ROMANS 3:21-23
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
(Vs 21.) "But now...." things have changed. In the Old Testament, the way to be righteous before God was to believe and do Israel’s law, (Luke 1:6. The Old Testament did not end until Christ’s death, so most of Luke records time that is still in the Old Testament). The law condemned a person, but provided an animal blood sacrifice for atonement, (Lev 17:11). If a person believed the law, he would see his sin and do the animal sacrifice. But they had no security like we have now. New sin required another sacrifice, (Heb 9:6,7 & 10:10-14).
But now
things are radically different. Today we can get God’s righteousness without Israel and her law. Never before Paul, was there an apostle of the Gentiles, (Rom 11:13 & 15:16; Eph 3:1-8; IITim 1:10,11), or such a message. This message of salvation to all men equally through the cross was kept secret until testified in due time by Paul, (ITim 2:5-7; Titus 1:3; I Cor 15:3-8; Rom 16:25,26). "None of the princes of this world knew; for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;" I Cor 2:7,8.Here is a challenge. Can you find anywhere in the Bible before Romans 3, that tells what we need to believe about Jesus to be saved? You might ask, " What about John 3:16?" But what did men at that time need to believe about Jesus? See Mat 16:15,16 and John 4:29,42 & 20:31. They did not understand about His death, (Luke 18:31-34). But what about Peter after Jesus rose from the dead? See what he preached in Acts 2:14-36. Is there anything there about trusting Jesus’ death as payment for sin? No! That is not revealed until here in Romans 3 by Paul. See how critical the book of Romans is! And understand how important Paul’s "but now..."s are. They often signify that God has changed how He is dealing with men. In Eph 2:11-16 is a good example of another "but now".
Back in Romans 1:16-18 there are 2 aspects to Paul’s gospel. Verse 18 is the bad news about the wrath of God against sin, (which we have just studied in Rom 1:18 to 3:20), and verse 17 mentions the good news about righteousness by faith. This is what Paul now goes on to explain in chapter 3. This way of justifying men is "witnessed (agreed to) by the law and the prophets" because, in it, the penalty of sin is fully paid.
(Vs 22.) Read verse 22 again. How does it say we can get "the righteousness of God"?
Righteousness is being completely right all the time. God is 100% righteous, and accepts nothing less. Since no one has any righteousness of their own (Rom 3:10), our only hope is to have God’s righteousness given to us. That is like having a lot of money put in your bank account. You might not use it, but it is there in your name. So we may not act righteously, but total righteousness is in our account with God.
"...by faith of Jesus Christ..." This is not our faith in Jesus, it is His faithfulness to keep His word. It is great to know that our salvation depends on Christ being faithful, not on us keeping faith. New Bibles change and loose this.
"...unto all..." God offers His righteousness unto all. I Tim 2:6 says Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. Heb 2:9 says He tasted death for every man.
Previously, salvation was limited to Israel, (Is 53:8; Mt 15:24,) and those who blessed her, (Gen 12:3: Mat 25:32-40).
Some teach that God has chosen who will be saved and damned, and that Christ only died for those who He planned to save. They see a conflict between God being sovereign (meaning He is able to do whatever He wants) and man having free will. But these verses show that Christ died for all men, and God’s sovereign will is to save those who choose to believe it, (I Cor 1:21 and I Tim 4:10).
"...and upon all them that believe:" God’s righteousness is offered to all men, but only bestowed upon them that believe.
So how do we get the righteousness of God? By believing in Jesus! In verses 24 and 25 we’ll study exactly what we need to believe about Jesus.
Notice how the faith of Christ and our belief in Him are in the same verse. They go together. He is trustworthy and faithful, so we can believe in Him. Also see Phil 3:9, Gal 2:16 & 3:22.
"for there is no difference;" There is no longer a difference between religious and non-religious, moral or immoral, Jew or Gentile, good or bad people, "there is none righteous, no not one", Rom 3:10.
(Vs 23.) "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Sin is coming short of God’s perfect standard. We all come far short. This verse, right in the middle of Paul telling us how to get the righteousness of God, is a reminder of why we need a Savior.
(Vs 24,25) For next class, look up the following words in a good dictionary or in Strong’s Concordance.
justify
grace
redemption
propitiation
forbearance
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