Reformation: Epistle, Romans 3:19-28                                       

Romans 3:19-28

Dear old Dr. Mitchell used to love the third chapter of Romans. One Friday in class he said, “I want you to go home and read Romans 3:19 to the end of the chapter over the weekend 100,000 times. His eyes twinkled. He just wanted his young bucks in training to “get it.” He let us know, in no uncertain terms, that the gospel was found in those verses with clarity and without compromise. 

 Along with that he would say, “There is only one righteousness in the universe. It belongs to God, and He gives it to you through Christ. What could you possibly add to it?” I can hear his Northern England accent to this day. And that is the exact point of our text today. Paul mentions the righteousness of God four times in this short passage. Paul wants us to be clear that we do not stand before God in any righteousness but His. There is one righteousness and one only. The law of God cannot produce it in us. In fact, it only shows our failure.

 And many Christians are caught by believing a lie that after God’s righteousness saves them, their own keeps them. Demonic! From first to last we stand before our God clothed in the blood-jeweled righteousness of Jesus, His Son. As Dr. Mitchell quipped, “What could you possibly add to it?” What indeed?