Walk According to Spirit

Romans 8:3-4   
3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

The law of fulfillment of requirements, of works we must do to earn God’s favor to be saved from sin and enter into heaven, that Law was too weak to save any - and that is what was brought back to mind before a corrupt church of such works 500 years ago today.  Instead of letting us continue with religious attempts to work harder to no avail, God sent His Son in our sinful flesh to condemn the sin and pay our price. So the law’s demand of payment (death earned) was paid by the very God we offended, fulfilling that requirement over us forever.  Jesus paid he price to justify us solely by His righteousness.  Now we live in His Spirit, not our old man of sinful flesh.  We truly are justified by Christ, faith, grace, Scriptures, and for God’s glory alone. 

Deliver the Wretch!

Romans 7:24 - 8:2   
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.   1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.

Swallowed up and captive in sin from birth, deliverance is only found in the Lord who is Jesus Christ.  God alone can deliver me from His own wrath, and that He has done!  So the war within against still indwelling sin continues, but now victoriously.  He who justified me no longer condemns because I have been freed from that law that said sin and you must die.  So I live, walking in step with God living in me as Spirit, free and able to defeat the sinful desires lingering in my yet to be glorified body.  Hope is in Christ’s victory for and in me.  Selah. 

Rule of Flesh Vs. God

Romans 7:17-23   
17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.   21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

Now we who are Christ’s find the battle of sin against the new man inside can win over the God-given desires to do good according to His Law now written on our heart.  How to do this of ourselves is unobtainable in the long run; we may exert willpower for a season, but eventually we fail.  So the inward battle against sin strives to urge me to continue in the things we have been set free from.  This battle attacks the mind to misuse the body, from tongue to toe.  This is the main spiritual war we fight next to the battle for the truth. 

Sold Under Sin...

Romans 7:13-16   
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good.

So the law of God’s commands was good, yet seemed to be death to us.  It really was just showing the dead state we are born in, unable to obey all God said without ever failing - meeting His standards.  So the sin was exposed for the utter rebellion against God that it is, the exceedingly sinful heart set against Him.  So also this flesh is opposed to the spiritual truth of that law that was His will for us to be aligned to, and we are sold as slaves to sin, doing as we will.  Even now we still sin, wondering why, unable to obey willingly and consistently.  Doing these things we hate, we prove that what God demands is good.  But we need help outside our broken will to be able to do good. 

Knowledge of Sin by Law

Romans 7:7-12   
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.

The Law is not sin, it simply reveals we sin as we see what God commands and that we fail to do those things.  As it spells out specific sins, the law further invites us to do more against it because we cannot consistently do the right thing for the right reasons.  The law killed us by revealing our disobedience against a holy God.  It did not bring life, but death, because it could not change the heart to obey God, but only expose the wickedness filling this heart of stone.  So deceived, we are born dead to God as the law reveals.  That is why it is good, just, and holy.  Good because it exposes what is wrong.  Just because it shows we are wrong and He is right.  Holy because it shows God’s standards and our need. 

Newness of Spirit

Romans 7:5-6    
5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

Before regeneration, in the carnal man, we heard what not to do and then defiantly pursued those sinful desires with vigor.  But those things revealed as wrong by God (by both letter and conscience) only led to death in spirit and body.  The fruit was our due wages we earned.  But now we are set free if we are in Christ, free from external regulations of no effect for righteousness.  The internal change delivers us to Christ’s righteousness by faith to obey the law from a willing heart and mind as a result, not the cause.  So we serve in His Spirit within and not rules without.  And this willingly! 

Dead to Law’s Dominion

Romans 7:1-4   
1 Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? 2 For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. 3 So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. 4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.

The Law binds people to it, as in the example of marriage here.  In marriage, you are bound to each other until death when you part.  But if one remarries while still married and the other still lives, it is adultery by the law’s definition and consequences. So we who attempt to earn God’s favor by the Law are bound to that until we die.  In Christ we do die to the Law of works that can’t make us right with God, and we then are remarried to Christ by grace in His righteousness that kept the works of the law perfectly for us.  So set free, we should be fruitful in His righteousness, not in our attempts that fall ever short as before. 

Wages of Sin, Gift of God

Romans 6:22-23    
22 But now having been set free from sin, and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness, and the end, everlasting life. 23 For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Free at last!  This freedom from sin’s dominion makes us God’s slaves, willing bond servants working out - not for - our salvation.  The fruit we then bear changes us more over time as we conform to the image of Christ in holiness while we run the race towards life beyond the grave and on into forever with our great God and Savior.  We once earned death from God’s face by sin, but now have been given what we cannot earn nor lose in Christ as we gaze into His face.  So we are His eager bond servants of righteousness, living to honor, please, and glorify the one who bought us at such a price, that for which we could never pay nor earn.  Grace gives freedom. 

