Only the Doers Will Be Justified... Are You HIM?

Romans 2 and the Doers of the Law

We need to preach the law unvarnished, that God will let no one into heaven, that he will give no one eternal life apart from perfectly obeying him.

So Romans 2, 6 through like 13 even, where it's very plain that God is a righteous, impartial judge. He shows no favoritism. He will reward those who do good, and he will punish those who do evil. He goes on to say that it is the, not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law who will be justified.

All right, so we have our friends, certainly in Rome, but then we have a number of friends, guys, who are well-meaning brothers and sisters in the Lord, who would say that Paul is right. See, it requires us to do something, guys.

Yes, faith in Jesus, but it's also spirit-wrought obedience that Paul is talking about here. And I'm with Robert Haldane, that you leave that passage, either a Protestant or a Romanist, and there is no middle ground.

And I'm with John Calvin, who says, if you can't figure out the meaning of this, you should be laughed at even by children.

So here's the deal, guys. I'll go ahead and launch this out, and then you guys riff as you want. It is true that God rewards those who do good. The problem is, as Paul's going to say in the early verses of Romans 3, no one does good.

It is true that God rewards those who diligently seek Him. The problem is, no one seeks for God. It is true that God will give the righteous eternal life. The problem is, there is no one righteous. No, not one.

The Righteousness of God Apart from the Law

No one has done it, which is why the righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law, although the law and prophets bear witness.

To it, which is the righteousness of God given. Romans 2 .13 ends up being a witness, right? To find out where somebody really is and if they understand these things, you look up Romans 2 .13 to see how do they explain.

God doesn't justify the hearers. He justifies the doers, which is your point, and it's alarming, right? People who would otherwise be clear about things.

Lose their ever-loving Protestant mind. Oh, and in James, they do it in James, too. Yeah, yeah.

The book is positive, by and large, because I'm a positive person, but there are some footnotes. So, John Piper is an example and a footnote, because all of a sudden now, justification, according to Romans 2 .13, somehow is by faith and works.

Tom Schreiner is the same way, and it's not helpful at all regarding these issues. So, we need to be clear. Justification is only for the doers of the law, and there's only one person who stands in that line, Jesus Christ the righteous.

So, don't read Romans 2 .13, dear listeners. Don't read Romans 2 .13 without continuing to read like Justin just did to chapter three. Otherwise, it's no wonder we.

Can't have assurance. No. I love this from Paul in Galatians 3 when he says, but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. For in Christ, you are all sons of God through faith, for as many as you were baptized into Christ.

Now, listen to how Paul words this, have put on Christ. Why would he say that? He's not saying put on his forgiveness. He's saying you're putting on the person of Christ. You have received the benefits of Christ.

We kind of miss the imagery here when he says baptized into Christ. Jesus stands in the waters of baptism, and he looks at John. He tells him, hey, you need to baptize me. John's like, you need to baptize me, and Jesus' words out of his mouth are very important.

He says, you need to baptize me to fulfill all righteousness. It says that John stopped disputing because he understood what it meant. Jesus receives the baptism that's required for the holy priesthood to become the great high priest.

When he comes up out of that water, that's the baptism he's talking about. Paul's like, you've been baptized into the fulfillment of Christ's righteousness. He fulfilled all of the required righteousness.

What does Peter call us? He calls us royal priests. Why? Because we're wearing the priestly gowns of Jesus. We didn't earn the rights as priests. We can't be of the right line. We can't be perfect. That screams Joshua in Zechariah 3.

That's right. All of this imagery is that we're clothed in all that Christ didn't do, which he didn't break the law. He also fulfilled the law. In doing so, all of that's given to us. That's why Paul uses that language of clothing.

The Sufficiency of Christ and the Fruit of Good Works

The center reality is that I, in my standing before God, am set free from all obligations. Without evangelicals knowing it, if you embrace stuff like Schreiner and Piper, and I would even say Doug Wilson, your good works, you really start to value them.

Instead of them being for the glory of God and the advancement of the kingdom, for the benefit of others, for the good of neighbor, and the glory of God, they become a way to tally your righteousness, to guarantee that God's going to accept you.

Actually, resting in the sufficiency of Christ, I think, causes you to work harder, going, I don't need to prove to God that I'm righteous. Because I'm righteous, I'm going to go and exert. I'm going to be a sacrifice.

I can lay myself down for others, which I think you end up becoming more effective because you do works that benefit others instead of works that benefit you. Like my own righteousness benefits by this.

I don't need my righteousness to benefit from this. I need you to benefit from this. That's right.