Chapter 3
3:1-2- After all that was said in chapter 2, some may then ask what benefit there was with being God’s chosen people? Paul starts by listing one very important benefit (only to not continue the list until Romans 9:4-5). God had entrusted the nation of Israel with the “oracles of God.” God’s very own special revelation to mankind was given through Israel. They were to write and give to the world the Holy Scripture.
3:3-4- F.F. Bruce states: “Men’s faithlessness never alters God’s faithfulness or frustrates His purpose. The unfaithfulness of men simply sets His truth in relief: His righteousness is always vindicated over against their unrighteousness.” This is the point Paul is making to the “opponent” objecting to everything Paul has been saying in chapter 2. God promises blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience under the old covenant (Deut. 11:26-29). If God condemns those who are His covenant people for their disobedience, it does not make Him faithless or a covenant breaker. Just the opposite! This is why Paul quotes Psalm 51:4 here, the context of which is David acknowledging his sin before the Lord and admitting that when God accuses David of sin, He is justified in doing so and whatever judgments God makes as a result, He is blameless in doing so! Because of this truth, the accusations of man against God are nothing but slanderous lies. God will be found true!
3:5-8- Another anticipated “objection” Paul addresses here is questioning God’s “fairness” in judging. Bruce shares their sentiment like this: “If my falsehood makes God’s truth shine more brightly by contrast, it rebounds to His glory; then why does He insist on condemning me, a sinner? The end–God’s glory--is good; why is the means–my sin–counted wrong? Surely the end justifies the means?” Paul vehemently teaches against antinomianism. That is, the thought that since we are no longer under the law, God’s grace gives us the license to sin, thereby rejecting any sort of moral obligation in our lives. Because Paul preaches that we aren’t justified before God by our ability to keep the law, but by grace through faith in Christ, some were accusing Paul of promoting this idea that we are therefore free of moral responsibility to God, or perhaps even worse, that willingly doing evil invites even more grace. “Let us do evil that good may come!” This couldn’t be further from the truth. ”Fruits” of righteousness necessarily follow justification. Paul labels these accusations as “slanderous” and states that whatever condemnation they receive as a result is just! Romans 6 alone is enough to dispel accusations that Paul taught this, but many other teachings in his epistles speak to this issue as well (see 1 Cor. 6:9-11, Titus 3, 1 Thess. 4:1-8, Col. 3:1-17, Eph. 4:17-32, 5:1-21, Gal. 5:19-21). Paul very clearly exhorts believers to ”bear fruits in keeping with repentance.”
3:9-18- Paul now draws from a collection of Old Testament verses to make his point about the sinfulness of man. “As it is written” indicates the authority of God’s word that he is about to quote or allude to. This is common of New Testament writers when referring to Scripture. Out of the seven citations, five come from Psalms (14:1-3, 5:19, 10:7, 36:1, 140:3), one from Isaiah 59:7-8 and the other from Ecclesiastes 7:20. Scholars point out that stringing together verses in this manner is actually a rabbinic practice called “pearl stringing.” Paul is putting together the truth found in multiple areas of Scripture to solidify his point. The truth of the matter is very simply that all people (whether Jew or Gentile) are under the power of sin and are unrighteous.
While it’s true that the extreme wickedness Paul presents by using the truth of Scripture can be seen throughout the world in a general sense, some might object that there are plenty of people throughout time (and we may know some even now) that appear to live perfectly “moral” lives apart from loving God. Ultimately, we know that the greatest commandment (upon which all the law and the prophets hinge) is to love God with all our hearts, soul, mind and strength. An external “moral” life apart from loving God is ultimately in vain. Furthermore, we tend to look at morality in comparison with other humans, but our metric for measuring righteousness is not the people around us, it's a thrice holy God. The God of the universe who sets the standard for morality and righteousness is the metric by which He judges mankind. So, the simple fact is that in comparison to God’s holiness, we are all prideful, self seeking and wicked at heart. Even the most kind buddhist one might meet has committed the most egregious sin a human can commit (as Paul mentions in Rom. 1), exchanging the truth of God for a lie, worshiping and serving the created rather than the Creator. (Rom. 1:25). Worshiping false gods and idols, giving honor and praise that is only due to God in heaven is to be an enemy of God. Every “good deed,” every “nicety” is done in the context of blasphemous, idolatrous worship that is an affront to the God who made them.
