Unashamed Reading Plan – W3D5
Check out all the previous Unashamed readings here.
Unashamed Reading Plan | Week 3 | Day 5
Prayer
As you come to spend time with Jesus, calm your mind and body until you feel fully present. Thank Jesus that he came to save you!
Bible Reading: Romans 3:28-31
Read these verses three times slowly.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Reflection & Questions
Yesterday, we read of the free gift of God’s righteousness for all who believe. This is a free gift, so Paul asks the rhetorical question: “Where, then, is boasting?” If we could earn our salvation, if a “law that requires works” could make us right with God, then we could certainly boast. We did it! But there is no such law. Paul says salvation has always been and always will be by faith God “will justify the circumcised [Jews] by faith and the uncircumcised [Gentiles] through that same faith.” There’s no shortcut for the Jews. There’s no sincerity or religious practice that gives you the “in.” Everyone is in the same boat, and everyone has the same great news: Salvation is a gift received by faith.
But didn’t the Old Testament teach a doctrine of works? The Jews had certainly come to understand it that way. Paul anticipates that they are going to argue with him that he is throwing away the Old Testament law. He writes, “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.” How does this uphold the law? In Romans chapter 4, he is going to show how salvation has always been by faith, from the beginning of time. We will dig into that next week.
For now, these verses lead to a healthy opportunity for self-reflection. In our faith journey, we can find ourselves moving away from gratefulness to God for his free gift to thinking we are great. Or we can move away from a simple trust in God’s gift to a belief that we have to prove to God that we are worthy of his gift. Both of these shifts will move us away from joy in our relationship with God and powerless to live the Christian life.
- Have you moved away from pure gratitude to God for your salvation to thinking that you have played a part in it? Talk to God about that.
- Are you trying to prove to God that you are worthy of His gift? How would Paul encourage you today? What difference does it make in your heart to realize you don’t have to prove yourself?
Prayer
Talk to God in response to the reading today.
Worship Song
You might use this song today to worship Jesus today:
Bible Reading: Romans 3:27-29, 31
Read these verses three times slowly.
Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. Because of what law? The law that requires works? No, because of the law that requires faith. For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? … Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
Reflection & Questions
Yesterday we read about the free gift of God’s righteousness for all who believe. We cannot boast about it because we did nothing to earn it. The Jews are going to have a very difficult time with this idea because the Old Testament, the scriptures they have lived by are all about living by the law. He already knows it’s coming, asking the question that he knows they will ask: “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?” In other words, does this free gift make all the laws they have been following just get canceled out?
In the next chapter of Romans, Paul is going to explain that the laws are not something to be thrown away but there is a place for them that works along with this salvation that we accept when we have faith in God.
It’s easy to get caught up in all the things that we SHOULD be doing and then thinking we are great because of all the good things we do. But when we look at ourselves that way, then we don’t have any reason to be thankful to God for saving us from our sin, which is still happening even when we think we are being so good. By remembering that we can’t actually earn our way to heaven and that God has given us this awesome gift, it helps us remain in a close relationship with Him. Afterall, He gave it to us because He loved us so much.
- Have you ever tried to have a perfect day with the perfect attitude where you did everything right? How successful were you?
Pray
Thank God for giving us a way to be saved from our sins! Ask Him how you can have an even closer relationship with Him.
Check out more Bible Reading Plans here.
Questions?
Ed Applegate
