Romans Chapter 3:21-31/Commentary

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Romans Chapter 3:21-31

The first three chapters demonstrated the great need for a way to make man right with God, because both Jew and Gentile found themselves in sin. All previous religious systems, Jewish and non-Jewish, have failed to achieve rightness with God. The verses that follow present God’s remedy for this universal condition of condemnation. “Paul has just declared that the whole world has sinned and stands guilty before God (3:19). The fact of guilt raises the problem of justification. How can sinners be justified, or brought back into a right relationship with God? Can a person work himself back into a proper relation? Perhaps with a little extra effort, we can go ‘above and beyond the call of duty’, and do enough good works to make up for our sins. Is this possible? No! In the parable of the unprofitable servant (Luke 17:710) Jesus teaches that every good work we can possibly do is already owed to God and therefore cannot be used to pay the debt incurred by our sin. There is no such thing as extra merit. What then, can we do? How can we be justified, be counted righteous, be accepted by God, and escape the wrath and condemnation we deserve? Does any provision of the law allow a sinner to go unpunished? No!” (Cottrell p. 250). Morris writes, “In what is possibly the most important single paragraph ever written, Paul brings out something of the grandeur of Christ’s saving work. He views this salvation in three ways: as justification (imagery from the law court), as redemption (imagery from the slave market), and as propitiation (imagery from the averting of wrath)” (p. 173). “So then, over against the unrighteousness of some and the self-righteousness of others, Paul sets the righteousness of God. Over against God’s wrath resting on evil-doers (1:18; 2:5; 3:5), he sets God’s grace to sinners who believe. Over against judgment, he sets justification” (Stott p. 108). This short section is packed with some heavy-duty concepts: the righteousness of God, faith, sin, justification, grace, redemption, and propitiation. Romans 3:21 “But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, being witnessed by the law and the prophets” “But now”: The picture painted of human rebellion in chapters 1:18-3:19 is depressing. In contrast to such selfishness and helplessness, God intervenes. The word now is speaking of what happened in Paul’s life time, that is, the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross (John 3:16). “Apart from the law”: The law under consideration in the context is the law of Moses (3:21). “Not by the Law, but by 1


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Romans Chapter 3:21-31/Commentary by Mark Dunagan - Issuu