Romans 3:5 & 28 –
<5>”But,” some might say, “our sinfulness serves a good purpose, for it helps people see how righteous God is. Isn’t it unfair, then, for him to punish us?” (This is merely a human point of view.)
<28>So we are made right with God through faith and not by obeying the law.
I know these verses are not really tied together, and I do not have some unique way to intertwine them. I just felt both needed addressing. Verses 5 through 8 are kind of interesting since they are people trying to justify sinning. This logic is dangerous and must be squashed immediately in your life. Our job is to shine for God not sin for God! How can sinning help show the righteous of God anyway? Part of believing in God is to follow his laws and guidelines, none of which say do what you want!
I have actually heard this logic presented a different way, not necessarily that sinning will glorify God but that God “made them this way!” All of these are lazy excuses for not following God’s instructions. This is like expecting a present from the person who you ignore and treat like crap! If you love God and want to please him, sinning is the last thing one should be striving to perform. On the contrary we should be focused on showing God’s love and grace to all, to mirror his glory.
Now verse 28 make it’s clear that we are not saved by works, actions or adherence to the Law. We are saved on faith alone. Initially faith in God is difficult to comprehend. We look at the law not as the way to God, but as a way to show you God’s standard. Before someone can really “repent” they need to understand what kind of standard God has. Once we know the standard, we can follow the ABC’s of getting saved:
• Accept Christ and God as our king, and that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross cleansed us of sins.
• Believe in God and that Christ really walked on this earth.
• Confess your sins and ask for forgiveness.
People get lost in the law and start to focus on trying to live by it for salvation. We cannot reach the standard of the law, but that does not give us free reign to ignore it or to think our sinning shows God righteousness! (I did tie them together!!)