Free From Sin and Death

Romans 6:18-21   
18 And having been set free from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves of uncleanness, and of lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves of righteousness for holiness.   20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21 What fruit did you have then in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.

Because we in Christ are freed from sin and its rule in us, in a sense we are now serving righteousness - but as willing bondservants instead of forced labor.   This is why we choose daily to use our minds and bodies as God has commanded us, willingly and gladly obeying from the heart.  We no longer aim to add more to the downward spiral of sin as Israel in the times of the judges, but instead we add to right words and deeds as we aim to holiness in an upward spiral on a staircase towards heaven.  We are free not to sin towards death, but to do right for life as we have been called out for. 

Grace is No Excuse to Sin

Romans 6:15-17   
15 What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! 16 Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? 17 But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.

The law of grace which now rules the regenerated believer rules out continuing in the very sin we have been delivered from.  So if we give ourselves again to sin, we become enslaved to that which was leading to our death by Gods wrath before.  This is why we aim to obey to align with Christ’s righteousness.  We must obey from the heart, not lip service as before, for that is what we have been delivered from. 

Don’t Let Sin Reign!

Romans 6:12-14    
12 Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. 13 And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14 For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

Because we have been forgiven of sin and stand justified in Christ’s righteousness, set free from sin’s reign over us, how can we willfully allow sin to reign again?  Instead we must choose over and over to offer our minds and bodies as living sacrifices to God, since we are dead to sin and alive in Him!  How can we give free reign to sinful thoughts, words, and deeds when we are His, forgiven in mercy by grace?  Yet this is the battle we fight daily, putting to death the old man who is warring within to reestablish a foothold.  The victory is in Christ by His Spirit. 

Reckon Dead to Sin

Romans 6:8-11   
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Having died to our self in Christ we find life for now and eternity.  Because of His resurrection, we also live again as reborn spiritually, and in His presence forever with a new raised body that never dies after we die from this earth.  Death is no longer our master; we do not fear it nor the consequences before God afterwords.  Jesus Christ died so we would not die in our sin, but live toward God with absolute assurance of justified forgiveness.  So we count ourselves completely dead to sin and absolutely alive in Him.  This is the hope of the gospel that never fails, based on Christ’s effective work in our calling. 

United We Stand

Romans 6:5-7   
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.

We died with and in Christ, and are baptized in Him to rise again as new creatures.  So we will also be resurrected just as we have been co-crucified; we died to the life of a condemned sinner, set free from the master of sin and conveyed to life as slaves to righteousness.  This is what it means to be dead to sin and set free from its dominion in Christ.  So how can we continue to repeat the motions of serving our old master when we are dead to him, alive in newness of life, and serve another in grace now? 

Walk in Newness of Life

Romans 6:1-4   
1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

We who have been delivered (saved) from God’s wrath through Christ’s grace are certainly free from sin’s consequence, yet this is no license to willingly choose to continue sinning.  Because we were immersed in Christ’s death, we count ourselves dead to sin as well.  We died to our old self and have been resurrected into a new spiritual life with a heart of spiritual flesh in place of the old dead man’s heart of stone.  This is why we do not pursue or excuse sin, but live the new life by following Him and conforming to His image.  We do not sin more to get more forgiveness, for that is the error of Rome’s erroneous teaching of penance without consequence. 

By One Man’s Obedience

Romans 5:18-21  
18 Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. 19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.   20 Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21 so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Adam sinned one sin, disobeying God’s command, and was turned away from life as death came in the door.  The second Adam never sinned, obeying completely in thought and deed, and so rightly and  righteously bought us life.  Disobedience led to death, obedience to life.  The Law that exposed our sin and God’s due wrath on us for it, that Law magnified our sin into plain sight and reigned death over us.  But the grace of the second man, Jesus the Christ reigns with life that never ends - and it is all through Him, not our feeble and ever failing efforts to earn life.  This is the essence of the gospel. He did it all.

Free Gift of Justification

Romans 5:15-17   
15 But the free gift is not like the offense. For if by the one man's offense many died, much more the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abounded to many. 16 And the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. For the judgment which came from one offense resulted in condemnation, but the free gift which came from many offenses resulted in justification. 17 For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.

The offense against God (sin) by Adam killed us all.  But the grace of life given in the other Man, Jesus Christ, is given abundantly to many.  We can be justified before God while yet sinners in Him, no longer under the judgment through the first man’s sin which we all are born with.  He has taken on our many sins, our offenses against our holy God, and made us righteous in Christ by sheer unmerited and unearned grace.  Death no longer reigns as Lord over all in Him, but we reign in His goodness with Him. 

