Here's a high-level summary before I dig into the study:
- The key message of 3:21-24
God has revealed righteousness without law - through faith in Christ - for everyone.
- The key message of of 3:25-31
Because God Is Righteous And Just, But Also Loving And Patient, He Put Himself In Our Places
- The key message of 3:27-31
No One Can Boast Anymore. It’s 100% Him, 0% Us
OK, now on to the text:
Romans 3:21-24:
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
Paul has used the entire letter up to this point to poignantly demonstrate to Jews that they are sinners just as gentiles are. Everyone fails to live up to God's standard of righteousness. Everyone is in need of a path to salvation that does not depend upon their own righteousness or sinlessness. He summarizes his point here in verse 23: "All have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God."
By beginning with the word “but” in v. 21, Paul transitions from the “bad news” part of the Good News to the “good news” part of the Good News.
The bad news was that you can't make yourself righteous enough for God to save you. The Law (of scripture or of conscience) is our only hope to achieve righteousness on our own, yet law it is futile because none of us can live up to it perfectly.
We are hopeless creatures on our own. It is pointless to attempt to be righteous according to what God's Law or even the consciences He gave us tell us is right. It can’t happen. Yet, only the righteous can be saved.
Do you feel the tension?
“But” (now comes the good news) what if we could have a righteousness doesn’t depend on law or conscience? The good news is that God has provided just that – His own righteousness! Our only hope is to somehow be declared righteous through God rather than through ourselves. And He offers that to us freely!
If you’ve stayed with Paul through this – if he has effectively convinced you that “
all of your righteous acts are like used tampons” (
Isaiah 64:6) – then you can participate in a collective sigh of relief when he writes that “
a righteousness that is from God and apart from law has been revealed."
Our burden from the weight of sin and our inability to please God with our actions, has been lifted!
Again, Paul says to the Jews: Study your own scriptures. The Law and the prophets told you ahead of time that a new way of righteousness would be revealed!
But God doesn't give His righteousness to everyone (vv. 22-23). It was revealed through a very specific channel, in a very specific way, to a very specific group of people. It is
THROUGH FAITH
IN CHRIST
TO ALL WhO BELIEVE.
If you want to be righteous through God's righteousness (since you can't attain your own), this is the only way to get it. Believe in Christ, trust God alone, and He alone will make you righteous.
God does not discriminate. “There is no difference” [between one person and another]. Everyone has sinned. Everyone has fallen short of God’s glory. And “all are justified freely by His grace…"
More literally translated into English, that says “all are justified as a gift by His grace...”
3:25-31
25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished-- 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
Parents can understand the desire to see their children as “good kids” even when they do bad things. But that parenting bias is minor compared to what God faces, because whatever He does affects the entire order of the universe.
The divine tension has always been God's desire to declare the unrighteous righteous while remaining just and righteous Himself.
Notice that in v.25, sins that were committed before Christ were left unpunished because God was showing patience! The word “atonement” in this verse literally means “satisfaction,” in the sense of satisfying requirements. All of this was done to demonstrate God’s justice in the past (v.25) as well as now (v.26)!
But if you look only at verse 25, there’s a question: How does leaving sins unpunished show God’s justice? Wouldn’t justice punish sins rather than leave them unpunished?
Yes. Justice requires punishment for wrongdoing. In v.26 Paul explains that justice wasn't served in the past, but it is available “
at the present time” - in Christ’s blood. That is, punishment was delivered to Christ for the sins of the past as well as of the future.
God not only wanted to be just. He also desired to be “the One who justifies.”
Incidentally, in these verses, “Righteousness” (δικαιοσύνη/dikaiosynē, “Just” (δίκαιος/dikaios), “Righteous” (also dikaios), and “Justifier” (dikaioō/δικαιόω ) are all variants of the same Greek word, dikē.
3:27-31
27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. 29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, 30 since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.
The NIV translation cheats us in this verse by flat-out not translating the most important Greek words in this text. The NASB does a much better job: “
Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith” [
Romans 3:27, NASB].
Take a moment to compare those two translations and pay close attention to the differences.
In these verses, Paul is contrasting "the principle" (see v.27) of works with "the principle" of faith. And he drives his the point home in these verses, to wit: No one can boast about their standing with God.
You can’t boast in the Law because you can't be justified “apart from observing the Law” (
3:28). And God isn’t only the God of the Jews. He’s the God of the Gentiles too – He’s the God of everyone who has faith in Jesus (
3:22, 26, 29).
In
V.31, the phrase translated “
Uphold the law” is “νόμον ἱστάνομεν.” The verb there ("uphold") means to strengthen something so that it may stand strong, such as tethering a stake to a weak tree so that it may grow strong and straight.
Without the tethering of the Holy Spirit no one can uphold God's law. The Law can only be fulfilled through faith in Christ, who upholds it for us.
The purpose of the law was and still is to point out our transgressions.
The Law shows us when we are not relying upon God for righteousness, and it serves as a guide for us when we do right.
