The role of the law and the righteousness of God (Romans 3:19-22)

[瑤翰 김요한]

The role of the law and the righteousness of God (Romans 3:19-22)

They say, 'Believe in Jesus and you will be saved, obey the word of God and you will be blessed' in church.

How is it? Do you think that preaching like this is Christianity as interpreted by Paul?

“Believe in Jesus, seek the gift of the Holy Spirit, receive the power of God, obey the Word, let's expand the kingdom of God by testifying the gospel to the ends of the earth. Amen Hallelujah! ' they say.

What grandiose, wonderful, and plausible slogans, and what valid eloquence?

Even so, why is it so hard to see that love in church?

The basis of the kingdom of God is righteousness, and its attribute is love.

That's because the seat they're standing on is someone else's land.

It means outside of Christ.

There is something I realized while fellowshipping in the field of ministry for a long time.

Humanly, they are very friendly and even share food, but I have seen many people who become bystanders or oppose me if I just testify the Word.

Israel worked and ate while enslaved in other people's land in Egypt.

In the wilderness, it was someone else's land, but with God's grace, they ate and trained.

It was nice, but the wilderness is a temporary place to stay and pass through, so it is not their land.

Although Canaan was occupied by seven tribes, it is their inheritance that God promised.

In this way, outside of Christ, it is someone else's land.

The mainland, relatives, father's house, lineage and human will are all other people's land.

Only in Christ is our eternal territory, and we are His people, the kingdom of God where God's sovereignty is fulfilled.

Therein lies God's righteousness, peace, and joy.

Saying that they believe in Jesus outside of Christ, they are conspicuously blaspheming the grace of the redemption of the Lord's cross, with humility, not with the humility of being in sin even though they believed in Jesus all their lives and they became righteous.

Like Hebrews 6 and 10, these are people who dishonor Christ remarkably.

Q. What is the function and role of the law?

“Now we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and  all the world may become guilty before God.” (Romans 3:19)

A. The law makes known of sin.

When I went to a church, the Ten Commandments were posted at the entrance.

I also saw a pastor expound literally the Ten Commandments  .

In addition, there are a book that explain the Sermon on the Mount literally.

So, there are times when we say with a sad heart that they are worse than those who only  persistently insist on being born again.

Anyone who claims  to have to be born again  will at least claim that he is not under the law but has been transferred into the grace of Christ.

However, if they do not have the knowledge of the truth about how to fulfill the requirements of the law in Christ and lead to love, they are the same.

'Those who are under the law' means those who are in the law.

In the Bible, it is the opposite of one who is in the Word.

This is different from what the Lord said, 'if you abide in my word'. (John 8:31)

Those who are in the law must do for themselves whatever they do.

But for those who are in the Word, the Word allows me to do it.

Those who are within the law always have only the consciousness that they must live according to the Word.

So, the reason why we are locked up in the prison of the law is to know the need for redemption.

It made me know that I was convicted.

These days, when you go to a hospital, they ask you to take not only X-rays but also CT or MRI, which means to diagnose the condition of the disease.

That's why you follow the doctor's words that you need treatment.

That's why the law shuts the mouths of those who say they are innocent, and makes them in a state where they can be judged at any time.

That is why Paul says in Galatians that the law is our schoolmaster who brings us to Christ (Galatians 3:24).

In fact, it is better to say that it is a schoolmaster who makes us realize by beating us up.

Q. Can we be justified by the works of the law?

“Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight , for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20)

A. There is no human under the sun who will be justified by the law.

He doesn't get rid of his sins just because he becomes a model prisoner in prison.

Rather, it is the same reason as realizing one's sin and pleading quickly.

The scribes and Pharisees of Judaism are exemplary servants like the firstborn in the house in Luke 15.

The apostle Paul thoroughly shuts the mouths of those who are under the law, imprisoning them in sin and judgment, and then, according to Christ's redemptive death on the cross and his resurrection, we are transferred into Christ, receive forgiveness of sins through faith in his blood, and receive the Holy Spirit, and become a person of Christ.

Paul is thorough because he has a past where he has lived by the righteousness of the law.

That's why he says Paul was when he was under the law when he didn't believe.

In fact, after hearing the gospel and being born again and being set free from the law of sin and death in Christ, I know that I almost went to the lake of fire, and I weep over the grace of the Lord who redeemed me.

