Bible Students

A Study on Romans 3:21-31

Thesis: The sacrifice of Christ was to bring glory to God, so believers should produce fruits. 

Outline of Romans 3:21-31:

1. The Righteousness of God Through Faith (3:21-31)
   1. God’s Gift to Show His righteousness (21-26)
      1. God the Righteous Manifest (21-22)
      2. Gift of Salvation (23-24)
      3. Showing God’s Righteousness (25-26)
   2. Our Response (27-31)
      1. Boasting (27-28)
      2. God of All (29-30)
      3. Uphold the Law (31)

Background:

Why did Christ die? What benefit does His sacrifice give God? How should Christians respond? The one God of both Jews and Gentiles made His righteousness known through the Law, Prophets, and ultimately Christ Jesus, and has saved us from a law of works, placing us in a law of faith, allowing us to uphold works as a result of faith. Romans 3:21-31 discusses this very idea, where Paul discusses how the sacrifice of God was to make His righteousness known to man, which was to bring glory to God. When a person becomes saved, the appropriate response is to grow fruit. 

Written in approximately 57 AD, the epistle to the Romans takes place shortly after the start of the early church, right after the period of Christ’s earthly walk. This letter was written by Paul the Apostle (Rom. 1:1), a Benjaminite, and a Pharisee, which meant he had religious experience with the Talmud and Tanakh (Acts 23:16) and would be familiar with Jewish theology. Paul was a tentmaker by trade (2 Thess. 3:8), and a traveler who had Roman citizenship (Acts 22:27). He later became a Christian, on the road to Damascus (St. Paul the Apostle). The audience of this letter is the Jewish and Gentile church in Rome (Rom. 1:7, Rom. 3:29). Paul most likely wrote this epistle in Corinth.

Paul’s letter to the church in Rome covers many topics and ideas, including righteousness, salvation, faith, sin, works, law, grace, Christ’s crucifixion, and unity of Jews and Gentiles. The main point of the letter is to show that the one God over Jews and Gentiles made His righteousness known through Christ’s sacrifice, in order to bring glory to Himself through His followers’ fruits. Paul is writing this letter in order to unite the Jews and Gentiles in the Roman church (Rom. 3:29). The audience is expected to display love to each other, being from vastly different backgrounds, rather than cause divisions. The recipients are expected to love faith, rather than be dependent on Law for salvation, and instead uphold the moral law out of gratitude. Both groups should put faith in God and Christ, rather than Law, and be gracious to God in return. 

Observations:

Romans 3:21-31 mainly outlines the groundwork for the justification Christians find in Christ. It is because of this justification that glory should be given to God in return, out of gratitude. In all one does, they should give glory to God because of the salvation they find in Christ. The Law and Prophets shadowed God’s righteousness and made it known to the Jews, originally, but now the cross has made God’s righteousness manifested to all. In this passage the terms Christ, Law, Prophets, and God’s righteousness are all used closely together, solidifying the ties between God’s pure righteousness, it’s shadows, and it’s true manifestation in Christ. Works and Faith are also used almost interchangeably by Paul in this passage, solidifying also the connection between the intellectual response (faith) and practical response (works). Only now has God’s righteousness been firmly manifest apart from the Law, in Christ Jesus. 

Salvation has been gifted through Christ to all who trust in Him (v.24), for everyone on Earth has fallen short of the glory of God and sinned (v.23). There are no exceptions to this, for all have sinned by their own will (v.22). Though all freely have chosen to sin, all are offered salvation through Christ, in order to show God’s righteousness (v.25). The righteousness of God was shown through Christ, and because of this, the saved should do our best to glorify God (v.31). God is faithful and the God of all people (v.29), so in all that Christians do, they should glorify God because of His sacrifice. 

Word Study:

In order to better understand some of the more prevalent ideas in Romans 3:21-31, some important words need to be contextualized. Three of the most complex words in the passage are faith and law. Without these words defined, Paul may be understood as saying Christians should be forced to obey the Law of Moses, but is this really what Paul is saying?

The first important word which should be contextualized is faith. In Greek, the word is “Pistis”, used 243 times in the New Testament. The vast majority of these are translated as “faith”, but have also been translated as “assurance” and “belief”. Through Paul’s letters, he typically uses faith to mean trust in God. In Hebrews, this word is used to mean faith and reverence for God. For James, with faith comes the response of works. From this research, the standard New Testament blanket-definition of faith should be that faith is trust and reverence for God, which results in the growth of fruit. It is important to note that here works come from faith, as is predicted in Jeremiah 31:33, that the law will be written on God’s people’s hearts. If obedience to the law flows from faith, then what does Paul mean by law?

The second important word to be contextualized is law. In Greek, “Nomos” is translated as law in 193/194 occurrences. Paul uses law to refer to the God-given laws of faith, liberty, sin, and works. How could law be used to refer to such a wide variety of contexts? It seems that to Paul, law refers to a kind of belonging and obedience. To uphold the law of faith is to belong to and obey the command to believe in Christ, and to uphold the law of sin would be to obey and be a slave to sin. In the context of faith, Paul specifically uses law (and obedience to it) in Romans 3:21-31 to refer to the moral fruit produced by faith. With this new understanding, the meaning of the passage changed from “God saved based on belief, but believers must still obey the Law of Moses”, to truly mean “God saves based on trust, which will bring forward good works”. 

