“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and Prophets bear witness to it – the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justified of the one who has faith in Jesus.” – Romans 3:21-26
I have heard this passage of scripture used in a way that sends a whole lot of people to hell.
I believe Paul’s words get used this way because the translation suffers due to the theological bias of the translators and a misunderstanding of the righteousness of God. The translations are biased and the righteousness of God misunderstood because so many Christians do not see God as only good, as a giver of only life, and as being just because he punishes the wicked with the eternally tormenting fire of hell.
However, if you see God as only, as a giver of life only and never death, and as being just because by grace and mercy he forgives us all for doing what we did not know we were doing, then you will understand these words of Paul in an entirely different way. This other way is more suited to God’s character – light and not darkness, love and not fear that has to do with punishment – and, in my opinion, supported the actual Greek Paul wrote.
Therefore, I will do my best to reveal to clearly and simply reveal by the Spirit what Paul is saying.
Let’s start with the phrase “righteousness of God.” The word righteousness in the Greek is dikaiosyne. This is the word dikaios with the suffix syne.
The ultimate root of dikaios is the dike. According to the Theological Lexicon of the New Testament, “It is generally agreed the dike, the basic term in this group, is related to deiknymi, ‘show, indicate.’ Thus its root meaning would be ‘that which is indicated, is in usage, is customary,’ and it from this starting point that it ends up meaning justice. The first appearance of this meaning is as a mythical divine being: ‘There is a virgin, Dike, daughter of Zeus, honored and revered by the gods, inhabitants of Olympia,’ who denounces the unjust deeds of humans before her father and call for their punishment.”
Wait.
What?
Did you get that?
The ultimate root, dike, of the all the words meaning righteousness and justice in the Bible first appeared meaning justice in the context of the virgin of daughter of Zeus who denounced the unjust deeds of humans before her father and called for their punishment.
Is this not what many Christians believe about God?
Is this not what many Christians believe Jesus is going to do at his second coming?
Many Christians believe that Jesus is going to come back and denounce all those that failed to believe in him, which is their unjust deed, and call for their punishment, sending them to fires of hell for eternal torment.
Dear Christian, are you worshiping Dike, the virgin daughter of Zeus, or Jesus, the son of God?
I’ve barely begun and should not alarm bells be going of in our heads?
Am I to believe that Jesus came to reveal that God is actually like Dike, the virgin of Zeus?
Of course not.
Dikaios is an adjective that means something is just, right, or equitable. With dikaios, we can say that something is just, right, or equitable really, actually, factually, concretely, materially, or objectively.
But, Paul is not writing about the dikaios – the actual or objective justness or rightness – of God here. No, Paul is writing about the dikaiosyne of God.
The Greek suffix syne makes the noun it is attached to abstract. Something is abstract if it is disassociated from any specific instance, difficult to understand, insufficiently factual; dealing with a subject apart from an object.
Paul is writing about the abstract – hypothetical, philosophical, complex, deep, real, intellectual, non-concrete, transcendental – righteousness of God. This righteousess of God is not associated with any specific instance, difficult to understand, and insufficiently factual.
Until…
“It was manifested.”
The abstract – hypothetical, philosophical, complex, deep, real, intellectual, non-concrete, transcendental – righteousness of God was manifested. The Greek word for manifest, phaneroo, means to reveal, make clear, make manifest. Something is manifest if it is readily perceived by the senses, especially by the sight or easily understood or recognized by the mind. Therefore, the righteousness of God, which was hard to understand, has been made easy to understand. The righteousness of God, which we could not see because it was hypothetical and philosophical, has been made visible. The righteousness of God is now something you can really and clearly see with your own eyes.
How was the abstract righteousness of God manifested?
“Apart from the law.”
The Greek word for “apart from” is choris. It also means without. There is no Greek word the in the original. Therefore, the abstract righteousness of God was manifested “without law.”
Do you understand what Paul is saying?
God’s abstract righteousness, which is hard to understand and perceive, was made real and visible without law. You don’t need law, any law, to understand the righteousness of God. As Western Christians, to understand what is just and right without law goes against everything we know and believe about justice and righteousness. Because in our minds, we only know, conceive, and perceive justice and righteousness if there is a law that can or cannot be broken.
