 Welcome everyone to our class on Romans, a study on the book of Romans. Last week we began studying Romans chapter 2. This week we'll continue with Romans chapter 3, which is the brief recap of Romans chapter 2 and we'll move on to studying chapter 3 in detail. Before we begin looking at chapter 3, can John Paul lead us in prayer please? John? Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we want to thank you for this time. Lord, we pray that as we come together in your presence to learn from your word, we pray to God that you would minister to us, help us to understand your word. Pray to God that you would be able to listen and understand and comprehend the mysteries of your word. God help us to deliver your word and inspire in his authority. It was to have a good time in your presence. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you John Paul. So last week we began our study on Romans chapter 2 and what I presented in my lecture was slightly different from how it was presented in the course notes. And hence we also went through our course notes in our class on Friday. So in the course notes we basically looked at the main insights that are presented in chapter 2 where we saw Paul challenging the attitude of Jews towards the Gentiles because Paul is basically writing this whole passage in this letter of scripture or writing this part of the letter to the Jews. He's addressing it mainly to the Jews because the church at Rome comprised of Jews and Gentiles. And also he was presenting an understanding of God's judgment, how God judges what he judges and when he judges. And then we looked at the work of conscience and the end of this passage of this scripture or in this part of the letter he presents what a true Jew is or who a true Jew is. He's saying that circumcision is a sign of the coming but what Paul says what is more important is the circumcision of the past. So that is basically just of chapter 2. Now we'll move on to chapter 3. So before we look into the details of chapter 3 let me just introduce chapter 3s for all of you and then we'll look at it in more detail. So in chapter 2 Paul has told the Jews that hey you have the law and you have the circumcision but it's of no use to you because you're breaking the law, you're not keeping the law. So in chapter 3 he's basically building up on this but he kind of lessens the blow a bit so to say. So he tells the Jews hey you people are important or he includes himself because he also said he says hey we people are important because we are the people to whom God has given the law. But what Paul basically gets at in chapter 2 is that neither Jew nor Gentile is perfect before God. Because even though the Jew has the law they have broken the law they're not able to keep the law and the Gentiles also even though they don't have the law they have the written law written in their hearts their conscience they are also not perfect before God. So he's saying in chapter 3 and I'm just going to paraphrase it he's saying hey Jews you know you are important or we are important because he's including himself. He's saying look you know I'm not throwing you out completely we are important to God because God has given us the law or the oracles. But the point that I really want to get at that's what Paul is saying the point that I really want to get at is whether we are a Jew or whether we are a Gentile or whether you are a Jew whether you're a Gentile all of us have sinned before God. So by the time he gets through the first half of chapter 3 this is like his main point that we have all sinned and there is no one who's righteous before God. Then having established that we have all sinned whether we are Jew or Gentile he then gets into the gospel message. He says you know God has made a way for both the Jews and the Gentiles to be forgiven and then he starts talking about Jesus Christ the redemption that is in Jesus and how we freely receive it by grace. So in chapter 3 he's talking about he brings about the redemption that is in Christ Jesus and he says how we freely receive it by grace and then chapter 4 he says it's only by faith. So he says we are all sinners God has provided salvation but in chapter 4 Paul mentions it's only by faith that we receive it and chapter 5 he says it's by grace that we receive it. So he's established the fact that we've all broken the law we're all sinners God has provided us forgiveness we receive it by faith we receive it because of grace and this is what he's building up in chapter 3, 4 and 5. So we look at Romans chapter 3 the first part of chapter 3 we read verses 1 to 8. So then one of you read chapter 3 verses 1 to 4 and someone else can read verses 4 to 8 please. Romans chapter 3 verses 1 to 4 and somebody read that. So in Romans chapter 3 what advantage then has the Jew or what is the prophet of circumcision? Much in every way chiefly because to them who committed the miracles of God for what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not indeed let God be true that every man a liar as it is written that you may be justified in your words and may overcome when you are judged. Amen. Amen thank you Rosalind can someone else read verses 5 to 8 please verses 5 to 8 anyone can read that. But if you if our right unrighteousness demonstrate the righteousness of God what shall we say? Is God unjust who inflicts wrath? I speak as a man certainly not for then how will God judge the world for if the truth of God has increased though my light to his glory. Why am I also still justified as a sinner? And why not say let us do evil that good may come as we are generously reported and as some a friend that we see