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365 Graça & Adoração Da Criação ao Apocalipse
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Romans — Chapter 3

All Guilty — Justification by Faith

"Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

— Rom 3:24

Romans 3 is the theological heart of the letter. Verses 21-26 present justification by faith in the atoning work of Christ. After proving universal guilt, Paul presents the divine solution.

🌍 All Under Sin (3:9-20)

Rom 3:10-12
"As it is written: None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God."
Chain of Old Testament quotations (Ps 14; 53; 5; 140; 10; Isa 59; Ps 36) proving that universal condemnation is testimony of the Jewish Scriptures themselves. Absolute and universal. 'No one seeks for God' — human religious seeking is not seeking God, it is seeking a god who serves our purposes.
Rom 3:19-20
"Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin."
The law shuts every mouth (phtariston pan stoma). Its function is not to justify — it is to condemn and reveal sin in all its severity.

⭐ The Heart of the Gospel: Justification by Faith (3:21-26)

Rom 3:21-24
"But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."
The 'but now' (nyni de) is the most dramatic turn in biblical theology. Four key words: (1) dikaiosyne theou — righteousness provided by God; (2) dia pisteos — through faith; (3) dorean — freely; (4) apolytrosis — redemption.
Rom 3:25-26
"Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Hilasterion — propitiation: Jesus is the new Mercy Seat, where God's wrath is satisfied. The cross solves the theological problem: how can God be just (punishing sin) and justifier (absolving the sinner)? On the cross, God punished sin in Christ.