Today I was drawn to read through the whole chapter of Romans 3. Normally, when referring to this chapter, we read only verse 23 and I wanted to refresh my mind of what the whole chapter says. Currently, I am studying with the Complete Jewish Study Bible. This is mainly because it has lots of facts about the Jewish tradition and has helped me, in many ways, to better understand why certain details were placed in scripture. It is harder to understand the scripture when trying to think/apply it according to our generations traditions and habits. Everything in scripture is relevant to our day and Age, however, we do need to do some digging to understand the old traditions so we can see where it is found today.
One key phrase that is repeated in this chapter is: "For in his sight no one alive will be considered righteous on the ground of legalistic observance of Torah commands [the law], because what Torah really does is show people how sinful they are." (3:20, 28).
One thing we can understand is that the Jews and the Gentiles (the two groups of people that Paul is speaking to) are still trying to take care of their sin by atonement and the law. At this point, Christ has already died on the cross; and yet, there are still many who do not understand what has happened and what the Messiah did for them. I hope that you, dear Reader, will be able to understand. If you do already understand, may this study encourage you to continue to understand and to lift up praise to the One who paid it all!
Paul begins to explain to the people that the law could only show them how sinful they were (3:20). It had no power to not sin. It could only expose what was sin and where it was. Sin, as Romans 3:23 clearly explains it, is "falling short of the Glory of God" [KJV] and Paul clearly states that everyone has sinned and falls short. Never, in the history, had their been record of a man who was without sin, until now. Jesus Christ, the one true Son of God (John 3:16), has changed history for them. Salvation, forgiveness of sin, and the power over sin could now be "...accomplished by the Messiah Jesus." (3:24).
This next verse is the one I mainly am going to focus on since it was the verse that opened up afresh to me: Romans 3:25, "God put Yeshua [Jesus] forward as the kapparah for sin through his faithfulness in respect to his bloody sacrificial death. This vindicated God's righteousness; because in his forbearance, he had passed over [with neither punishment nor remission] the sins people had committed in the past;" The key word is "kapparah". Now, many translations use the word "propitiation" and I feel that it does not do this verse justice. "Kapparah" is a key word that both the Jews and the Gentiles were able to understand. The Gentiles, who were either Greeks or served Greek gods, understand this word because it was a ritual they used to appease an angry Greek god (found in the study notes in my CJ Bible). The Jews understood this word also because this was a form of atonement: they would wave a chicken over the persons head and then slaughter and sacrifice it according to the Jewish rules for sacrifice. Now that we understand how meaningful this one word was for both groups of people, we can also better understand the fullness of what Paul was telling these people. He's basically saying, Don't you people get it!?! Christ, the Messiah, He was the "kapparah" for you and me! He "passed over the sins people had committed" He is righteous, faithful, and without blemish and God used Him to wave over all our heads and then sacrificed Him to pay the debt for our sins'. Wow! I was blown back when I finally understand the fullness of the message Paul was trying to say to these people.
We may not practice this ritual and sacrifice chickens for our sins', but maybe there is something else we are doing that causes us to believe that "if I do this or say this, then I can have my sins' erased"? Dear Reader, I want you to understand that Jesus Christ already paid the debt. All we need to do is come to Jesus and accept Him into our heart. Then, the righteousness [doing what is right in the eyes of God] of Jesus comes into our heart. Over time that righteousness becomes apart of us and we then do what is right because we want to. There is no tradition/ritual you or I can do to have our sins' forgiven or erased. You must simply come to Jesus (wherever you are) and say, "I am a sinner. Please forgive me of my sins. I know you paid the debt for me and I ask you to come into my heart today." He will come in and He will change your life for the good!
Please leave a comment below of what God has spoken to you about this chapter.
God bless!
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