their condemnation is just. Amen. Thank you. So the first part of for chapter 3 verses 1 to 8 Paul is basically asking some questions and he's also answering those questions himself. And these questions that he's asking is in regard to God's judgment. So we saw in chapter 2 that he's established the fact that all will be judged according to the. How will we all be judged? Yes we will all be judged according to the gospel of Jesus Christ. And so he's saying Jews you really don't stand a chance in God's judgment. So now Paul is addressing some common objections that could be raised against God's judgment about how God would judge. So he's asking the questions and he's answering them himself and hence these questions are called rhetorical questions because he's asking the questions is answering it himself again. So his intent in asking these questions is to get people to think. His intent also in asking these questions is to address something that they are asking and not to get an answer from them because he himself is going to answer those questions by himself. Okay, so he's basically getting into the mind of the Jews, the Jews, the readers questions that will pop up in their mind. So he's asking those questions and he's answering it themselves and hence we call this kind of questions and answers we call it as rhetorical questions. So Paul is basically saying I'm addressing some things you are thinking about. I will ask the questions and I will give you the answers myself. So even as we study this chapter, you know, we can just follow Paul's thinking as he presents it in chapter three, or we can follow how Paul is basically unfolding the truth. Now we need to remember that the truth is coming from the coming from there who's giving Paul all of these truths. The Holy Spirit, yes, the Holy Spirit is saying, you know, I want you to give this truth or present these truths to the church. But you know, these truths are written in the skill language and in the context of the writer. Okay, so in this case, it's apostle Paul. So he's going to be using his language, he's going to be using his words and his thoughts, but the truth is coming from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is saying that you need to address this to the church. And if you look at chapter three, we can see that Paul is a very logical thinker and he's expressing the truth in a very logical reasoning manner for the Jews and for all of us. So he starts off by asking this question, which obviously, you know, any Jew would ask. You know, all this time, the Jews were saying, you know, we are the chosen people of God, you know, through us all the nations will be blessed. And now Paul is saying that they're all sinners and we are of no use, we will be all be judged. So is it useless or profitable to be a Jew? So the Jew might think this in their minds, you know, hey, we have the oracles of God, and Paul is saying that all of us have sinned. We stand judged, you know, just like any Gentile. So is it useless or unprofitable for us to be a Jew? Or is it useless or unprofitable of being a Jew? So he asked this question and he himself answers the question. So what does he say in verse two? He says, of course not. The Jew has an advantage. Okay, so he's saying, hey, God has not written you off. You're not useless. You're not unprofitable. Okay, there is an advantage in you being a Jew because to us, okay, or to you Jews have been commanded, committed, sorry, to you Jews have been committed the oracles of God. And you are truly God's people because God has committed to you his word. Okay. So he's not saying that, you know, that the Jews are totally discredited. Or he's not saying that we are totally discrediting the importance of being a Jew. You know, God has chosen, Paul is saying God has chosen us. And to us, he has revealed his laws. He has given the oracles of God. And by stating this, he's answering the question. Okay. Later on, we see in Romans chapter nine versus four and five, Paul once again highlights the special place that Jews and the nation of Israel have. So now we're looking at the forward look. Remember, we said that when we're studying the book of Romans, we will have a forward look and also when we go ahead, we have a backward look. So here is a forward look. He basically builds on this later on in Romans chapter nine versus four to five. And Paul once again highlights the special place that Jews and the nation of Israel have. He says in Romans chapter nine versus four and five, then one of you read that piece. Romans chapter nine versus four and five. Who are Israelites to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God and the promises of whom are the fathers and from whom according to the flesh Christ came. Who is overall the eternally blessed God. Amen. Amen. So Paul is saying that, you know, God is not forgotten with you. He's not written you off. You know, he has still has a plan and purpose for you because and you are still important. Okay. You are not useless because for you is given the covenants, the glory, the law, the service of God, the promises to you are whom are the fathers and according to the flesh and through whom this race, you know Christ came who's eternally blessed. Okay. So he says God is not written you off. He's you're not useless. You're not, you know, you're not unprofitable being a Jew. There is some profit because you have been, you have received the word of God. You have received the oracles of God. The next question that most probably the audience or the people there would have asked, he mentions in verses three and four. He says, for what if some did not believe? Will that unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not. Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar, as it is written that you may be justified in your words and will overcome when you are judged. Okay. So verse three, he says, Hey, if we don't believe, then how does it affect all of this? So if we as Jews, if we don't believe, how does it affect all of this? If we don't believe the law, will it change anything about God? Paul says, Hey, even if you don't believe, you know, if you don't believe the law, if you don't keep the law, it's not going to change anything about who God is. God is still going to be faithful. Okay. And verse four, he says that God makes you and every man a liar. Okay. So somebody not receiving the word or believing the word, you know, does not change who God is. God still remains the same. He still remains a good, faithful, merciful, gracious, compassionate God is a God who stood true. So the answer is quite obvious. But for our sake, and for the sake of the audience, he's asking these questions and he's answering them. And then Paul basically quotes a portion from David's prayer of repentance after he had sinned in Psalm chapter 51 verse four. He says David in Psalm chapter 51 verse four says, against you, you only have a sinned and done with evil in your sight that you may be found just when you speak and blameless when you judge. Okay. So Paul is coping this again to reiterate that our unbelief does not do away with the truth that we have sinned against God and that God is still just and blameless when he judges us for our sin. Okay. So the quest, second question that the Jews may ask is, Hey, if you don't believe the law, okay, does it change anything about God? Or if we don't believe, how does it affect all of this? And Paul says, Hey, if you don't believe the law, you Jews, it's not going to change anything about God. He's still going to be faithful. He's still going to become continue to be the God that he is. So he asked the second question and he answers it again. It was his fight today. He asked the third question and he answers it again was fine. He says, but we've got unrighteousness. They're not states of righteousness of God. What shall we say? Is God unjust to inflicts wrong and speak as a man? Certainly not. But then how will God touch the world? But if the truth of God is increased through my life to his glory, why am I so, why am I also still judged as a sinner? So, you know, there's another part that can come of question that can pop up in a Jews mind. And so Paul is thinking with the Jewish mind and he's asking this question. You can say, Hey, if my unrighteousness or if my sinning or if if the wrong that I'm doing is going to show the righteousness of God is going to show how that God is a righteous judge, because he's the one who's judging. Then is God unjust to inflicts an upon upon upon us is God being unjust by punishing me because, you know, I'm doing wrong. And it's putting God in good light, showing that he's a God who judges sin. And why is he punishing me? Or the same thing can be presented like this. If I'm telling a lie, and if God is going to judge me, which shows that he is the truth and it's showing God is true, then which is making God look good, then he's a God of truth. And then why am I being judged as a sinner because my life is, you know, making God look good. This is what he says in verse seven. So in your notes, you basically have, you know, what Judas is carried to have made an argument, you know, so Judas is carried to have made an argument like this. He could have said, Lord, you know, if I had not betrayed Jesus, and then Jesus would not have been crucified. And then if Jesus would not have been crucified, people would be not saved from their sins. Then because of me, Jesus was crucified. Because of me, people of the world are saved. Then why are you judging me for betraying Jesus? I know that I betrayed Jesus, but you used it for your good. In fact, if I hadn't done what I did, Jesus would not have gone to the cross at all. People would not be saved. And what I did even fulfill the scripture. So how can you judge me at all? So we can think in like, you know, Judas thinking and arguing and saying this. So this is an argument here. So the Jews are saying our unrighteousness is revealing the righteousness of God. Our life is revealing the truthfulness of God. The wrong that we are doing is showing how good and truthful and great and honest and holy and righteous judge God is. And why are we being judged for the wrong that we are doing? And then verse 8 Paul is saying that some people are falsely accusing Paul that he is teaching people that, you know, do evil so that good may come so that God can be glorified. So they're falsely accusing Paul. It's not what he's teaching. It's not what he's preaching. This is not what he's saying, but they're falsely accusing Paul that he's teaching people that, hey, let's do evil. Paul is saying do evil. Do good so that, you know, good may come so that God can be glorified. Now we see that even in those days, Paul had to, you know, deal with false reports, you know, about him and his ministry and Paul is opening up here. Now, what is false response to this? The false response to this is in verse 6 says, does God want us to do evil so that he can look good? God does not want us to speak lies so that we can, so that he can look as the God of truth. Okay. Does God want us to commit unrighteousness so that his righteousness can be shown? And then he answers in verse 6, certainly not. God is not an unjust God. He's not going to judge the world. He's judging our, he's going to judge the