The Righteousness of God, Romans 3:21 - 31

The thesis of Paul’s message in Romans is found in Romans 1:16-17.  He says there, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it [the] righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [man] SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”

This message is the gospel, the good news, that the righteousness of God has been manifested to man on the basis of faith.  Paul gives us in that statement a synopsis of the gospel. God is righteous, and in order to have life from God we must be righteous as He is righteous, and that righteousness is accomplished by faith. But then almost ironically, he spends the next 2 1/2 chapters talking about the fact that all men have failed to measure up to that standard of God’s righteousness, and that all men are sinners, and thereby condemned to death.  Rather than focusing on the good news, Paul first focuses our attention on the bad news.  All men are under the judgment of God because of their sinful nature and their unrighteousness.

But in the passage which we are looking at today, having shown that all men are unrighteous, Paul presents a series of principles of righteousness which by believing we become righteous in the sight of God.  And he starts by defining the righteousness that God requires by the law. He has already shown that all men - the pagan, the moral man, and even the religious man - are sinners under the condemnation of God’s judgment. So in vs 19, Paul presents the principle of righteousness defined. “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God.” Paul says the law defines righteousness, God’s standard, and all men are held accountable to that standard.

This condition of man’s sinfulness and hopelessness is described in Isaiah as the whole world being in darkness. In Isaiah 59:9 it says, “Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom. In vs2 Isaiah said,  “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden [His] face from you so that He does not hear.”

So our sins mean that righteousness has been denied to us on the basis of keeping the law.  Paul says in vs 20, “because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law [comes] the knowledge of sin.”  The second principle then is righteousness denied. Righteousness has been denied because of our sin against God’s law.  We cannot attain to His standard of perfect righteousness. And so we are all denied the righteousness that God requires, and condemned to the penalty of sin, which is death. Notice the phrase, no one is justified in His sight, because of their sin as attested by the law.

But as Isaiah prophesied, God’s hand is not so short that it cannot save. Isa.59:15, “Now the LORD saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice. And He saw that there was no man, And was astonished that there was no one to intercede; Then His own arm brought salvation to Him, And His righteousness upheld Him. He put on righteousness like a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.”

Then in Isaiah chapter 60, the light shines forth in the darkness of man’s despair and depravity. 60 vs 1, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, And the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth And deep darkness the peoples; But the LORD will rise upon you And His glory will appear upon you.”

This ray of hope in a dark world, this radiance of the Son of Righteousness that appears, comes not from below, not from the world, not from man’s efforts,  but from above, a righteousness from God which is revealed to a world in darkness. So in vs21 we see the principle of righteousness manifested.  Vs21 “But now apart from the Law [the] righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”

Notice, that though the law defined righteousness, this righteousness which comes from God comes apart from the law.  That is, it is not attained by keeping the law.  We have already seen that if we could not keep the law. The law condemned us as unrighteous.  So righteousness comes apart from man’s efforts.  God comes to the rescue. God accomplishes what man could never do.  His own arm, or God’s own efforts, brought about salvation.

Another point that is made in that verse which is important is that this righteousness which comes from God was attested by the scriptures.  Paul is speaking of the Old Testament scriptures, which were referred to by the Jews as the Law and the Prophets.  What Paul is saying is that even in the law, the Old Testament scriptures, it was revealed that righteousness comes through faith. Now we have already seen that evident in Romans 1:17, which says, “THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.”  That is a quote from Hab.2:4.  It’s also referred to in Genesis 15:6 which says “Then [Abraham] believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” It’s also found in Psalm 32:1,2. “How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, Whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no deceit!”  So, in the law and the prophets righteousness is manifested, from God, apart from the law.

But though righteousness comes from God apart from keeping the law, righteousness must be received. This principle of righteousness is shown in vs22. “Even [the] righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.”  This righteousness of God apart from the law must be received through faith in Jesus Christ. We receive righteousness through faith in what Christ did on our behalf.  All those who believe in Christ’s righteousness are given the righteousness of God.  Now faith, Paul says,  is believing, but it’s much more than just believing in Jesus’s existence.  It is believing in who He is, and what He accomplished, and what He promises to do.  Faith is believing and then putting that belief into practice.  Acting on that belief in who Christ is, and what He has done, and what He promises to do.

