Having provedn conclusively that universal sinfulness of man and his need for righteousness in 1:18-3:20, Paul develops the theme he introduced in 1:17; God has graciously provided a righteousness that comes from Him on the basis of faith alone (3:21-5:21). After all this bad news about our sinfulness and God’s condemnation, Paul gives the wonderful news. There is a way to be declared not guilty-by trusting Jesus Christ to take away our sins. Trusting means putting our confidence in Christ to forgive our sins, to make us right with God, and to empower us to live the way he taught us. God’s solution is available to all of us regardless of our background or past behavior.
Romans 3:21, “21But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,”
But now: Not a reference to time, but a change in the flow of the apostle’s argument. Having shown the impossibility of gaining righteousness by human effort, he turns to explain the righteous that God Himself has provided. Righteousness: This again goes back to 1:17, this righteousness is unique: 1) God is its source (Is 45:8); 2) It fulfills the penalty and precept of God’s Law. Christ’s death as a substitute pays the penalty exacted on those who failed to keep God’s law, and His perfect obedience to every requirement of God’s law fulfills God’s demand for comprehensive righteousness (2nd Cor 5:21; 1 Peter 2:24; Heb 9:28); and 3) Because God’s righteousness is eternal (Psalm 119:142; Is 51:8; Daniel 9:24), the only one who receives it from Him enjoys it forever. Apart from the law: Entirely apart from obedience to any law (4:15; Galatians 2:16; 3:10,11; 5:1-2; Eph 2:8-9; Phli 3:9; 2 tim 1:9; Titus 3:5).
Righteousness of God in context is not an attribute of God, but an act of God whereby He declares a sinner righteous. This righteousness from God. This righteousness is apart from the law. This expression categorically stating that righteousness is given totally apart from any law. The same use of this word is used in Hebrews 4:15 where the Lord Jesus was tempted in all points as we are ‘yet without sin.” Just as sin and Jesus Christ have nothing in common, so too the righteousness was not manifested in keeping the law but it was manifested at the Cross when “He (God the Father) made Him (God the Son) who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor 5:21).
Romans 3:22-23, “22even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all[h] who believe. For there is no difference; 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”
There is no difference.. glory of God: A parenthetical comment explaining that God can bestow His righteousness on all who believe, Jew or Gentile, because all men-without distinction-fail miserable to live up to the divine standard.
All have sinned which Paul is just putting here, because he has already proved the case (1:18-3:20). Some sins may seem bigger than others because of their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than pride. But this does not mean that because we only commit little sins in secret that we deserve eternal life. All sins make us sinners, and death (because they disqualify us from living with God), regardless of how great or small they seem. Don’t minimize little sins or overrate big sins. They all separate us from God, but they can all still be forgiven.
God revealed to people how they should live, but no one can live up to God’s perfect way, for all have sinned thus no one can live up to Christ’s righteousness alone, believers can approach God’s throne with praise only on account of His sacrifice. Through God’s initiative, they have been restored to a proper relationship with Himself.
Romans 3:24, “24being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,””
Justified: This verb and related words all come from the same Greek root (justification), it occurs 30 times in Romans all concentrated in 2:13-5:1. This legal or forensic term comes from the Greek word for righteous and means to declare righteousness. This verdict includes: pardon from the guilt and penalty of sin, and the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to the believer’s account, which provides for the positive righteousness man needs to be accepted by God. God declares a sinner righteous solely on the basis of the merits of Christ’s righteousness. God imputed a believer’s sin to Christ’s account in His sacrificial death (Is 53:4-5; 1 Peter 2:24), and He imputes Christ’s perfect obedience to show God’s law to Christians (5:19; 1 Cor 1:30; 2nd Cor 5:21; Phil 3:9). The sinner receives this gift of God’s grace by faith alone (3:22,25; 4:1-25). Sanctification, the work of God by which He makes righteous those whom He has already justified, is distinct from justification but without exception, always follows it (8:30). Freely by grace: Justification is a gracious gift God extends to the repentant, believing sinner, wholly apart from human merit or work (1:5). Redemption: The imagery behind this Greek word comes from the ancient slave market. It means paying the necessary ransom to obtain the prisoner or slave’s release. The only adequate payment to redeem sinners from sin’s slavery and deserved punishment was “in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:16; 1 Peter 1:18-19), and was paid to God to satisfy His justice.
Paul explains that God declares us not guilty. When a judge in a court of law declares the defendant not guilty, all the charges are removed from his record. Legally, it is as if the person had never been accused. When God forgives our sins, our record is wiped clean. From his perspective it is as though we had never sinned.
Romans 3:25, “25whom 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,”
Whom God set forth: This great sacrifice was not accomplished in secret, but God publically displayed His Son on Calvary for all to see. Propitiation: Crucial to the signifance of Christ’s sacrifice this word carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction- in this case Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died (Is. 53:11; Col 2:11-14). The Heb. Equivalent of this word was used to describe the mercy seat-the cover to the ark of the covenant-where the High Priest sprinkled blood of the slaughtered animal on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the people. In pagan religions, it is the worshiper not the god who is responsible to appease the wrath of the offended deity. But in reality, man is incapable of satisfying God’s justice apart from Christ, except by spending eternity in hell (1 John 2:2). Passed over the sins: This means neither indifference nor remission, God’s justice demands that every sin and sinner be punished. God would have been just, when Adam and Eve sinned, to destroy then, band with them, the entire human race. But in His goodness and forbearance (2:4), He withheld His judgment for a certain period of time (Psalm 78:38-39; Acts 17:30-31; 2 Peter 3:9).
