Romans 3:21-32

2. RIGHTEOUSNESS FROM GOD IS BY FAITH.

The theme of this second main division of the doctrinal part of the Epistle may be found in Romans 3:21: (1.) The righteousness of God apart from the law has been made manifest (i.e., a righteousness by faith), and (2.) this is attested by the law and the prophets. Chap. Romans 3:22-31 expands the former idea; chap. 4 the latter, 1. Righteousness from God comes independently of the law, by faith in the atoning Saviour (Romans 3:21-26); hence the universality of its application (Romans 3:27-30), establishing the law; for 2. Abraham was justified by faith, being the father of believers, uncircumcised as well as circumcised (chap. Romans 4:1-25). The whole division is based upon the evangelical idea of justification; and in chap. Romans 3:23-26 we have presented to us the doctrine of justification by free grace through faith in Christ, in its inseparable connection with the atonement as its objective basis. We therefore insert here the following Excursus.

The Word Justify and Kindred Terms.

The word ‘justify,' in Greek as well as English, is derived from the adjective, meaning just or righteous. In the Bible, however, this is a religious idea, involving conformity to God's will or law, and not a purely ethical one. The verb, according to its etymology, in both languages, would mean: to make righteous, but it passes over in actual use into the sense: to account righteous, having a forensic or declarative meaning. The question is, which meaning does it have in the New Testament. There ought to be little doubt that the latter sense is that exclusively intended in the New Testament, especially by the Apostle Paul.

1. The verb had this declarative sense in classical Greek, before the Hellenistic usage was formed.

2. It is frequently used in the LXX., and in all but two or three cases the declarative sense is preferable; in many instances (as where God is said to be justified; and where judicial verdicts are spoken of) it is the only possible one.

3. Not only is the Hebrew usage fairly reproduced in the LXX., but the Hebrew notions of ‘righteous,' pointing to God's will as the standard, God's estimate as the decisive one, would lead us to expect the word to take on a technical forensic sense, during the two centuries in which the peculiarities of New Testament Greek were fully developed.

4. In the New Testament the declarative sense is appropriate in every instance. (Revelation 22:11 might have been an exception, but the correct reading gives another form.) On the other hand, while there are passages in which the sense ‘make righteous' could be appropriate, in the majority of instances such a meaning is impossible. The word occurs thirty-nine times in the New Testament, twenty-seven times in Paul's Epistles, mostly in close argumentation. To suppose that he used the term indefinitely, is to cast contempt on all his writings. Already in his speech at Antioch, in Pisidia (Acts 13:39), he used it in a strictly declarative sense, as well known to his hearers. All the phenomena, philological and historical, point to a definite, technical sense, and that the sense upheld by Protestants generally. A comparison of the passages will confirm to the English reader this view. See any good Concordance.

To justify, then, denotes an act of jurisdiction, the pronouncing of a verdict, not the infusion of a quality. When God justifies, He accounts as righteous, treats as righteous. That He will make righteous those whom He accounts righteous, follows from His character, not from anything in the character of justification itself. It is ‘an act of God's free grace,' bestowed without any merit of ours, on the objective ground of the perfect righteousness of Christ, as apprehended, and thus made subjective by a living faith (see Romans 3:25). The doctrine of justification may be distinguished from the broader and deeper doctrine of a life-union with Christ, but must not be sundered from it. The same grace which justifies does also renew, regenerate, and sanctify; faith and love, justification and sanctification, are as inseparable in the life of the Christian, as light and heat in the rays of the sun. The distinction is necessary, however, for it is expressly made in Scripture, and is of the greatest importance in preaching the gospel.

5. The history of Christian experience confirms the philological result. In this view was found the practical power of the Reformation. It turns the sinner away from his own doing to seek salvation outside of himself; when joined with the atonement of Christ, it gives peace to his conscience; it comforts the believer continually, giving an ever-fresh motive to holy living, which is the consequence, not the came of justification. Notice, too, that everywhere justification is spoken of as an act, not a continuous work. The tenses chosen by Paul indicate this. The only apparent exception is in this verse, where a present participle (implying continuous action) is used; but here the continuity is in the persons who are justified, and not in the act in the case of each. Comp, the full notes, philological and doctrinal, of Dr. Schaff in Lange, Romans, pp. 130 ff., 138 ff., and also the Excursus in this volume, Galatians, chap. 2