Bible Commentaries
Romans 3

Verses 1-8

Romans 3:1. Then what advantage has the Jew? or what is the bene­fit of circumcision?

Romans 3:2. Great in every respect. First of all, that they were en­trusted with the oracles of God.

If a Gentile can be acceptable with God with­out being circumcised, what’s the use of being circumcised? For the Gentile, there is no spiritual benefit. That mark separates the Jew. It’s a mark that shows his privilege—he belongs to God.

And if this rite is of no value at all, what’s the benefit of being a Jew?

Paul says, “The benefit is ‘great in every re­spect. ’” Privilege always increases your responsi­bility; it never frees you from it. And this very advantage is what accuses the Jew.

Why didn’t Paul say here that God was through with the Jew? The Christian churches have now been established. What’s the use of being a Jew?

He answers his own question by saying that God has given three things to the Jews and that we have to acknowledge them.

First, unto the Jews were committed the oracles (the revelation) of God. Where did we get our Bi­ble? From the Jews, who were the depository for the Word of God. God spoke through their proph­ets, through their leaders, through their sages, through their apostles.

The second thing they had was that through them the Messiah came. When He was talking to the Samaritan woman, our Lord said, “Salvation is from the Jews.”

The third thing is that God chose the Israelites, not because they were many or because they were good. He chose them in sovereign grace to be His witnesses to the nations even though they failed in their job and have been scattered among the na­tions for more than l900 years. That choosing has never been abrogated. You have that in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah. Israel is to be restored to fellow­ship and relationship with God. She is again going to be His testimony to the Gentiles of the wonder­ful grace of God.

And so we have here, and I repeat it again that circumcision only profits when one is exercised in heart. What profit is there in circumcision? Every­thing, if you are right before God.

Now, if you go on from Romans 3:3 down through Romans 3:8, you find some other questions raised.

Romans 3:3. What then? If some did not believe, their unbelief will not nullify the faithfulness of God, will it?

Romans 3:4. May it never be! Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “THAT THOU MIGHTEST BE JUSTIFIED IN THY WORDS, AND MIGHTEST PREVAIL WHEN THOU ART JUDGED.”

Well, what if some did not believe? Will God not keep His Word and bless Israel so that all will share in the blessing? Isn’t God faithful to His Word? Yes, even if some did not believe.

Now, mark the subtlety of this thing. Is it not true that whatever God has promised, He will do? If God is going to keep His Word and bless Israel, then we are all going to share in His blessing. Now keep that in mind. That’s a good argument. God will keep His Word in spite of the unbelief of those who profess His Name.

And if I were following that through, I would point out that God’s faithfulness does not free man from God’s judgment. I would use Ezekiel and Zechariah and prove to you that God, when He comes, is going to purge out of Israel all the unbe­lieving Jews. They are not going to come in under the promises of God. They must have faith, per­sonal and individual faith, before they can have the blessing. That’s true among the Jews; it’s true among the Gentiles today.

Now the second question is raised.

Romans 3:5. But if our unrighteousness demonstrates the righteous­ness of God, what shall we say? The God who inflicts wrath is not unrighteous, is He? (I am speaking in human terms.)

Romans 3:6. May it never be! For otherwise how will God judge the world?

Well, Paul, if Jewish unfaithfulness, if Jewish unrighteousness makes the righteousness of God stand out with more glory—if it exalts and exhibits His righteousness—what are you finding fault for? You ought to be thankful that his very unrighte­ousness is going to bring more glory to God. Why judge the Jew if God is going to be glorified by his unrighteousness? Is God unrighteous who takes vengeance?

Now, again, mark the subtlety of this situation. Paul has a tough time trying to get the Jew to real­ize he needs a Saviour. The Jew runs from one hole to the next. Paul pulls him out of one, and he dives into another. Now notice the thing.

Let me repeat the question. What if some did not believe? Will God keep His Word and bless Israel?

