Day 4
Today’s reading: Romans 3:1-31
All have sinned
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All have sinned 〰️
Reflections
The entire human race stands guilty before God—there are no exceptions. Only one is completely perfect: the Holy God. Almost every religion holds a concept of meeting God in the afterlife, but if He is indeed the perfect Being we believe Him to be, then how could we ever match His perfection as humans?
Take a moment to reflect: what truly qualifies you to enter God’s presence? Is there anything you could ever do to meet His standard? We are speaking of a God so holy that He dwells in unapproachable light. No human effort could ever qualify us to reach His standards of perfection. The entire Old Testament was documented to reveal our inherent flaws, showing that even at our best, we fall short just by our nature. The law, meant to guide us, ultimately reveals our guilt because we have all broken it. No one can be made right by a law which already stipulates condemnation and judgment for breaking it. This further reveals our need for dependence on God.
That is why this is good news: God, in His mercy, has provided a way for us to be made righteous. That way is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not about what we can do but about what He has already done. Our hope is not in ourselves but in His grace.
Study Questions
What must we do to be justified before God? Identify and outline all the verses in which Paul explains this in this passage.
Why is justification possible through faith in Jesus? Use Romans 3:24-25 to explore this concept more deeply.
Conduct a word study on “redemption” using a Bible dictionary. What does this word reveal about our relationship to sin and the work of Christ?
What are the benefits of the law? Why did God give the law, and what purpose does it serve in His plan?
Highlight
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” Romans 3:23-24 NIV
