Romans 3

“This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (22). Paul made the radical claim that “there is no difference between Jew and Gentile because all have sinned ...and all are freely justified by his grace” (23-24). In Paul’s world, Jews and Gentiles lived very different lives because of the Mosaic Law. But Paul preached that the Law, while valuable (1-20), didn’t make the Jews spiritually different or holy. The Law can’t make anyone righteous; only faith in Christ can do that (20).

“God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement ... to be received by faith” (25). Only Jesus’ sacrifice was enough to cleanse us from sin - Jew and Gentile - and make us holy.