Romans 3:21-26

The Free Gift of the Righteousness of God

The book of Romans is a book of two conditions.  It is a tale of two men.  The condition of man outside of Christ and the condition of man inside of Christ.  The man without salvation and the man having received the gift of salvation.

The book itself is outlined by the condition of these two men.  The first two and a half chapters reveal to us the condition of the man who stands OUTSIDE of Christ.  This was our state.  This was our misery.  We were the rebellious prodigal son.  We sought our pleasure in this world and were at enmity with God; AND God was at enmity with us.  And this IS the condition of all men who have not been redeemed by Jesus Christ.

The second half of the book tells the tale of the man INSIDE of Christ.  This is our new state.  Here we are newly created in Christ Jesus.  All old things have passed away, and behold, all things have become new.  We are the redeemed; the bought ones.  We are the children adopted into the family of God.  We live now in a state of no condemnation; forever forgiven; forever righteous through the crucified and risen Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

In the middle of these two halves stand the words we read this morning.  It is really the heart of all of Scripture.  Martin Luther eloquently called our passage "the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible."  Here you find the lifeblood being pumped throughout our whole bodies giving us new life.  Here are the words of God given to us to show us that salvation is elsewhere.  It is not found in us.  We can never revive ourselves from the dead.  The dead cannot pour life into the dead. 

We have just completed our study of Rom. 1:18-3:20, which is vital to laying the groundwork for Paul's main thesis in Romans.  Our previous study serves primarily as the vehicle to get us here to our passage this morning, which is the heart of not only Paul's letter to the Romans, but the absolute center of Paul's whole theology.  Here in its very essence is the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes.  

Here we now look deeply at the "good news" which the apostle Paul spoke of in 1:16-17 as that which he sought with every ounce of his being to proclaim to all the earth.  Once Paul stated that this gospel is the power of God to salvation he then spent Romans 1:18-3:20 to drive home why it is that we must possess this gospel.  That whole section was not the gospel but what Paul had to present to prepare us to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, which we now turn our attention to in 3:21-26.

This glorious and majestic passage shows us where life comes from.  Salvation comes from a source outside of us.  It comes to us through the free gift of God by grace alone, through faith alone, on account of Christ Jesus alone.

Paul writes in Rom. 1:  "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of salvation to everyone who believes . . . for IN IT the righteousness of God is revealed."  This righteousness outside of us belongs to God.  And it is given only in the gospel which is the power of God to salvation.  We are given God's righteousness in the gospel:  the crucified and risen Christ who comes to us giving us His own life that through Him we might live.

But how is this righteousness of God given to us?  Paul says "from faith to faith."  He says in 3:22 "even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ."  God's righteousness comes to us through faith and nothing but faith.

Salvation is a gift outside of us.  It does not originate in us.  It belongs to God and is given to us only through faith.  Faith itself is not our work.  It never originates in man.  Paul tells the Ephesians that even it is the gift of God.  Faith itself is God's work and initiative in the life of the sinner. 

Paul tells us that what we need instead of our UNrigthteousness is righteousness; or to be right with God according to His holiness.  If we are every going to be approved by the Holy and Perfect God what we need is Perfection itself.  We need to be righteous!  But how are we going to be righteous before this Holy God?  Maybe the answer is to try harder; just turn over a new leaf.  To come to the law of God try to conform our lives according to God's perfect standard.  We need to put ourselves under that law and by our own strength measure up to its strictness.  However, this is what Paul addresses next.  Righteousness will never be obtained by the works of the law, because even the Jews (God's people) who had the law of God could not obtain perfection and righteousness by the law.  Why?  Because of SIN. 

We can't do better.  We can't try harder.  The thinking which says I can do it myself; I can pull myself up by my own bootstraps doesn't recognize the serious condition he is in.  He doesn't understand the true nature of the pollution of sin in his own life.  He begins life, conceived in the womb, as one who inherits the sin and guilt of Adam's sin.  From his first cry the babe acts out on a nature that is corrupted by sin.  All actions; all words; all thoughts stem from this one problem:  SIN.  The universal disease of all mankind.  That's why Paul says in Romans 3:19-20 that all men throughout the whole world are guilty before God and before His righteous throne stand completely silent without any argument to defend themselves.  They know they have sinned and not glorified God and all mankind stands before God, worthy of death.

So what can man do?  What can he do to turn this around?  How does the condemned sinner make right what he has originally made wrong?  The answer is that HE CAN'T.  One word resounds in his ear:  Righteousness will not come from man because "no flesh will be justified by the works of the law in His sight."

Therefore, the righteousness man needs must be alien to him.  It must come from the outside.  It can't come from the law, it must then come apart from the law.  What man needs is not HIS OWN righteousness but the righteousness given to him by God.  He needs God's righteousness.  But where is he to find such a thing?

