Justification & Faith

Romans Chapter 3 (Part 2) From verses 19 to 31

Previously in Romans …

In the first part of chapter 3, Paul takes us to a wild ride. It takes us back through the Prophets and the Writings. The Hebrew Bible is not structured as it is structured in the Protestant Christian Cannon, for more information in the structure of the Hebrew Bible click here.

You need to understand this to better understand Yeshua when He said in several occasions:

And also, this sentiment was reinforced and applied by the Apostles:

And we will read this being presented by Paul in the next verses of chapter 3. But before I get to that, let me explain what this means.

You see, the way Yeshua was presented to the people, including Jews and Gentiles was in base of the Tanak. The Gospel does not make sense without the Tanak as the Tanak is incomplete without the Gospel.

True we can bring a lot of wisdom from them, as Yeshua calls this type of wisdom—the rudiments of the Law. But treating them as separate books is a dangerous business.

If you are in the Hebrew Bible group, without the Brit-Cha’Dasha (New Testament), you are left hanging waiting for a future hope that already was sent, missing the day of your visitation. You become like Sarah, desperate to help Yahweh with His promise, instead of seeing what Yahweh has done, blinded to the point of not even recognizing Yahweh’s handiwork.

In the other hand, if you are on the Jesus only side (which is most of Christianity today), you miss everything Jesus spoke to Israel, the instruction of how to live with one another, and the revelation of His coming in the flesh, to Tabernacle with us. Your faith is not grounded in the faith of Abraham, but the falsified faith of the misguided teachers who turned away from Yahweh, to serve their interpretation of the Scripture, the letter of the law, and not the guidance of the Spirit.

Both individual methods, list to a disconnected faith from Yahweh.

Is because of this that Paul make the Gentiles believers in Yeshua to meditate in the wisdom that has been kept for generations thanks to our Jewish friends and more than friends, brothers. Through their faithful observance of the Law and the Prophets, they have kept alive the festivals originated by Yahweh, His instructions and His wisdom. Which again, has been passed down from generations to generations, from the days of creation to today.

As Yahweh promised, in a covenantal agreement with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob, down to us Gentiles, who has been grafted‑in into the promise of Israel, because of His promises made in the Tanak (Old Testament) to His people and to us gentiles.

We as gentiles should never neglect what Yahweh has done through Israel:

1. To never forget His promises.
2. To never forget His works of power.
3. To never forget who Yahweh is.
4. To never make the same mistakes again.
5. To never forget how easily we forget.

We are not exempt of failing, and we need to realize we are still under a covenantal agreement with Yahweh; this time, sealed with the blood of our Passover Lamb—Yeshua Ha’Mashiach, Jesus our Messiah.

With this understanding, Romans chapter 3 verses 19 to 31. Let’s begin.

Does Justification means Free‑Pass to sin?

Romans 3:19-20 LSB —
¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are in the Law, so that every mouth may be shut and all the world may become accountable to God; ²⁰ because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

Let’s pause for a moment. First, let’s put in perspective what this does not mean. Here Paul is not making a separation between those who are in the Law and those who are in Christ. Torah is the shadow of the Messiah, we are under His ruling, that’s what we signed up for. Second, this is not a preamble to start denying Torah (Colossians 2:17).

Instead, Paul is emphasizing a crucial point: a) Torah holds no value for those who do not intend to abide by it. Furthermore, b) Torah was never intended to serve as means of justification before Yahweh. c) It’s true purpose is to guide us in understanding how to approach Him and how to live harmoniously with one another. In other words, how to be obedient to His voice.

Hence why Paul highlights…

because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

And here Paul brings the first big word that many scholars and preachers loves to throw around with a different tone when they mention it. Haven’t you noticed? Which is this Justification, —many of us men will make our deep radio voice when we say “justification” or “sanctification” or “glorification”, to make it sound more spiritual.

What is Justification?

When you hear this word thrown around by a preacher you need to understand that the application of the word is not the same in our modern context as it is in even modern ecclesiastical circles.

For example, when we normally talk about “justification”, what we mean by it is that an action should be judge by surrounding events which confirms if the action is “justifiable” or not. This is not what justification implies in Paul’s letters.

