Devotional - July 16, 2004

The third chapter of Romans is pivotal to the Gospel message. Before Jesus' birth, the Jews had the Torah, or God's law as given to Moses as their credo. They had the precedent of generations before who were the physical seed of Abraham, the recipient of God's covenant. They had reason to be proud for they were chosen and through them God would bless all people. But they placed their hope in their own righteousness and thereby missed the point of what God was revealing through the Law.

Jesus came and was crucified for clarifying the Law to self-righteous leaders who had created and taught their own interpretation of salvation to others. Jesus' disciples continued His evangelical ministry, but it was not until Paul received His call on the road to Damascus that a message of salvation by God's grace was truly preached and preached to anyone, not just the Jew.

The key to any study of righteousness is to examine the root of the word itself. A "right" is what you are due. The opposite to a right is an "obligation," or simply stated, what you owe someone else.

The Jews felt they had a "right" because God promised Abraham He would bless his seed. But Christ had more rights than them (as He was the only Son of the Father) yet He viewed serving the Father a privilege. There is a huge difference in the terms, is there not?

In truth, Jesus set his rights aside and became a servant when he died for us; we, who had no rights but only an obligation to serve sin - our cruel taskmaster. (Re: Phil 2:5-11) This raises an interesting question I think. "What rights do we truly have?"

Paul wrote the Christians at Rome and said it plainly: " There is no one righteous, not even one. As Isaiah said, we are like sheep who have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way and the Lord has laid on him (Jesus) the iniquity (sin) of us all.

Now you know. When Jesus hung on the cross and cried "Father, why have you forsaken me," he was taking the burden of sin for you and everyone else as his own. We believe it was then that God, who does not look at sin, turned away leaving Jesus to bear the cross and our sin alone.

In one moment, Jesus took your unrighteousness and made it possible for you to know the only Righteousness who ever lived; His name is Jehovah-tsidkenu, meaning "The Lord, our Righteousness " (Jer 23:6). His name is Jesus and He is truly the righteousness of anyone who comes by faith to trust Him. The next time you pray, why not remind Him that you acknowledge what He did for you?

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( 1 Ch. 22:1-23:32 Rm. 3:9-31 Ps. 12:1-8 Pr. 19:13-14 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society