Interpretation:

The primary meaning of the text (Romans 3:21-31), is that the righteousness of God was and is shown through the sacrifice of Christ, put in our place in order to achieve salvation for men, in order to bring glory to God. Without this sacrifice of Christ, there would be salvation for no man, and salvation is only given by faith in the death of Christ. The wrath which God has towards sin was fully dealt on Christ, in our place, to satisfy the just earnings of sin and rebellion. 

The righteousness of God is not partial to any individual, so no one can claim to be better than anyone else, while the Law is partial to those who obey it. The righteousness of God given to man is not based on any deserving quality, but is given as a gift to those who believe. Because of this, no one can count himself better than any other man, and all credit and glory goes to God.

Whereas previously the Law and Prophets attested to the work of salvation from God, the fulfillment of the gift was granted in Jesus, “who God put forward as a propitiation [or appeasement for sin] by his blood, to be received by faith” (Rom. 3:25). There is no work which a believer in Christ could claim for himself towards the goal of salvation or justification, because all work was attested to the one who bore all sin, being Jesus himself. There is none who can boast, for the Christians of the first century “[held] that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law” (Rom. 3:28). The appeasement taking place was the wrath of God spent on Christ, allowing those who believe in Christ to walk free, legally having endured the penalty for sin, through Christ the savior.

One of the main points of this passage is that the righteousness of God, the good judge, should deal out wrath for sin, but in mercy God did not deal out wrath on believers in Christ, but on Christ himself. The wrath of God is true justice. However, some disagree, and believe the wrath of God is not just, and contrast the wrath of God with the justice of God. However, I disagree with this, as the passage claims God “…might be just…” (Rom. 3:26) at the same time that He “…put forward [Christ] as a propitiation by his blood…”. God delivered His full wrath on Christ, while doing so justly. There is no contrast between the overall justice and wrath of God, since the wrath of God is the just punishment for the rebellion of man. No punishment less would be just for the destruction caused by man, but in His grace He took that punishment in place of man, for all who trust in Him. 

Contextualization:

Throughout the Bible, the theme of redemption in order to bring glory to God is ever present. Leading up to Christ even from the beginning, man, who corrupted the world, was promised a savior who would crush the head of the evil one (Genesis 3:15). Noah, also, was a picture of the coming redemption in Christ, in that the Ark saved the family from the destruction humanity brought upon itself (Genesis 6-9). Abraham was given the promise of becoming a special people group, which would be the people of God, being redeemed as the people of God and praising God because of it (Genesis 12). In Exodus, Moses was brought up as a picture of redemption for the Hebrew people. In Joshua, Joshua brings the people of God into the promised land, fulfilling the promise of God, showing God’s love (redemption) to broken people, bringing glory to God. 

This pattern is repeated again and again through the Biblical narrative: Every judge in Judges redeemed God’s people and brought glory to God; Boaz acted as a redeemer to Ruth; Samuel redeemed the corrupted priestly system; David redeemed the corrupted theocracy; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Daniel, and the minor prophets all warned of destruction for rebellion, but also redemption if God’s people returned to him. Even though many of the prophets spoke of the coming destruction of the land of Israel, such as Hosea, God also promised deliverance from the destruction if the people should only turn to Him in repentance, bringing glory to God. 

All of this comes together in the first four books of the New Testament, in the story of Christ as the righteousness of God shown through the redemption of mankind. In the Gospels, Christ has become the full picture of glory brought to God through the redemption of mankind, for whoever is saved by Christ will look to God in gratitude and praise. The covenants given before Christ all come together in Romans 3:21-31. In each of the stories of redemption in the Bible, the shadow of Christ is shown, and every true redemption brings glory to God. 

Application:

So what does all of this mean? How should we apply this to our lives? The main are that Christians should understand they are saved by Christ based on their faith and not their works, Christians should continue to do good works out of thankfulness to God, and Christians should understand there is no distinction between them in Christ. I think the most practical idea here is that Christians should continue to live out good works, working out of their salvation because of the justification provided to them. This is not only specific to me, but as a Christian I try to do good works in order to bring glory to God, for the reason that I am saved and desire to give back to the one who saved me. It was for people just like me that God chose to die, on my behalf, and because of that I think it is appropriate to push towards doing good things in the name of God. This is already a part of our Christian walks, in some amount or another, so I think it is fair to say all have participated in the strive for good works. The reason I do any good work is out of thankfulness to God for the providings He has given me, and I hope others would strongly pursue the same. 

According to Paul’s letters in regards to the relationship between faith and works, salvation is achieved by faith, and works should follow. Works are the fruit of salvation, and will follow in a genuine believer. We should not be lazy to wait for fruit to grow, as the receivers of James’ letter are, nor should we be unloving as the receivers of John’s letters are. We should do as Paul writes and be purposed to bring fruit out of our salvation, lest our faith be dead to our brothers and demonstrate that the love of the Father had never appeared in us. In all we do, bring glory to God from gratitude.

Bibliography
Choi, Jin Young. “Commentary on Romans 3:19-28.” Working Preacher from Luther Seminary,
27 Oct. 2019,
https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/reformation-
day/commentary-on-romans-319-28-12.
“Letter of Paul to the Romans.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Letter-of-Paul-to-the-Romans.
Long, Phillip J. “The Righteousness of God – Romans 3:21-26.” Reading Acts, 14 Oct. 2019,
https://readingacts.com/2019/10/17/the-righteousness-of-god-is-now-being-revealed-rom
ans-321-26/.
“Romans 3:21-23 Commentary.” Precept Austin, 19 Nov. 2018,
https://www.preceptaustin.org/romans_321-23.
“St. Paul the Apostle.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Paul-the-Apostle.
9