It goes back to our works being as filthy rags before God. Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” (NKJV). No “upright” person; be it a Jew, an atheist, a buddhist, a muslim or New Age guru can be saved by their works or good deeds. Only faith in Christ and by the grace of His shed blood can anyone hope to escape the wrath to come and enjoy eternal fellowship with their Creator. Leon Morris cites Psalm 143:2, “And do not enter into judgment with Your servant, For in Your sight no man living is righteous” and proceeds to comment, “The writer is facing the important question: ‘How can sinful man be accepted by a just God?’ The Psalmist recognizes his limitations, his sheer inability to reach the standard God requires of him.” Morris goes on to add: “No-one on earth will ever be accepted before God on the ground of his merits. We are all sinners and our sins will prevent us from ever being justified in God’s sight.” Robert Mounce rightly concludes, “We participants in this fallen world tend to minimize the difference between our own conduct and the expectations of a holy God. In view of what God intends, humans fall lamentably short.”
3:19-20- The Law reveals that we are sinners. The Law does not give us the ability to be justified before God, for human effort to keep the Law of God fails every single time. It’s like a mirror that reveals that we are covered in filth, but it doesn’t give us the ability to clean ourselves. As Jesus points out in Matt. 5, The Law goes beyond external “dos and don’ts” and plumbs the depths of our hearts to call us guilty. I can keep the 7th Commandment externally my whole life, but break it internally every day of my life (Matt. 5:27-28). By this standard we are helpless. Paul addresses this concept of the Law revealing our sin again in Rom. 5:20 and Rom. 7:7. Albert Barnes comments, “This is the way in which a sinner is converted; and the more closely and faithfully the Law is preached, the more will it condemn him, and show him that he needs some other plan of salvation."
3:21-24- Paul’s “But now” indicates the solution to the issue at hand. The Law represents God’s righteousness, but Paul says that apart from the Law, God’s righteousness has been manifested! “The Law and the Prophets” is frequently used to reference Scripture (Old Testament) and Paul is saying that this “manifestation” of God’s righteousness finds testimony in the Old Testament. In other words, the solution Paul presents is not ad hoc. The righteousness of God is obtained by faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, Jew or Gentile. Just as Paul has made clear, ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (which, as the Westminster Shorter Catechism states, to bring glory to God is the chief end of man). We are justified by the grace of God through Jesus Christ, not because we have the ability to perfectly keep His holy standard (the Law). What we learn by reading Scripture is that Christ is the only one to keep the Law perfectly (Matt. 5:17) and died as the perfect sacrifice on behalf of those who are totally unable to keep the Law of God. The Law (mirror) reveals our filth and the need to be washed. His blood is the only thing that can wash and clean us.
3:25-26- We are justified before God because of the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross. Here we find a summation of the atoning work of Christ on behalf of sinners. Isaiah 53 offers great insight into what Jesus did on the cross. “But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” -Isaiah 53:5-6 (ESV)
Isaiah 53:10-12 (ESV) “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.”
