Last week we were looking at Romans Chapter 3:24-26 whereby we saw what the cross was like from God’s perspective, in that by Christ’s death, it ultimately displayed or revealed God’s righteousness. This week again, as we prepare for the Easter celebrations ahead, I would like to look at the rest of the passage in Romans, 3:27-28. It says, ”Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.” The cross reveals God’s righteousness but it also reveals His Grace. Verse 27 poses the question, “where then is boasting?”. So obvious a question is it that Paul answers it for us, “it is excluded”. Why? – because we have nothing to boast in – our salvation is totally the work of God. So if our salvation isn’t something that we do by our works and we can’t boast about it, then by what kind of principle does it work? Our text says, it is by the principle of faith. We can do nothing more than just receive the gift salvation by faith, and this is the gift of grace. And so God’s grace is exalted here. The only One who can boast in our salvation is God, Who has given it as a gift to us by His grace. We have no contribution in it except to either receive or reject – and even our receiving this gift is through the work of God within us. When we look at the cross from God’s perspective, we see that it is both His righteousness and His grace on display. He does it all - Christ pays the price for our righteousness and God works His grace in our life, giving us the gift that is salvation.
Contributed by Alex Townsend