world, sorry. And he's judging our things. Okay. So what would be God's response to Judas's argument? God would have said, yes, you know, God used your wickedness, but it was still your wickedness, right? There was no good in what you did. Your motives were not pure. Your heart was not pure. Your heart was not clean. Okay. It is no credit to you that God brought good out of the evil intentions of the evil motives in your heart. You still stand guilty before God. And God is going to tell Judas, hey, I'm going to judge you on three counts. What is the three counts that you are going to be judged on? On Friday in chapter two. Okay. What is going to God going to judge us on? He's going to judge us on our deeds, our desires and our motives. So he says, I'm going to judge you on these three counts, your deeds, your desires and motives. And Judas, you know, sin before, has sinned before God. His deed was an act of betrayal of a friend, of a master and teacher. What was his desire? His desire was for the 30 pieces of silver. And what was his motive? His motive was to please the chief priests and the leaders, the Jewish leaders, okay? Dan to stay faithful to his master who has been training him for the past three years. So I was going to say, hey, you know, your motives, your desires and your deeds were not right. Even though God brings out something good out of the wrong that we do as in Judas's case, you know, God's purpose was still carried out, yet he will judge Judas for his sin. Okay. And he will be judged on these three things, our deeds, desires and motives. We too will be judged on these three things, our deeds, our desires and our motives. You know, God can use our wrong to bring up our good. God can use our wrong to fulfill his purpose, but he's not going to overlook the wrong that we have done because he has got something good out of the wrong that we have done. Okay. So the Paul is saying that, hey, you know, don't think that, you know, because your unrighteousness, your sin, your wrong is showing God in a good light that you are going to be exempted from God's judgment. Know what you have done is sin, what you have done is wrong because on these three counts, when you stand before an earthly judge, you will, you know, be proved wrong. So as a righteous judge, when you stand before God, you will be condemned because of these three sins. But yes, God can use our sins, you know, God can use our wrong to bring about good. He can use it to, you know, carry out his desires to fulfill his desires and purpose. It does not mean that God is going to condone our sins. It does not mean that he's going to overlook our sins. It does not mean he's going to cover up our sins. And then Paul does not take the time to respond to the slander about him or the false report about him. He simply states that their condemnation is judged, is just, and he essentially just leaves it to God to handle such people knowing that God will judge righteously. Okay. So it's an important lesson for us to learn here. You know, we too will face slander. We too will hear people speaking evil, sharing false reports about us accusing our ministry, accusing us of things that we have not done. So what do we do? You know, we don't write about them. We don't talk about them. We don't, you know, use that to preach on the pulpit and all of those things. But we let just God deal with them. So Paul does not, you know, respond to this slander. This false report, he just says that condemnation is just, but he asked this question and he goes on to say that, you know, certainly not, you know, God is not an unjust thought. He's going to judge the world and he's judging our peace. Okay. Any questions so far versus 1 to 8? Any questions? Okay. There are no questions. We'll move on to versus 9 to 20. So can somebody read versus 9 to 13 please? Anyone versus 9 to 13 or 9 to 14 and somebody else can read 15 to 20 and somebody to please read 9 to 13 versus 9. What then are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one. There is none who understands. There is none who seats after God. They have all turned aside. They have together become unprofitable. There is none who does good. No, not one. Their throat is an open tomb with their tongues. They have practiced deceit. The poison of us is under their lips. Thank you, Rosalind versus 14 to 20. Can somebody else read please? Who's mouth is full of cursing and bitterness? Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways. And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty for God. Therefore, by the deeds of the law, no place will be justified in his sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. Amen. Thank you, Zalitodi. So it was 9 to 20, you know, Paul moves on to the next point. He says, are the Jews better than the Gentiles? So are the Jews better than Gentiles? He says no. Both Jews, because both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin. Yes, Jews are special to God. They have the verse, but they're also under sin. And then, you know, he calls the Old Testament. So in Romans chapter 3, verses 10 to 12, he's quoting from Psalm chapter 14, verses 1 to 3, and Psalms chapter 53, verses 1 to 3. So he's basically saying that no one is righteous. There is no one who's seeking after God. And he's quoting the Psalms where he says, people are speaking evil. They're practicing evil, going after destruction. And that is no fear of God. So he's saying, whether we are talking about Jews or Gentiles, all of us are like this. We are all under sin. There is no one who's righteous. There's no one seeking after God. People are speaking evil. They're practicing evil. They're