The Roman Road
To Eternal Life
Romans 1:19-20
19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 3:23
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23
23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 5:8
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 4:5
5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness,
ROME must have held a special place in the heart of the Apostle Paul, because one of his finest letters is the 6th book of the New Testament, known to us as Paul's Epistle to the Romans.
His purpose in writing that book was to explain the Gospel— God's terms of salvation—to people who, like most of us, had grown up in a non-Jewish pagan culture.
So, to the full extent of my ability. I am eager to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ... for it is the power of God unto salvation...
Romans 1:15-16
RIGHTEOUSNESS is the standard by which God determines whether or not we qualify for heaven. It is a standard of perfection that is not met if we ever commit even a single sin at any time during our lives.
According to that standard, every one of us is guilty and condemned.
Whoever keeps the whole Law, yet offends in one point, he is guilty of all.
James 2:10
We have already proved that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, as it stands written "There is none righteous, no, not even one ...
All have turned aside, they have all become corrupt; there is not one that habitually does good, no, not so much as one.
Romans 3: 9-10, 12
ALL SINS ARE MORTAL SINS. Disobedience to parents, envy, and quarreling are in the same list as murder and hating God, any one of which condemns us to eternal death.
[We sinners are] filled with every kind of unrighteousness; ... greed ... envy, murder, quarreling, ... backbiters, hateful toward God, ... disobedient to parents, ... who, knowing the judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death ...
For the wages of sin is death ...
Romans 1:29-32
Romans 6:23
A dead person needs resurrection, not forgiveness.
ADAM is our real problem. Paul explains that the sins we personally commit do not make us sinners. We are all condemned because Adam sinned in our behalf.
So, by the intermediate agency of the one man, sin entered into the world, and, through sin, death. and so death entered into all mankind, because, in Adam, all sinned ...
... through one act of transgression, condemnation came upon all.
... through the disobedience of the one man, all were constituted sinners ...
Romans 5:12, 18-19
That means we are still subject to God's judgment even if we don't sin at all, because Adam's sin, in itself, condemns us.
“HOW SHALL A MAN BE JUST WITH GOD?”
Job asked that question more than 4,000 years ago (Job 9:2). He understood that it is not possible for any of us to measure up to God's standard of perfection, and there is nothing any of us can do about the penalty that has already been imposed upon us.
Every religion of the world, from Islam to Roman Catholicism to Protestantism, and, ultimately, down to the level of our own personal philosophy, recognizes something of the dilemma we are in, but there is almost no agreement on the solution. The variety of “ways to God” seems uncountable, but which way is right?
JESUS said that He is the only way:
I am the Way ... no man comes unto the Father but by Me.
John 14:6
Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other Name under heaven ... whereby we must be saved.
Acts 4:12
PAUL said that God's final judgment of us will be according to the gospel he preached, and not according to our personal beliefs or the teachings of any church.
And do you assume ... that you will escape the judgment of God? ... on the day when God shall judge the hidden things of men according to my gospel ...
Romans 2:3, 6, 16
... there are some that ... would pervert the Gospel of Christ.
But, though we, or [even] an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto to you than the one we have preached, let him be anathema.
Galatians 1:7-9
What Paul taught, then, defines the gospel. What he did not teach, is not necessary.
There are not different versions of the gospel because there cannot be different versions of the truth. Any message that adds to or detracts from what Paul said is not the gospel.
Paul's gospel is the biblical message of the substitutionary death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I declare unto you the Gospel which I preached unto you ... Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; He was buried and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures ...
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
The Lord Jesus Christ did not die on a cross as an accident of history which was corrected by the miracle of His resurrection. The issue lies in the phrase "died for our sins."
SUBSTITUTION means that someone does in our behalf what we are personally required to do.
The heart of the Gospel is that the Lord Jesus Christ is our Substitute, doing for us what God demands from us.
Salvation is only possible if two things happen:
1. The death penalty that God demands from us must be paid.
God cannot simply forgive our sins without violating His own standard of justice.
The Lord Jesus Christ satisfied the demands of God's justice for every person who ever lived and who ever will live.
... while we were still sinners, Christ died in our behalf.
Romans 5:6
Therefore, through [Adam's] one act of transgression, con- demnation came upon all people; even so also, by [Christ's] one justifying act [His substitutionary death on the cross– not His perfect life] the free gift [of justification] is extended to all unto righteousness.
