The Righteous Savior of Unrightous Sinners: Romans 3:21-26

Introduction

Hercules Collins, a seventeenth century baptist, poses and answers an important question at the beginning of his Orthodox Catechism. Its answer is especially relevant to those who may be despondent or fearful with what this year will bring. He says:

Q. 1. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That both in soul and body, whether you live or die, You are not your own, but belong wholly unto you most faithful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Look with me at the beginning of verse 21, Paul writes the two words, “But now.” When we read these two words, particularly, the conjunction “but” we must ask what has been discussed prior to this verse. Thus far, in this book of the Bible, this transition is the biggest shift in Paul’s argument. Because Paul has laid out in a systematic and plain way the human condition.

In chapter 1:18 it reads, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” Then he shows how both gentiles and Jews are unrighteous before God. Gentiles, that is you and me, deny the truth that has been plainly revealed to us in nature by our worshiping of created things instead of the one who made them. Jews fail to keep the revealed Law of God, and show that humans need more than education. In fact, we need a salvation.

Romans 3:20 says, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified.” You cannot escape the power and consequences of sin by your own power. By your very nature you are unrighteous and inclined to do unrighteous deeds. You have idols that take the throne of hearts where king Jesus deserves to sit. You worship your families, safety, financial wealth, political affiliation, and nation. All of these things are vain and worthless when it comes to eternity. God’s justice will not be satisfied by your earthly citizenship, wealth, or last name.

We see in the early chapters of Romans and throughout the rest of the Scriptures that God is holy and just. He is the embodiment and definition of moral perfection. Being those things requires that He punish sin and those who are guilty. The bad news is that you are all guilty of and inclined towards sin. If there were scales that God measured when you died, the side that measures sin will be so heavy for each of you that you could never do enough good to make up for the weight of our sin.

Yet the Bible not only teaches that we are sinners and that God must punish sin, but it also teaches that God saves some sinners from His just judgment. Thus, a question might be asked: How does God remain just when he saves sinners like you and me? Today’s text and scripture is clear that God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus.

We will now look at how Paul explains this truth in chapter three in Romans.

Body

To begin with, God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which was always required.

Look again with me in verse 21, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” God’s righteousness is seen in the law. By the law sin is revealed. According to the law, God will judge humanity. The word righteousness in this context is referring to God’s judicial correctness. In this context, God is proven to be just in his redemptive act saving sinners like you and me. Thus, we should note that what follows explains how this can be so. What Paul states here in verse 21 is quite profound. This righteousness of God that has been completely revealed is apart from the law. That is good news for as I stated not one of person will be justified by keeping the law. This righteousness that has been revealed is something that is different from law keeping.

He then states, “although the law and the Prophets bear witness to it.” The righteousness of God that Paul will explain in the following verse is something that has been foretold and foreshadowed in both the law and the prophets. It is not God’s back up plan after the fall. It is not something that God just decided to do at a random point in time. It is the climax to God’s story of redemption. It is where He was always heading, and it has appeared in human history. Those who split the scriptures up and make the Old Testament irrelevant to Christians are dead wrong for in it we see the love and redemption of our God brought from the shadows of divine mystery into historical and visible clarity in the New Testament. The Old Testament is not merely Jewish scripture, but Christian scripture that points to the righteousness of God revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Sin is like a nuclear explosion. It has long-term affects. Sin’s radiation effects are corruption and condemnation. They pass from generation to generation. The law is like the tests a doctor runs to diagnose illnesses and their effects. The law, however, doesn’t provide the cure. Furthermore, the law and the prophets like medical tests point for the need of a cure. In the case of sin and its effects, the cure is the righteousness of God that has been revealed apart from the law.

You have seen that God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which was always required.

Next, God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which He has provided (22-24).

That is clearly what verse 22 is saying when Paul says, “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” The word translated “believe” here is the verbal form of the word commonly translated faith. Faith is the personal knowledge of, trust in, and rest on Christ for the remission of sins, imputed righteousness, and eternal life [Repeat]. Saving faith includes the renouncing of yourself as the source of your salvation (Phil 3:9), casting yourself on Christ person (Song of Sol 8:5; Jn 3:23) and work (Gal 6:14; 3:25), and applying or receiving of Christ to yourself (Jn 1:12) [Repeat]. In order to receive the righteousness of God, you must have faith in Jesus.

Do you ever wonder if you have done anything so bad that God could not possibly save you? God through Paul provides you with an encouraging answer in verses 22 though 24. In verse 22b-23 Paul writes, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Paul in saying this is referring back to the idea that we are all in sin and under the condemnation of God. There is no hope in and of ourselves. We cannot free ourselves from that state. That said, Paul is doing something slightly different here. He is saying that because we are all in the same spot, that is under sin, Jesus’s work is sufficient to save all of us in the same way. In God’s perfection, a lie will make one liable to God’s eternal judgment in the same way murder will. Likewise, Christian, Jesus perfect life and sacrifice has satisfied that eternal justice on your behalf. Look verse 24, the all who have fallen short “are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

When you trust in Jesus, God declares you right in His sight, meaning that you are no longer under God’s holy and just condemnation. Your salvation, including the faith by which you receive it, is a gift from God. It is completely of grace. This grace finds its ultimate expression in the redemption God brought forth in Jesus Christ. And it is through Jesus that God may justly save you and me. Whether you have committed murder, told a lie, committed adultery, including lust or pornography, gossiped, hypocritically made judgments, coveted after someone’s possessions, or hated someone, the redemption God has accomplished in Jesus Christ is sufficient to cover your sin—the sins of your past, present, and future.