Adam’s Children Born in Sin

Romans 5:12-14   
12 Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned— 13 (For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. 14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.

Because Adam was the father of us all, when he sinned by going against God’s simple command to not try to know good over evil in his own judgment (Gen.3, Heb.5:14), judgment fell on him and all of us as his descendants.  So sin filled the world, and the Law of God proved it by showing we cannot of our own ability or wisdom or efforts do absolutely right every time.  Even before that Law showed us this, death still reigned over us.  The Law just showed God’s just response to us.  So the first Adam sealed our fate while we awaited the second. 

Reconciled Enemies

Romans 5:9-11   
9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. 10 For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. 11 And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Because we who are Christ’s are seen as just with His righteousness in between the Father’s wrath and our sin, we are saved from the consequences of our sin - namely that due wrath against all that offends our holy and righteousness God.  We have thus been reconciled, made right in His eyes, and are no longer His enemies. So through the death and life of Christ do we come to this place.  This is where our true and lasting joy comes from, the reconciling love of God in Christ by His mercy on all that He calls to Himself.  We are reconciled, and we have that great news of reconciliation to tell to the end of the earth!

While We Were Sinners, Christ Died

Romans 5:6-8   
6 For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. 8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

We have  no ability to do anything to save ourselves.  This is why Christ died in our place, to show love in mercy to unrighteousness sinners like myself.  He did not die for good people (not that any is truly good by His reckoning), but for us while still sinners, worthy only of God’s wrath which we all inherited from Adam and continue doing in that nature.  It makes no human sense why Christ would die for anyone but a good one worthy of the sacrifice, but that is why God is full of mercy and sent His Son.  So we in His suffering, sacrificial death, and resurrection of hope have been reckoned righteous in Christ alone and saved from the due wrath out of love in mercy. 

Peace With God for Hope

Romans 5:1-5   
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; 4 and perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

Our standing made right by Christ’s intercessory death to impute that righteousness to us gives us peace with God.  We are no longer under His just wrath and hatred as willful sinners, but as delivered sinners under unearned and undeserved good favor and standing.  This is grace.  So we have great joy filling us, no matter what hard times or persecution comes at us.  These only work to make us holy, to sanctify us as we find godly character forming slowly as we journey to the hope now and in eternity in His very presence.  His love lavishly poured out on our hearts by the indwelling Spirit never disappoints.  This is the hope and joy of our salvation and standing in Christ. 

Righteousness by Faith

Romans 4:20-25   
20 He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God, 21 and being fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform. 22 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”  23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, 24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification.

Abraham did not doubt God’s promise even when humanly it seemed quite impossible.  So his faith was stronger as he gave God the glory for the promise through him to many nations, and those include we who believe the promises to raise Jesus from death to impute His righteousness to us.  He stands with His righteousness in the place of our sin to make us right by faith.  He justifies us fully therefore, because we take Him completely at His word, trusting the promise by faith to pay for our sin and give us life in Him.  This is the gospel.  

Believe Against Hope

Romans 4:17-19   
17 (as it is written, “I have made you a father of many nations”) in the presence of Him whom he believed—God, who gives life to the dead and calls those things which do not exist as though they did; 18 who, contrary to hope, in hope believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” 19 And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb.

Abraham was promised to be a father of many nations, but he was 100 years old and his wife was not far behind, far past being able to have children as heirs to all nations.  Yet God had promised.  He chose to trust God against all reasonable hope.  Abraham knew nothing was impossible for God who called the universe into existence by a word, so he could trust His faithfulness for an heir and more.  So we are children of that one, united by faith in God’s work - in Christ. 

Righteousness of Faith

Romans 4:13-16   
13 For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.  16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all

God’s promise for His people to be called out of every nation was made to Abraham based on faith, not on keeping the rules of the law alone.  If he or we attempt to rely on keeping the law, it only shows through our continued failure to do so that we are under God’s wrath and deserve punishment for that which is sin.  By grace through faith, however, the promise can take root and grow because it is based on God’s infallible works, not our ever fallible attempts.  So all who trust God alone in Christ alone are true sons of Abraham and the inheritance as His people.  

Sealed by Faith

Romans 4:9-12  
9 Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 10 How then was it accounted? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised. 11 And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also walk in the steps of the faith which our father Abraham had while still uncircumcised.

Those chosen of God called Israel had circumcision as the seal to show the covenant they had with God.  But Abraham had God’s promises through faith before this sign, and we who are in Christ have this same seal of faith, a circumcision of the heart cleansed and made new.  So Abraham is the father of all God’s people, those who believe all God says, not those who have only the outward sign apart from faith.  Righteousness is only imputed or counted as ours in Christ by faith, not by the law of works.  It is this faith which pleases God and seals us as His. 

