Romans 3:21–22

Summary: the unrighteousness of all people

Sinners cannot provide the righteousness a holy God justly requires. Acquiring such righteousness is possible only by the grace of a loving God, who gives righteousness freely as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. This exchange whereby God takes away the guilt of our sins and credits us with the righteousness of Christ is called justification.

Righteousness by faith in Christ

But now righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.

The problem Paul has described so fully (1:18–3:20) is that there can be no righteousness from trying to observe the law. Nobody can earn any credit with God by imperfectly following a set of rules, whatever those rules may be. Sinners can do nothing that would please God and thus serve as a basis for God to reward them. Sinners don’t have the righteousness that avails before God.

But now, marvel of marvels, righteousness has been made known. It’s exactly what sinners need but can’t produce on their own. It’s a righteousness (a) from God and (b) apart from law.

Let’s look at the second item first. It’s righteousness “apart from law.” We’ve already commented on the significant difference in meaning that occurs when the word for “law” (nomos) appears with or without a definite article. Here it is without. The NIV translators have accurately reflected that. This righteousness comes “apart from law.” It has no connection to obeying any law. It follows then that there is nothing sinners can do to add anything to this righteousness.

But even more important, there is nothing a person has to do. God has done it all! A righteousness “from God” has been made known. It bears repeating that this is all God’s doing. Hence this righteousness can stand by itself; it has a separate existence without any input from humanity. That’s why it must be “made known” to us.*

* For a parallel idea expressed with a different verb, see 1:17, where Paul speaks of this righteousness as being “revealed.”

And how has this righteousness been made known? It is a truth to which “the Law and the Prophets testify.” Here nomos has the definite article and refers to a specific “law,” namely, that body of revealed information which was set forth in the Pentateuch, the five books of Moses. Thus the Law, together with the Prophets, forms Paul’s term for the Old Testament.** The righteousness that comes from God is made known and testified to by the Scriptures.

** See Luke 16:29 for a similar designation. In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Abraham states that the rich man’s brothers should listen to “Moses and the Prophets,” that is, the Old Testament Scripture.

So far, the apostle has established that there is a righteousness of precisely the type that sinners need, but how do they get it? Paul answers, “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”

It is a righteousness that God gives “through faith in Jesus Christ.” Faith, in the sense of trust and confidence in God’s promise, is the avenue, the channel, through which righteousness comes to the believer. Or, to use a slightly different picture, faith is the hand that receives this righteousness from God.

Righteousness comes in only one way, and it comes in the same way to all: by faith, by believing. When Paul says “to all who believe,” he is not limiting the scope of God’s righteousness, as though it is intended only for some and not for others. Paul here is addressing the how of God’s saving plan (by faith), not the for whom. This latter point, regarding the scope of God’s gracious plan, is addressed next.