In modern Christianity, justification is often described as a legal declaration whereby a person is deemed righteous by a judge. This occurs because a mediator and advocate, typically representing Messiah, has paid the penalty for the individual’s sins. This act of atonement is acknowledged by the judge, who then declares the offender’s guilt absorbed and pardoned. As a result, the burden of punishment required by law is transferred from the offender to the mediator, ensuring the individual is justified and made right before God.

Though this interpretation is in part correct, its lacking an important part of the equation. The pardon from Biblical perspective is condition to a very specific set of instructions.

Even though the phrase—by faith alone “Sola Fide“—has a nice ring to it, it is too narrow and has been misused throughout history. To understand the meaning of “faith alone”, we need to travel through time to make sure what we interpret is correct.

What’s faith? And what “faith” meant for first century listeners.

For generations, faith was demonstrated by acts of righteousness. Whoever said that has faith needed to proof their faith. This concept was known in rabbinic traditions, but not based on men’s traditions, it was based on biblical interpretation of the text.

Ya’acov (James) also drew upon two widely recognized examples familiar to the Jewish audience: the history of Abraham, the patriarch of the faith, and Rahab, the prostitute.

And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness

Abraham is considered the father of our faith, because he believed Yahweh and he followed Him, with Abraham’s ups and downs, still, Yahweh called him His friend. Through Abrahams history you can assume that faith has nothing to do with just believe as we interpret believe in modern terms. Abraham and Sarah were constantly doubting the modus-operandi of Yahweh, they both knew Yahweh’s promises, in their hearts they knew Yahweh was going to fulfill these promises, still they failed to see and have patience on how He was going to bring them to fruition. And that is what counted as faith for Yahweh, they had faith in the promises, and they walk the walk. You can read the full history of Abraham in the book of Genesis, from chapter 11 to the end, ending with His descendants—70 in total—, moving to the land of Egypt.

And in the same way, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way?

Rahab is another interesting history. She was a prostitute from the city of Jericho. The first city conquered by Israel when entering the promised land. The famous city which the walls came tumbling down by the power of Yahweh. Rahab helped the Israelis spies to escape the city, but she also had faith in Yahweh, she knew Yahweh was not like their false gods, Yahweh was a God that walked with His people, and she knew they days of Jericho were counted. So, she begged for mercy, for her and her family. The spies made a covenant with her, but as our covenant with Yeshua, there were terms to be met. Rahab needed to be in her house, she, and all her family members who wanted to be spared, needed to stay in the house marked by the red scarlet cord hanged by the window. The spies were very specific with her, if she were not in the house, they were free of the covenant and they will be no longer responsible of what was coming next.

Think about it for a second. Rahab lived in the wall of Jericho, and she needed to stay in her home in the wall of Jericho. Are you getting it? Put yourself in her position. She and her family were to stay inside the house, while looking at the distance, coming like a demolition wave rushed towards them, seeing the walls of Jericho fall in front of their eyes. She, and her family, stood still and let Yahweh be Yahweh. But most importantly, they obey everything was agreed by the covenant.

You can read the whole history of Rahab in the scroll of Joshua, chapter 2 to chapter 6.

Another interesting character from history has remain anonymous to us, even Yeshua’s disciple failed to explain his faith. This character also received grace before the consummation of the last known covenant was made. You see, we received because it has been promised to us, from the beginning, and there so little we are to do to become recipients of this promise. Who’s that character? You may ask?

Yeshua, remember me when You come into Your kingdom

If you guessed the thief at the cross by the side of Yeshua, you guessed it right. This is wildly misinterpreted to show we are not to do anything under the new covenant to “stay” saved, that we stay justified no matter what. But again, let’s put this into perspective, let read the full account in context.

The statement that the thief did nothing to earn His salvation is true, but that’s not the whole story. Because the thief checked all the boxes to receive justification as a free gift.

1: The thief believed and feared Yahweh — Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence?

One of the basic requirements to receive justification is believing in Him who is offering the justification, you are no required a pius life, because then would be impossible to receive His unmerited love. But you must believe in the one who is offering you a way out, a resolution.

