Romans 3:21-31
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Last week, we saw that “The law isn’t enough. The law only convicts, but Jesus saves.” This week, we are going to dive into that truth. Let’s get started.
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
So, as we said at the top, the law isn’t enough. Paul spent a good chunk of time detailing what scripture has to say about our “righteousness.” We covered that in depth last week, but let me tell you, it isn’t good. We do not measure up to God’s standard.
And that is the problem, right? We don’t measure up.
I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t like disappointing people. I really struggle with that sometimes, because I know you cannot please everyone. But I genuinely do not like to disappoint people.
And I remember growing up in a home where my parents loved and cared for me and my brother. I have never doubted for a moment how much they love me. But my dad is a maintenance man, a welder. A handyman, mechanic, general “I can fix it with duct tape and a screwdriver” kind of guy.
Anyone who was around me during the renovation knows that I did not get those genetics.
I am not a handyman, never have been. I was always more interested in technology. Look, y’all, I don’t like getting my hands dirty. It makes my guitar all yucky. (LOL)
But I remember trying to help my dad as a kid, knowing he wanted to spend time with me, but also feeling internally that at every step I failed to meet his expectations.
That is no fun. When you can’t measure up, it is a depressing place to be.
Fortunately, my dad and I figured that stuff out, and I try to show as much love, patience, and grace to him when he can’t fix his email as he did to me when I couldn’t fix my car.
Paul has presented the problem, and it is a big one. We don’t measure up. Then, verse 21 has a really big, important word: BUT
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—
Paul is very clear that the hope for us all isn’t in the law, or in ourselves. We can’t “trust your heart,” because our heart is deceitfully wicked (Jeremiah 17:9).
See, we cannot earn righteousness. We cannot earn salvation. But, because God is so good, He will still readily provide it. And this shouldn’t surprise us. It definitely shouldn’t surprise the Jews who had the law. The promise of salvation through the Messiah was always there. But so many of them refused Him (Jesus) when He came.
The Old Testament scriptures all point to God’s righteousness.
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
That righteousness is through faith in Jesus. It is for all who believe. Period. We could end there. But we have more to study!
See, it took the life and death of Jesus for people to fully grasp the righteousness of God. And, just like today, where it takes very little persuading for some; yet for others it seems the Spirit has to work on them for years before they come to faith, not every Jew will be saved.
People sometimes ask, what do we do with the Jews in the Old Testament? Are they in heaven? And the answer is, some of them are.
We see this sort of explained in Hebrews 11.
See, the Old Testament always pointed to Jesus. It isn’t like, after they messed up in the Garden, or with the Ark, or in the wilderness that God was like, “Fine! I’ll send Jesus to clean it all up!”
Before the foundation of the world, Christ knew He would have to be the sacrificial Lamb for all of mankind.
So how were Old Testament saints saved? Same as us. Through faith in Christ. The writer of Hebrews points this out:
39 And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, 40 since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
Through faith. Who was their faith in?
1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Which is exactly what Paul says here in verse 22:
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
And, I know we’ve talked about it, but, God isn’t concerned with a person’s heritage. According to the Layman’s Bible Commentary:
Acts thru Corinthians The Good News (3:21–26)
From God’s perspective, there is no difference between Jew and Gentile. Both are sinful. And neither is there a difference in how they restore a proper relationship with God: He justifies them freely, out of grace, because the death of Jesus paid for their sin (3:22–24).
So, we know that God’s righteousness is manifested through faith in Christ, and there is no distinction between Jews or Gentiles for…what?
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
We fall short. All of us. The best super-duper Christian falls short. Even Billy Graham fell short. No distinction.
But the verse is only part of the thought. And we need the rest of the thought, because without the rest, we have no hope!
Let’s look at the whole thought in context:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
We have all fallen short, but we are justified by God’s grace. But this doesn’t mean everyone goes to heaven. We are justified by God’s grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
Acts thru Corinthians The Good News (3:21–26)
People are still unworthy and unable to do anything to contribute to their own justification, so God does it by His grace. They don’t deserve it, but He loves them and initiates action.
God is the one who draws us to salvation. It is God who shows us we are sinners. It is God that saves us. We have very little to do with the process. In fact, about all we can do is agree with God about ourselves. Acknowledge that we are sinners. Repent and ask forgiveness.
Now, notice the word “justified” in verse 24. Justification is a legal term. I remember when I came here for my interview, Tyler Wiltshire asked me to explain justification as if he was a seminary student, and as if he was a 6 year old. That was a great question to be asked in an interview, and I had to think through that in a hurry.
