Romans 3:19-26

¹⁹ And we know whatever the Law says it speaks to those under the Law, so that every mouth may be silenced and all the world may be liable to judgment by God. ²⁰ For by works of the Law all flesh may not be justified before Him, since through the Law [comes] knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been revealed apart from the Law being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² a righteousness through faith in Jesus Christ to all those who believe. For there is no distinction, ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory ²⁴ being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ who God displayed publicly, a propitiation in His blood through faith as a sign of His righteousness because of the passing over of those sins committed beforehand ²⁶ in  the forbearance of God, as a sign of his righteousness in the present time, so that He might be the just and the justifier through faith in Jesus.

We had a great discussion Sunday morning, and I know I can’t hope to get everything into one blog article. Hopefully those that were there can supply my deficiencies in the comments for the benefit of those that weren’t there!

My translation above sticks pretty rigidly to the Greek, perhaps at the expense of clear English, but hopefully the notes that follow will help to make sense of it. Your favorite translation will undoubtedly do a much better job, so feel free to use that.

Verses 19 and 20 transition from the previous discussion of man’s hopeless sinful state to a discussion of the good news–the gospel of justification by faith in Christ. While Paul certainly indicts all mankind with the guilt of sin, he is particularly anxious the Jews understand that they are as culpable as anyone else. “The Law” in verse 19 could be a reference back to the passages he quoted in verses 10-18, which for the Jew should be proof enough of what Paul is saying. Notice the “all/every” (Greek: pas) statements: every mouth, all the world, all flesh. Works of the Law cannot make anyone righteous, and the Old Testament witness should be sufficient to close the mouth of anyone who tries to argue differently. Indeed, the Law, the Old Testament, holds a mirror to our face and shows us our sin. The Law is not useless, and has not been discarded. It serves this very valuable purpose in showing us how incapable we are of living up to God’s righteous standard, and how much we are in need of His grace.

But now God has made known His righteousness apart from the Law. This is not to say that God decided the Law wasn’t working and so He changed plans. Rather, this revelation is totally consistent with the Law, since “the Law and the Prophets”–i.e., the Old Testament–bears witness to it. This righteousness of God is one that is for all those who believe, who have faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone who has faith in Christ, Jew or Gentile, receives God’s righteousness without reference to the Law. God makes no distinction between Jew or Gentile. All have sinned, and all continue to fall short of God’s glory (the Greek verb husterountai is continuous present tense), so the only way they can be made righteous is to receive that righteousness as a gift of God by His grace.

Paul says this gift comes to the believer through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. The word “redemption” (Greek: apolutrôsis) can also refer to a ransom, a payment made in order to redeem something. There is a theory of the atonement that sees this ransom as a payment made by Christ to redeem us from Satan. In this view, Satan has humanity captive because of sin, and Jesus’s death on the cross paid the ransom to release men from Satan. C. S. Lewis appeared to hold this position, as illustrated in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe where the White Witch holds Edmund captive until Aslan buys his release with his own life. As much as we love and admire C. S. Lewis, on this point he was mistaken. Paul’s teaching is quite clear that the redemption purchased by Christ was to redeem us from God’s wrath. As sinful creatures, we are captive to sin and under the just wrath of God. We are not neutral pawns in some cosmic game being played out between God and Satan. Christ’s death on the cross was necessary to pay the penalty to satisfy God’s wrath on our behalf. And, as we shall see, this had to happen for God to be able to redeem sinners and still remain just.

Verse 25 uses some very interesting language. Paul says that God presented, or displayed publicly, Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood. The word “propitiation” is one of those theological terms that we really ought to understand. It refers to something given in order to satisfy God’s anger. Christ gave Himself willingly on the cross as a propitiation–to satisfy the just demands of God’s anger for our sin. The Greek word for “propitiation,” hilastêrion, is used in the Greek Old Testament (the Septuagint or LXX) in Leviticus 16, where it translates the Hebrew kapôreth, traditionally translated “mercy seat” (e.g., Leviticus 16:2), the covering over the Ark of the Covenant. In Leviticus 16, the Lord gives instruction on how the offering for the Day of Atonement was to be conducted. The high priest was to enter the holy of holies alone on that day, and there he was to sprinkle the sacrificial blood on the kapôreth, or mercy seat, to atone for the sins of the people. By using the same word, Paul appears to be associating Christ with the mercy seat, only instead of the offering being done in the seclusion of the holy of holies, the sacrifice is made “publicly.” And instead of the blood of animals, it is the blood of God incarnate that is shed on behalf of all those who believe–not just the Jews, but Jew and Gentile.

The sacrifice of Christ is a demonstration of God’s righteousness in that in His forbearance, he passes over, or overlooks, the sins committed in the past. This is not saying that previous sin didn’t matter. I think Paul is here answering the question “but what of Noah, Moses, Abraham… they weren’t without sin–how are their sins dealt with?” God’s plan of salvation through Christ was not a change of plan: this was the original plan from the beginning. The Old Testament promises and ordinances of the Law all point forward to Christ. Indeed, as we shall see in chapter 4, at the end of the day justification was still by faith. Pre-Christ, it was faith in the promise of God, that He would provide a Redeemer–a promise that was made back in Genesis 3, and is echoed throughout the Old Testament. So Christ’s death on the cross not only satisfied God’s wrath over the sins of those believing in Him now, but also the sins of those who in the past clung to God’s promises, and by faith obeyed the Lord.

Christ’s death on the cross, his propitiatory sacrifice, signifies God’s righteousness, because it satisfies His wrath over our sins, and the sins of all who believe, past, present, and future. In His justice, God couldn’t simply acquit whomever He pleased. The nature of sin is such that without an accounting for it, there can be no reconciliation between God and man. We’ve seen this in chapter 1, where Paul describes man’s rebellion against God. But if no-one is seeking God, how can men ever turn to God? And even if men did turn to God, what offering, other than laying down their own lives, would be sufficient to pay the debt due? In this situation, how can a just God satisfy His wrath over sin to save those whom He wants to save? This is where God becomes both the just and the justifier of those who believe in Jesus: as the judge, He declares man guilty, and in Christ He pays the penalty. God demands sacrifice, and He becomes that very sacrifice on our behalf.

Thought from the passage: How does this affect your life, to consider how God has loved His people so much, that He would pay that penalty we could not pay? Does it inspire you to witness? Does it cause you to be thankful? If you want to share, please do so in the comments.