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Objective

In this lesson, we’ll discover how God provides righteousness through faith in Christ and transforms us through His ongoing work of sanctification.

Key Verse

Romans 5:8: But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Introduction

In the first three chapters of Romans, Paul painted a sobering picture of humanity’s condition. He demonstrated with careful logic and scriptural evidence that every single person stands guilty before God. Whether we are Jews who received God’s law or Gentiles who lived without it, we all have sinned and fallen desperately short of God’s perfect standard.

Romans 3:23: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

This universal guilt leaves us in a hopeless situation. We have no righteousness of our own to offer God. We cannot earn righteousness by keeping the law, because we have already broken it countless times. But here is where the gospel becomes truly good news—God has provided the righteousness we desperately need through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we place our faith in Christ, we receive His perfect righteousness, and God forgives all our sins.

This is the glorious message that Paul announced at the beginning of his letter, and now he will explain it in magnificent detail.

Romans 1:16: For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.

In this lesson, we’ll explore God’s amazing answer to our sin problem by examining two essential aspects of our salvation that Paul carefully explains:

• Justification—how God declares us righteous
• Sanctification—how God makes us holy

Justification (3:24 – 5:21)

What exactly is justification? To be justified means to be declared righteous before God’s judgment seat. It’s a legal term that Paul uses to help us understand something wonderful—when we trust in Christ, God gives us Christ’s perfect righteousness and sees us as completely righteous, just as if we had never sinned at all.

First, Paul gives us a clear description of how we receive this righteousness from Christ (3:21-31). He wants us to understand that this righteousness doesn’t come through our own efforts or good works, since we are all sinners who have failed to meet God’s standard. Instead, justification comes only through faith and entirely by God’s grace.

Romans 3:22: This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile

Paul emphasizes that this gift of righteousness is completely free—we cannot earn it, buy it, or deserve it. God offers it to us as a gift of His amazing grace.

Romans 3:24-28: and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.

(Notebook Moment: Think about the last time you tried to earn someone’s approval through your performance. How did it feel? Now consider how different it is that God offers His complete acceptance as a free gift through Christ. How does this change your relationship with Him?)

Second, Paul provides us with a powerful illustration of this righteousness by pointing us to Abraham’s life (4:1-25). Abraham is the perfect example because he lived centuries before the law of Moses was given, yet God declared him righteous. How did this happen?

Romans 4:1-3: What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter? If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Abraham didn’t earn God’s approval through religious ceremonies or good deeds. He simply believed God’s promise, even when that promise seemed impossible from a human perspective. Abraham and Sarah were far too old to have children, yet God promised them a son who would become the father of many nations.

Romans 4:18-21: Against all hope, Abraham in hope believed and so became the father of many nations, just as it had been said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” Without weakening in his faith, he faced the fact that his body was as good as dead—since he was about a hundred years old—and that Sarah’s womb was also dead. Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised.

God gave His righteousness to Abraham as a gift because Abraham believed Him. This is the key principle Paul wants us to understand.

Romans 4:22: This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Now comes the exciting part—we are justified by faith exactly the same way Abraham was! The same God who counted Abraham righteous because of his faith will count us righteous when we believe in Jesus Christ.

Romans 4:23-25: The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

Third, Paul shows us the incredible benefits that flow from this righteousness (5:1-11). Sin brought terrible consequences into our lives—guilt, death, and separation from God. But the righteousness of Christ provides the perfect answer to every problem that sin created.

Consider the amazing benefits we receive through justification:

• We have peace with God (5:1)—the war between us and our Creator is over
• We have access into His presence (5:2)—we can come boldly before His throne
• We have hope for the future (5:2)—we know that glory awaits us
• We have the love of Christ (5:5)—His love has been poured into our hearts
• We have the Holy Spirit living within us (5:5)—God Himself dwells in us

Fourth, Paul contrasts the devastating work of Adam’s sin with the powerful work of Christ’s righteousness (5:12-21). Through one man, Adam, sin and death entered the world and spread to every person. But through one man, Jesus Christ, righteousness and life are now available to all who believe.

Romans 5:17-19: For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ! Consequently, just as one trespass resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act resulted in justification and life for all people. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous.

