Romans 3:19-31, Commentary
Jun 18th, 2009 by Micah Tillman | Start the Discussion |
[ Romans 1 | 2 | 3: Intro, 1-18, 19-31, Summary | 4 | 5 ]
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20 For “no human being will be justified in his sight” by deeds prescribed by the law, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. 21 But now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23 since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; 24 they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement by his blood, effective through faith. He did this to show his righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over the sins previously committed; 26 it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. 29 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30 since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. 31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
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Here Paul seems to be working from Psalm 143, even explicitly citing 143:2 in v. 20. In Psalm 143, David begs God not to judged him (since no one could pass muster), but instead to act from His righteousness and for His own glory by defending David from his enemies.
The themes here are a development those in the first half of the chapter:
Does God’s being just/righteous depend on our injustice/unrighteousness? Does God make Himself look just/righteous/good by judging us?
Paul’s answer to the first question is, “No.” God does things that make Him look good because He is righteous. He is righteous first, and therefore does righteous things. He doesn’t become righteous by doing righteous things (like judging our unrighteousness).
Paul’s answer to the second question is, “Yes, but not only that. God also makes Himself look just/righteous/good by giving us grace (i.e., by not judging us, but instead saving us).”
Both of Paul’s answers here are based on what David says in Psalm 143.
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3:19-20 — The Law puts everyone in the same position before God. That position is, “Worthy of being judged,” since the Law — which everyone knows (as Romans 1 and 2 have shown) — tells everyone what’s right and wrong. Nobody can claim they were ignorant of the Law, and therefore did not know they were sinning, and therefore did not intend to sin.
In fact, the function of the Law is simply to provide information/knowledge about right and wrong, not to tell people how to fix things once they’ve done something wrong. Thus, once you’ve broken one part of the Law, not breaking it any more isn’t going to make you any less guilty of having broken it.
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3:21-26 — But God doesn’t get His righteousness from being justified in judging us because we have broken the Law. God can show His righteousness in other ways too. For instance, God can show that He is righteous by eliminating our lawbreaking actions (sins).
God shows His righteousness not only by judging people unrighteous, but by making people righteous. And what better proof could there be of someone’s righteousness than his or her ability to make other people righteous?
Therefore, the reason God has held off on punishing people (as Habakkuk complained — cf. Romans 1), is that He didn’t want to be unable to show how righteous He is by later making everyone righteous.
Everyone has sinned, says v. 23, and God’s response is to make everyone righteous who accepts God’s offer of righteousness (vv. 22, 24-26).
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3:27-28 — Therefore, nobody can say that they’re righteous because they’ve kept the Law. They can only say they’re righteous because they — like everyone else — have been given the gift of righteousness, and have accepted it.
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3:29-30 — Since God is God of everyone, He treats everyone in the same way. Thus, whether you have the Law in writing or on your heart, whether you’ve kept one part of it or another, what makes you righteous is God’s gift of righteousness, which you either accept or don’t.
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3:31 — The point, therefore, is not to disobey the Law, but to finally become worthy of being judged righteous in light of the Law, by accepting that righteousness from God.
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