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.
Before we dive in deeply, I want to address a structural element. At the end of verse 21, you will notice a dash. What is going on here is that Paul, in mid-sentence is making an aside. That thought is being clarified and will be resumed in verse 27. This is why there is a dangling phrase. This aside, of course is the key to the Gospel, so we are grateful that Paul makes it. But because of this, I’m going to skip to verses 22-26, then I’ll come back to verses 21, 27-31.
The Law and the Prophets bear witness to it: the righteousness of God, which has been manifested apart from the Law, through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. The Old Testament bears witness to this revelation! The progressive revelation through the Covenants, the Law and Prophets finally bear witness to this righteousness that is apart from the Law. Look at that again. The Law bears witness to the righteousness of God apart from the Law. How does it do that? Paul answers for us: all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. What he means in there being no distinction refers to between Jews and Gentiles. Both groups are equally condemned under the Law.
Now, Paul tells us how we can have access to this righteousness that we need. We are justified by our faith that is a gift from God through the redemption that is in Jesus. We are going to come back to verse 21 later, but bookmark this thought now. Our faith is a gift. Now, Paul is going to tell us about that faith. We believe in our justification through the redemption that is in Jesus, who God put forth as a propitiation by His Blood, to be received by faith. The theological density of this passage is approaching a singularity (physics reference.) God puts forth Jesus to us as a propitiation. Propitiation is a word I’ve defined in the past, but basically, there are two parts to it. Jesus’ Blood turns away the Wrath of God by cleansing us of our sin and clothing us in His righteousness. But also, Jesus’ Blood reconciles us to a right, or just, relationship with God. This restores us to our inheritance. Can you think of a parable that talks about this issue? Again, Paul reminds us that this gift is received by faith. This is a large point that he is about to expand even more.
Why does God do all of this? Here is Paul’s answer. 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. Paul says that God is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Basically, God gives us the Law to show us that we are not worthy. Once we understand that point, He turns around and gives us the justification the we need so that He can remain just. All people are going to face judgment on the Last Day. God will be just. We will be judged based upon our merits. The point of this whole passage is that God has provided a righteousness apart from our merits for those to whom He gives the gift of faith.
Am I applying these doctrines to the text, or is plain reading of the text providing these doctrines? If this doesn’t just scream election and predestination to you, just wait until you read Romans 9. Paul is laying it down, explaining the doctrine to all who will listen and receive the Gospel.
Back to verse 21, 27-31. Allow me to group them together for you without the aside. So what does become of our boasting? Who might boast? Jews might boast because they are Jewish. Gentiles might boast because they have been given the gift of faith. Paul says that boasting is excluded by the law of faith. What? For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Oh, I see. If faith is a gift apart from merit, who then may boast? No one may boast. God justifies the circumcised (Jews) by faith and He also justifies the uncircumcised (Gentiles) by faith. Same mechanism. No boasting allowed.
I left verse 31 in here to link to future posts. Don’t let it bog you down for now. Paul is going to talk about the benefits of the Law in later chapters of Romans. Instead, let’s move on to Romans 4. Paul spiritualizes the Covenant of Abraham in two very important ways. First, he links the inheritance of Abraham to Jesus. Second, he links the beneficiaries to all who believe in Jesus like Abraham believed in the promise. The people of God are from both Jews and Gentiles, but not all of either group, and the Holy Land becomes the whole world. Please reread this chapter again and again. The Romans Road approach to this book is to omit all of chapters 4, 7 and 9. Therefore, many of us haven’t read this or even realize that it is there. The Romans Road carefully omits verses 3:21-22. I would put this forward to you: the canon is the canon. We have to deal with all of it. If there are passages that we cannot understand, then we have work to do. The Canon is not the problem; we are the problem.
And finally, we come to Romans 5. I have said much about the first five verses elsewhere, so let’s move on. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for the ungodly. Really, now, why would He bother to save the righteous? The righteous have no need of salvation through Christ’s blood. The rest of that paragraph is fantastic reading. While we were still sinners, He died for us. While we were enemies of God…. I will leave you to the rest of chapter 5. Paul really does speak more eloquently than I concerning these issues.
In closing of this section of posts, I will leave you Romans 5:11. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. You will know by now to check the context, specifically, to find out what Paul means by “more than that.”
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