Sanctification (6:1 – 8:39)

If we have been justified by faith and God has already declared us righteous, then why do we still struggle with sin? This is the crucial question that Paul addresses next. His answer introduces us to the doctrine of sanctification.

Romans 6:1-2: What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

What is sanctification? While justification is God’s declaration that we are righteous (happening instantly when we believe), sanctification is God’s ongoing work to make us actually holy in our daily lives. God already sees us as perfectly holy through Christ—this is our position. But in our practical experience, we are gradually growing in holiness. This transforming work will continue throughout our entire lives until we see Jesus face to face.

In chapter 6, Paul reveals that sanctification gives us victory over the power of sin and our sinful nature. The key to understanding this victory is recognizing that we have been united with Christ in a profound way.

Romans 6:3-5: Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.

This is remarkable truth—we have actually died to sin and been raised to new life in Christ! Our old self was crucified with Christ, and we now live in resurrection power.

Romans 6:6-10: For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.

(Notebook Moment: Consider an area of your life where you struggle with repeated sin. How would your approach change if you truly believed that you have died to that sin’s power and are now alive to God? What practical steps could you take to live in this truth?)

How can we experience the victory of Christ’s resurrection in our daily lives? Paul gives us two essential answers. First, we must accept by faith that we are truly dead to sin and alive to God. Second, we must actively yield ourselves to Christ as His instruments.

Romans 6:11-14: In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness. For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.

Notice that this requires both faith and action. We must believe the truth about our new identity in Christ, and then we must live according to that truth in practical ways. This is how God progressively sanctifies us—transforming our daily experience to match our position in Christ.

Romans 6:16-18: Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

In chapter 7, Paul demonstrates that sanctification accomplishes what the law could never do. He begins by reminding us of an important truth—we know we’re sinners precisely because the law reveals our sin.

Romans 7:7-9: What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, produced in me every kind of coveting. For apart from the law, sin was dead. Once I was alive apart from the law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died.

Paul then describes with painful honesty the internal battle that every believer experiences. We have received a new nature that loves God and desires holiness, but this new nature is at war with our old sinful nature. We want to do what pleases God, but our flesh constantly pulls us toward sin.

Romans 7:18-24: For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

Paul doesn’t become discouraged by this struggle, however. He understands that this battle is part of the sanctification process. More importantly, he knows that victory is available through Jesus Christ.

Romans 7:25: Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in my sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.

In chapter 8, Paul teaches us the glorious truth that we can live holy lives through the power of the Holy Spirit. The same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead lives within us and empowers us to overcome sin.

Romans 8:1-4: Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Chapter 8 stands as one of the most magnificent chapters in all of Scripture concerning the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer’s life. Consider what the Spirit does for us:

• The Spirit gives us victory over the flesh (8:5 and 8:13)
• The Spirit gives us life (8:11)
• The Spirit brings us into God’s family (8:14-17)
• The Spirit helps us to pray (8:26-27)

(Notebook Moment: Which of these works of the Holy Spirit do you most need to experience more fully right now? Take a moment to ask God to make you more aware of the Spirit’s power in this specific area of your life.)

Conclusion

Paul concludes this powerful section of Romans by lifting our eyes to the eternal future that God has planned for us. Why has God given us the righteousness of Christ? Why is He sanctifying us through the Holy Spirit? Because He has an eternal purpose that nothing can stop. Everything that happens in our lives—even our struggles and sufferings—is working toward this glorious plan.

Romans 8:28-30: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

One day we will have new, glorified bodies just like Christ’s resurrection body. All of creation is eagerly waiting for this moment when God’s work of redemption will be complete.

Romans 8:17-23: Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.

While we wait for that glorious day, we have the absolute promise that God is with us right now. He will never leave us or forsake us. No matter what trials we face, no matter what enemies oppose us, nothing can separate us from His love. He who began this good work in us will certainly bring it to perfect completion.

Romans 8:35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is the magnificent truth that Paul wants every believer to grasp—we are completely secure in Christ. God has justified us by faith, declaring us righteous through Christ’s perfect sacrifice. He is sanctifying us by His Spirit, progressively transforming us into the image of His Son. And He will one day glorify us, completing His work of salvation when Christ returns. Until that day, we can rest in the assurance that nothing in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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