The answer is, “May it never be!” If God did that, He would have no basis of judgment. If He lets the Jew with his privileges go because God was glori­fied through his unfaithfulness, He must let the Gentile who has no privileges at all go, too. In fact, I would say this. If anyone is going to be set free, it will have to be the Gentile because the Jew has had more responsibility and is just as big a failure.

If you take two fellows out to sea and tie a block of cement to one and throw them both overboard, which one will go to the bottom quicker? Of course, the one with the cement block.

Well, that’s the Jew with his privileges. He was just as bad as the Gentile so he was under greater judgment than the Gentile. And, if God lets the Jew go, He has to let the Gentile go.

But Paul’s not through yet.

Romans 3:7. But if through my lie the truth of God abounded to His glory, why am I also still being judged as a sinner?

Romans 3:8. And why not say (as we are slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say), “Let us do evil that good may come”? Their condemnation is just.

If through my lie God is glorified, that doesn’t free me from being a liar. I’m still a liar and under judgment. Now, it’s true in the final analysis that everything is going to redound to the glory of God. But that does not free you or me from the fact that we have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and that we are to come under the judgment of God unless we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Now, remember what Paul is doing. He is not talking about the Gospel. He’s not giving us good news. Indeed, it’s far from good news. What he is telling us here is that the law with all its ceremo­nies has only one point and that is to prove that man by himself cannot fit himself for the presence of God.

The Scriptures have concluded all under sin. God has concluded all in unbelief that He might have mercy upon all. God has so much in store for man in the future, and He is going to keep His Word. He is faithful. Every jot and every tittle is going to be fulfilled whether you like it or not. Whatever man does, God is going to do His job.

So, listen. If God is glorified through my fail­ures, that doesn’t give me ground to glory in my sin. And as Paul says (let me use my own words), “If I lie and God is glorified through my ly­ing, I am still a liar; and I must stand before God for lying. If the truth of God has more abounded through my lie to His glory, I am still a sinner. I am still a liar, and I am going to come under the judgment of God. And now rather, (as we be slan­derously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil that good may come. Whose damnation is just.”

Verses 1-31

God has revealed to us the Gospel of God, the Gospel concerning His Son, who was a real

Man, God manifest in the flesh. He was the Son of God raised with power. When I think of what we have here in the Book of Romans, my heart goes out that every Christian might be established in the wonderful truth of the grace of God as it is given to us in this amazing book, this most foun­dational book of all of the epistles.

I say very frankly, my friend, if you are not es­tablished in the Book of Romans, then you are not established in the Gospel that God has for us.

Paul has just said, in chapter two, Romans 2:25-29, that empty profession isn’t worth a thing. Outward ordinances are empty if your heart is not right with God. So he raises a question:

Verses 9-20

Paul is not about to talk of the wonderful right­eousness and grace of God when man is occupied with himself, with his own so-called goodness, with his boasted religious experiences instead of Christ. So he must shut the mouth of man from glorying in his own self-righteousness before he can reveal to us the very righteous character of God, which he does starting in Romans 3:21.

But now, between verses 9 and 20, he takes up the great indictment of the human race and what he does is this: He takes the Jew’s own Scripture and shuts his mouth.

Romans 3:9. What then? Are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks are all un­der sin.

Paul begins by making the flat statement that no one is better than anybody else. People are always saying that today.

“I’m not as bad as he is.”

“I’m not so bad after all.”

God has declared everybody under sin.

Verses 10-12

Now, having said that, Paul takes the Old Tes­tament Scriptures and proves that all men in their character and conduct are absolutely unrighteous. In verses 10 to 12, he takes up the question of the character of man. He is not talking about any in­dividual. He is talking about everyone in the hu­man race. As God sees men, this is their charac­ter.

Romans 3:10. As it is written, “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;

Romans 3:11. THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS, THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;

Romans 3:12. ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS; THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD, THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Now, that’s not a very nice picture, is it? But Paul is simply reminding the Jews of what David wrote in Psalms 53:1-3. He wrote, “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ They are cor­rupt, and have committed abominable injustice; there is no one who does good. God has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men, to see if there is anyone who understands, who seeks after God. Every one of them has turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one.” This is how God looks at man. Now, it may not be the way you look at man.

