Romans 3:21-26

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; (22) Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (24) Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (25) Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (26) To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Here Paul arrives at the great object, which all along he had been preparing to bring in; and in the very mention of which, his whole soul seems to be on fire, Jeremiah 20:9. He had glanced at it before, Romans 1:17. But here he dwells on it more particularly. And, what he marks as the distinguishing feature of it, is, that it is wholly unconnected with any other, and with every other, principle. But now, (saith he), the righteousness of God without the law is manifested; yea, saith Paul, it is witnessed by the law and the prophets. Both, joyfully give in their testimony, to the complete, full, and all justifying righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ. They gladly minister to proclaim their own nothingness, and Christ's all-sufficiency, in a way of justification. Reader! I beseech you, pause over this precious testimony, which God the Holy Ghost hath here given, by his servant Paul, to the righteousness of God our Savior. Look at the law in all its bearings. By the law, saith Paul, is the knowledge of sin. Yes! the law teacheth of sin, shews what sin is; but cannot shew a righteousness which may save from it. This the Gospel only proclaims. And the blessedness of it, and the fulness of it, and the compleatness of it, both the law and the Prophets witness to with joy! Daniel 9:24; Romans 4:25

But, what I beg the Reader also not to overlook, in this precious statement, of the righteousness of God our Savior, is, that it is a righteousness so universally suited to the Lord's people, in every department, whether babes in Christ, or old saints of God, that it is unto all, and upon all, that believe, for there is no difference. Reader! calculate, if you can, the immense blessedness of what is here said. First, of the righteousness itself, which is wholly of God. Not of man's providing, but of God's appointing. Not of man's merit, but of God's free grace. No predisposing cause but the everlasting love of God in Christ, having anything to do in the matter. Yea, faith itself, by which a child of God is made to possess it, and enjoy it, hath nothing of merit by way of recommendation. The Lord, who is the sole Author and Giver of this righteousness, is the sole Author and Giver of faith also to receive, believe, and enjoy it, So that faith, as an act of ours, is but the effect, and not the cause; the hand to receive, and not to promote, the vast mercy. The highly favored soul, who is made a rich partaker of the blessing; to him it is given, to feel his want of righteousness in himself, to behold Christ's righteousness as every way suited to himself and his wants, to accept on his bended knees the proffered mercy, and to receive it to the divine glory, and his own happiness.

Secondly. This righteousness, is said to be, unto all, and upon all, that believe, for there is no difference. No difference in the thing itself, neither in the application of it. For the Lord, whose it is, gives it to all with an equal hand, and loves all with an equal love, and justifies all with an equal freeness of grace. For, it is not what they are in themselves, but what they are in Christ, which makes them the objects of the divine favor. It is blessed, yea, very blessed, to have a large hand of faith to receive the larger portions of the grace of belief, to enjoy the Lord's blessings of every kind, with a greater fulness. But our enjoyment is one thing, and the Lord's righteousness, which justifies, another. He that hath little faith, and is in Christ, is as compleatly justified by Christ, as he that hath the largest portions of faith to apprehend with greater delight his mercies. By him, (saith the Apostle, that is, by Christ), all that believe, whether strong believers or weak ones, whether babes in Christ, or fathers in the strength of Christ; are justified from all things, Acts 23:35. And the reason is given. For the righteousness which justifies, is alike justifying, too all, and upon all. It is unto them, and upon them; not within them, nor from them. And therefore, being wholly out of themselves, and nothing within, no inherent holiness in the creature, which some men talk of, but none know; there can be no difference in the receiver, or in the act of justification by the Giver. For, as the Apostle adds in the following verses: All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. And, therefore, the justification of all, cannot but. be alike the free gift of God, and not the smallest difference in man. Being justified (saith the Apostle) freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

In the close of this paragraph, the Apostle dwells very blessedly on the greatness of Christ's sacrifice; and on the grace of God, in the wonderful ordination of it: and, from the union of both he shews, how Jehovah, in his threefold character of Persons, may, and indeed doth, justify the believer in Jesus, while preserving his own glory, in the full perfection of all the rights of his justice. Whom God (saith he) hath set forth a propitiation through faith in his blood. The Reader will perceive, that I take no notice in this passage of those words, to be, which are in Italicks, and which have no business there; for Christ was not then to be set forth; for this had been done from everlasting. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, Proverbs 8:22. And, Christ is said to have been, the lamb slain from the foundation of the world!, Revelation 13:8. And Christ hath been, and is, and will be, the same, in the perpetual, and unceasing efficacy of his blood, to all eternity.

We do not meet with this word propitiation, but three times in all the Bible, once in this place and twice in the First Epistle of John, 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10. Christ indeed is both the propitiation and the propitiatory. He is the propitiation, or sacrifice; the propitiatory, or mercy seat and altar, on which that sacrifice was offered; and he is the high priest, or sacrificer, to make the offering. The Jews were accustomed, on this account, to call the mercy-seat Ilasterion. For here, in allusion to all the great events connected with the Person of Christ, and his Offices, and Character; the Lord promised to come and meet his people, Exodus 25:22. And, in the Person of Christ only, can this meeting be, either in time, or eternity. Well might his Name be called Wonderful! For, while all the divine Attributes meet in his Person, and shine in one full constellation; all our sins meet on him, (so it is rendered in the margin of our old Bibles, Isaiah 53:6) as centering upon Christ, not in Christ; and the Lord Jesus washing them all away by his blood. So that Christ, in the fullest sense of the word, is the propitiation, and the only propitiation for sin; having by that one offering of himself once offered, perfected forever them that are sanctified, Hebrews 10:14.