The Grace of God’s Redemption
In the wake of the latest wave of the so-called sexual revolution, the new morality of identity politics is taking no prisoners and demanding complete acceptance of its claims as it blankets the globe. Meanwhile, churches face a choice: either capitulate to the culture’s demands to legimitize same-sex relationships and gender re-identitification or suffer the consequences.
How Should Christians Respond to Today’s Culture?
There is no middle ground and no compromise found in God’s word, and neither do we offer any. However, in our struggle to maintain God’s standard of morality in a culture of darkness we must never forget that we do have something to offer. Though often rejected, we are to offer, or declare, the gospel of God’s redeeming grace to the very darkness that opposes us!
You may be thinking, “Aren’t we called to be like ‘salt’ that preserves and ‘light’ that exposes?” Yes (Matthew 5:13; Ephesians 5:11); but let’s not forget that salt also adds flavor (Luke 14:33-34) and light also illuminates beauty (Matthew 5:16). As Peter makes clear, having tasted the grace of God’s redemption (1 Peter 2:3), we are empowered to illuminate the Father’s glory by our love (1 Peter 2:12) which attracts attention to the glory of His grace (1 Peter 2:9)!
The grace of God’s redeeming love is to be displayed to the very culture that is speaking evil of and persecuting His people (1 Peter 2:12, 3:14, 4:4; and 3:17, 4:19). If this idea of shining light into the darkness seems as difficult as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, remember: God’s redeeming grace can come to them the same way it came to us when we were in the darkness.
What Romans Teaches About Sin and Salvation
Perhaps the clearest display of God’s redeeming grace is revealed in Paul’s letter to the Romans:
“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and prophets. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21 – 23).
Note the phrase in verse 23:
“for there is no difference: for all have sinned.”
On one level, there is a big difference between the sin of murder and the sin of lying, especially if such a death involves someone you know personally. But on the level of redemption, there is no distinction. The apostle lays the groundwork for this reality in the first three chapters precisely because the religious Jews saw a big difference between themselves and the pagans.
According to Paul, the Gentiles were participating in and approving their own “new morality”:
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26).
There are no shortages of teachers in our day that would try to redefine Paul’s words. But, clearly, “women with women” and “men with men” is against God’s word and is therefore sin against God. They want to worship and serve images of themselves, and so they exchange the image of the incorruptible God for the image of corruptible man — of the truth of God for a lie. Perhaps the reason Paul says more about homosexuality than other sins in this chapter is because it is the most distorted expression of depravity. And God gives them over to their sin.
Let’s assume you have given a hearty “Amen” so far. That’s fine — but the Jews of Paul’s day would have done the same. Paul’s point, though, in exposing the base sins of the Gentiles was to destroy the man-made distinctions we so often draw between ourselves and such sinners. In chapter 2, Paul adds this:
“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”
The “same” things? We might wonder how can the sins of the Jews be on the same level as the sexual sins of the Gentiles. But the more pertinent question for us is, how can our sins in some real sense be on the same level as those of people in same-sex relationships?
The answer to that question comes in chapter 3 as Paul continues to prosecute his argument:
“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin….”
The line he draws from Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:9 is that the Jews with their more sanitized sins are just as much under sin as the Gentiles engaging in homosexual sins. There is no distinction. “All under sin” means that all are under its condemnation, all under its penalty, all under its control, and all in need of redemption.
Why Are We All Under the Same Penalty of Sin?
The question Paul wants you to ask at this point is why we are all under the same penalty of sin when we haven’t all reached the same depth of debauchery. Paul begins addressing this question in Romans 3:10-11:
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”
Don’t miss Paul’s definition of “none righteous” here: that “no one” is righteous means that no one understands; and that no one understands means that no one seeks God. To be clear, natural men understand God’s eternal power and godhead as creator, for He has revealed it to them so that they are without excuse. What Paul means is that we don’t understand, know or value his glory, and therefore we don’t love and seek God for the treasure that He is. In other words, no one seeks God because everyone is in love with themselves. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” Paul writes in Romans 3:23.
If we have all come up “short,” then the degree doesn’t matter: If you are drowning in 50 feet of water or 10 feet of water, the problem is the same: you are drowning and you need to be rescued. And so it is with our lack of righteousness regardless of the depth of our debauchery. The reason there is no difference is because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God! What we must understand is that from the sin of homosexuality to the sin of religious hypocrisy all sinners need the same redeeming grace of God. But what is redemption?