That is what Paul answers in v. 21-26 that the perfect righteousness that we need is the righteousness, which belongs to God has now been manifested/revealed at the present time (cf. v. 26). 

First, Paul makes the point that this righteousness that he is referring to is "apart from the Law of God," which means that it is NOT by our own personal obedience to the Law.  Paul begins v. 21 with "but now" telling us that there is a radical, new shift in the history of salvation at the cross of Jesus Christ, separating the old era dominated by the law, sin, and death from the new era which is now dominated by salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.  "But now" -- God has intervened into our lives of sickness, death, and condemnation to inaugurate a new life of salvation to everyone who responds by faith.

What the law failed to accomplish, weakened by our sin, God is now giving to us as a free gift through faith in Jesus Christ.

Second, this righteousness of God as a free gift was witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.  What does he mean?  What God is doing in this present time is in no way out of accord or perfect harmony from His eternal plan of redemption which includes the entire history of Israel.  While God's salvific work in Jesus Christ takes place outside the confines of the Mosaic Covenant, the whole Old Testament anticipates and predicts this new, glorious work of God -- being witnessed by the law and the prophets. 

The Law, which was given to awaken and intensify our sin (Rom. 5:20; 7:5) to make us aware of our sin (Rom. 3:20; 7:7-11; 8:1-4) to ultimately drive us to faith in Christ (Gal. 3:23-25) has now come to fulfillment in God's plan to bring us to faith in order that we might be justified by receiving God's righteousness through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

And God's righteousness is available "for all those who believe" (v. 22).  The gift of salvation is universally available to all who believe.  It is not limited to one people, tribe, or tongue.  God makes no distinction between Jews or Gentiles in giving freely this gift anyone who comes by faith to Jesus Christ to receive the gift of God's righteousness. 

In one little phrase, Paul summarizes his entire point made in Rom. 1:18-3:20 -- "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (v. 23).  This is why all need salvation and it is why salvation is available to all.  As we have said, we are all in the same boat together as sinners who have fallen and continue to fall short of the glory of God.  We are all in need of being justified before the holy God.

But what does it mean to be justified?

Think in terms of a legal, courtroom in which the God of all the universe stands as the judge and jury of all mankind.  He requires absolute perfection in regards to His Law, which is His perfect standard/rule revealing to us the holy character of God's perfection.

All who are under the law, both the Jew and the Gentile, are declared guilty by God (Rom. 3:19-20, 22b-23).  Because of their sin, no man can be justified by their obedience to the Law.

But once this judgment is declared upon all mankind, God suddenly turns to some of those who stand before Him (whom Paul will latter declare God's chosen ones who come to faith in Christ) and declares that though they remain wicked sinners, they are JUST or RIGHT before Him (Rom. 4:5).

Here Paul uses the verb "to justify" for the first time in Romans (v. 24).  Paul does not mean that God "makes us righteous" by first making us better, more moral people before He justifies us.  Nor, does he mean that God simply "treats us as righteous" as if we are not really righteous.  Rather, Paul means that God declares us to actually be righteous before Him.  This is not a legal "fiction," but a legal "reality" of the utmost significance.

To be "justified" means to be acquitted by God from all "charges" that have been brought against us as rebellious sinners.  Paul is looking to the judicial verdict that under the Old Covenant one had to wait until the last judgment to hear pronounced and he is declaring that God's judicial ruling has now been pronounced upon all of those who rest their faith in Jesus Christ.

And this verdict is pronounced purely by God's grace alone.  God is not constrained by anything he sees in us.  We have done nothing nor can we do anything to earn it.  If we truly understand our condition of Rom. 1:18-3:20 and that "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" then we can completely understand why salvation must be by grace alone.  And since justification is by God's grace then it can only be received through faith alone.

But how can a righteous, perfectly holy God justify the sinner?  How can He call what is sin, righteous and still be a holy, just God, especially when he condemns those who call the wicked just in His Word (Ex. 23:7; Prov. 17:15; Isa. 5:23; Deut. 25:1)?  Is this all just a legal fiction, as some today would call it?

Paul explains how God is both the justifier of the wicked sinner and just at the same time in vv. 24-26 by explaining the doctrine of double imputation, which he will develop further in chaps. 5ff.

In v. 24 Paul says our justification has been accomplished by the obedience of Jesus Christ.  Here Paul specifically emphasizes the passive obedience of Christ where Jesus willingly came to purchase or redeem His elect people through the shedding of His own blood on their behalf.  In chap. 5, Paul will emphasize the active obedience of Jesus Christ in which Jesus kept the Law perfectly for us so that His perfect obedience under the Law would be imputed to us through faith alone.

