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 Jesus Christ (Romans 3:21-24).
There is so much in these four verses. Basically the whole message of redemption is summed up here. The big question of Scripture (since Adam’s sin in Genesis 3) is “how is a person made right before God?” How is the separation from God removed and “right-ness” restored? Paul tells us in these verses.
1. Righteousness comes from God. It does emerge from within ourselves. Paul says that this is the message of the “Law and the Prophets.” All of Scripture is telling us that if we are going to get right with God then God must take the initiative.
2. Righteousness comes apart from the law. We cannot be made right before God by simply trying to obey the law. Why? Because we cannot perfectly obey the law. We all stumble. As Paul says in Romans 3:20, the purpose of God’s law (the Ten Commandments and other moral laws) is not to make us righteous but to reveal that we are not righteous! Who can say that they have never lied or coveted or taken God’s name lightly or dishonored their parents or loved some other object more than God? No one…if they are honest and not lying to themselves. We are all guilty. We all fall short. We are all in the same boat–sinning against God and falling short of His glory, His character.
3. Righteousness is given freely through faith in Jesus Christ. I love Romans 3:24. Most people know Romans 3:23–”all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”–but verse 24 is more unknown. That’s a shame. Both verses need to be memorized together. We have all sinned. We all stand condemned before God. But we all can be justified (made right) before God through the free, overflowing grace of God provided in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
Four words stand out to me in these verses. “There is no difference” (3:22). Despite all our different nationalities, languages, personalities, gender, social status, upbringing, actions, likes, dislikes, etc., we are really all the same. We are all sinners. We all fall short. We all cannot save ourselves. And we are all loved by God and freely offered redemption through Jesus Christ. There is no room for pride. No room for bigotry or self-righteousness. We all need grace.
LORD, THANK YOU FOR YOUR GRACE!