Gospel Righteousness-Romans 3:21-26

October 23, 2014 New Testament, Romans, Sermons

Romans 3:21-26, 21, 25

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Rom 3:21, NIV). “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (Rom 3:25, NIV).

Romans 3:21-26 is regarded by scholars and theologians as “the center and heart” of Romans and as “possibly the most important single paragraph ever written.” Martin Luther called this passage “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.”

What are some painful memories that tug at your heart and bring tears to your eyes? When I was a young boy we had a family dog for many years. One day while we were walking together by a street my dog was fatally hit by a car. When I ran to him in tears, he was clearly dying but still barely alive after being mortally wounded with massive internal injuries and gasping for breadth. I reached out to him to gently pet his face as he was gasping for his last breaths. When my hand touched his face his spontaneous response was to bite my hand because he was in such agony and did not know who had touched him. But the very moment that he was about to bite my hand he realized that it was I and he immediately loosened his bite, breathed his last breadth and died. I can never ever forget this for as long as I live even though this happened about 50 years ago. Why?

Love. I think the reason is because my dog demonstrated that he loved me and would never hurt me, not even when he was dying in agony and breathing his last breadth of life. I believe that this is a very real human story that allows us to catch a glimpse into the greatness of God’s love for each of us. Even though it cost losing His one and only Son, God paid the price so that he would not hurt us. God wants more than anything else to save us, to wipe every tear from our eyes, to comfort every broken heart, and to hug us tenderly like the father who ran and kissed his long lost son when he came home. At the moment of embrace, the father was not at all interested in hearing about any of his son’s sins. He was just so happy to have his son back. God wants to love us and hug us so much, even at the cost of losing his Son on the cross. What do you think of when you think of Jesus and the cross?

Rom 3:21-26 is loaded with key theological terms, and the phrase “the righteousness of God” stands out. This is a great text where Paul brings together so much, which is central to his presentation of the gospel. This passage has almost unparalleled power, not so much in its individual elements but the fact that Paul brings so many things and key ideas together: Our standing before God (Rom 3:24), how God secured that through Christ on our behalf (Rom 3:25), the importance of faith (Rom 3:22, 25), what God did on the cross (Rom 3:25-26).

Douglas Moo, NT scholar, explains three ways of understanding the “Righteousness of God” (The Theme of the Letter [Rom 1:16-17]):

“The Righteousness that belongs to God” (God’s attribute of absolute justice).
“The Righteousness being established by God” (God’s act of putting his people “in the right”). This comes closest to what Paul means in Rom 1:17.
“The Righteousness that comes from God” (The righteous status that God gives us).

Similarly, John Stott says, “The righteousness of (or from) God is a combination of his righteous character, his saving initiative and his gift of a righteous standing before him. It is his just justification of the unjust, his righteous way of ‘righteoussing’ the unrighteous.” Stott explains “the righteousness of God” (21-22, 25-26; 1:17; Phil 3:9) in three ways as:

An attribute of God: This is a quality–who God is. He is righteous.
An activity of God: This is an action–what God does. (N.T. Wright) He makes us right; he saves us.
An achievement of God: This is a gift–what God bestows, confers and accomplishes for us. (Reformed). He considers us righteous.

So deep and rich. Rom 3:21-26 is so densely packed with so much rich inter-connected doctrine and theology—righteousness of God, law, faith, Christ, sin, justification, grace, redemption, sacrifice of atonement (propitiation, expiation), blood of Christ, justice, justify, just—which are all inter-related and connected to the gospel. To do justice to even a few of these words or phrases might be confounding, confusing and overwhelming. Yet it is so simple that anyone can understand and welcome such good news. At the risk of oversimplification, consider this glorious and central text of Romans in four parts. God’s righteousness is revealed in:

His Word (Rom 3:21).
His Son (Rom 3:22-23).
His Grace (Rom 3:24).
His Justice (Rom 3:25-26).