If the abstract righteousness of God was manifested without law, then how did we come to see this righteousness and have it clearly revealed to us?
“Although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.”
Now, we start getting into some translation problems.
There is no Greek word for although in Paul’s writing. However, there is an untranslated Greek word, de. De means but or and, which is how it is translated the vast majority of the time. I believe this word that was left untranslated should be translated “but.”
Immediately after the untranslated de is a second dikaisyne theou, the righteousness of God. This will be very important as we go.
We might say, “But the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it.”
However, this is still not correct.
“Bear witness to it” is the Greek word martyroumene. The way this has been translated makes it sound like “the Law and the Prophets” are actively bearing witness to the righteousness of God. But, this cannot be correct because martyrourmene is a singular, present, passive, participle.
Basically, a participle is a verb that becomes an adjective. In English, we typically add -ing to a verb to make a participle. In our case, the word would be witnessing.
The voice passive means the subject is being acted upon by the verb. Therefore, if “the Law and the Prophets” are the subject of the passive martyroumene, then it should read something like “but the Law and the Prophets being witnessed.” It would be “the Law and the Prophets” that are being witnessed. But, “the Law and the Prophets” are not being witnessed. We know from the rest of the Bible that “the Law and the Prophets,” which are together known as the scripture, do the witnessing. In John 5:39, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”
The present tense means an action that is continuous and ongoing. The passive action of being witnessed to that is happening to the subject is continuous and ongoing. Again, this makes it clear that “the Law and the Prophets” are not being witnessed on a continual and ongoing basis.
This present, passive participle is singular. The singular thing Paul is writing about is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is the subject that is passively being witnessed to on a continual and ongoing basis.
Also, there is another untranslated word in the Greek, hypo. The vast majority of the time this word is translated “by.”
Let’s put all of this together so far.
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”
To what do “the Law and the Prophets” witness?
“Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.’” (Luke 24:45-47)
“The Law and the Prophets,” the scriptures, witness to the necessity that the Christ suffer and rise from the dead. That Jesus suffered and rose from the dead is clearly perceived, easily understood, seen by the eyes of more than 500 witnesses. Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection was the manifestation of God, and Jesus said the scriptures are a witness to that.
Now, it should be clear that the abstract – hypothetical, philosophical, complex, deep, real, intellectual, non-concrete, transcendental – righteousness of God is manifested, clearly perceived, easily understood, and visibly seen in the suffering, the crucifixion, of the Christ and his resurrection from the dead.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.”
How did this come about?
“Through faith in Jesus Christ.”
Now we have more translation problems. I know this is a hotly debated subject.
The word “in” does not exist in the Greek.
Jesus Christ is a noun in the genitive case. Basically, this means that the noun possesses another noun. The other noun that is possessed in our case is faith. Therefore, I side with those who say Paul wrote “the faith of Jesus Christ” not “faith in Jesus Christ.”
The “faith of Jesus Christ” makes more sense when we consider that is “through,” or by means of, “the faith of Jesus Christ that the righteousness of God was manifested without law. It was not our faith in Jesus, which, if we are honest, is at best fickle and wavering, that manifested the righteousness of God but the faith of Jesus that did so.
Why is it the faith of Jesus that is necessary and not our faith in Christ?
The entirety of scripture witnesses that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead.
Who’s faith made it possible for Jesus to be crucified and rise from the dead?
Yours or his?
Pretty obvious isn’t it.
Jesus required faith in his Father that his Father would raise him from the dead after he laid down his life and let us torture and crucify him.
That is a tremendous amount of faith.
Care to put your faith into action like that?
You wouldn’t stand a chance.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ.”
Why “through the faith of Jesus Christ?”
“For all who believe.”
Again, we have more translation problems.
The Greek word for “for” is eis. It is by far most often translated to, into, or in.
“To all who believe.”
Who believes though?
“Who” is not in the Greek.
Believe is translated from pisteuontas. It is a present, active, accusative, participle. The accusative case is the case of the direct object. The direct object receives the action of the verb.