You might say to me, “Why, Mr. Mitchell, I’m just as good as anybody on earth.” Well, I’ll take your word for it. But what are you going to tell God? It’s how God sees us that’s the important thing.

I remember one time I was preaching in Tacoma on this portion of Scripture that there is no one who seeks for God, when a great big fellow stood up and waved his fist at me right in the meeting. He said, “I want you to know, sir, that I sought God. That’s why I was saved—because I sought God.”

Now it happened that I had been in Tacoma the year before, and I had had the privilege and joy of leading this great big brother to Christ. But in the meantime he had been told that he had been saved because he sought God.

So I said to this man, “I didn’t know that God was lost and that He had to be sought, dear brother. We were the lost ones, and God came seeking us.”

And I gave him Luke 19:10, which says, “The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Man is incurably bad, my friend. Just look in your own heart. Don’t line yourself up with somebody else and say, “I’m not as bad as he or she is.” That isn’t the question. The question is how do you stand before God. How does God see you?

Now, it’s true that you and I may do good things in our lives. We may do good works as far as man counts them good. If we go by the standards of men, we would argue with this point. But this is not the standard. It’s God who is declaring this thing. This is the way God sees people who are out of Christ.

Verses 13-17

Now, if that is our character as God sees us, let’s read what our conduct is as God sees us.

Romans 3:13.“THEIR THROAT IS AN OPEN GRAVE, WITH THEIR TONGUES THEY KEEP DECEIVING,” “THE POISON OF ASPS IS UNDER THEIR LIPS;”

Romans 3:14. “WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS;”

Romans 3:15. “THEIR FEET ARE SWIFT TO SHED BLOOD,

Romans 3:16. DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS,

Romans 3:17. AND THE PATH OF PEACE HAVE THEY NOT KNOWN.”

This is the history of man from the begin­ning. Even in my brief space on earth, we have had a number of wars. In fact, there is always some war going on.

Look at the actions of men. Their actions and conduct correspond to their character. If my char­acter is unrighteous, then, of course, my actions will be unrighteous. Listen to Paul, “Their throat is an open grave”—like a grave with a body in cor­ruption. “With their tongues they keep deceiving.”

Did you ever deceive anybody?

“The poison of asps is under their lips.” We do more damage with our tongues than we can do with anything else. No wonder the Apostle James says that the tongue is set on fire by hell (James 3:6).

My, the nasty things we can say with our tongues. Aren’t we all guilty? And sometimes things come out of our mouths we never intended to say. But when your ear hears your tongue say it, your very pride will forbid you taking it back or apologizing. Oh, the characters that have been murdered by people. And, if you would accuse them of murdering somebody’s character, they would look so righteous, so self-righteous. Why, they wouldn’t do a thing like that.

No, but it comes out just the same.

I want to tell you, my friend, you can’t read your newspaper without seeing it. You can’t read your magazines and you can’t walk among people with­out realizing it. Deceit, asps, the poison of asps, villainy—where does it all come from?

From within. As the Lord Jesus said in Mark 7:1-37, from within the heart of man proceed all these things.

Look at our text. “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”

Before I came to know the Saviour, I wasn’t taught to curse. I just cursed. In fact, that was part of the language. You work in shops or ship­yards or railroad yards, wherever it may be, wher­ever your plant may be, wherever men are, women are, mouths are there full of cursing and bitter­ness.

Even among Christians I have seen that bitter­ness as they speak with a bitter tongue. Oh, the damage they do, the friendships that are broken, the fellowships that are smashed. It’s because of a bitter heart. No wonder the writer to the Hebrews 12:15 wrote to the church and said, “See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.”

Before we were saved, our mouths were full of bitterness and cursing.

But isn’t it wonderful? When one accepts the Saviour, the cursing goes out; and He puts a new song in our mouths, even praises to the Lord. In­stead of cursing people, we bless them. What made the transformation? We’ve come into a rela­tionship with the Saviour.

And then we come to Romans 3:15, “Their feet are swift to shed blood.” That’s the history of the human race. Wars and bloodshedding are very, very common.