I. God’s Righteousness Is Revealed In His Word (Rom 3:21)

Utterly unrighteous. Paul had just spent 64 verses (Rom 1:18-3:20) that contain nothing but bad news: we are really no good; we are utterly unrighteous. Paul constructed an airtight case that every person who ever lived, or will ever live, is pumelled, powerless and defeated by the weight and power of sin (Rom 3:9), such that “there is no one righteous, not even one” (Rom 3:10). The inescapable conclusion is that we are not only guilty (Rom 3:19-20); we are completely helpless and hopeless. It’s like being born into this world enslaved to sin on a sinking ship with no options and no way out.

“But now” marks the shift in Paul’s focus from the old era of sin’s domination to the new era of salvation. Rom 1:18-3:20 sketches the spiritual state of those who belong to the old era: (1) justly condemned, (2) helpless in the power of sin, (3) powerless to escape God’s wrath. “But now,” two simple words, serve as the hinge for the fate of humanity. Martyn Lloyd-Jones claims that “there are no more wonderful words in the whole of Scripture than just these two words ‘But now.’” After 64 verses indicting all of humanity of sin unrelentingly, Paul now provides some relief. It begins with the words, “But now…”

The OT testifies to Jesus, the righteousness of God. Despite our inability to obey the Law, God’s salvation can be found in the OT (the Law and the Prophets). Paul writes, “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify” (Rom 3:21, NIV). The primary purpose of the entire OT was to point to “the righteousness of God” (Rom 1:17; 3:21) that would one day be fully made known in Christ (Rom 3:22). Paul’s point is that the revelation of “the righteousness of God” is not some new phenomenon. God’s righteousness has always been revealed in His Word.

God’s righteousness is made known apart from the law. What does Paul mean? Paul’s purpose is to announce the way in which God’s righteousness has been made known. In Rom 2:1-3:20 Paul has made clear that the law has failed to rescue Jews from the power of sin because compliance with its demands to the extent necessary to secure justification has not been and is not possible. “But now” in the new era inaugurated by Christ’s death (Rom 3:22, 24), God has acted to deliver and vindicate his people “apart from the law.”

Righteousness is received, not earned. Righteousness is not ours as a result of our conformity to any laws or moral code. “No one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law” (Rom 3:20, NIV). It is not result of our working ourselves into any condition of surrender or humility or repentance. It does not come because of any merit in us at all. It is “apart from the law.”

II. God’s Righteousness Is Revealed In His Son (Rom 3:22-23).

God’s plan of salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ. “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Rom 3:22a). There are almost 200 verses that use the words “believe” or “faith” as the sole condition of salvation. What is important is the object of our faith—Jesus Christ! If we have the right object, the amount of our faith is not what is important. This means “all” are welcome who will simply believe in Christ. If good works are necessary for salvation, all of us are excluded. In the religious systems of the world, everyone is disqualified. In Christianity, “all” can come, regardless of their background and past failures. The only condition is simple belief. When you come to Christ:

You do not come to give, you come to receive.
You do not come to try your best, you come to trust.
You do not come just to be helped, but to be rescued.
You do not come to be made better, you come to be made alive!

Who is the man who has faith? “We can put it this way: the man who has faith is the man who is no longer looking at himself, and no longer looking to himself. He no longer looks at anything he once was. He does not look at what he is now. He does not [even] look at what he hopes to be as the result of his own efforts. He looks entirely to the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work, and he rests on that alone. He has ceased to say, ‘Ah yes, I have committed terrible sins but I have done this and that…’ He stops saying that. If he goes on saying that, he has not got faith… Faith speaks in an entirely different manner and makes a man say, ‘Yes, I have sinned grievously, I have lived a life of sin… yet I know that I am a child of God because I am not resting on any righteousness of my own; my righteousness is in Jesus Christ, and God has put that to my account.’” Martyn Lloyd-Jones.