As Rahab recognized who Yahweh is and in what side He was—on the side who trust and follow—, she was able to recognize Yahweh as the one true Elohim who keeps His promises and feared Him, not out of fear, but out of awe and respect to the true character of our Savior.

2: The thief recognized who he was, an recognized his sentenced to be just, — We’re getting what we deserve for our actions, and rightly so…

Other requirements to receive the free gift of justification by faith— the free gift of salvation, is to “metanoia” (μετάνοια) or its Hebrew counterpart “teshuva” (תְּשׁוּבָה), to repent from our sins, but to be able to repent, we need to recognize who we are and why we need forgiveness. Repentance in the Greek “metanoia” requires an action of reversal, a 180° turnaround from your sinful desire to a full devotion to Yah.

The most closely related word in Hebrew to metanoia is “teshuva” or “tshuwbah”, because is not just an action of sorrow, where you feel sorry for what you have done and continue walking the same path, no—”teshuva”— requires more than just been sorrowful, it expect a response as well.

As the word “Shema”, which not simply means listen—but listen, meditate and obey—, “Teshuva” or “Metanoia” expect a reaction from your repentance. This was the reaction expected for a repentant heart, turn away from sin. Remember how Yeshua puts it: “Go and sin no more”, he never said: “Go, keep sinning for grace to abound”.

3: The thief also decided to testify about Yeshua instead of complaining, like the other, — but this One has done nothing wrong.

You have to put into perspective that this was happening in the presence of a large crowd. Would have been easy for the thief to take side with the masses? But he did not, instead He testified about the promises. These thieves knew about Yahweh’s promises, one used the promises to mock Yeshua, but our anonymous hero recount the promises in “Teshuva”, an act of true repentance. And why He could boldly ask to the one He recognized as the Messiah:

Yeshua, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.

To what Yeshua replied:

Amen, I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.

What kind of faith is this? Put yourself in this thief position for a couple of minutes, travel through time in take his place at his cross, and picture this.

Thousands of people were spitting, mocking and cursing the bloody, unrecognizable piece of meat, who was accused and tried in few hours. Shady accusation without any ground. Nailed to a cross for the sake of “Mater Roma” and for the sake of “Pax Romana“.

This was a man accused for political reasons. A messiah who has been apparently unable to fight against Rome, and the people He came to redeemed had Him crucified. What did he saw on Him other than hanging nerves, exposed bones and shame? I tell you what he saw, He saw the suffering servant, giving His life in account of him. He saw the day of his visitation right before his eyes. He grew faith from the faith of the promises given to Israel. A faith that allowed him to see beyond the mockery and the gruesome spectacle. He saw his Savior and said: “I’m a sinner, you are my Messiah, taking the eternal punishment for my sins from me, right on time, this is the time of my visitation, I repent of my sins and I will be going to testify of you for as long as I’m able to, please my savior, remember me, let your face shine upon me and be gracious to me, lift up your face towards me and grant me peace”.

Then, Yeshua lifted up His countenance upon Him and grant him an insumable and incomprehensible sense of peace by assure him: “Today I will not only remember you, but will be with you as I promised from the beginning, into the promise land.”

The borderline is this, justification, the fancy scholarly word means and refers to the desire of Yahweh for us to live under His wings, He will justify us, not because we have done anything to be justified—no—, but because He fulfills His promise. The offer stands from the beginning, we are justified when we abide in His Love, His Instructions and His Provision. But once we decide to take matters on our own terms, —like walking blind with no law—, we forfeit His justification. Justification is free, but not unconditional. And He is so merciful that He will let us try to save ourselves. He condemned sin and evil, make sure you are under His wings when He returns to judge it.

Relationship between Justification & Covenants

As you can see, grace has always been present in the full history of the Bible. What makes grace different in the Brit Cha’Dasha (New Testament), is that this covenant is the last of the covenants made by Yah to end the reign of sin once and for all, and this covenant does not include an imperfect mediator, but a truly righteous one, Yahweh Himself in the likes of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach (Jesus our Messiah). Whoever miss this time of visitation is —literally— toast. (read Hebrew 6 and 7).

