Romans 3:21-26

St. Augustine

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

²¹ But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law [Augustine writes “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested; that is, God imparts righteousness to the believer by the Spirit of grace without the work of the law, or without the help of the law”], although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it [Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:27; Habakkuk 2:4] —²² the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. [The law of Moses, seen as demand, cannot save. Yet the gospel of Jesus is not contrary to the law of Moses. The gospel was already proclaimed in both the Law and Prophets. Yet now God’s righteousness comes to realization in his Son. Now that it is manifested in Christ, it must be received by those who have faith in him.] For there is no distinction: ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [made in God’s image, humanity has exchanged the glory of God for idols, distorting the divine image; people are depraved; but grace renews the lost glory in believers] ²⁴ and are justified by his grace as a gift [put in the right through Christ’s undeserved gift], through the redemption [freedom gained through the payment of a price] that is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as a propitiation [Jesus died as a propitiatory sacrifice that satisfies the divine judgment against sinners] 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. [The animal sacrifices in the OT period were symbolic punishment for God’s people that foreshadowed Christ’s propitiatory sacrifice; Jesus was the real deal.] ²⁶ It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. [In the self-offering of Jesus, God’s just righteousness is vindicated and the believing sinner justified. For Jesus occupies a unique position as God’s representative with man and man’s representative with God. As the representative man he absorbs the judgment incurred by human sin; as the representative of God he bestows God’s pardoning grace on humans.]