2 Cor. 5:21 says. “God made Jesus, who knew no sin, to become sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” So faith is believing that transaction of our sins to Christ and God’s righteousness to us was accomplished for us by Christ. And Paul adds, there is no distinction. Or there is no exceptions, everyone must appropriate God’s righteousness.  No one comes to God on his own merit or by his works.  No one comes on the basis of his nationality or race or religion. They must come by faith in Christ in order to appropriate the righteousness of God.

On the basis of our own merit, Paul says all fall short of the glory of God. Vs23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In this verse we see the principle of righteousness defaulted.  On the basis of man’s efforts, or man’s nationality, they have defaulted in meeting that righteous standard which God requires.  Sin in the Greek language is hamartanō, which means to miss the mark.  It’s a reference to shooting an arrow, in which one misses the target.

But here Paul uses another analogy; that of falling short.  It’s as if he is saying that between us and God there is a great chasm, which no one can leap and everyone falls short.  The other day as I was flying out to LA for the pastor’s conference, I started thinking about this verse.  And I began to imagine a fictitious scenario as an illustration of how we all fall short of the glory of God.  I began to imagine a scenario in which all our church were lined up on a high cliff overlooking this great chasm between us and God. And as I began to imagine various people in this congregation trying to jump this chasm I started laughing out loud, and I think other passengers were starting to get worried that I was losing it or something. For instance,  I thought of Bill, and how we might think that he looks fit, he seems athletic, a team captain kind of guy, and if anyone could jump that chasm then I guess Bill could. And I imagined all of us lined up on this cliff overlooking this giant chasm between us and God and cheering Bill on.  So he flashes a smile, walks back 25 yards, and then takes off running for the cliff to the sounds of our cheers.  And in my mind’s eye, Bill makes a grand effort, and he manages to fly really far through the sky, but he falls far short of the other side and he’s gone.  Very sad. He really looked like he could do it.

Then I imagined we called up Nick.  After all, he was the goat herder.  Nick though didn’t seem too confident.  He complained about his back not being right.  But we pressed upon him, and finally Nick took a running start and he sailed through the air as we cheered him on. Maybe it was the bad back, I don’t know.  But he didn’t get as far as Bill got.  He too crashed and burned.

Then just when it seemed like all hope was lost, Lou showed up.  I didn’t have a lot of hope for old Lou, seeing he was kinda short, but then I figured, well, at least he is enthusiastic.  Lou was all excited about an idea he had.  He had cut down a really long bamboo pole.  He said “Pastor, I”m going to pole vault that thing.”  Well, it was a good idea, but though Lou got really high, he didn’t get very far.  Poor Lou.

Now, I am being silly. I hope I’m not being sacrilegious. And I probably managed to hurt at least 3 people’s feelings.  That’s why I don’t normally use illustrations.  But I hope you at least get the picture. All of us have sinned and fallen short.  No distinctions.  Even the best of us fall far short. Even our best efforts fall short of God’s glory.  It’s hopeless in our own efforts to attain to the standard of righteousness.

But it’s interesting to notice the flow here in these verses. Paul was just talking about the righteousness which comes from God by faith, and then he mentions believing in Christ, and then for some reason he goes back to this idea of man’s sin. You would think that he has already exhausted that subject.  Why bring up man’s sin again now that the conversation has moved on to the principle of faith? And I believe the answer is that there are two aspects of faith.  One is believing, the other is repentance.  And so when Paul tells us in vs 23 that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God it is to emphasize the need for repentance, a confession of our sin, a desire to be forgiven, a desire to be freed from sin.  Repentance is a necessary part of what it means to have faith.  And so I think that is why the text flows as it does in vs 22 and 23.  Faith is believing and repentance which appropriates the righteousness of God.

The next principle builds on that by saying that though righteousness is defaulted on our part, it is nevertheless granted by God as a gift of grace.  I call this principle,  righteousness declared.  That is what happens when God justifies us.  He declares us as righteous by the transference of Christ’s righteousness to us, and our sin being transferred to him.  Let’s see how Paul phrases this principle of righteousness declared. Vs24, “being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

In response to our faith in the atoning work of Christ on our behalf, God looks at us and declares us to be righteous, just as if we never sinned.  That’s what justified means.  God declares us righteous on the basis of what Christ did on our behalf.  It’s not something that we earn, or merit, as we said earlier, but because of what Christ did.  Therefore, it is called grace, “charis”, which means a gift. Grace is unmerited favor.  So justification is a gift from God.