Rahab received mercy and grace, not because she lived a pius life, but because she had faith in the Elohim of Israel, she feared the All‑Mighty Elohim of Israel, and she was willing to surrender it all to be under the Shadow of the Most‑High.

Her history correlate with another powerful story, found in the scroll of Exodus, chapter 12. The First Passover.

In both histories you can see the foreshadowing of the grace of Yahweh, bringing salvation to those who trust, believe and obey. In the following table I drew some interesting parallels among those two stories:

Instructions	First Passover History	Rahab History
First	Sacrifice Passover lamb and put some of its blood in the doorpost	Tie a scarlet (red) thread in the window
Second	Gather all your family inside the house where the doorpost is marked	Gather the family inside the house where the scarlet cord was hanged
Requirements	Have a feast, none shall go outside the doorway until the morning	Hang scarlet cord, stay inside the house, and not tell anyone what’s about to happen
Obedience	Israel obey all what Moses and Aaron instructed	Rahab said: “According to your words, so be it.” She tied the scarlet cord right away.

Have we been given any instructions like this? Yes… first from Yeshua, He explains to Nicodemus the following.

First instruction: Whoever believes in Yeshua, will not perish, but have eternal life.

As I explained in the previous commentary, Yahweh has made it very clear, He is an unchanging Elohim. He is the same forever and ever. In whom there is no shadow of variation (James 1:17).

Why have we allowed ourselves to be deceived for many generations that we no longer required to do anything? Because is easy, and makes a great marketing campaign… “No rules, Just Jesus”.

But it is clear that our covenant with Yeshua has conditions, to say that there’s nothing required from us in this “new” covenant is unresponsible and dangerous and we see the consequences of this “marketing strategy”. Just watch the news.

Second Instruction: Stay inside the shelter, but how do we stay inside the shelter?

Yeshua told His disciples to abide in Him and whoever abides in Him keep His commandments (midrash) and his teachings or sayings (torah). For this reason, if someone teach you that you do not have to do anything when you are in Messiah, you should be careful in what context this statement is brought. Yes, we cannot do anything to earn salvation, this has been true since the beginning of time, and it is no different with Yeshua,—what is different with Yeshua is that He is our Passover Lamb, our High Priest and our Conqueror King from the House of David.

If someone interpret to justify their sin as “let’s keep sinning so grace abound”, that is not grace, that’s lawlessness. Lawlessness takes you out of the shelter. Make sure you reset and get back inside. Once the coming King returns, there are no more to do, but the expectation of judgement.

Time to Reboot

Justification has always been by faith; this is not a new concept. However, it was temporarily obscured due to the influence of creeds. To restore the original clarity, we need to look a little further back than where Luther’s reform stopped, and completely reset the blueprint for the congregation‑based on its initial design.

Romans 3:21-26 LSB —
²¹ But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; ²⁵ whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith, for a demonstration of His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; ²⁶ for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

On verse 21, Paul then speaks about how the righteousness of Yahweh,—Yeshua, has been manifested, because this was a promise witnessed in the Law and the prophets. This is very significant, once more Paul is reminding us gentiles, the importance of the Tanakh, the Tanakh not only witnessed about Yeshua, but has also revealed the plans from Yahweh for the future.

Yahweh promised our redemption and justification many centuries ago. This has come to pass, when Yeshua grafted us in to the covenant with Abraham. He made us part of the seed of Abraham, but as part of the seed of Abraham we were call to live under a covenant with our Creator. His promises speaks of gentile nations who will protect His nation Israel, and will help them come back to the land Yahweh promised to the father Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

All these promises made about the gentiles, which were fulfilled and still are being fulfilled, were given to the people of Israel, for us. This is the confrontation Paul brings in the epistle to the Romans. Yahweh called for unity, not separation. Yahweh even let us know from centuries ago, that He was going to make us gentiles, part of His nation,—and also take some of us as priests and “Levites”,—What! In some Christian circles this is blasphemy. Is Yahweh blasphemous? Even Peter said it this way.

All the apostles agrees in one thing, to warn us gentiles to refrain from our fleshly lust, and to follow Yahweh’s commandments.