While it is tempting to think that we are the direct object of Jesus’ faith, faith is a noun. Therefore, the believing are not the direct object of Jesus faith in this case.
There really is only one verb that pisteuontas could be the direct object of. That verb is manifested. If we strip everything extraneous away, then we would have “And now the righteousness of God has been manifested to all the believing.” Although it is possible to see the the believing as the direct object of being witnessed as well.
The believing are those to whom the abstract righteousness of God has been made visible and clearly perceived without law, being witnessed by the by the law and the prophets that is was necessary for the Christ to suffer and rise from the dead through the faith of Jesus Christ.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing.”
Are there any that the righteousness of God has not been manifested to?
Is it not the Holy Spirit that manifests and witnesses the righteousness of God to us?
Is this not why the Holy Spirit was poured out on all flesh after Jesus ascended to heaven?
Sure, the manifestation and witness is more and less from person to person, but I believe scripture clearly shows that the manifestation and witness is happening, and will happen, to all.
Therefore, Paul writes, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Where is there no distinction?
Between Jew and gentile. The Jew has the law. The gentile has no law. But, it doesn’t matter because there is no distinction between them. In fact, all Jews and all gentiles sin and fall short of the glory of God.
But, what else happens to them all?
“And are justified.”
Justified is the present, passive, plural, nominative participle of dikaioo. Dikaioo means justify, declare righteous, set right, vindicate. The nominative case means that this participle is the subject of the sentence. It is passive, meaning the subject is being acted upon. It is present, meaning the process of being justified is ongoing and continual. And, it is plural.
The only possible noun that fits all of these requirements is the all that have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
“All are being justified.”
How are all being justified?
“By his grace.”
In what manner?
“As a gift.”
This is the Greek word dorean. It is an adverb, meaning it describes a verb.
Grace is a noun and not a verb. But, the translation makes it seem like “as a gift” is describing God’s grace.
The only verb dorean could be describing is “being justified.” Dorean means freely, gratuitously, without a cause, without cost, free of charge, without payment, for no reason, for no purpose.
All are being justified freely, gratuitously, without a cause, without cost, free of charge, without payment, and for no reason.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are being justified for no reason by his grace.”
There is nothing you ever do to warrant justification, being declared righteous. It is by grace.
Therefore, there is nothing you could ever do to not warrant justification, to prevent God from justifying you.
“Through the redemption that i in Christ, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”
You guessed it. More translation problems.
The Greek word for “as a propitiation” is hilasterion. It is the word in the Greek Old Testament that means mercy seat.
God intended Jesus to be a mercy seat, a place of atonement.
“By his blood.”
The Greek word for by is “en.” It is by far most often translated in.
God intended Jesus to be a mercy seat in his blood, that is covered in his blood.
“To be received by faith.”
The words “to be received” are not in the Greek. And, they should not be in the English.
Who handles the blood on the mercy seat?
The chief priest. The high priest.
Hebrews 9:11-12 says, “But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) he entered once for all into holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption.”
Who took Jesus’ blood into the heavenly tabernacle and put it on the mercy seat?
Jesus.
Who’s faith was required to do that?
The faith of Jesus.
Not you. You don’t cover the mercy seat in the blood of Jesus
We are talking the same faith, the faith of Jesus, that we saw above.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are being justified for no reason by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom God intended to be a mercy seat in his blood by faith.”
In the translation, the next sentence starts, “This was to show God’s righteousness.” However, I think this is the actual conclusion to the sentence we just read. “This was” is not in the Greek. Nor is the word God. It’s the word for his.
It really should just say “to show his righteousness.” That is, the abstract kind.
The Greek word for show, endeixin, is interesting. It also means to demonstrate or prove. An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon says it means “a pointing out,” and as a law term “a laying information against one who discharged public functions for which he was legally disqualified.” Jesus carrying his own blood to the mercy seat in the heavenly tabernacle was information against all of us and Satan who discharge the public function of crucifying Jesus illegally.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are being justified for no reason by his grace in proof of his righteousness.”