By His death Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God. He paid the penalty of sin in full. Paul cites two reasons why the righteousness of God comes through Christ’s death. The first is to demonstrate that God Himself is righteous, and did not judge the sins committed prior to the Cross. The second reason for the Cross is that God wanted to show that He is both righteous and at the same time the One who can declare sinners righteous. Because of Christ’s death, God does not compromise His holiness when He forgives a sinner.
Christ died in our place, for our sins. God is justifiably angry at sinners. They have rebelled against him and cut themselves off from his life-giving power. But God declares Christ’s death to be the appropriate, designated sacrifice for our sin. Christ then stands in our place having paid the penalty of death for our sin, and he completely satisfies God’s demands. His sacrifice brings pardon, deliverance and freedom.
Romans 3:26, “26to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
To demonstrate His righteousness: Through the incarnation, sinless life, and subsitutionary death of Christ. Just and the justifier: The wisdom of God’s plan allowed Him to punish Jesus in the place of sinners and thereby justify those who are guilty without compromising His justice.
What happened to people who lived before Christ came and died for sin? If God condemned sinners, was he being unfair? If he saved the righteous was Christ’s sacrifice unnecessary? Paul shows that God forgave all human sin at the cross of Jesus. Old Testament believers looked forward in faith to Christ’s coming and were saved, even though they did not know Jesus’ name or the details of his earthly life. Unlike the Old Testament believers, you know about the God who loved the world so much that he gave his own Son (John 3:16). Have you put your trust in Him today?
Romans 3:27, “27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith.”
This goes back to 4:1-2; 1 Cor 1:26-29. Law of faith: Paul uses a wordplay here. The law or the standard of God is commonly associated with works. But here Paul says that a person can only boats in the standard of God that excludes human works. This law is faith (John 6:28-29). Thus, the Jews who were boasting in their knowledge of the law and their adherence to it were silenced by Paul (2:17,23). The law would only condemn them, but God was the One who saved them. Therefore, their boast should only be in Him.
Most religions require specific duties that must be performed to make a person acceptable to a god. Christianity is unique in that no good deed that we do will make us right with God. No amount of human achievement or personal goodness will close the gap between God’s moral perfection and our imperfect daily performance. Good deeds are important, but they will not earn us eternal life. We are saved only by trusting in what God has done for us (Ephesians 2:8-10).
Romans 3:28, “28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”
This goes back to v.24 of this chapter. Although the word “alone” does not appear in the Greek, that is Paul’s clear meaning (4:3-5; James 2:24). Man is justified, that is declared righteous apart from doing what the law requires. Thus salvation is through faith alone (4:23-25). No matter what we do, we cannot earn our salvation. God alone saves, and His salvation is a free gift. No one can stand before God and boast of their good deeds. God is the only One who is righteous, and for this reason he should be praised.
Why does God save us by faith alone? 1) Faith elimates the pride of human effort, because faith is not a deed that we do. 2) Faith exalts what God has done, not what we do. 3) Faith admits that we can’t keep the law or measure up to God’s standards-we need help. 4) Faith is based on our relationship with God, not our performance for God.
Romans 3:29, “29Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also,”
There is only one true God (1st Cor 8:5-6). If God gave salvation through the Law of Moses, He would be the God of the Jews only because only the Jews had that Law.
Romans 3:30, “30since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.”
One God: He is the God of both Jews and Gentiles. He will justify them both through faith.
Romans 3:31, “31Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.”
Knowing he would be accused of antinomianism (being against the law) for arguing that a man was justified apart from keeping the law, Paul introduced here the defense he later developed in chapters 6-7. Through faith we established the Law: Salvation by grace through faith does not denigrate the law, but underscores its true importance. 1) by providing a payment for the penalty of death, which the law required for failing to keep it; 2) by fulfilling the law’s original purpose, which is to serve as a tutor to show mankind’s utter inability to obey God’s righteous demands and to drive people to Christ (Gal 3:24); and 3) by giving believers, the capacity to obey it (8:3-4).
Law can have three different meanings in this passage, and the gospels fulfills all those meanings. If law here refers to the Law of Moses, the Pentateuch, then the passage is referring to the way Jesus completely fulfilled the requirements of the law. If law is the entire OT, then the gospel fulfills the promises of the coming of Christ and the forgiveness of sins. If law is the moral law, then the gospel fulfils it because it is through Christ that people are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live in a way that pleases God.
There were some misunderstandings between the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome. Worried Jewish Christians were asking Paul, “Does faith wipe out everything Judaism stands for? Does it cancel our Scriptures, put an end to our customs, declare that God is no longer working through us?” (This is essential the question used to open chapter 3.) “Absolutely not!” says Paul. When we understand the way of salvation through faith, we understand the Jewish religion better. We know why Abraham was chosen, why the law was given, and why God worked patiently with Israel for centuries. Faith does not wipe out the Old Testament. Rather, it makes God’s dealings with the Jewish people understandable. In chapter 4, Paul will expands on this theme (5:2-, 21; 8:3,4; 13:9, 10; Galatians 3:24-29; and 1 Timothy 1:8).
Pastor David Jenkins
