A New Revelation

Our studies in Paul’s epistle to the Romans have now brought us to what Dr. James M. Boice calls “the most important single passage in the Word of God”—Romans 3:21–31. Paul has labored to show that the entire human race is lost in sin and therefore guilty before God, justly deserving His wrath. With words that indicate a major change of direction—“But now …”—the apostle here begins to lay out doctrines that are at the very heart of the Christian faith, doctrines that are the essence of the Good News of the Gospel.

The world has passed a major crossroads, Paul declares. The wrath of God has long been revealed against the “ungodliness and unrighteousness of men” (Rom. 1:18). Now, however, there has been another revelation: “Now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed … even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ.” God has done something in time and space to save men and women from their sin. He has provided a righteousness that counters the unrighteousness and ungodliness of His people. It is most emphatically not a righteousness that people can achieve on their own by observing the law—after all, the law has been in existence for centuries, and yet Paul has declared “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified” (3:20). Rather, it is a righteousness that is based on the work of Jesus Christ and which is appropriated by God’s people through faith, through believing that Jesus was who He said He was and did what He said He did. All who so believe (but only those) receive this righteousness, which overcomes their depravity and renders them able to stand before God.

Is this, then, the revelation of a new plan of salvation? By no means. Paul is careful to note that God’s provision of this righteousness through the work of Jesus has been “witnessed by the Law and the Prophets” (the Old Testament Scriptures). In other words, the Scriptures, properly understood, have always pointed to what so recently has taken place—the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Christ, by which He fulfilled all righteousness. God has simply revealed the next step in the one plan He has been carrying out across all history. Now, as always, a righteousness from God is provided for His people through faith.