All are lost. Rom 3:22b-23 summarizes and reduces Paul’s argument in Rom 1:18-3:20 to one sentence: “all have sinned.” It is the condition of all people without exception. This is hard for many to accept because there are obviously some people who are “better” than other people. But this is how Bishop Handley Moule put it dramatically: “The harlot, the liar, the murderer, are short of it (God’s glory); but so are you. Perhaps they stand at the bottom of a mine, and you on the crest of an Alp; but you are as little able to touch the stars as they.”

III. God’s Righteousness Is Revealed In His Grace (Rom 3:24)

“To be justified” means to be acquitted by God from all charges. Justification is the doctrine for which Romans is most famous—and rightly so. “…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24, NIV). Paul uses some form of the verb “justify” (dikaioō) 15 times in Romans. Justification is a legal term that means “to declare righteous.” It depicts his distinctive understanding of Christian salvation. On account of the person and work of Jesus Christ, we are declared (justified) as good as God. Justification is both instantaneous and irreversible. The moment we believe in Jesus Christ, we are on the other side of judgment day. Since God always keeps His Word this declaration is eternal.

“Grace” is one of Paul’s most significant theological terms. Paul uses it not to describe a quality of God but the way in which God has acted in Christ, unconstrained by anthing beyond his own will. It does not signify some quality in us, but the will or kindness of God toward us. God’s justifying verdict is totally unmerrited. People have done, and can do nothing to earn it. It is Paul’s conviction that justification can never be attained through works, or the law (Rom 4:3-5, 13-16; 11:6), but only through faith. The connection between Rom 3:22a and Rom 3:24 is that justification is a matter of grace on God’s side and it must be a matter of faith on the human side.

“What is grace? Grace is love that seeks you out when you have nothing to give in return. Grace is love coming at you that has nothing to do with you. Grace is being loved when you are unlovable. It is being loved when you are the opposite of lovable. Grace is a love that has nothing to do with you, the beloved. It has everything to do with the lover. (Grace) reflects a decision on the part of the giver who loves, in relation to the receiver, the one who is loved, that negates any qualifications the receiver may personally hold. Grace is one-way love.” Paul Zahl, Grace in Practice, 36.

“Redemption” means “liberation through payment of a price.” In the 2nd and 1st centuries B.S. “redemption” often refers to the “ransoming” of prisoners of war, slaves and condemned criminals. Thus, God was presenting Christ’s death as a “ransom,” a “payment” that takes the place of that penalty of sins “owed” by all people to God. Though widely rejected today, this interpretation of the significance of the word should be retained.

IV. God’s Righteousness Is Revealed In His Justice (Rom 3:25-26)

How can God maintain His justice while forgiving unjust sinners? Paul says, “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness” (Rom 3:25, NIV). [The word “propitiation” (hilasterion) (Rom 3:25, ESV) refers to the satisfaction of God’s righteous anger, so that He can now deal with us graciously. It’s a sacrifice which takes away wrath—a wrath quencher, which satisfies God’s anger.] [Atone means to make amends or reparation. Atonement means reparation for a wrong or injury or sin. It is reconciliation between God and man through Christy.]

Costly to God, free to us. Although God is merciful, gracious, and compassionate, He is also righteous and just. God can not lower His righteous standard. He can not just overlook sin with the attitude, “We’ll just let it slide.” God must judge sin. He has done so by dealing with every sin (past, present, and future) on His Son. Hence, one understanding of the atonement is that God’s wrath, His holy anger, has been appeased by the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Salvation is infinitely costly to the Father and the Son, but absolutely free to you and me.

The center and focal point of history. OT justification was through faith in the promised Savior; NT justification is through faith in the provided Savior. OT believers looked forward to what God would someday do; believers today look back at what Christ has already done. Prior to the cross, OT believers were in paradise “on credit” (their sins had not yet been paid historically, even though they received some of the benefits from their faith. The same thing happens when we purchase something with a credit card and enjoy possessing the purchased item, even though we have not paid for it yet). God’s righteousness was shown at the cross in that God righteously judged and dealt with every last sin that man has committed or will ever commit. The cross is and always will be the center point and the focal point of all history.

