Focal Passages: Romans 3:20-28
None of us are strangers to outsourcing. We do it almost without thinking. While sometimes there are things we can tackle on our own, there are some things that take the skill and experience of an expert. We call plumbers and electricians. Doctors and locksmiths. And these days, a quick Google search can lead us to the best of the best to help us solve any of our difficulties.
Well, we all have one common problem that can only be outsourced. That problem is sin. We don’t have the ability or the power to deliver ourselves from sin or its effects. Jesus did for us what only He had the power to do. We call this salvation.
There are three different terms that Romans 3 uses to help us understand salvation more fully. The first of these terms is righteousness. To be righteous means to be justified before God. We are made righteous because Jesus has given His righteousness to us who believe.
The second term to help us understand salvation is redemption. That Jesus has redeemed us means that He has purchased us with His own life and brought us back into fellowship with God. Redemption, Romans says, is the gift of grace that allows us to receive Christ’s righteousness.
This leads to the third term: atonement. Jesus atoned for our sins by becoming a sacrifice for us. This is actually a demonstration of Christ’s own righteousness and perfect standing before God. All this is what it means to have salvation.