Many people believe in God but intuitively sense that things are not right between them and God. Perhaps you feel this at the moment. This intuition is basically correct. Paul has been making the point so far in Romans that all people have sinned against God. So, the key question is: How can things be made right? In the light of the coming day of judgement (which Paul flags in chapter 2) this is a very important question. Anticipating the day of judgement is a vital perspective enabling us to know what is really most important in the present. What really matters in the end? To understand what Paul writes about this we must understand how a first century pious Jew would have answered this. The typical Jewish answer would be as follows: “If you get circumcised and you keep the law then you will be declared ‘right’ on the day of judgement.” This is actually a common way of thinking: “If I’m good enough I’ll get through.” Well, I don’t feel like I’m good enough, do you? Actually, you will never feel good enough, which means you will live your life in constant anxious uncertainty. This is no way to live, though many people do live this way: desperately working at being ‘good enough,’ but never feeling they get there. A life motivated by anxiety can never fulfil the law. This isn’t what God wants. What God really wants is children. He wants us to come to him in faith like little children. If we do, we will be accepted for sure. It’s as simple as that.
Receive the gift of God’s favour through Jesus Christ.
Read Romans 3:21-24