The Ungodly Justified

Romans 4:5-8   
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:  7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, And whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”

Believing God as to who He is and what He alone has done in Christ is faith, and this is what justifies us.  We are counted righteous in Him - we do not earn nor are given it.  So we are blessed who have that imputed right standing before the holy God.  All our works are forgiven, not relied upon for this right stance in His eyes.  God chooses not to count the sin (by imputing His righteousness) against us because we trust in Him who we believed when given eyes of faith to see and so to choose.  We are regenerated and quickened so we can take hold of this great salvation by faith alone in Christ alone for God’s glory. 

Works of Debt, or Grace of Faith?

Romans 4:1-4   
1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. 

Abraham was the chosen people’s father, and he was only justified by his works (the Law) in the eyes of the people, not God.  If what he did had earned God’s favor, he and they could be proud of that.  But God actually told us that it was Abraham’s believing what God promised, his faith, that made him righteousness in God’s eyes.  So the point again is made that when we do good to earn His favor, it is trying to pay back a debt that is more than we could ever afford.  But grace is a gift that is impossible to earn; only the Giver can assign it ultimate value and effectiveness.  We cannot work our way to God, only have it given unearned and undeserved (grace). 

Justified by Faith Alone

Romans 3:27-31   
27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.

We cannot boast in the keeping of God’s law nor any of our own efforts; since we are made right and righteous in His sight by faith alone, we cannot earn God’s favor or forgiveness to save us from the wrath to come in judgment on the whole world.  But Christ died for people from every county, race, and language group.  He alone will justify each who exercises the faith given to submit by admitting these things and trusting all Jesus said He did where we could not.  Jesus means “God is our salvation,” and so the law of loving God and others is only possible in His deliverance.  We are justified by faith alone in Christ alone, with nothing added. 

Just and Justifier for Sinners

Romans 3:22b-26   
22 ... For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

The religious under the law and the rest of the world are equally spiritually deficit when measured against God’s glory.  He eclipses us completely.  Yet He has done a redemptive work for us that is so perfect as to justify us without cost in Jesus the Christ.  His righteousness is perfect, and Christ justly suffered and died where we deserve to as the complete justifier of those with active belief, trust, in Him.  By His Justice, we then can not be judged as we ought to be, set free in merciful grace with our sins absolved once forever.  He is just in our place where we cannot be, and only He can justify us as a perfect man and LORD.  No other work or effort on our part can add to or take away from all that has been done - it is finished! 

The Law Shuts us Up

Romans 3:19-22a  
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. 21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22a even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

The law proves one thing - it shuts our mouths that complain or boast against God.  It proves we are all sinners, we are all born separated from God’s perfection of holy character and commands of rightness.  It only points out our sin, making us aware (knowledge of) our hopeless state in His eyes.  But His righteousness is separate from obtaining by keeping of rules we are too broken to do (let alone perfectly); and that righteousness of Christ can only be granted by faith in Him, which is not given but counted as ours by believing Him for it.  He is still the righteous one, and we are not. 

Nobody Is Righteous

Romans 3:9-18   
9 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. 10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; 11 There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. 12 They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” 13 “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; 14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.” 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood; 16 Destruction and misery are in their ways; 17 And the way of peace they have not known.” 18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

No matter if a chosen Jew or chosen gentile, all people are born in sin.  Nobody is good by God’s standards.  Nobody truly seeks God of their own will (He must initiate by drawing and enabling to understand).  All are in some way deceptive, destructive, and do not know true peace or its pursuit.  Why?  The lack of fear of God.  If we feared God’s wrath and necessary judgment, we would not continue in sin.  But we need to be drawn and changed to fear enough to turn from sin to Him. 

Just Judge of the World

Romans 3:5-8    
5 But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? (I speak as a man.) 6 Certainly not! For then how will God judge the world?  7 For if the truth of God has increased through my lie to His glory, why am I also still judged as a sinner? 8 And why not say, “Let us do evil that good may come”?—as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say. Their condemnation is just.

Our continued unrighteousness does not show God’s righteousness, just our need for it. Because we are all sinners, God is not unjust to pour out His wrath on the world.  He has every right and requirement to do so.  He made us originally in His image to honor Him by doing and thinking what we do for His glory.  But if we do wrong to somehow let God show more goodness, then the world’s accusations that we sin more to get good from God would be true.  When we do right, trusting only that our righteousness comes down to God’s alone in Christ, then the condemnation of our false accusers is well earned.