Romans 3:21

The Divine method of holy pardon, alike for all

21. But now i.e. "But as things are, as the fact is."

Here the great argument of Pardon and Salvation begins, to close with the triumphant words of Romans 8:37-39.

the righteousness of God See note on Romans 1:17. In Romans 3:5 this phrase had a reference different from that of most other passages in this Epistle [35]. Its meaning in that verse is modified and determined by the words "our unrighteousness," which, by contrast, fix it to mean there the Divine veracity and fidelity. Here, and through the rest of this argument, it means the divinely-granted, and righteous, acceptance of believers.

[35] See however the footnote there.

without the law "Apart from the code of precepts." The best comment on this most important phrase is the rest of this chapter and Romans 4:4-8. The very essence of the argument here demands that the words should mean "to the total exclusionof any work of obedience of man's from the matter of his justification."

is manifested Lit. has been manifested; i.e. historically, "by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ." 2 Timothy 1:10.

witnessed by the law and the prophets Its reality and virtue is by them attested, confirmed, to those who accept the O. T. as the Word of God. "The Law" is here, by the context, the Pentateuch, with its prophecies of redemption, and its Levitical ritual, priesthood, and tabernacle, all which was (see the Epistle to the Hebrews) a "prophecy in act" of the "better things to come." "The Prophets," including the Psalter, are full not only of direct predictions of the Redeemer and His Work, but of language of love and pardon from the Holy One which only that Work can reconcile with the awful sanctions of the moral law.