Righteous by Faith

ReadRomans 3:30 – 5:10

Now that Paul has established that it is impossible for anyone (Jew or Gentile) be right with God based on effort, he states the central promise of scripture: that we can only be right with God through faith in Christ.

It’s hard to underestimate the impact of that idea on the ancient world. It did not exist in any culture (including Judaism), despite the fact that it was in the Jewish scriptures from the beginning.Yet it is clear that each of the prophets and patriarchs had an intimate relationship with God. Careful reading of the lives of these men (e.g. Noah, Abraham, Moses, Job, David), shows that God declared them righteous based on their faith, and that they knew it. Somehow they understood the Messianic promise and by looking forward to it, were justified by faith, even though it had not happened in the physical world.

In his discourse, Paul uses the life of these men, Abraham to prove his point and then show how the same promise of justification by faith is available to us today.

  1. In Romans 3:21-31, Paul argues that there is no distinction (regardless of religion) between people before God. Give two reasons why?
  1. Why do you think Paul chose Abraham to prove that we are justified by faith?
  1. Paul redefines (or correctly defines) the children or heirs of Abraham. Who are they?
  1. Read Genesis 15:1-25. What was Abraham going through when he was justified by faith?
  1. There are three key concepts in this passage. Look each of them up and write a brief definition:
  • Redemption
  • Atonement
  • Justification
  1. From Romans 5:1-10, what affects does justification have on our lives? List as many as you can find.

For Further Study

Select one of the heroes of faith (other than Abraham) from Hebrew 11 and write down some scripture references that show they understood that God would send a Redeemer who would die for them.

Meditate

The memory passage for this lesson is Romans 5:1-5 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

Therefore, since we have been declared righteous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Also through Him, we have obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope does not disappoint, because God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.