Romans 3:21

But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets [Having shut up all under condemnation for sin under the law with its works, Paul turns now to point all to freedom and justification under the gospel with its grace. This section of the Epistle is, therefore, as Bengel observes, "the opening of a brighter scene." There was no justification under the Mosaic dispensation, says the apostle; but now, under the dispensation of Christ (Romans 3:26; Romans 16:26), a righteousness apart from or independent of the law, having God as its author, and proceeding from God, and long hid in the councils of God, has been at last manifested (Romans 16:25-26; 1 Timothy 3:16). Having thus distinctly announced this new justification, Paul proceeds to give details, the first of which is a statement that it did not come unannounced or unheralded, for in their types, promises and prophecies (Genesis 15:6; Habakkuk 2:4) both the law and the prophets foretold that this righteousness would be revealed];