But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. - Romans 3:21-24
The great british preacher Martin Lloyd-Jones once said that if he could have only one passage from the Bible, it would be these few verses from Romans 3! New testament scholar F.F. Bruce says that this portion of Romans 3 may be the most important paragraph ever written. But we cannot grasp why these verses are some amazing unless we first understand the meaning of a word that Paul uses repeatedly in his writings - it is the word righteousness.
Understanding what is meant by the word “righteousness” is critical to understanding the writings of Paul. He uses this word over 70 times in his letters (most of them in the book of Romans). We don’t hear this word very often in everyday conversation. Some of us may imagine a sandy haired surfer telling his friends how “righteous” the waves were, or a skater telling his friend that his trick in the half-pipe was totally righteous. But in Biblical terms, the word “righteous” is not an adjective used to describe how great something is.
To be righteous literally means “to be right with”. It means to be in a right relationship with someone (God). An imperfect example would be when two guys have an argument over some issue and then after they have resolved the issue, one guy says to the other, “Hey, are we good now?” And the other replies, “Yeah man, we’re all good.” (maybe they even hug it out) The point is that they have been “made right” in their relationship again.
The Bible says that when it comes to our relationship with God, none of us is righteous...that is we are not right with God because of our sin (and we can’t just hug it out).
Romans 3:10 - As it is written: There is no one righteous, not even one
When we talk the gospel, we tend to focus on God’s love and mercy, and this is certainly at the core of the Gospel. But Paul is mainly concerned here to talk about God’s righteousness and our sin, or lack of righteousness. He mentions “righteousness” in verses 20, 21, and 22, plus “justice” or “justified” in 24, 25 and 26. In Greek, all of these words come from the same word root. God’s righteousness refers to His absolute holiness or separateness from all sin and all that is wrong. But in this context, Paul is especially referring to how sinners may be justified or declared righteous in God’s sight.
The main issue that we all must face is how to be right with a righteous God. This is the critical question and the reason why these verses are some amazing.
I think the two greatest words in this passage are the first two; “but now”. Paul has just spent 2 and a half chapters hammering home the point that we are all sinful law-breakers and guilty in God’s sight, ”but now”...God has made it possible for us to be made right with Him! “A righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known”!
To be right with God by our good deeds would be like lining up at the South Rim of the Grand Canyon and trying to jump across to the North Rim. An Olympic long jumper might get 25- 30 feet from the edge before he went down. I’d get maybe 8-10 feet before I would go down, you might get a little father, but no one could leap the ten miles to the other side. It’s impossible!
The great news of the Gospel is that although we all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory, by His free gift of grace, He declares righteous all who put their faith in Jesus Christ. This is what it means to be right with God. If you have put your trust in Christ alone to carry you across the chasm between you and God, you know that there is a huge “but now” in your life!
Jeff Frazier
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