Paul states in Romans 7 that the law is not wrong, the law is spiritual, but because our human flesh is weak, we can only want our hearts and never obey the law completely.

“O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24), he groans. (Rom 7:24).

However, I see many modern-day Jews who insist on being able to do command verbs in the Bible on their own.

While doing QT every morning.

True QT is to follow the footsteps of the Lord Jesus Christ all the way to His throne of grace and look up to the Lord who sits at the right hand of the throne like David.

There David receives the portion and the inheritance and cup of him.(Psalm 16:5)

Therefore, the true QT is Psalm 1 and the 8 Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount and the Lord's Prayer.

Or Romans 1-8 Why did I have to be saved? What process do you go through to be saved? What are the results of that salvation? Think.

Furthermore, meditate on the book of Hebrews, where I become one with Christ and follow the flow of His coming and ascension to the throne of grace by faith.

Ephesians 2 also becomes a very good QT material and builds us into the house of God.

Q. What is the righteousness other than the law?

“But now the  righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.” (Romans 3:21)

A. “But now” is a very powerful cry.

Until Romans 3:20, we were trapped in great despair.

Words 'without the law' mean righteousness that has nothing to do with the law.

In fact, there is righteousness even in the law.

If you keep everything, God will say okay.

However, since it is said that it is righteousness that has nothing to do with the law, it means that becoming righteous is a new action of God that has nothing to do with the law.

The law only convicts of sin. Let me know that I am the one who will be judged.

However, being righteous is not by the law, but by another "righteousness" other than the law, that is, by faith.

But at that time, if the apostle Paul said this, he would be ignoring the law.

The apostle Paul says that righteousness is evidenced by the law and the prophets.

How many times did the apostle Paul study the Bible so that he could claim that he received the testimony of the law and the prophets even though he proclaimed that  we were saved by faith rather than by the law? This is great.

At the time, it was truly revolutionary. It is truly a reform.

This means that there is a righteousness that has nothing to do with the law, and that there is a righteousness that has nothing to do with works.

'Faith and works' Actually, this problem is very difficult.

It takes a considerable amount of time for the words of the Bible to melt and be converted into rhema.

We should not think that Paul became like Paul because of this one incident in which he received light on the road to Damascus.

He spent three years in Arabia, went to Tarsus in Cilicia, and taught the Bible in Antioch...

We must know that Paul became like Paul because the word of God melted into him after nearly 10 years had passed.

According to my experience, while explaining the book of Romans in 1997, I realized that I, who was in Adam, had escaped from sin and death and had been transferred to the reign of righteousness and life in Christ, and I came to know the truth after 25 years of believing in Jesus.

Always bearing the death of Jesus and longing for the life of Jesus to appear in my body and body, Now, 25 years later, I finally know that the Lord I serve is the Lord who sits on the throne of God, and that the Lord who sits on the throne dwells in me through the Holy Spirit. 

I am being saved by worshiping and praising the Lord in the triune God or earnestly calling on the name of the Lord.

Only in Jesus Christ do we obtain righteousness through faith of the Lord.

“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ to all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference” (Romans 3:22).

This righteousness of God is faith in Jesus Christ.

If you look at Mark 11:22, the Korean Bible says, "Believe  God," but the original language says, "Have faith in God."

Here, think about the point of faith rather than Jesus Christ.

Likewise, 'Have faith of Jesus Christ'.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Again, believes in​ him.

In other words, it is to obtain righteousness by believing in the word that eternal life is given to those who have faith in Jesus Christ.

Why do I emphasize faith in Christ to those who want to believe in Jesus directly? 

Anyone can believe in Jesus.

Even at the time of Jesus, there were many who believed in Jesus as the Son of God.

But in Christ, believing in Jesus Christ as Savior is united with the death and resurrection of Christ on the cross, and through Christ we die and live again, and through Christ we become a new creation; because we were baptized into Christ and became clothed in him. (Galatians 3:27)

Therefore, those who believe in Jesus directly as an object are in front of the cross, but they hear the process, procedure, and method through the death and resurrection of Christ, follow them, believe, and pass through the cross with Christ, you will come to know that you are standing in the spiritual land belonging to the new heaven.

So, by eating and drinking the Lord with faith, we become the righteous  who participate in the assembly of the firstborn who are advancing toward the throne (Hebrews 12:23) and shout Hallelujah to the Lord.

Written by Ptr. Yohan Kim.

Translated by  Nancy Chung

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