I remember when I was a youngster fighting with my fists with the boys around in the neighbor­hood. We used to fight just about every other day. If we didn’t find somebody to fight and if we had no reason to fight, we would hit someone on the shoulder and get him to fight. And, believe me, brother, when you would hit him on the nose and when the blood came out, there was an exultation there.

Where did it come from? From a rotten heart, a heart that was sinful, unrighteous, unredeemed. That’s the history of man.

His feet are swift to shed blood.

Destruction and misery are in his path.

Even today, with all our knowledge, we see destruction and misery. More than half of the world’s population doesn’t know where the next meal is coming from. And yet we in our land take our excess produce out and dump it in the ocean to keep prices up.

“Destruction and misery are in their paths, and the path of peace have they not known.”

It’s a terrible picture!

Verse 18

Now, what’s the cause of it all? What’s the rea­son for this character and this conduct?

Romans 3:18. “THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.”

They rip God out of the picture. They leave God out of their life and let sin and corruption come in. There is no way out of it. Rule God out of a nation and what do you find?

Corruption. Sinfulness. Brutality. Bloodshed. You name it.

I want to say to you, the more we leave God out of our nation and out of our cities and schools— and out of our own individual lives—the more there will be of moral corruption, lawlessness, bloodshed, bitterness and cursing.

Why?

There is no fear of God before their eyes.

Verses 19-20

Romans 3:19.Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God.

You see, it has taken Paul nearly three chapters to shut all mouths—“that every mouth may be closed.” Jew, Gentile, moralist, religionist must all stand before God with their mouth shut. Their only plea is “guilty.”

Then, to keep these moralists and religionists and especially the Jews from running to some cover, Paul immediately closes everything up by saying in verse 20:

Romans 3:20. Because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justi­fied in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin.

The law was never given to save anyone. The law was given to reveal what sin is. The law was a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ; and, after we come to Christ, we’re no longer under the school­master. The law gives a distinctive character to sin. The law works wrath. As James says, the law is a looking glass. And, as Mr. Moody used to say, you don’t use the looking glass to wash your face. The looking glass reveals how dirty your face is. The law is given to reveal sin.

There was a misunderstanding in the minds of the Jews (just as there are misunderstandings today in the minds of a great many religious folk who call themselves Christians) that by keeping the law they’re going to be justified in the sight of God. We found in chapter 2 that the Jew cannot be saved by his law; neither can the Gentile be saved by walking according to his conscience. Nei­ther law nor conscience was given to save anyone. And if God saves the Jew by the law, he must save the Gentile by his conscience. But then, God would have no ground for judgment as found in chapter 3.

Now, I want you to mark that “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.” And that closes the door, doesn’t it? There is not a thing anyone can do to fit himself for the presence of God. God must be righteous. How is anyone go­ing to stand before Him? There’s not an excuse any of us can make. We are all incurably bad and totally helpless.

When God gets us to that position where we are totally helpless and we recognize our posi­tion, then He will step into the picture and do something for us. After shutting man’s mouth from glorying in himself, now God must open His heart and make provision whereby men and women can be saved. And this is what we have in this book of Romans.

“But, Mr. Mitchell, I know that God is righteous; but God is also love. The God that I worship is love.”

Yes, my friend, but God cannot manifest His love at the expense of His righteousness. Let me get this thing very, very clear in your mind. I grant you that in 1 John 4:16 we have the statement that God is love. But where did God manifest His love? How do you know that God is love? Well, read 1 John 4:10 in that same fourth chapter: “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us.” He sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might live through Him. And that verse also says that He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” the sacrifice for our sins.

Let me get this very clear in your mind. God, of necessity, must be righteous. He must be holy or He wouldn’t be God. And, when you tell me you are trusting God who is love and that you are really putting your trust in a God who is love, then you must accept what that love has done for you in the Person of His Son.

The people who say, “My God is a God of love,” have never realized that God is essentially right­eous and holy.