Romans 5:13
And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
1 John 2:2
2. The record of who we are and what we have done as sinners must be replaced with a record of perfect righteousness.
The Lord Jesus Christ, resurrected and seated in heaven, is our Righteousness.
He [God, the Father] has made Him [Christ] to be sin for us ... that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
The message of Paul's gospel is an explanation of how we can meet the standards of the righteousness of God.
... the gospel of Christ ... is the power of God unto salvation ... in it, the righteousness of God is revealed ...
Romans 1:16
Man's fatal error is that he has always insisted on believing that God will accept him only when his behavior is acceptable to God. In other words, he must be righteous before God will count him righteous.
But the religions of men, built on this false premise, fail to acknowledge two fundamental issues:
- Death, not suffering or effort, is the penalty for sin.
- Behavior that meets God's standard of perfection is impossible.
The mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject tot he Law of God, neither indeed can it be.
So, then, they are in the flesh cannot please God.
Romans 8:7-8
JUSTIFICATION is the judicial act of God, based on the substi- tutionary death of Christ, in which He counts an ungodly sin- ner as righteous, even though the person is still ungodly.
"Justify," "righteous," and "righteousness" are the verb, adjective, and noun forms of the same Greek word, which means "to be right with respect to a standard"—God's standard of perfection.
Justification means immediate qualification for heaven. The Bible never speaks of justification as a process of accumulation that is complete only at, or after, death.
Therefore, having been justified ... we have peace with God ...
Romans 5:1
Then Jesus answered ... Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that hears My word, and believes on Him that sent Me, has everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but has passed from death unto life.
John 5:24
The Greek expresses justification in a wonderful way that does not come out in English. It does not say, "being justified," as though it were a process, but, "justified once-for-all," a past action completed in a moment of time.
Justification does not change the actual person or his behav- ior. It can be understood as a bookkeeping transaction in which the record in heaven is changed, but we ourselves remain the same. God does other things in the life of the justified sinner that affect later behavior.
GOD'S TERMS.
The death penalty that God demands has already been paid in full. But, that payment is only credited to the account of those who meet God on His terms.
The Gospel is the explanation of His terms for justification. To claim justification on the basis of any terms other than His terms is to reject His Gospel.
GRACE is the essential feature of Paul's gospel.
For by grace you are saved ...
Ephesians 2:8
Our word "grace" is translated from a Greek word which means "gift." By definition, a gift does not cost the recipient anything. It is free.
Grace is not grace if merit or effort is required as a qualification. Under those conditions, justification is not a free gift ... it has been earned, and has become a debt to the giver.
Now, to the one who works, the remuneration is not put to his account as undeserved, but as a matter of debt.
Romans 4:3-5
Justification is always (and only) by grace. God will be no man's debtor. To claim His gift in any other way is to reject it.
And if it is by grace, it is not of works: otherwise grace is not grace. But if it is of works; it is not of grace: otherwise work is not work.
Romans 11:6
But some gifts, though free, are not uncaused. For instance, when we give a loved one a gift, it is free, but caused by the relationship we already have with that person.
God's gift of justification is both free and uncaused. Paul uses the Greek word dorean, which means "without a cause," to modify the word "grace”. So justification is not only free, it is also uncaused in any way by who we are, what we have done, or what we promise to do.
All being justified without a cause by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Romans 3:24
But that doesn't mean that everyone is automatically justified. One thing is required, and it is the only thing we can do with- out doing anything.
FAITH is the qualification for justification.
Therefore, it is through faith, that it might be by grace ...
Romans 4:16
We are not simply saved by grace. We are saved by grace through faith. Faith is the channel through which justification reaches us. In it we acknowledge that Christ's work is the only work He can accept, and we reject all other forms of work.
"Faith" and "believing" are the same thing. One is the noun form and the other is the verb form of the same Greek word which means, "to be persuaded that a thing is true".
What does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was put to his account instead of [personal] righteousness.
But to him that does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Romans 4:3-5
Even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe ...
Romans 3:22
Faith is not merely believing the facts of history. It is certainly true that Jesus Christ lived, died, and rose again from the dead. Many people who reject Christianity believe that. But true faith involves an intelligent understanding of the personal significance of Christ's substitutionary work.
Now it was not written for [Abraham's] sake alone ... but for us also, to whose account righteousness shall be credited who believe on Him who raised up Jesus, our Lord out from among the dead; Who was delivered up for our transgressions, and was raised again for our justification.