But what we have to understand about justification is that when we are justified, we are not made perfect. Being made more like Christ is the process of “sanctification.” That won’t be complete until we join Christ in heaven. Justification is the process by which God declares a person to be righteous.
Acts thru Corinthians The Good News (3:21–26)
He doesn’t make the person righteous. Believers will continue to struggle with sin, yet can continue to be assured of God’s declaration of righteousness, thanks to the sacrifice of Jesus on their behalf.
We see this in Psalm 85.
2 You forgave the iniquity of your people;
you covered all their sin. Selah
This is why we sing songs and say things about being “covered” by the blood of Jesus. The idea of justification has to do with our sin being covered, just like the blood from the passover lamb in Exodus covered the doorposts of the people of God.
The way I like to describe justification is that God makes it “Just As If I’d” never sinned. I am not righteous in and of myself, but the blood of Jesus allows God to declare me “justified.”
Now, I’m talking about blood a lot here, and maybe you wonder why.
Well, the word redemption there in verse 24 really refers to something that you get by buying it. Redemption has a connotation of “obtaining something by means of purchase.”
Acts thru Corinthians The Good News (3:21–26)
It can refer to payment of a ransom. Jesus’ sacrifice (His blood) was the necessary atonement to pay for the sins of humankind—past, present, and future (3:25–26).
So, I didn’t really think about this, but you guys are getting a seminary vocabulary class tonight! We’ve talked justification with a side of sanctification, redemption, and now propitiation. Now if you were at the evangelism training on Saturday, you may have heard James mention that word, but just in case, I’ll help you out.
25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
Jesus was the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means “the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.” And some people don’t like the word propitiation, because they think that it points to God as an angry God in need of appeasement. But that is at best an over-simplification and at worst a heretical statement.
God is not angry. God is just. We have already established that God, as completely just, mush punish us because we are not able to fulfill His law. We are sinners, and therefore God must (as a holy God) punish us. In order for God’s righteous judgment to be abated, something has to happen. Our sin must be atoned for. Otherwise, God would cease to be God.
So, Jesus, who did fully fulfil and uphold the Law, chose to die in our place. Christ’s sacrificial death was satisfactory. It appeased God’s wrath. Jesus’ blood serves as the propitiation, or the gift offered in place of our own lives.
This is in direct concert with justification. When I said earlier that it’s “just as if I’d” never sinned, you need to understand that it is only because of the propitiation of Christ - the atoning sacrifice - that I can be justified. If I do not have the blood of Christ to cover my sins, I receive God’s full wrath. But, because of Christ and His willingness to die for all, when God looks at a believer, it is as if Christ steps between the believer and God, and God sees the blood of Christ on us, and says, “it is enough. You are justified.”
And we see here that idea we discussed earlier about Old Testament Jews/believers: because God knew that Christ was coming at the right time, the faith of those looking to the ultimate sacrifice - the Messiah - those sins were left unpunished because of the faith they had in Christ that looked forward. We look back to Jesus, but they looked forward to Him.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
God shows His love and mercy for us not only in His provision for an atoning sacrifice, but also in His divine patience to those who had not seen the promise yet.
Because Paul tells us that God is both “just” and “justifier.” He is the one who judges the world by His own standard. And those who are believers have an advocate in Christ. So, when Satan accuses us of our sin, Christ steps in and advocates on our behalf as the defense attorney. He, in essence, tells the Father, “This is a family matter, Father, and I’m taking care of it.” The accuser is silenced by the advocacy of the Son.
Once Paul has given a semester’s worth of seminary lectures in 6 verses, he goes back to the argument.
27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
Paul tells us that we have nothing to boast about. And it has nothing to do with works. We don’t have any works that we can do that would justify us. It is faith alone. Through grace alone. Through Christ alone. And God’s word alone. For God’s glory alone. (I hope you remember that as the 5 Solas from a while back).
And Paul reminds them that God isn’t just here for the Jews (which is a slap to a first-century Jewish ego, for sure!).
29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one—who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.
Paul reminds them that God cannot only be the God of the Jews but of everyone. And God justifies all through faith.
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
So Paul starts the next argument, which we will pick up next week:
So, can we get rid of the Law?
Paul then tips his hand - Of course not! We uphold the law because that is what God desires. We don’t uphold the law to get into heaven, we seek to uphold the law because God’s grace through Christ drives us to be more Christlike and therefore we desire to uphold the law.
All of this steers the bus of Pauls arguments going forward, so come back next week as we continue to work this out.