I think the next sentence and its repeated use of endeixin proves (pun intended) why I put the previous one at the end of the last sentence.
Now Paul writes, “Because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time.”
“It was” is not in the Greek. I think this is one thought from Paul that is the preface to his concluding statement.
Further, the words “he had passed over” are misleading. This the Greek word paresin. The root word for paresin is iemi, which is where we get the word forgive in the New Testament. The Greek prefix par means beside, alongside, related to; disordered, sideways, wrong, contrary to, different from.
To translate this as “he had passed over” seems a little misleading given the Hebrew feast of Passover, the whole context of what we have covered so far, and what we will cover below. Paresin more literally means tolerate.
The word for time is karios. It means a set or proper time, the right point of time. The word for present is nyn, which is almost always translated now. The now time is the appointed time. Of course, the appointed time was the crucifixion of Jesus, that was “the hour” his entire life and ministry was headed towards.
Therefore, the preface to Paul’s concluding statement is “Because in his divine forbearance he tolerated former sins to prove his righteousness [the abstract kind again] in the appointed time.”
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are being justified for no reason by his grace in proof of his righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance he tolerated former sins to prove his righteousness in the appointed time.”
Now, what is Paul’s concluding statement about the abstract righteousness of God that was manifested at the appointed time of the cross?
“So that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”
Again, we have more translation problems.
“So that” is eis, which is almost always translated to, into, or in. I think is most appropriate here.
In the translation, he is the subject of the sentence. But, in the Greek he, auton, is in the accusative case, meaning it is the object of the verb.
“Might” is not in the Greek.
“Be” is the only verb in the sentence. So, he is the subject of be or being.
“Justifier” is the present, active, accusative singular participle of dikaioo. Therefore, it should be justifying and is the object of the verb being.
“Of the one who” is the word ton. It is in the accusative and goes with the accusative participle of dikaioo. Therefore, it is ” the justifying one” not “the justifier of the one who.”
“Has” is not in the Greek. It is the word ek, which means from, of, out of.
“Faith in Jesus” is the same as we saw above. It should be the “faith of Jesus” or “Jesus’ faith.”
So, what then is Paul’s concluding statement?
“in being him the just and the justifying one of Jesus’ faith.”
How is God being the just and the justifying one of Jesus’ faith?
Recall from above, the mentioned Jesus needed faith to be the Christ who had suffer, be crucified, die, and rise from the dead. He had faith in his Father to raise him from the dead after he laid down his life and let us crucify him.
Why did Jesus do this?
Go back above to Luke 24:47.
Jesus suffered and rose from the dead so “that repentance and the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name.”
Forgiveness of sins could only be proclaimed in his name if they were actually forgiven.
What did Jesus ask his Father for on the cross?
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
Jesus asked this of his Father in faith.
The Father answered his request, forgiving everyone, justifying all that have sinned for no reason, so that the Father could be the just and justifying one of Jesus’ faithful request for forgiveness for all.
So…
“And now the righteousness of God has been manifested without law, but the righteousness of God is being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets through the faith of Jesus Christ to all the believing. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are being justified for no reason by his grace in proof of his righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance he tolerated former sins to prove his righteousness in the appointed time, in being him the just and the justifying one of Jesus’ faith.”
Yes, the meaning I have given Romans 3:21-26 is entirely different than what most translators and preachers have said it means. But, it is all in the original Greek if you know what the righteousness of God is that Jesus was manifesting on the cross, what the whole witness of scripture is, and what God wanted to show the world about himself.
Did God want to show the whole world that he was like Dike, the goddess of justice who denounced the unjust deeds of humans before her father and called for their punishment?
Or did God want to show he was something altogether different?
God is just.
God is merciful.
God is forgiving.
Of all, for no reason other than his Son asked him to.
Jesus, the Christ, God’s son, for whom it was necessary to suffer, die, and rise from the dead, according to all the scriptures.
Suffering, dying, and rising for the sole purpose that repentance, changing our minds about who God is, a forgiver not a condemner like Dike, and the forgiveness of sins.
Yes, God is justifying the faith of his son Jesus by declaring all righteous, all forgiven.