Romans 4:24-25
... Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be an expiatory satisfaction for sin through faith in His blood ...
Romans 3:25
FAITH ALONE results in justification.
Virtually everyone believes that justification is through faith;
but very few acknowledge that it is through faith alone.
If something in addition to faith is required, then it cannot be said that faith justifies until the additional requirement has been met.
But the Bible always speaks of faith, in and of itself, resulting instantly and directly in justification. And it frequently teaches that to demand other things in addition to faith is to preach a false gospel. Believing is the only thing we can do without doing anything, and it is the only thing Paul's gospel ever tells us we must do.
Faith alone is the means of grace.
For by grace are you saved, through faith ...
Ephesians 2:8
Some religions teach that other things, in addition to faith, constitute the “means of grace” necessary to assist the Christian in ultimately qualifying for eternal life.
The three main ones are:
- Doing good works.
- Keeping God's Law (the 10 Commandments).
- Performing religious rituals ("sacraments").
Paul addresses each of these options and specifically rejects each one.
GOOD WORKS cannot save us.
We have already seen how Paul makes it clear that man's works are excluded from God's consideration in our justification, both in addition to faith and as a substitute for faith.
Faith plus works always equal works and cancel grace.
Now to him that works the reward is not reckoned of grace, but of debt.
But to him who does not work, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.
Even as David also describes the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputes righteousness without works ...
Romans 4:4-6
... not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us.
Titus 3:5
THE Mosaic LAW cannot save us.
The Judaizers who opposed Paul taught that faith alone was not enough to qualify for heaven. They also insisted on ritual (“sacramental”) circumcision and obedience to the Mosaic Law (Acts 15:1, 5). The result was a false gospel that Paul opposed at every turn.
For as many as are of the works of the Law are under the curse: for it is written, cursed is everyone that continues not in all things that are written in the book of the Law to do them.
But that no man is justified by the Law in the sight of God is evident: for the just shall live by faith.
And the Law is not of faith ...
Galatians 3:10-12
Today, several major segments of Christendom claim that ritual baptism has replaced Old Testament circumcision, and results in the forgiveness of sins.
Paul is clear in refuting this error. If we substitute "ritual baptism" for "circumcision" in the following passage, as these teachers in Christendom allow, this is what Paul would be saying:
Does this blessing [of justification] come on the [baptized] only, or on the [unbaptized] also? For we say that faith was credited to Abraham's account as righteousness.
Under what circumstances was righteousness credited to his account? At the time he was [baptized], or before? It was not after [baptism] but, rather, before he was [baptized].
Only [many years] afterward did he receive [baptism] as a sign of the faith which he already had while he was still [un-baptized].
Romans 4:9-11
If Old Testament circumcision had had anything to do with salvation, then only Jewish men went to heaven. If sacramental baptism replaced circumcision, it serves the same purpose. Circumcision was not a substitute for Abraham's faith, so sacramental baptism cannot be a substitute for faith today. To substitute sacramental baptism for circumcision as a means of grace, is to reject the gospel.
Faith in sacraments is not saving faith.
Behold, I, Paul say unto you, that if you are circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Galatians 5:5
The Gospel of God, about the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ, which Paul preached as the only valid gospel, says that ...
Jesus died for your sins!
The death penalty for your sins has been paid!
Jesus rose because of your justification!
All of the work is done!
If you believe that ...
you now, at this very moment, have eternal life.
you will never come into condemnation—you have been instantly, completely, and permanently justified
(John 5:24).
you do not have to ask Jesus to come into your heart—He is already there (Ephesians 1:13).
you do not have to be baptized to wash your sins away—
they are already gone (Romans 5:19).
you do not have to ask Mary to pray for you at the hour of
your death—you are already going straight to heaven (Ephesians 1:3-6).
But, if you do not believe Paul's Gospel as he taught it ... you don't have eternal life, and ...
you won't go to heaven!
How do you know you believe the Gospel?
It is impossible to truly believe two contradictory things at the same time. Error cancels the truth.
Repentance—rejecting [changing your mind about] what is untrue—always accompanies genuine faith—believing what is true.
I kept back nothing that was profitable to you ... testifying both to the Jews and to the Greeks, repentance toward God [not “from sins”] and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Acts 20:21
Therefore, the lives of true believers reflect the truth of the gospel.
[The evidence of faith shows] the effect of the Gospel, how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven ... Who has delivered us from the wrath to come.
1 Thessalonians 1:9-10