Romans 3:21

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; BUT NOW - [ nuni (G3570) de (G1161)]. We may view this either as a particle of transition to a new stage of the argument (as Fritzsche, Meyer, DeWette, and Alford take it) or as a particle of time, to mark the bright contrast between the dim perception of this truth under the Law and the full manifestation of it "now" under the Gospel (as Grotius, Bengel, Tholuck, Philippi, and Hodge understand it). But thee two ideas, though quite different, are both so very natural, that whichever of them came up first would almost certainly suggest the other. The righteousness of God (see the note at...

21._But now without the law, etc. _It is not certain for what distinct reason he calls that the righteousness of God, which we obtain by faith; whether it be, because it can alone stand before God, or because the Lord in his mercy confers it on us. As both interpretations are suitable, we contend for neither. This righteousness then, which God communicates to man, and accepts alone, and owns as righteousness, has been revealed, he says,_without the law, _that is without the aid of the law; and the law is to be understood as meaning works; for it is not proper to refer this to its teaching, which he immediately adduces as bearing witness to the gratuitous righteousness of faith. Some confine it to ceremonies; but this view I shall presently show to be unsound and frigid. We ought then to know, that the merits of works are excluded. We also see that he blends not works with the mercy of Go...

21-26 Must guilty man remain under wrath? Is the wound for ever incurable? No; blessed be God, there is another way laid open for us. This is the righteousness of God; righteousness of his ordaining, and providing, and accepting. It is by that faith which has Jesus Christ for its object; an anointed Saviour, so Jesus Christ signifies. Justifying faith respects Christ as a Saviour, in all his three anointed offices, as Prophet, Priest, and King; trusting in him, accepting him, and cleaving to him: in all these, Jews and Gentiles are alike welcome to God through Christ. There is no difference, his righteousness is upon all that believe; not only offered to them, but put upon them as a crown, as a robe. It is free grace, mere mercy; there is nothing in us to deserve such favours. It comes freely unto us, but Christ bought it, and paid the price. And faith has special regard to the blood of...

Verse 21. _BUT NOW THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD_] God's _method of_ _saving sinners_ is now shown, by the Gospel, to be through his own mere mercy, by Christ Jesus; _without the law_-without any right or claim which might result from obedience to the law; and is evidently that which was intended by God from the beginning; for _it is witnessed by the law and the prophets_-the _rites_ and _ceremonies_ of the _one_, and the _preachings_ and _predictions_ of the _others_, all bearing testimony to the great design of God, and to the absolute necessity there was for the sacrifice and salvation which God has provided....

BUT NOW - The apostle, having shown the entire failure of all attempts to be justified by the “Law,” whether among Jews or Gentiles, proceeds to state fully the plan of justification by Jesus Christ in the gospel. To do this, was the main design of the Epistle, Romans 1:17. He makes, therefore, in the close of this chapter, an explicit statement of the nature of the doctrine; and in the following parts of the Epistle he fully proves it, and illustrates its effects. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD - God’s plan of justifying people; see the note at Romans 1:17. WITHOUT THE LAW - In a way different from personal obedience to the Law. It does not mean that God abandoned his Law; or that Jesus Christ did not

EXPOSITION ROMANS 3:1 (2) _Certain objections with regard to the Jews suggested and met. _In_ _this passage, before proceeding with his argument, the apostle meets certain objections that might be made to what has been so far said. Some difficulty in determining his exact meaning arises from the concise and pregnant form in which the objections are put and answered, and from fresh ones arising out of the answers, which have also to be met. The objections are from the Jewish standpoint, though not put into the mouth of an objecting Jew, but rather suggested as likely ones by St. Paul himself. To the original readers of the Epistle, who were familiar with the tone of Jewish thought, the sequence of the ideas would probably be more obvious than to us. Reserving special consideration of successive clauses for our exposition of each verse, we may,

BUT NOW THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD,.... The apostle having proved that all men are unrighteous, and that no man can be justified in the sight of God by his obedience, either to the law of nature or of Moses, proceeds to give an account of that righteousness, which does justify before God; and so returns to his former subject, Romans 1:17, concerning "the righteousness of God", the revelation of which he makes to be peculiar to the Gospel, as he does here; since he says, that it WITHOUT THE LAW IS MANIFESTED: meaning, either that this righteousness is without the law, and the deeds of it, as performed by sinful men; or that the manifestation of it is without the law, either of nature or of Moses; for the law discovers sin, but not a righteousness which justifies from sin; it shows what righteousness is, but does not direct the sinner where there is one to be had, that will make

Romans 3:1. _What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what profit is there of circumcision?_ If, after all, both Jew and Gentiles were under sin, what advantage had the Jew by the covenant under which he lived? Or what was the benefit to him of the circumcision which was his distinctive mark? Romans 3:2. _Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God._ The Jews were God's chronicle-keepers. They had to guard the holy Books, «the oracles of God.» They had also to preserve the knowledge of the truth by those divers rites and ceremonies by which God was pleased to reveal himself of old time. Romans 3:3. For what if some did not believe? Shall their unbeli

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, not the changed character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead and behalf every demand of the law, and who is, but the act of God called imputation (Leviticus 25:50); (James 2:23); "made unto us . . righteousness" (1 Corinthians 1:30). "The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith." -- Bunyan. (2 Co

3. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED. Justification, what it is and what it Includes. Chapter 3:21-5:11. CHAPTER 3:21-31 _ 1. The Righteousness of God Manifested. (Romans 3:21 .)_ 2. Just and Justifier. (Romans 3:23 .) 3. Not of Works but of Faith. (Romans 3:27 .) Romans 3:21 And now God comes forward and manifests His righteousness. Romans 3:21 must be connected with Romans 1:17. As previously stated chapter 1:18-3.20 is a paren