Rom.3:5,6 – But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking from a human viewpoint.) Far from it! For otherwise, how will God judge the world?
My unrighteousness demonstrates the righteousness of God. Let’s take that a little further, my unrighteousness magnifies the graciousness of our God. My acknowledgment of my sin and my need for a Savior demonstrates the greatness of His grace. So the Lord never intended to cover my sin and never wants me to cover my sin, He came to destroy sin once and for all and to place His righteousness on me to replace my unrighteousness. His righteousness brings us to a place where we finally surrender, only when I can say I am sinner in need of a Savior can the righteousness of Christ be given to me. This righteousness is never what we have done, it can’t be earned, it is a gift given to us by God. Here is how Martin Luther describes today’s passage.
“He is not speaking here of the righteousness by which he is righteous himself, but of that by which he who is righteous makes us righteous, and he himself alone is righteous with respect to us; for our unrighteousness, if it truly has become ours (that is, by being acknowledged and confessed), does commend his righteousness, for it humbles us, makes us bow before our God and seek his righteousness; and when we have received it, we glorify, praise, and love God who imparted it to us. On the other hand, when our righteousness disparages the righteousness of God, and even destroys and denies it and argues that it is lying and false, as when, for example, we resist the words of God and regard his righteousness as unnecessary and believe in the sufficiency of our own, then we have to say, “Against you, you only have I sinned . . . so that you are justified,” that is, “that you alone may be extolled with praise and glory as our righteous Justifier…”
If I stubbornly cling to my own righteousness I will stay in the state of being separated from God trying to be justified by my on deeds. When I surrender to the righteousness of God that is given by grace through faith then I am ushered into His presence and begin to enjoy all of the benefits that are connected to this great gospel feast. He alone is the Justifier, He declares us righteous by faith in His precious blood that washes away all of our sin.
It’s no wonder Jesus clearly demonstrated His contempt of the religious acting crowd. The ones who supposedly represented what a godly life should be had become blatant hypocrites which He categorized as lukewarm, worthy of spitting out of His mouth. Harsh, no considering who they were offending while acting as a model believer. Jesus is the way, the truth and the life and no-one comes before the Father except by Jesus, because He purchased that with His sacrifice. Clearly He wanted to bring us to the Father at great cost. Grace is available for the repentant, only.