But here we turn to the passive obedience of Christ in that He died in your place for your sin or what Paul says in 2 Cor. 5:21:

He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

The means by which God completed our redemption was infinitely costly to Him.  It was through the blood of His own Son that the ransom price was paid to Him as the full payment for your sins.  God is the judge who must render the verdict for your guilt and therefore He is the very one to whom the ransom payment for your liberation must be paid.  And yet, He is the very One who originated this whole process by which you are saved.  Literally, God saved you from Himself through the cross of His own Son.  God's love and wrath meet in the once-for-all atonement of Jesus Christ.  At the same time that God is fulfilling His justice in Christ, He was demonstrating His love for you.

God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom. 5:8).

In v. 25, Paul tells us that God publicly displayed Jesus Christ as the propitiation of our sins before God.  Jesus became our propitiator.  What does this mean?

In the Old Testament the place of propitiation was the mercy seat, which covered the ark of the covenant where Yahweh appeared in the holy of holies and on which the sacrificial blood of atonement was poured to wash away the guilt of Israel's sins and to temporarily stay the wrath of God. 

What Paul is saying is that in this new day of salvation, Jesus Christ is our mercy seat.  Christ is the New Covenant "place of atonement" for our sins.  Jesus vicariously propitiated the wrath of God for you in that He atoned for your sin [he washed your sin away] and he also at the same time satisfied the wrath of God for you in that now that God has poured out His wrath perfectly upon Christ our Mediator, God is now satisfied that He has perfectly judged our sin.

But what was hidden from public view in the Old Testament behind the veil has now been "publicly displayed" in the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus Christ.  This is how the world now knows that God is just -- He has done all of this, not in some corner of the world, but publicly for the whole world to see.  Jesus Christ is the center and focal point of God's provision of atonement for His people.

This is why God is both Just and the Justifier!  Why?  Because up to this time of the cross of Jesus Christ, God has simply forgiven the sin of those who came to Him by faith alone (OT saints) while not first actually punishing them for their sins or providing a sufficient, mediatorial sacrifice for their sins -- v. 25 - "he had passed over them" -- which has led some to claim that God was unjust in regards to the OT saints.

But now, God perfectly reveals His justice in that now in the fullness of time, He has perfectly judged our sin through the judgment of Jesus Christ.  He has been judged for your sin in your place (v. 26).  At the cross we perfectly see what God thinks of our sin and what He will in fact do to all who come before Him outside of faith in Christ.

Therefore, when we put our faith in Jesus Christ, which means that we don't simply assent to the truth of the promises of the gospel, but even further that we have received and rested fully upon Christ and His righteousness alone, then God forensically-judicially declares you, while still a sinner, that once and for all that you are forgiven of all your sins, because Jesus paid your sin debt in full.

God is JUST in justifying you as a sinner.  But how can this be?  How can God who is holy and perfect call sinners RIGHTEOUS?  The glorious answer to this question is answered only in the PERSON and WORK of Jesus Christ.  It is by His propitiation.  His satisfaction of the wrath of God through the shedding of His own blood to atone for your sins.  This was the RIGHTEOUS and PERFECT work of Christ.  In this one act of God: the Divine exchange of placing man's sin upon Christ and then Christ's righteousness upon man is the manner by which God translates the Man Who is Outside of Christ INTO the Man Who is In Christ.  It is by this Divine gift that God turns rebels into sons; rags into riches; judgment into blessing; condemnation into eternal life. 

Even now as Christians we continue to sin because we await the day of our glorification in Christ when the presence of all sin will be forever removed.  Until that day we must continually have the gospel proclaimed to us through which Christ comes to forgive us of our sins.  We must hear the gospel continually in our ears proclaiming that our sins today have been forgiven in Christ and we stand righteous only in Him. 

Not only do we find the full assurance of our salvation because your salvation in the perfect and completed work of Jesus Christ so that Paul can latter declare that there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, but ultimately this doctrine is of utmost importance to the Lord's church because the Reformational understanding of these doctrines alone gives all the glory for our salvation to God alone.  Any distorted teaching on these doctrines which implies that we can somehow heal our own disease, even if it is added "with God's help," ultimately detracts from God's glory who alone has offered Himself up so that by His stripes we are healed.

In all of this, God alone deserves all of the glory.  The righteousness is not ours; it originates solely in God.  The redemption price is not ours; it is through the blood atonement of Christ alone.  The faith is not ours; it is freely given by God.  Our entire salvation from beginning to end is solely by the grace and mercy of God alone.   

What has man contributed to this Holy Work?  One thing:  SIN!  He is the dead man that Christ raises to life by coming, dying and being raised from the dead.  In Christ we die to our sin and are raised to new life.  Only in union with Him through faith, even while by nature we are still sinners, do we live. 

In all of this glorious work of God our boasting and glory is always solely in the gospel of Jesus Christ which is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. 

For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever and ever. 

Amen!

+Soli Deo Gloria+