Romans 3:22-24

Romans 3:22-24 - This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There’s no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

In order to be in a relationship with God we must be righteous. To be righteous means to be in right standing with God. We must be purified and cleansed of our sin. Forgiveness comes free for all who believe, but first we must recognize the sin in our lives.

If we don’t see that we have sin in our life we will not see the need to be cleansed from it. Romans 3:23 reminds us, “for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” God’s glory is for man to stand pure and righteous before Him. We are to be a reflection of all that He is, but we cannot do that on our own.

Before Christ, our lives were full of sin and we deserved death. Romans 3:23 reminds us of this, but Paul’s message continues on. That is only half of the sentence. Verse 24 goes on to state, “and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”

Notice the last part of this is in the past tense, “redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Jesus has already brought redemption and forgiveness of sins. We just have to receive it by faith. It says we are justified freely by His grace.

By the grace of God we are justified through faith in what Jesus did for us. Faith that He took our sin and brought redemption through His death and resurrection. So we must recognize the sin, but then receive the forgiveness for it and by grace know that we are justified and righteous before God.