But notice, that though it costs us nothing, yet justification does cost something. God doesn’t just declare us righteous because He decided to forget about our sin and the payment that was due. God did not stop counting sins,  He just counted them against Christ.  Paul says we are justified by grace through the redemption which is in Christ.

Now what is redemption?  It’s buying something back in exchange for payment.  My mother, and probably yours as well, used to collect S and H Green Stamps.  In those days, every time you bought groceries at the grocery store they would give you some S and H Green Stamps according to how much you bought.  And when you collected enough stamps to fill up a book, you could take the book to the store and get a frying pan or something like that. That was called redemption.  You paid for them, and eventually you cashed them in for the object that you wanted.

Jesus paid the price for sin.  He died the death that we were supposed to die.  He suffered the punishment in full for our sin. Gal 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us.”  Listen, sin has a price.  Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death…”  Jesus paid the price of death for us that we might be set free.  That’s redemption.

But there is another principle that is closely aligned with that redemption, and that is the principle of righteousness satisfied.  That principle is found in vs 25, “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. [This was] to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”  This is the principle; that the justice of God demanded a penalty for sin which is death.  God in His justice accepted the payment for my penalty by Jesus dying in my place. That’s what is meant by a propitiation in His blood. Propitiation means appeasement.  It means God’s judgment was satisfied. Our debt was paid in full by the death of Jesus Christ.  He shed His blood, He died in my place, and God’s justice was satisfied.

The next principle of righteousness that Paul presents here is that of righteousness demonstrated. This is such an important principle that it is repeated twice, both in vs 25 and 26.  Let’s read them again: [Paul is speaking of Jesus] “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. [This was] to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;  for the demonstration, [I say,] of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

Now there are two time frames that are indicated there.  First, there is the time before Christ’s crucifixion.  In the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.  I have learned about forbearance in regards to paying back student loans.  If for whatever reason you are unable to pay what you owe, you can apply for a forbearance.  That’s not debt forgiveness, it’s putting off what you have to pay until a more appropriate time. You still owe it, just don’t have to pay it now. And that is what happened under the old covenant.  The blood of bulls and goats were not able to take away sins.  They were merely an acknowledgement of the person’s sin, and an agreement that the penalty for their sin would be paid at a later date.  So they were looking forward through their sacrifice to the One who would be the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world. They still were declared righteous by faith.  Faith in what was promised to come, the Messiah, who would be the Savior of the world by His final sacrifice for sin.

The second time period in the demonstration of God’s righteousness was after the cross, when those who were declared righteous by faith looked back to the death of Christ on the cross.   In both cases, in both the old and new covenant, Paul says they were justified by faith in Christ.  And that is important to understand, because that illustrates that no Jew was ever saved by keeping the law.  He was saved by faith.  And as we look at chapter 4 next week, we are going to see Abraham, the old covenant patriarch, the father of the Jewish nation,  as an illustration of saving faith.

So Paul has presented this series of principles of righteousness as essential to our salvation. But in the greater context of his message, he is still delineating the difference between Jews and Gentiles in regards to salvation.  And so he comes back to that argument that there is no distinction on the part of God towards the Jew’s requirements as contrasted with the Gentile.  The Jews had been entrusted with the law, with the scriptures, and the promises. And so there was some advantage in that they had the word of God to lead them to salvation.  Paul made that argument back in the beginning of the chapter.  But greater responsibility means a greater culpability.  They still had to be saved through faith, not by keeping the law.  And so Paul summarizes that principle of justification by faith, in the closing verses of chapter 3, saying, “Where then is boasting? (speaking of the Jew’s boast in the law)  It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.  For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.  Or is God [the God] of Jews only? Is He not [the God] of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also,  since indeed God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.”

As Paul says in Gal. 3:24 “Therefore the Law has become our tutor [to lead us] to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.”  The world is under the condemnation of the law.  Sin and righteousness is revealed through the law.  The law teaches us the character of God.  The law requires a penalty.  But thank God we do not attain righteousness through keeping the law.  But we attain righteousness as a gift from God through faith in the righteous sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

I pray that you have accepted the tremendous gift of righteousness that was provided for you by the death of Jesus Christ.  I pray that no one makes the mistake of thinking that he will be accepted by God on the basis of how good of a person he thinks he may be, or what good work that he has done.  There is no other way to be justified before God, but by faith in what Jesus Christ has done for us.  Repent of the fact that you are a sinner, and trust in Him as your Lord and Savior, and receive the gift of righteousness that gives us eternal life.