A. Righteousness Through Faith (3:21-26)
Against the background of sin and judgment, another aspect of God’s righteousness is revealed. As in the OT, the righteousness of God provides salvation for human beings.
But now (v.21) marks both temporal and logical contrasts with the preceding section. Before this time, God’s righteousness in providing salvation was not yet manifested. It was revealed only as the wrath of God. Yet the wrath of God is not entirely in the past. There still will be a future wrath of God (5:9). Therefore, the contrast is not merely temporal. It is logical as well.
Through his provision of salvation, God grants to men and women the good standing of right relationship with him. This relationship is not earned by them through the works of the law of the OT. Yet the OT testifies to it. It is a free gift of God. All who believe can receive it through faith in Jesus Christ.
This provision of salvation is necessary because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (v.23). In v.23 Paul summarizes 1:18-3:20. In 1:18-3:20 Paul indicates that men and women refuse to acknowledge and glorify God. The Jews' lack of obedience to the law is a manifestation of this negative attitude toward God.
Fundamentally, sin is not relating to God properly. The relationship between God and human beings is estranged. As a result, they fall short of the glory God intended for them to have—the glory Adam had before his fall (Barrett, 74). This includes the good standing of right relationship with God, which issues in intimate fellowship with him. When that relationship was destroyed, God made a provision through Jesus Christ so that he could graciously grant to them the good standing of right relationship with him. The granting of this relationship is called justification. In this section Paul uses two concepts to explain the provision God made in Jesus Christ.
The first concept is redemption (v.24), which is release of a captive by payment of a price or ransom (Clarke, on v.24). The redemption came by Christ Jesus. He came to give his life as a ransom for many (Mt 20:28). The recipient of the ransom price is not a part of this concept. God redeemed Israel from Egypt (Ex 15:13). However, God never paid any ransom to the Egyptians. The expression merely indicates that it cost God something to bring Israel out of Egypt. Probably this is the meaning of God’s redeeming Israel with an outstretched arm (Ex 6:6). Likewise, Paul merely indicates that it cost God a great deal, the life of his own Son, to provide this salvation. What we are freed from is treated later in Romans.
The second concept is sacrifice of atonement (v.25). This is a translation of the Greek word hilastērion. The NIV footnote indicates two possible interpretations: “as the one who would turn aside his wrath” or “taking away sin.” NASB translates it as “propitiation,” and RSV as “expiation.” A person who is angry or offended is propitiated, i.e., appeased. Propitiation may refer to the gift given to appease or to the act of appeasing the angry or offended person. Sin and guilt that weigh upon the conscience of an offender are expiated, i.e., removed or wiped away. Expiation refers to the means or the act of removing the sin and guilt.
In many biblical passages where words related to hilastērion occur, the idea of God’s wrath is present. The meaning of hilastērion is the removal of wrath (Morris, Apostolic Preaching, 125-85). But some scholars think wrath unworthy of God; appeasing God is even more unworthy. Therefore, they prefer to translate hilastērion as expiation (Dodd, 54-55). However, as pointed out earlier, God’s wrath is fundamentally different from human anger. Paul explicitly talks about the wrath of God in the preceding section, 1:18-3:20 and again in 5:9; 12:19; and 13:4. If the wrath of God is not taken care of by hilastērion, it is left uncared for. This propitiation in Christ does not originate, as in heathen sacrifices, with the sinner who brings the sacrifice. Neither is it Christ Jesus who originated the propitiation. Therefore propitiation cannot be ridiculed, as some do, as the loving Son placating the angry Father. It is God himself, motivated by love, who provided the propitiation as a free gift. Thus both the severity of God’s personal reaction against sin and his love for the sinner are preserved (Cranfield, 1:213-17).
These two concepts, redemption and propitiation (niv atonement), are mutually supplementary and corrective. Propitiation prevents us from seeing the ransom as paid to the Devil or to someone else. Redemption makes it impossible to think that the mind of the Father needs to be changed toward us.
The NIV of v.25 says that God presented Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement through faith in his blood. In the NIV in his blood is treated as the object of faith. However, for Paul the object of faith is always a person: Jesus Christ or God, but never a thing. So there should be a comma after faith, and his blood should be connected with hilastērion/propitiation (Cranfield, 1:210). The NASB reads “a propitiation in His blood through faith.” This is in harmony with the general teaching of the NT that the blood of Jesus has sacrificial significance (cf. 1Co 10:16; 11:25; Mt 26:28; Mk 14:24; Lk 22:20; Heb 9:11-14; 10:19, 22; 13:12, 20; 1Pe 1:2, 19; 1Jn 1:7; 5:6). Ro 5:9 indicates that we are justified by (in) the blood of Jesus. As 5:9-10 indicates, the blood of Jesus refers to the death of Jesus. The blood of Jesus Christ, i.e., the death of Jesus, is the means of propitiation. Propitiation, however, is also effected through faith. It is effective only for those who have faith.
God made this provision for two reasons. The first is to demonstrate his justice (dikaiosunē, the same Greek word as righteousness). In his forbearance, God left the sins committed beforehand unpunished. God did this in order to give people a chance to repent (2:4). This, however, could easily lead to the misunderstanding that God does not care about sin. Now, by presenting Jesus as the propitiation, God’s attitude—his righteous wrath toward sin—is clearly demonstrated.
The second reason is that God can be just (dikaios, the same Greek word as righteous) in justifying the person who has faith in Jesus Christ. God’s holy character cannot tolerate sin. Sin has to be punished. God made Jesus Christ who had no sin to be sin for us (2Co 5:21) and directed the full weight of that righteous wrath, which we deserve, upon himself in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus he can forgive sinners righteously (Wesley, Notes, 370), that is, without in any way condoning their sins. If the first reason is to demonstrate God’s righteousness publicly, the second is to satisfy his own character.
In order to avoid some misunderstanding, two points need to be clarified. When God the Father poured out the full weight of his righteous wrath upon Jesus Christ, he was pouring it out upon himself, since the Father and the Son are one. Propitiation is effective only for those who have faith. Through faith we unite with Christ and become one with him. Therefore, when Jesus paid the penalty of sin for believers, it was like a husband paying the debt for his wife.