The Meaning of Redemption Through Jesus Christ
This brings us to the glorious climax of Romans 3:24-26, a climax Paul has had in mind since the first chapter:
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
To be “justified freely” is to be declared righteous before God apart from anything you do. “By his grace” means you don’t deserve it and you can’t earn it or pay for it. The grace of redemption is free regardless of how low you have reached, how far you have gone, how despicable you have been, how much guilt you have carried. The grace of God’s redemption reaches even you, friend. Even if you have participated in homosexual relationships. Even if you have been part of gender reassignment. Yes, grace is just that free and just that wonderful and just that powerful!
The reason grace is free is because God set forth Christ to be a “propitiation,” a word that conveys expiating or placating force. Both of these ideas — free grace and propitiation — meet beautifully in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has initiated redemption, and his grace has the force or the power to remove (or expiate) the guilt of sin by satisfying (or placating) the wrath of God. The force of redemption is the blood of Jesus Christ:
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7, emphasis mine).
How rich is God’s grace? Rich enough to redeem and powerful enough to forgive your sins — all of them! The blood of Christ has so completely satisfied the wrath of God that there is not a drop of wrath left for all those that trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ absorbed it all on behalf of sinners. Hallelujah, what a savior! What a God! What a love!
Can God Redeem Anyone?
If you doubt God’s grace for you in your struggle with sinful desires, listen to Paul’s word to the church at Corinth:
“And such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11a).
Some of the members of the church at Corinth had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. There were those sitting on the pew at Corinth that were at one time abusers of themselves with mankind (i.e. practicing homosexuality). What happened? Paul explains in the rest of the verse:
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Justified by his grace, justified by his blood, so that we can be justified by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Living as Salt and Light in a Dark World
As you seek God’s wisdom in living as salt and light in a culture trying to scatter the salt and blow out the light, don’t forget to share the grace of God’s redemption. Because there is no difference: we are all sinners, and Christ Jesus is the only savior of sinners.
How Should Christians Respond to Today’s Culture?
There is no middle ground and no compromise found in God’s word, and neither do we offer any. However, in our struggle to maintain God’s standard of morality in a culture of darkness we must never forget that we do have something to offer. Though often rejected, we are to offer, or declare, the gospel of God’s redeeming grace to the very darkness that opposes us!
You may be thinking, “Aren’t we called to be like ‘salt’ that preserves and ‘light’ that exposes?” Yes (Matthew 5:13; Ephesians 5:11); but let’s not forget that salt also adds flavor (Luke 14:33-34) and light also illuminates beauty (Matthew 5:16). As Peter makes clear, having tasted the grace of God’s redemption (1 Peter 2:3), we are empowered to illuminate the Father’s glory by our love (1 Peter 2:12) which attracts attention to the glory of His grace (1 Peter 2:9)!
The grace of God’s redeeming love is to be displayed to the very culture that is speaking evil of and persecuting His people (1 Peter 2:12, 3:14, 4:4; and 3:17, 4:19). If this idea of shining light into the darkness seems as difficult as trying to fit a square peg into a round hole, remember: God’s redeeming grace can come to them the same way it came to us when we were in the darkness.
What Romans Teaches About Sin and Salvation
Perhaps the clearest display of God’s redeeming grace is revealed in Paul’s letter to the Romans:
“But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and prophets. Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:21 – 23).
Note the phrase in verse 23:
“for there is no difference: for all have sinned.”
On one level, there is a big difference between the sin of murder and the sin of lying, especially if such a death involves someone you know personally. But on the level of redemption, there is no distinction. The apostle lays the groundwork for this reality in the first three chapters precisely because the religious Jews saw a big difference between themselves and the pagans.
According to Paul, the Gentiles were participating in and approving their own “new morality”:
“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet” (Romans 1:26).
There are no shortages of teachers in our day that would try to redefine Paul’s words. But, clearly, “women with women” and “men with men” is against God’s word and is therefore sin against God. They want to worship and serve images of themselves, and so they exchange the image of the incorruptible God for the image of corruptible man — of the truth of God for a lie. Perhaps the reason Paul says more about homosexuality than other sins in this chapter is because it is the most distorted expression of depravity. And God gives them over to their sin.