Ben Witherington III states: “The crucifixion of Jesus publicly displays God’s eternal purpose for humanity. Implicit in this way of putting things is that God purposed for Jesus to die on the cross as an atonement. His crucifixion did not happen purely on the basis of human machinations.” There is an important concept that we must understand about God. His righteousness, holiness and perfect justice demands a punishment for evil and wickedness (Gen. 18:20-21, Exod. 34:7, Nahum 1:3, Psalms 98:9, Isaiah 59:1-2). As Paul has made clear, we all deserve the righteous and holy wrath of God. The only way to avoid what we deserve is by the atoning work of Christ who takes what we deserve on Himself. This justice of God is why Paul says in the latter half of verse 25 and then in verse 26, “This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” (ESV)
Albert Barnes writes,“It refers to the fact that God had retained the integrity of his character as a moral governor; that he had shown a due regard to his Law, and to the penalty of the Law by his plan of salvation. Should he forgive sinners without an atonement, justice would be sacrificed and abandoned. The Law would cease to have any terrors for the guilty, and its penalty would be a nullity. In the plan of salvation, therefore, he has shown a regard to the Law by appointing his Son to be a substitute in the place of sinners.”
Thomas Schreiner adds: “God looked forward to the cross of Christ where the full payment for the guilt of sin would be made, where Christ would die in the place of sinners. In the OT, propitiation (or the complete satisfaction of the wrath of God) is symbolically foreshadowed in several incidents: e.g., Ex. 32:11-14, Num. 25:8, 11; Josh 7:25-26… God has shown Himself to be just (utterly holy, so that the penalty demanded by the law is not removed, but paid for by Christ), but also the justifier (the one who provides the means of justification and who declares people to be in right standing with Himself) and the Savior of all those who trust in Jesus. Here is the heart of the Christian faith, for at the cross God’s justice and love meet.”
God can only offer us grace by way of our faith specifically because justice for sin was satisfied by Jesus taking the penalty for that sin. For example, It is only by grace through faith that Abraham was made right before God, or even the Gentile prostitute, Rahab. But what about justice at that time? Abraham and Rahab died without the perfect sacrifice for their sins. Heb. 10:4 tells us “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.” Yet, God still showed them grace. Where is the justice for their sins? And that is exactly the point of what Paul is getting at in verse 26. Abraham and Rahab’s sins were paid for and taken away in the death of Jesus. Their faith in God was completed by Christ’s death on the cross. So says Adam Harwood, “God’s just requirements were fulfilled at the sacrifice of Christ on the cross because He punished the sin of all who would be justified by faith, including those who lived before the time of Christ.” To quote Kenneth Wuest, “It makes no difference to God whether He saves sinners before or after the cross. The cross is an eternal fact in the reckoning of God.”
Excursus: (Christ’s Atonement/Propitiation)
Much has been made throughout history of how to translate the Greek word hilastērion in Rom. 3:25. Many translations render it as “propitiation” in this specific verse given the context of Paul’s message up to this point (NASB, ESV, NKJV, etc). The main debate is whether hilastērion means “propitiation” (appeasement of wrath) or “expiation” (a covering for sin). The surrounding context determines how this Greek word is translated. For example, in Hebrews 9:5, this same word is translated as “mercy seat” given the context surrounding it. In that passage, hilastērion is illustrating “expiation” (a covering for sin). However, it’s not a matter of “either/or” as both meanings apply to the sacrifice of Christ. In Rom. 3:25, the context in which this word is used must be taken into account. Considering Paul has gone to great lengths in the last few chapters to point out that we are all sinners under the wrath of God (1:18-3:20), if hilastērion does not mean “propitiation” (appeasement of wrath), then we are still under God’s righteous wrath. As Leon Morris remarks, “unless hilastērion means ‘propitiation,’ Paul has put men under the wrath of God and left them there.” Morris goes on to state that to do justice to what Paul is trying to convey in these first few chapters of Romans, “we must include in our understanding of this passage the idea that part of the meaning of salvation is that God’s wrath is averted.” Mark Seifrid notes that “Both ‘propitiation’ (the aversion of God’s wrath) and ‘expiation’ (the removal of sin) are in view in the term hilastērion.” Seifrid then goes on to point out that “expiation is thus contingent on propitiation. Propitiation effects expiation.”
