’s eyes. But here’s the thing: the more you work for this kind of righteousness, the more you try to claim it on your own, and the farther you get from it. To obtain this righteousness, you have to admit you don’t have it and could never produce it on your own because you are unrighteous. By yourself, you cannot help but be unrighteous. Whether you think your sins are big or little, many or few, they make you unrighteous. More than that, even before you commit a single sin, you inherit sinfulness from your parents. No one is immune to it; we all have it. We are all unrighteous. As a result, we deserve damnation.
But all is not lost! There is another way to obtain righteousness, “a righteousness that is by faith.” How does that work? Listen to what Martin Luther says about it:
For here [in this righteousness by faith], we work nothing, render nothing to God; we only receive and permit someone else to work in us, namely, God. Therefore, it is appropriate to call the righteousness of faith or Christian righteousness ‘passive.’ This is a righteousness hidden in a mystery which the world does not understand. In fact, Christians themselves do not adequately understand it or grasp it in the midst of their temptations. Therefore, it must always be taught and continually exercised (LW 26:5).
It must always be taught and continually exercised because it is too easy to forget or confuse it. So many in Israel wanted to claim righteousness by themselves; so many Christians today are tempted to do the same. They may not even realize it is happening. Only in despairing of winning righteousness ourselves can we hope to find it in Christ.
Jesus did it in your place; believe it.
But isn’t that a lot to put on the work, on the word, of another? That’s what faith is: placing your confidence in someone’s promise. But isn’t that asking a lot? Not when the one who does the work and the one who makes the promise is Jesus! You can be certain when you despair of claiming righteousness before God and abandon yourself to the righteousness Jesus has worked and promised to you through faith; he will never let you be put to shame. Paul assures you: “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4).
Jesus did it in your place; believe it. Secure in your righteousness before God (which is by faith), you are now free to live as one who is righteous. You can look outside of yourself and turn to your neighbor. That neighbor needs your love and service. You are free to love and serve, not in an attempt to climb to heaven, but because that is just what those declared righteous in faith do.
We read Romans 9:30-10:4:
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal. Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone. As it is written:
“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”
Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
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