Let’s assume you have given a hearty “Amen” so far. That’s fine — but the Jews of Paul’s day would have done the same. Paul’s point, though, in exposing the base sins of the Gentiles was to destroy the man-made distinctions we so often draw between ourselves and such sinners. In chapter 2, Paul adds this:
“Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.”
The “same” things? We might wonder how can the sins of the Jews be on the same level as the sexual sins of the Gentiles. But the more pertinent question for us is, how can our sins in some real sense be on the same level as those of people in same-sex relationships?
The answer to that question comes in chapter 3 as Paul continues to prosecute his argument:
“What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin….”
The line he draws from Romans 1:18 to Romans 3:9 is that the Jews with their more sanitized sins are just as much under sin as the Gentiles engaging in homosexual sins. There is no distinction. “All under sin” means that all are under its condemnation, all under its penalty, all under its control, and all in need of redemption.
Why Are We All Under the Same Penalty of Sin?
The question Paul wants you to ask at this point is why we are all under the same penalty of sin when we haven’t all reached the same depth of debauchery. Paul begins addressing this question in Romans 3:10-11:
“As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.”
Don’t miss Paul’s definition of “none righteous” here: that “no one” is righteous means that no one understands; and that no one understands means that no one seeks God. To be clear, natural men understand God’s eternal power and godhead as creator, for He has revealed it to them so that they are without excuse. What Paul means is that we don’t understand, know or value his glory, and therefore we don’t love and seek God for the treasure that He is. In other words, no one seeks God because everyone is in love with themselves. “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” Paul writes in Romans 3:23.
If we have all come up “short,” then the degree doesn’t matter: If you are drowning in 50 feet of water or 10 feet of water, the problem is the same: you are drowning and you need to be rescued. And so it is with our lack of righteousness regardless of the depth of our debauchery. The reason there is no difference is because all have sinned and come short of the glory of God! What we must understand is that from the sin of homosexuality to the sin of religious hypocrisy all sinners need the same redeeming grace of God. But what is redemption?
The Meaning of Redemption Through Jesus Christ
This brings us to the glorious climax of Romans 3:24-26, a climax Paul has had in mind since the first chapter:
“Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”
To be “justified freely” is to be declared righteous before God apart from anything you do. “By his grace” means you don’t deserve it and you can’t earn it or pay for it. The grace of redemption is free regardless of how low you have reached, how far you have gone, how despicable you have been, how much guilt you have carried. The grace of God’s redemption reaches even you, friend. Even if you have participated in homosexual relationships. Even if you have been part of gender reassignment. Yes, grace is just that free and just that wonderful and just that powerful!
The reason grace is free is because God set forth Christ to be a “propitiation,” a word that conveys expiating or placating force. Both of these ideas — free grace and propitiation — meet beautifully in the Lord Jesus Christ. God has initiated redemption, and his grace has the force or the power to remove (or expiate) the guilt of sin by satisfying (or placating) the wrath of God. The force of redemption is the blood of Jesus Christ:
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace” (Ephesians 1:7, emphasis mine).
How rich is God’s grace? Rich enough to redeem and powerful enough to forgive your sins — all of them! The blood of Christ has so completely satisfied the wrath of God that there is not a drop of wrath left for all those that trust in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ absorbed it all on behalf of sinners. Hallelujah, what a savior! What a God! What a love!
Can God Redeem Anyone?
If you doubt God’s grace for you in your struggle with sinful desires, listen to Paul’s word to the church at Corinth:
“And such were some of you” (1 Corinthians 6:11a).
Some of the members of the church at Corinth had been fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, effeminate, abusers of themselves with mankind, thieves, covetous, drunkards, revilers, and extortioners. There were those sitting on the pew at Corinth that were at one time abusers of themselves with mankind (i.e. practicing homosexuality). What happened? Paul explains in the rest of the verse:
“And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
Justified by his grace, justified by his blood, so that we can be justified by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Living as Salt and Light in a Dark World
As you seek God’s wisdom in living as salt and light in a culture trying to scatter the salt and blow out the light, don’t forget to share the grace of God’s redemption. Because there is no difference: we are all sinners, and Christ Jesus is the only savior of sinners.
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