F.F. Bruce puts it this way: “The context does warrant the inclusion of averting divine wrath in the meaning of hilastērion in Romans 3:25. Paul has already said in 1:18 that ‘The wrath of God’ is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; how then is this ‘wrath’ to be removed? The hilastērion which God has provided in Christ not only removes the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men but at the same time averts the wrath or retribution which is the inevitable sequel to such attitudes and actions in a moral universe. What exactly the “Suffering Servant” suffers “satisfies” The Father and because of this propitiation, many will be counted righteous (His sacrifice will cover their sins).”
Wayne Grudem writes that in addition to our verse here in Romans, 1 John 2:2 and 4:10 the Greek noun hilasmos (a sacrifice of propitiation) is used in the sense of a sacrifice that turns away the wrath of God, thereby making God propitious/favorable towards us. Grudem notes that this is “the consistent meaning of these words outside the Bible where they were well understood in reference to pagan Greek religions.” In other words, the New Testament writers are not using terms inconsistent with their meaning or contrary to how they were understood in their day. The difference between the false pagan deities and the one true God couldn’t be more evident, however. Morris writes, “It is abundantly clear in the Bible that God cannot be propitiated in the way the pagans held that their deities could be. The God of the Bible is not capricious or arbitrary. He does not impose punishments without reason on bewildered worshipers who must then bribe him back into a good mood with their costly offerings.” Over and against pagan deities, John Stott points out that of the biblical God, sin is lawlessness and “a defiant disregard for the law of God which deserves the judgment of God. It is this divine judgment upon human rebellion which makes the barrier to fellowship with God; and there can be no expiation of man’s sin without a propitiation of God’s wrath. God’s holy antagonism to sin must somehow be turned away if sin is to be forgiven and the sinner restored.”
The verses in 1 John as well as 3:25 in Romans simply mean that by His sacrifice of atonement on the cross, Jesus appeased the wrath of God that was destined to fall on sinful mankind (and will indeed fall on man if one rejects this sacrifice of appeasement and atonement, cf. 2:5). Grant Osborne correctly states of Rom. 3:25, “Christ’s sacrifice accomplished two things: the wrath of God was appeased, and sins were forgiven… Through Christ’s atoning sacrifice sinners can be reconciled to God, and only then can eternal fellowship begin.”
3:27-31- Paul goes on to say that because of all this, we have no reason to boast in our salvation because of something we’ve done. In this more specific context Paul is using the concept of “boasting,” to refer to the national pride of Jews as God’s chosen people. It equally applies to everyone though as the Gentile is also saved by the same faith. It’s not by some work that we’ve done or some law that we’ve kept, but by faith. He establishes that God is the God of everyone, not just the Jews and that faith is the determining factor for whether or not one is justified before God, regardless of circumcision. Paul then clarifies in verse 31 that just because we are justified by faith does not mean the law is bad or that it is irrelevant. As children of God who have been justified by faith, the Holy Spirit of God lives in us. When we yield to the Spirit (see Eph. 5) we will walk in God’s precepts and statutes. As we will see, Paul goes to great lengths in Romans to dispel the notion of antinomianism. We have died to sin and now live for Christ. This entails keeping the greatest commandment that our Lord and Savior preached and affirmed, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” -Matt. 22:37-40 (NIV). Paul will cover this in Rom. 13:8-14.
Bibliography (Works Cited):
-F.F. Bruce: The Epistle of Paul to the Romans, TNTC, 1983
-Leon Morris: The Atonement: It’s Meaning and Significance, p.185, 169, 174
-Robert H. Mounce: Romans, NAC, 1995
-Albert Barnes: Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible (Romans)
-Ben Witherington III: Paul’s Letter to the Romans: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary
-Thomas Schreiner: ESV Study Bible, Romans
-Adam Harwood: Christian Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Systematic (p. 459)
-Kenneth S. Wuest: Word Studies in the Greek New Testament, Vol. 1 (Romans)
-Mark A. Seifrid: Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Beale and Carson), Romans
-Wayne Grudem: Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, 1994 (p. 575)
-John W. R. Stott: The Epistles of John, TNTC, 1981, p. 87
-Grant R. Osborne: Romans, IVPNTC, 2004