Romans 3:21-26

But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.^[1]

Pride is one of the greatest obstacles to our faith in Christ Jesus and living consistently in the realm of faith. Though we claim to be people of faith, our tendency is to rely on our own knowledge, actions, skills, background, and connections to save us. But only Christ can save us, only Christ can wash us and cleanse us from our sin. “We were the ones that should have been crucified. We were the ones that should have suffered, bled and died. We were the ones that should have hung on the cross in disgrace, but Jesus, God’s Son, gladly took our place.” This was the point the Apostle Paul wanted to emphasize to his readers. Jesus was our propitiation or substitute who paid the price for our sin; and make no mistake about it, we are all sinners.

The Apostle was accused in his day of promoting sin because he taught that we were justified by faith alone apart from works. Paul, however, understood that our sinful nature makes us unable and perhaps even unwilling to seek God. Instead, we seek only that which brings us pleasure and fulfillment no matter how temporary that might be. The good news, then, is that God’s indescribable gift of Jesus demonstrated that He was seeking us without which we would never have been able to see or receive Him. We did not and do not have the power to accomplish anything in the spirit realm apart from Him. We cannot be saved, grow, worship or even serve our Lord on our own merit. Any good that we might do for the sake of the Kingdom is because of our faith in the One who loved us enough to die for us. Let us, therefore, renounce our pride that claims we are justified just by whom we are and what we have done. Let us instead resolve to remain in Christ and increase our faith.

Gracious Father, thank You for loving us so much that You sent Your Son to die for our sins. We cannot even begin to express both our grief and gratitude for what You have done for us. Forgive us for the times we have place more confidence in our own merit than we have in Your sacrifice. Forgive us for believing that we are justified by what we have have done. Help us to renounce our sinful pride and then strengthen our resolve to remain in Christ and increase our faith. This we ask in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Ro 3:21–26.