He further explains that, beyond bearing witness to the righteousness of Yahweh in the Tanakh, Yeshua was also recognized as a significant witness. Additionally, the concept of justification through faith was revealed throughout the Law and the Prophets (Tanakh).

Remember is because of the Law (Torah) that sin is revealed to us, if we transgress the Torah, we are without excuse, because we are no longer ignorant towards the will of Yahweh, but His will has been revealed to us, along with His plan of redemption. Revealing that we are all sinners. We all need of Yeshua’s intervention. His grace was revealed long before all the books of the Brit Cha’Dashah were ever written. (Ezekiel 36:22-26).

Yahweh will rightly bring honor to His name—not due to Israel’s piety, certainly not—but through His own purpose. He will do so by guiding Israel into the Promised Land, for the sake of His name, and by softening the hearts of the Israelites. They will serve Yahweh as was originally intended, and throughout the earth, all nations will glorify His name. This has been foretold in the Tanakh. If we ignore the wisdom Spiritually poured out by the Ruach Ha’Kodesh (Holy Spirit), from where then, does our faith originate? Is it truly from Yahweh, or from ourselves?

Yeshua died on the cross to affirm this truth. Just as the lamb marked the houses of those who were redeemed in Egypt, Yeshua’s blood bears witness to the fulfillment of the covenant that Yahweh promised to those who believe. Additionally, Yeshua became our High Priest when He was raised from the grave, mirroring the Levitical high priest who emerged alive from the Holies of Holies in the Tabernacle. This serves as proof that His sacrifice was accepted and that our sins are forgiven. Now, we have a better High Priest—a spotless Lamb and Eternal High Priest. HalleluYah!

This not because we have deserved it, but because Yahweh promised it from the beginning.

But then Paul reminded us in verse 26th, this promise has a condition.

so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Yahweh came and dwell with us, as Yeshua the Messiah, to justify those who have faith in His Son. A faith that believe all the promises written in all Scriptures, but that do not stop there, a faith that shows, a faith that shines.

We are not the master craftsman.

Romans 3:27-31 LSB —
²⁷ Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. ²⁸ For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law. ²⁹ Or is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, ³⁰ since indeed God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that faith, is one. ³¹ Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

Since we are justified by faith, we have to acknowledge that our salvation was granted to us, not because how good we are,—because we are not. We are constantly debating with ourselves between doing what’s right, or what’s convenient.

Still, this is our hope, our hearts are being softened by the Holy Spirit, one day we will going to be able to live in a world without evil and without sin, but until then, we are to live following the lead of Yeshua, totally dependent of His guidance and ruling, Living a life of obedience, not for salvation, but because of salvation.

Then and only then, the true Kingdom of Yahweh will be completely established. On earth as it is in heaven. Will not be just a promise then. As Abraham, he received a promised he believed in faith, but was Joshua (Yeshua) who walked into the promised land and brought the chosen people to it. We too, followers of Yeshua, Jews and Gentiles, one day will be walking into the promised land, lead by Yeshua as the prophet Isaiah prophesized over 2,500 years ago.

The promises of Yahweh are eternal, His commandments are eternal, Yeshua is and will be our eternal King, His reign will be for everlasting to everlasting. And we will be coming to worship from New Moon to New Moon, and from Shabbat to Shabbat,—All mankind— will come to worship before Yahweh. Amen.

Conclusion

It is important that we come to the understanding of what Paul is trying to tell us today, from an epistle that was written over 2,000 years ago. The Word of Yahweh, Yeshua, is eternal. His ruling is everlasting. He does not deviate from His plan. What was written, is good today, as it was back then.

Because Yeshua died on the cross and justified us, are we to ignore the Laws given by Yahweh? Let’s Paul answer that himself.

Romans 3:31 LSB —
³¹ Do we then abolish the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

Yahweh has integrated us, through Yeshua, to His nation, the nation He promised to Abraham, we have been inserted into the Olive Tree, Yeshua, as one of the natural branches. But we are being called to live a life that reflects His love and our faith in Him.

How do we know how to do this? Through Torah.

May Yahweh bless you and keep you; May Yahweh make His face to shine upon you, and Be gracious to you; May Yahweh lift up His face towards you, and grant you His peace.

Shalom.