In the first 3 chapters of Romans, the Apostle Paul has dismantled any human confidence, either for the Jew or the Gentile, for attaining to the glory of God because of self-righteousness. Paul is like a lawyer in these chapters, convicting the whole world of its sin, whether religious or not, whether having the Mosaic Law or not. The most important truth in all of the Bible is declared by Paul in Romans 3:22,23:

This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

There is, therefore, no basis of boasting in man’s own righteousness before God (Romans 3:27). We need the intervention of God’s redeeming grace, revealed in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:24-26). It’s on the principle of faith and not human works that we are justified before God. This is what Abraham, the father of both the circumcised (the Jews) and the uncircumcised (the Gentiles), discovered on this matter (see Romans 4:1-25).

Our Boast & Confidence Is In God

What can human beings boast in? What can we have confidence in? Well, Paul has 3 things we can boast or rejoice in, that he outlines in Romans 5:1-11. First of all, we can rejoice/boast in the hope of sharing in God’s glory, because of our peace with God, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1,2).

Secondly, we can rejoice/boast in our sufferings because, as we trust the LORD in those sufferings, He will produce godly character in us, which will make the reality of our future hope even stronger in our present life. That is, we will come to a greater experience of God’s subjective love for us through the Holy Spirit in our hearts (Rom. 5:3-5). We will more appreciate what God has done for us in Christ: while we were hostile to God, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:6-8).

Finally, we can rejoice and have confidence in God Himself. This boast is based on the work of Jesus Christ, and is the result of the sinner’s reconciliation, which we enjoy now in the present (Romans 5:9-11). Praise God for the Gospel of His Son’s life, death and resurrection. God has set up a new Head for humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ, who has undone the sin and death brought into the world by the First Adam. Righteousness and life reign through the grace of the Second Adam (Romans 5:12-21).

Living Faithfully In The Lord Jesus Christ

Paul goes on to reveal how we can live in faithfulness to our new Head Master, Jesus, in Romans 6-8. The key is not to try in our own strength to be obedient, but to actively yield the members of our body to the Lord Jesus Christ and His indwelling Holy Spirit, in order to live in holiness (Romans 6:1-23).

To declare that we live under grace, and not under the Mosaic Law, does not mean that we do not have an obligation to obey the Lord Jesus. We do have an obligation to yield the members of our body to our new Head Master, and not to the old taskmaster of sin. This is also a part of the Good News of Jesus, and of God’s provision to live a victorious life that reflects Christ and honors God.

We are called to learn to live according to the law of God’s Spirit and life, and not according to the law of sin and death (Romans 8:1-17). When we try to live according to God’s Law in our own strength, it results in frustration and failure. God’s Law, which is good in itself, ends up producing death and bondage in me, when I don’t rely on the grace that is in the Lord Jesus, the Second Adam (Romans 7:1-23). Who will rescue us from our body of death? Thanks be to God – through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24,25).

QOTD: Are you learning to live according to the law of God’s Spirit and life, which is part of your inheritance in the Lord Jesus?