What is the most painful and traumatic experience in your life? Whatever that might be, we would never ever wish to relive it. Even just bringing back the very memory of it causes our hearts to cringe and to sink until we feel an empty sinking knot in our gut and in our stomach. However, what Jesus went through when “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (Rom 3:25a) would be a gazillion times worst than our worst and most painful and traumatic of experiences.

What can heal and make whole a person who is so badly wounded and traumatised and abused by the sins of others? Only Jesus who died a horrific death for us! More than that, Jesus who rose again from the dead in order to deliver us from everything that we cannot deliver ourselves from and to give us freedom, liberation and the newness and wholeness of life.

Relinquishing my cat to an animal shelter. Two months ago, my 13 year old cat, fell from the second floor and broke her hind leg. She could not walk properly but would walk dragging her broken leg. Usually she stays on the second floor. But that morning after breaking her leg, she was by our doorstep, looking rather docile and peaceful. My friend Michelle told me that when animals are hurt they would act normal because they fear that something would happen to them if they reveal that they are hurt. Later I also heard a similar explanation that when an animal is wounded they would never reveal or show that they are wounded for fear that a predator would sense their weakness and attack them. In my helplessness as to what to do with my hurt and wounded cat, I painfully decided to relinquish her to an animal shelter in Chicago Ridge with great sadness and sorrow in my heart. My cat had grown up with my four kids for the last 13 years. She was like a part of my family as she was with my four children as they went from teenagers to young adults. With great reluctance I felt that I had no choice but to turn her in because I could no longer take care of her well with a broken leg and with other health issues as well–being deaf, having persistant flea infestation and then having very bad allergic skin reactions from the fleas, etc. The most painful part for me was the half hour it took to drive from my home to the animal shelter, followed by the one hour wait, knowing that after I relinquish her I will never ever see her again. Then there was still the painful drive home alone with my cat carrier…without my cat.

Fear of vulnerability. In a way we humans are all like my wounded cat who controlled herself and acted as though she was fine, even though she had been crippled by her broken leg and no longer able to walk, run or jump like the happy healthy cat that she once was. We are so deathly afraid of being vulnerable. We are so afraid of others thinking that we are bad or no good. So we hide our spiritual broken leg and pretend to walk normally and happily so that when others see us they cannot tell who we truly are. But God knows who we are. God understands how we are. In fact, through Christ, God became like us–weak and wounded, frail and fragile, broken and vulnerable–so that we might become like him. I turned my cat in with great sadness of heart that keeps lingering and does not go away entirely. To a far greater degree, God turned away from the Son he loves, so that he can shine his face toward us. This is the glory and mystery of Jesus who loves us at the cost of his life. This was how “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (Rom 3:25a).

What is the evidence that I understand and embrace Rom 3:21-26 as the central passage in all of Scripture?

C. T. Studd said, “If Jesus Christ be God, and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for him.”
Charles Spurgeon said, “It is our duty and our privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus. We are not to be living specimens of men in fine preservation, but living sacrifices, whose lot is to be consumed.”
Paul said, “And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:15, NIV).
Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal 2:20, NIV).
Paul said, “However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace” (Ac 20:24, NIV).
Paul said, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship” (Rom 12:1, NIV).

