Having categorically concluded that
no one is righteous in the eyes of God and that both the Jew and the Gentile
stand condemned before God, Paul now passes on to explain a righteousness that
came from God, something other than the Law. This is dealt in Romans 3:21 to 30.
This is a beautiful passage which
lies at the very core of Christianity. This, one can say, is the crux of our
faith and belief. This is the Good News and this is the Gospel in short.
According to Paul, while we all stand
condemned before God as ‘guilty,’ there is one thing that can set us right
before God, so that we are not counted as guilty, but are declared ‘non-guilty.’
What is that one thing?
Religion, be it Hinduism, or Islam or
Christianity deals primarily with the sinfulness of mankind and the way of
liberation from it.
In Hinduism, one must reap the consequences
of one’s deeds, karma, and there is
no deliverance until the person concerned pays off all his/her debts due to
wrong doings (bad karma), by his/her
own effort, by doing acts of goodness (good karma),
over many births, until good deeds weigh more than the bad deeds. The entire
stress here is on the efforts of an individual to earn his or her deliverance
from this sinful life. A person must earn his deliverance by ‘works.’
In Islam also, traditions and rituals
like doing namaz five times a day, giving
out mandatory charity, going on pilgrimage to Haj and so on, alone can make Allah
pleased with him/her. Even so no Muslim is sure of deliverance and admission to
heaven, for that is entirely left to the mercy of Allah, their God.
Coming to Christianity, there is a
way out from the effects of sin and the sinful life and that way has been
provided by God Himself. As Paul mentions in Verse 21, a righteousness apart
from Law has been revealed by God. A person must be righteous, if he or she has
to stand before God and be declared ‘not guilty’ and not get the punishment due
to God’s wrath.
And Paul’s contention is that this is
not possible by human effort, whether a Jew or Gentile, but God Himself has
provided a way. To this way, the Law and Prophets in the Old Testament have testified.
Not in the legalistic way of the Pharisees, as it was in the time of Jesus, but
in the prophetic traditions. Jesus himself insisted that he has come in the fulfilment
of the prophecies of the Old Testament. Matthew 5:17; Luke 24:27.
It is a righteousness of God that
comes from God, revealed in Jesus Christ and from having faith in Jesus Christ.
This revelation of God is apart from the Law. Verse 22. In 2 Corinthians
5:21, Paul says, “God made him who has no sin to be sin for us, so that in
him we might become the righteousness of God.” In Philippians 3:9, Paul
reiterates this by saying, “(that I may gain Christ) …not having a righteousness
of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ –
the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”
The Law is nothing but a code of
conduct containing many commandments and instructions for leading a godly life
and a life pleasing to God. Now, In Jesus Christ, God has revealed the Way, and
we have to respond with faith in Jesus Christ. All who believe in Jesus Christ
will be saved. It is nothing which we can achieve by ourselves, or by our good
deeds or efforts. It is only through faith in Christ.
In verse 23, Paul returns to his
favourite argument that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Man,
was made in the image of God to reflect His glory, 1 Corinthians 11:7, but
by his disobedience he rebelled against God and lost the likeness of God, His
glory and became sinful.
We were all dead in our transgressions
and sins. Ephesians 2:1-2. By our own efforts, we cannot win
righteousness before God. Isaiah 64:6 puts it across beautifully saying,
“…all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;”
Only in Christ’s righteousness we can
stand before God and be declared righteous. ‘Jesus Christ became what I was - sin,
that I might become what He is -righteous.’[1]
To be righteous is to be just, and be
justified; to be declared ‘not guilty;’ to be acquitted. A man, Jew or Gentile,
stands condemned as a sinner before God, the Judge, in front of His judgment
seat; miraculously the man is acquitted as not guilty by God. How is this
possible?
This is explained in Verse 24. The
sinners that we are, we are justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that came by Jesus Christ. The acquittal comes free, we can do
nothing to secure it and we do not merit it too. It comes by His grace, the favour
of a sovereign God. God acquits the guilty and declares him justified.
Justification means ‘we stand before
God just as-if-we had-never-sinned.’ It is the pronouncement of the Judge, that
the sinner, who puts his trust and faith in Christ, is righteous. It is an act
by which ‘a wronged person is given his rights, is vindicated, delivered from
oppression.’[2]
Our redemption comes from Jesus
Christ. How? Paul deals with this in verse 25. Redemption is to redeem, to get
back. We redeem a pawned jewel by paying the cost. A slave has to be purchased
to set him free. His dues have to be paid by the one who sets him free. Here
Jesus did that for us, for every one of us. He paid the price. All that we have
to do is to have faith in Him.
In Matthew 20:25 Jesus says, “…Son
of Man (came) to give his life as ransom to many.” His own life he gave as a
ransom, as payment for the dues, to set us free. He redeemed us from sin, from
Law and the world. 1 Peter 1:18-19 says, we are not redeemed by perishable
things like gold and silver, but by with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb
without blemish or defect.
In Revelation 5:9, the elders
and living creatures sing, “with your blood you purchased men for God from
every tribe and language and people and nation.” Yes, He bought us, and freed
us by shedding his very blood on the cross as payment to deliver us from our
sins.
God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of
atonement. Verse 25. A sacrifice is performed by the sinner or defaulter, to
turn away the anger of God, to please God, to placate God. That is atonement. It
is Divine Propitiation offered by Jesus Christ on our behalf to turn away the
anger and wrath of God, which should have fallen on us otherwise.
Christ satisfied the righteous
character of God, who has to punish sin, by taking it on himself and making it
possible for God to show His mercy on the sinner and let him go scot-free. His
justice has to be satisfied, so He could show His mercy on humans.
In Leviticus 17:11, Yahweh lays
down that “For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to
you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes
atonement for one’s life.” Hence Israelites were forbidden to eat blood. It is
meant for atonement, to annul their guilts.
That is what Jesus did on the cross –
he atoned our sins by shedding his own blood, like in a sacrifice.
God passes over the sins previously
committed by us, in his forbearance, kindness and mercy. The moment we put our
faith in Christ, God forgives our previous sins, as if they were nothing. His
justice is shown in that in the present time after Jesus has come and paid the
price for us, if we accept that in faith, God is willing to forgive and justify
such people, by letting them go free. Verse 26.
Paul concludes by saying that there
can be no boasting in our justification for it is not our own doing by good deeds
or by observance of law. A man is justified by faith apart from observing the
law. Verse 27, 28. God is not just the God of Jews but is the God of Gentiles
also, for there is only One God, who will justify both the circumcised and the
non-circumcised by faith in Christ. Verse 30.
Points to Ponder:
1. Have you put your faith in Christ and
the price He paid on the cross with his own blood, as a sacrifice for your
sins?
2. Are you justified before God, by
appropriating the ransom paid by Jesus Christ on the cross?
3. Have you sought forgiven of your sins
by trusting in the work of Christ, and set free from sin? Or are you still
depending on your own works to earn merit before God?
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