going after destruction. And that is basically no fear of God. There's no one righteous. We're all sinful in what we think, what we say, and what we do. And verses 19 to 20, he says, so if you have the law, you will be judged by the law. And ultimately, all the world stands between three to four. God, he says, Jews, by the deed of the law, you can never be justified. The law can never justify you. What was the law given for? The law was given so that the law exposes sin. The law just shows us when we have broken God's command. The law shows when we have sin. The law shows when we have not kept the rules of God. The law shows that when we have transgressed, when we have gone away from God. And the law shows that we are sinful because we're not able to keep the law. We break the law. Now Paul is writing to the church. And so he says the church needs to understand that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And this is true. This is how we are before God. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. This is true and this is how we are before God. So through all that Paul has written so far, now he starts presenting the solution. He says we are all sinners. We've all broken the law. We all stand guilty before God. Now this is God's solution. Now he's going on to give us the solution. Paul is maintaining something. He's maintaining that God who is righteous, who is a righteous judge, he's saying that God is providing the solution for our punishment. Okay. So he presents that in verses 21 to 26. Can somebody read 21 to 26 please? Can somebody please read Romans chapter 3 verses 21 to 26? But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Amen. Thank you John Paul. In these verses Paul is talking about God's righteousness. Okay. To be righteous means to be blameless, to be just. And so basically when we're talking about the righteousness of God, it basically is talking about God being faultless or blameless. Or we can say the faultlessness or the blameless, the blamelessness of God, which is the righteousness of God. And no one can find fault with God because He is faultless and blameless. When we say that we are made righteous before God, it means that we have been given this position of being blameless and faultless in God's eyes. Okay. In verse 21 Paul says the righteousness of God does not come through the law. The ability to be blameless and faultless before God does not come from the law. It does not come by keeping the law. Okay. And he says this was, it's not something new that I'm speaking to you or telling you. This was already spoken off by the prophets. They're foretold that God would do this. Okay. So verse 22 Paul is saying, Paul is saying is the whole world is guilty before God. Okay. No one can be justified for God. No one can be righteous in God's sight. But there is a righteousness that God is giving everybody without partiality, both for the Jews and the Gentiles to everyone. And this is God's own righteousness. Okay. The righteousness that is coming from God. Okay. And it's a righteousness that is given to all who believe to all who have faith in Christ. Jesus. Okay. So Paul is establishing the fact that none of us are righteous in God's sight. But there is a righteousness that God is giving to everybody without partiality, both to the Jews and to the Gentiles and God is giving us his own righteousness. And this righteousness is coming from God. And it's a righteousness that is given to all who believe to all who have faith in Christ Jesus. Now, how is God's righteousness made available? It's made available through faith in Christ Jesus. So what does he basically say? He's saying, hey, it's not by keeping the law. It's not by following some certain rituals, certain days, certain feasts. It's not by following the sign of the circumcision ritual. Okay. It is made available to us through faith in Christ Jesus. Okay. So the righteousness of God means a righteousness that comes from God. Okay. Something that is God given. Secondly, it's a righteousness that is belonging to God. Something that is of God himself and it's not something of inferior or secondary quality. So when we say the righteousness of God basically means a righteousness that comes from God, something that is God given and a righteousness that is belonging to God, something that is of himself and not something of inferior and secondary quality. And verse 23, which is a very famous passage in scripture, all have sinned and fallen short with the glory of God. Okay. Paul says, we all sinned and missed the mark of the glory of God. So man was originally created to carry out. Man was originally created to display the glory of God. But because man's sin, sin has robbed us from this position, from this identity, from carrying out and displaying the glory of God. Verse 24 says, this has been made righteous. This, sorry, this being made righteousness is freely by his grace. It is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Okay. So the word redemption in the Jewish mind has this idea of buying something back with a price. Okay. So it's basically the idea of buying out a slave from a slave market. Or it's the idea of paying a ransom to get somebody's freedom. It's buying something back with a price and restoring it to its original state of leader. Okay. So when he speaks about redemption, you know, he knows that the Jewish leaders in the Jewish mind didn't know what is the meaning of this word, righteousness. So saying the righteousness of God is given to all the righteousness of God is given to those who believe, to those who have faith in Christ Jesus is freely given by grace and is giving