Questions for personal and group study and reflection:

Why does Martyn Lloyd-Jones exclaim that “there are no more wonderful words in the whole of Scripture than just these two words ‘But now…'” (Rom 3:21a)? Notice also, “But God…” (Eph 2:4).
“Apart from law” suggest a new era of salvation. What does the law in the old era expose about man’s spiritual state (Rom 1:18-20; 2:1, 4-5, 23-24; 3:9, 19-20)? How does “the Law and the Prophets testify” to “the righteousness of God” (Rom 4:1-8; Gen 15:6; Ps 32:1-2)?
What is being referred to by the phrase “has been made known” (Rom 3:21-22)? What event helps us to know “the righteousness of God” (Lk 23:47)?
“Righteousness” is having a “right relationship with God.” However, John Stott explains “the righteousness of God” (21-22, 25-26; 1:17; Phil 3:9) in three ways as:
1. An attribute of God: This is a quality–who God is.
2. An activity of God: This is an action–what God does. (N.T. Wright.)
3. An achievement of God: This is a gift–what God bestows, confers and accomplishes. (Reformed.)
Can you explain each phrase? Can the righteousness of God mean all three?
How does one come to know the righteousness of God (Rom 3:22a, 25a)?
How does Rom 3:22b-23 summarize a main theme in chapters 1-3?
Explain how we are “justified freely by his grace” (Rom 3:24a). What is redemption (Rom 3:24b)?
Explain “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood” (Rom3:25a)?
What sins did God pass over that were previously committed (Rom 3:25b)? How can God be just and still justify those who sin (Rom 3:25b-26)?

Reference:

Douglas Moo —The Epistle to the Romans (New International Commentary on the New Testament, 1996).
Douglas Moo —Exegetical examination of Romans. This course was recorded during a D.Min. seminar at the Carolina Graduate School of Divinity in May 2012.
John Stott —The Message of Romans (The Bible Speaks Today, 1994).
Tim Keller —Romans 1-7 For You (The Good Book Company, 2014).
The Guts of the Gospel (Rom 3:21-26). Keith Krell.
Nothing But The Blood. Mark Dever, Christianity Today, May 1, 2006. Explains various theories of the atonement.
Theories of the Atonement. Leon Morris.
The Saving Righteousness of God. Tom Schneider.

Martyn Lloyd-Jones gave six sermons on Rom 3:21-26:

The Turning Poing–But Now (Rom 3:21).
More Than Forgiveness.
By Free Grace Alone (Rom 3:24).
Propitiation (Rom 3:25).
The Blood of Jesus Christ (Rom 3:25).
The Vindication of God (Rom 3:25-26).

“Righteousness” is an important word in Romans, appearing 37 times. The next highest usage is 7 times in 2 Corinthians. The phrase “a righteousness of God” shows up 8 times in Romans, but 2 times in all the rest of Paul’s letters combined.

To understand justification, let us consider what it is not.

Justification is not forgiveness. It’s more than forgiveness. While forgiveness is part of it, it’s not all of it. If a teacher cancels out an “F” you got on an exam, that’s forgiveness. However, if your teacher declares your “F” to be an “A+” that is the equivalent of what it means to be justified.
Justification is not a pardon. It’s more than a pardon. A pardon covers sins of the past. No judge has ever issued a pardon for future crimes. Justification deals with the sins of the past, present, and the future.
Justification is not a return to innocence. It is not “just as if I’d never sinned.” It is a state of righteousness, not innocence. The fact that we have sinned and continue to fall short is the basis for the greatness of what God has done in justification. It is important to know that this takes place as a transaction. It is not a process. I am not gradually being justified in the hopes that some day I will be fully justified. The death of Christ took place at a point in time, and my justification takes place at a point in time (1 Cor 6:11).

A boy once captured two little birds and put them in a cage. A man saw the boy carrying the cage and asked him what he was going to do with the birds. The boy replied, “Oh, I’m going to play with them for a while and then I’m going to feed them to my cat.” The man looked at the caged birds and took pity on them. He said, “I’d like to buy the cage and the birds from you. How much do you want for them?” The boy thought for a minute and then named his price. The man paid it and the boy handed over the cage. Immediately, the man opened the cage and set the birds free. That’s what Jesus did for us. Satan had us caged up in our sin and was going to feed us into the jaws of eternal death. But Jesus Christ purchased us and set us free.

Benjamin Toh

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