You have seen that God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which was always required and He has provided it.

Lastly, God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which is recieved by faith (25-26).

Look with me in the fist part of verse 25, “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith.” The word “propitiation” here has been translated several ways in popular translations, for example it has been translated as expiation and sacrifice of atonement. This word is important for it explains what happens in the sacrifice of Jesus on our behalf.

It is a word that refers mercy seat in the Old Testament and in this context takes us back to the institution of the Day of Atonement, called by Jews now, Yom Kippur. On the day of atonement, there were several sacrifices, but two should draw our attention. There were two goats. One is chosen to be offered as a sin offering, meaning that he bears the judgment of God in place of the people of Israel. The priest prays over the second goat passing the sins of the people to the goat. After this the goat, goat is sent to the wilderness illustrating that the sins of Israel are being taken far away from them. These goats point to Jesus. They point to what His sacrifice does. Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross takes our sins away as the the second goat foreshadows. God’s justice is satisfied as the first goat anticipates.

If you trust in Jesus, your sins are removed from you. If you trust in Jesus, God’s judgement against you was satisfied for you when Jesus bore it in your place. It is the great exchange, Jesus dies your death, satisfies God’s justice, and you gain His eternal life.

We also find in the first part of this verse that God is the one who put Jesus forward. God ultimately saves sinners from His own judgment.

Paul goes on in the second portion of verse 25 and verse 26 say that this shows God is righteous in two specific areas:

God is righteous in passing over former sins. In verse 25, Paul states that God is righteous in passing over former sins. That is the sins of Old Testament saints. The sacrifices of goats, though they did allow Israel to stay in the land of Canaan, did not secure eternal redemption. They foreshadowed and even promised a greater sacrifice. By faith in this promise of God’s ultimate deliverance, God declared Old Testament saints just. God justice in passing over the sins of Old Testament Saints is vindicated in His doing what He promised.

God is righteous in justifying believing sinners. In verse 26 he says, “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 Christ.” The sacrifice of Jesus provides a just way in which God can save sinners like you and me. For in Jesus, the punishment of our sin is satisfied. Paul says that God is just in justifying those who put faith in Jesus Christ. Faith is the open hand by which we receive Jesus person and work for the forgiveness of sin and eternal life. As Thomas Watson writes, “The hand receiving of gold, enriches; so the hand of faith receiving Christ’s golden merits with salvation, enriches us.” This verse, also, implies that those who don’t put faith in Jesus will not be justified. Thus, they will still be under the just condemnation.

Conclusion

You have learned that God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus. This sacrifice was always required. This sacrifice He has provided. This sacrifice is to be recieved by faith.

It is not up for debate, no one is righteous, no not one. We are all sinners and God is Holy. We are unrighteous, and God is righteous. God is obligated by His holy nature to judge unrighteous. Yet scripture is pervasive with the fact that God saves some. How does He save sinners and remain just? God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus. He provided His Son as a substitutionary sacrifice to die in the place of those who have and will put their trust in Him. His Son volunteered for the task of suffering and entering glory to bring His people with Him into that glory.

I have been asked before, “Why doesn’t God just save everyone?” Perhaps, a better question, “Why does God save anyone?” We are vile, hateful, and disobedient creatures. That said we can answer the first question. Why does God save anyone? God saves some because He is rich in mercy and grace. That grace and mercy has ultimately been demonstrated in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the second member of the trinity, who became man and lived in perfect obedience to God’s Law, the law which you have all broken. He obeyed God even in His death where He underwent judgement in the place of His people. God justice was satisfied as we can see in the fact that Jesus rose from the grave and ascended to God’s right hand. He will return to complete what He initiated.

If you trust in Him, His death paid the penalty of your sins and cleanse you of them. If you trust in Him, then His holy life and perfect righteousness is counted to you as your righteousness. If you trust in Him, you will share in His eternal resurrection life.

I plead with you now: if you don’t trust in Jesus as your Savior, please consider the eternal consequence remaining under God’s condemnation and sins corruption. God has underwent great lengths to save sinners like you. Surrender all and trust in God’s Son Jesus. He provides strength and joy today and hope for tomorrow.

If you believe in Him, verse the beginning of 27 provides you with a response. “What becomes of our boasting? It is excluded.” Don’t boast in your imperfect obedience. Boast of Jesus’s perfect obedience given unto you. Don’t boast over your accomplishments. Boast over the accomplishments of your God and Savior. Don’t boast that you are better than the unconverted. Boast in that in-spite of your being wretched sinners Christ died for you and your salvation. In other words, rather than boasting of your holiness to sinners, tell them of the Savior who saves the most unholy of sinners.

You have learned that God remains just when saving sinners through the sacrifice of Jesus, which was always required, which He has provided, and which is recieved by faith.

I end with the quote from Hercules Collins at the beginning:

Q. 1. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That both in soul and body, whether you live or die, you are not your own, but belong wholly unto your most faithful Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By His most precious blood fully satisfying for all your sins, He has delivered you from all the power of the devil, and so preserves you, that without the will of your heavenly Father not so much as a hair may fall from your head. Yes, all things must serve for your safety and by His Spirit, also He assures you of everlasting life, and makes you ready and prepared, that from now on you may live to Him.

To belong to Jesus, you place your faith in Him. May God grant you all such faith. Let’s pray.