it to us on the basis of the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, which means, you know, Christ Jesus paid the price and he bought us with his own blood, with his own life, and he restored us to the original state what God created us to be in our original state of who we were created to be is to manifest his glory. Okay. And in verse 25 he says about Jesus he says, whom God set forth as a propitiation by his blood. Okay. Now the word propitiation in the Greek is translated mercy seat. Okay. In English it's translated propitiation with an attempt to capture what happens, you know, at the mercy seat. Okay. So God has sent Jesus Christ as our mercy seat. Now what is a mercy seat? A mercy seat is a place in the tabernacle, you know, in the Holy of Holy. So in the tabernacle they had the outer court, they had the inner court, they had the Holy place and the Holy of Holy. Okay. So in the Holy of Holy, which was separated with curtain from the Holy place and the rest of the tabernacle was where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. And in the Ark of the Covenant we have the Ten Commandments and, you know, it had a gold lid. And the top of the gold lid was, you know, was these two angels with the wings and in the center was the mercy seat and, you know, every year when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies, you know, he would take the blood that was sacrificed for Tony for the sins of the entire Israelite race, he would take that blood and he would sprinkle it in that, you know, between the two angels with their wings and in the center was the mercy seat. He would sprinkle that blood and when he sprinkled that blood, God, you know, would come and meet the high priest there. Okay. When he sprinkled the blood, the blood was made atonement. Okay. The blood atonement was made and God, because the atonement was made for their sins, God would come and meet with the high priest. It was the sprinkling of blood at the mercy seat was a sign of man being reconciled to God, man being in right relationship with God and God being able to meet with, sorry, man being able to meet with God because of the blood of the atonement. Okay. So propitiation is an attempt to capture the picture of, you know, the atonement at the mercy seat when, you know, man who is sinful, you know, because of the sacrifice of the animal and the blood that was sprinkled on the mercy seat, he, you know, would be made a righteous with God and man would be able to then meet and speak with God. Okay. So Paul is saying that Jesus has become our mercy seat. Jesus has become the place where atonement was made for our sins, where man has been reconciled back with God, where man is able to be blameless, heartless and righteous with God. Imagine if the high priest goes to the Holy of Holies and does not sprinkle the blood on the, in the mercy seat, then, you know, he would just fall down dead because he cannot stand as a sinner in the righteous and the holy presence of this great and mighty holy and awesome God. But the minute he goes and he sprinkles the blood, that's when his sin has been atonement, that's when he's made righteous or right standing with God. That's when man is able to speak with God and hear what God has to say. Okay. So this whole thing about propitiation is, you know, demonstrates God's righteousness. So in verse 26, Paul is saying that, you know, he's righteous because, you know, sin has been judged. Okay. But he says Christ is also the justifier of those who have, you know, but sorry, he's always saying that he's also the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus, which means God is saying, Hey, I have judged sin. Hence, you know, I am a righteous God, but I am also able to justify those who have sin because their sins have been judged when Christ has paid the redemption price. Okay. So God is both the, the just God, the righteous God. He's also the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus Christ. Okay. So saying he's righteous because sin has been judged, but he's also the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus, which means God is saying, I have judged sin. He has judged sin on the cross in my son. Hence, I'm a righteous God because I have sin has been or told for sin has been paid for justice has been done. And, you know, I'm satisfied with the payment that has been made. And I'm satisfied with the sacrifice and the payment for the sin that has been made. And he's saying that, you know, but I'm also able to justify those who have sin because their sin has been judged in the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That means, you know, all of us are justified because Jesus has redeemed us. He has paid the price. He has purchased us out of the slave market. He has given the price that is required for our freedom. Okay. So Paul is basically saying that God can be both the judge, the one who condemns sin and the one who forgives sin because of what Jesus Christ has done on the cross. Because Christ being made a mercy seat and because the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So God is both righteous or just and the justifier means that God is just in judging sin and also acquitting the sinner is able to do this because of what Jesus has done on the cross. Okay. So having said this Paul is making a conclusion. He is going on to say what he really wants us to know which we will look at on Friday. Okay. So any questions so far? Any questions? No questions? Okay. No questions. Thank you all for joining class. We'll continue with the Romans chapter 3, the last half on Friday. Okay. Thank you. Have a good week everyone.