Bible Study: Romans 3:21-26

Romans 3:21-26 The Just & The Justifier Through Faith

I. The Righteousness of God Manifested (3:21-22a)

• Besides the purity of the Law, His righteousness is also shown apart from the righteousness required in the Law. Truly, the Law is righteous, but only Christ satisfied the Law’s Requirement. (3:21a)
  
• The way in which the Law and the Prophets testify to God’s righteousness is through the prophecies contained in them about Christ and the need for Christ. The Law & the Prophets magnify sin against the backdrop of God’s Holiness and thus declare the absolute demand for salvation apart from a works based righteousness. They are a foreshadow of God’s Revelation in Christ.  (3:21b)
  
• Ultimately, God’s Righteousness is made manifested in the Life, Death, Burial, Resurrection, and Ascension of Jesus Christ.  It is through faith in Him alone that a man is made righteous before God.  He is the One that all of Divine Scripture pours into and out of. (3:22a)
  

II. All Under Sin & Need Justification by Grace in Christ Alone (3:22b-25a)

• There is no distinction, for both Jew and Gentile are all under sin and thus fall short of the glory of God.  Paul is reemphasizing what He has already laid in verses prior when He quoted the Old Testament at length. (3:22b-23)
  
• Therefore, there is the need to by justified in Christ because He satisfied the requirement of the Law (Rom 8:4).  This gift of redemption through Christ alone is solely by the Grace, and none can boast because of this (Eph 2:8-10). (3:24)
  
• Christ was displayed publicly, so that the righteousness of God would be clearly shown in the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ.  Propitiation is a key word here because it indicates that Christ paid the penalty for sin by taking the wrath of God.  God’s righteousness was satisfied on the cross because Christ became sin (2 Cor 5:21), and God unleashed His full fury upon the Son.  Christ did not merely suffer; He accomplished salvation for His sheep on the cross, and it is His sheep that He laid His life down for (Jn 10:15).  In time, the Spirit would make the sheep born-again empowering them to have faith in Christ, something that they do not have in and of themselves in a prior spiritually dead state (Eph 2:1). (3:25a)
  

III. Punch-line: Demonstrating His Righteousness as both Just & Justifier (Rom 3:25b-26)

• God showed much forbearance with man’s sin over thousands of years, which is His patience by withholding His wrath until the proper time, and now in Christ that righteousness has been demonstrated on the Cross because sin as been dealt with. (3:25b)
  
• Just & the Justifier (3:26)
  

             1. He is found Just because He did not merely overlook sin and let it go unpunished.  He must deal with sin, lest He be charged as UnJust. (3:26a)

             2. He then is also made the Justifier and glorified through that because He alone could punish sin while at the same time redeem His beloved Sheep. (3:26b)