Romans 3 Study Notes

3:22 Jesus is the object of faith and the means of obtaining the gift of the righteousness of God. The gift is for both Jews and Gentiles who believe.

3:23 All have missed the mark that God intended for the human race and have lost the glory of the original creation (Ps 8:5). Believing the good news starts the process of the restoration of glory (Rm 8:30; 2Co 3:18).

3:24 Justified means that Christians are declared to be righteous (5:1,9; 8:30; 1Co 1:30; 6:11). Sinners stand condemned in God’s court, and yet he declares believers “not guilty” because of Jesus’s work on the cross. Freely means that God grants justification not due to any merit in Christians but solely by his grace, the undeserved love and mercy of God. Redemption is a commercial term that refers to purchasing freedom for slaves. All people are slaves to sin by their fallen nature. The purchase price for our freedom was the blood of Christ Jesus (see Mk 10:45; 1Pt 1:18-19).

The Greek noun hilastÄ“rion in Rm 3:25 is rich with theological meaning. The only other place this term occurs in the NT is Heb 9:5, which says that the cherubim above the ark of the covenant in the Most Holy Place were “overshadowing the mercy seat.” In the Greek OT, the word is used for the lid of the ark of the covenant (traditionally called “the mercy seat”; see Ex 25:17-22; Lv 16:2,13-15). Another related word, hilasmos, atoning sacrifice, occurs twice in the NT (1Jn 2:2; 4:10). This word family refers to the turning away of God’s wrath against sin by means of a sacrifice. The main ideas of this word group are mercy and satisfactory sacrifice for sin. The innermost part of the tabernacle was the place where mercy was found, but only through the proper sacrifice. Similarly, Jesus’s death is the only place one can find mercy. God’s wrath against sin was turned away by Christ’s atoning sacrifice.

3:25 Atoning sacrifice translates the Greek word hilastÄ“rion, a term borrowed from the sacrificial system and the temple. It was used in the Greek translation of the OT for the cover of the ark of the covenant—the “mercy seat” (see Ex 25:17-22; Lv 16:14-15). On the Day of Atonement, the high priest would sprinkle blood over the ark to atone for the nation. By this rite sins were deemed expiated or wiped away. Moreover God’s wrath was averted or propitiated. But human sins could not literally be atoned for by the death of animals. “For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Heb 10:4). Thus Jesus came to accomplish what no priest slaying an animal could ever hope to accomplish: full satisfaction of God’s requirements for atonement. God presented his Son as an atoning sacrifice. By means of Jesus’s blood—his sacrificial death—God’s holy wrath against sin was appeased, and the sins of those who place their faith in Christ are taken away.

3:26 The present time of the cross and preaching of the good news vindicated God, showing that he is righteous and declares righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.

3:27-28 No one can boast in one’s works. No one can boast even in one’s faith. Faith is not the cause of justification but the means of justification. The cause of salvation is grace and mercy.

3:29-30 There is only one God and only one way to be justified by him, no matter your ethnic and national identity: by faith. The phrase who will justify does not mean that justification occurs at a future time (at the last judgment) and is therefore not a present reality for the believer. Rather, it points to the fact that God counts each of us justified as we come to faith. Thus God “will justify” your neighbor tomorrow if your neighbor comes to faith.

3:31 Does the gospel destroy the law? To answer this question, Paul considered the case of Abraham (Rm 4).