Friend, we are not dealing with a weakling, jellyfish sort of a god. We are dealing with God who is absolute in holiness, absolute in righteous­ness. He is Sovereign God, and I’m a creature and I was born in sin. All of us are not only natural sinners, but we are cultivated sinners. This is the history of man —your history, my history, the his­tory of everyone.

And, now, having proved that man is unrighte­ous, that his mouth is shut and that he is guilty before God, Paul shows how God has opened up His own heart. God has brought the man who was far off and alienated from Him and dead in tres­passes and sin, nigh unto Himself through the work of His own Son; and the righteousness of God is received by faith.

Now, remember, He doesn’t open up His heart and reveal what He is and what He has done for man until man comes to the end of trusting in himself. When a man realizes he is a sinner who needs a Saviour, you will find God ready in a mo­ment’s notice to save anybody who will come to Him. I don’t care how bad he is. I don’t care how unrighteous he is. God has good news and the good news is that God Himself has come into this world to take away our sin.

Verses 21-22

Romans 3:21. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

Romans 3:22. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction.

I want you to come and look at all we get out of the first word in Romans 3:21—“But.” If you follow that through your New Testament— especially in Pauline revelation—it’s a very com­mon thing for Paul to reveal the utter helplessness and sinfulness of man. And, when he brings you to that point, he begins to unveil, to reveal to us the righteousness of God.

For example, in Ephesians 2:1-3, he says that we were dead in trespasses and sins. He says that we were controlled by the prince of the power of the air, that we lived in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the mind. We were by nature children of wrath like the rest. He pushes us way down, with our mouths shut, incapable of producing anything that will please God.

Then he begins to reveal this amazing fact in verse 4: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions.” Before he re­veals the greatness of God’s love and the richness of His mercy, Paul brings man down to where he actually is—in God’s sight.

We have this structure here again in Romans 3:21 : “But now apart from the Law the righteous­ness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; even the righteous­ness of God.” He now begins to display the right­eousness of God and, from Romans 3:21-31; Romans 4:1-25; Romans 5:1-11, he explains God’s way of justi­fying sinners.

The real tragedy in our churches today is that so little is known of God’s real Gospel. Proverbs 14:12 says there is a way “which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” The human heart is primarily legalistic. We’re always going about trying in some devious way to get glory to our­selves by doing or being something extraordinary. There is absolutely no place in the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the glory of man or for the works of the flesh—however moral or religious those works may be.

Now, having declared that man is absolutely void of righteousness, Paul shows us where the righteousness of God is manifested.

You remember, you have it in 2 Corinthians 5:21: He who knew no sin was made sin for us “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” In Philippians 3:9: I’m going to be “found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own de­rived from the Law,” but the righteousness of God which is by faith. There is only one righteousness in the universe and that is God’s.

And, before we get through, I want you to see this fact of the impossibility of any man or woman, however moral, however religious, however wonderful, however good they may think they are, the impossibility of their standing in the presence of God who is righteous unless they have a right­eousness that is equal to His.

Paul describes himself in the first verse of Ro­mans as “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.” And what is the “gospel of God,” the good news from God? He begins now to unfold it—that God’s righteousness is to be put to the account of the one who puts his trust in the Lord Jesus.

So you have in this 21st verse, “But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God” (without works of any kind) is revealed, is evident, is mani­fested, “being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets; even the righteousness of God.” Titus 3:5 says, “Not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness.” Isaiah 64:6 informs us that “all our righteous deeds are (in the sight of God) like a filthy garment.”

In Romans 4:5, Paul writes of him who does not work, “but believes in Him who justifies the un­godly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” In Galatians 3:21, we have the same truth brought before us. One could multiply the number of pas­sages.

Paul in Philippians 3:6 could say concerning the righteousness which is in the law that he was “blameless,” but he was lost. Then he says, having caught a glimpse of God’s righteousness in Christ, everything else fades out of the picture; and he wants to “be found in Him, not having a right­eousness of my own”—that is, what I thought was wonderful—but to be found in Him, having His righteousness (Philippians 3:9).

Do you realize the utter folly and the utter futility of religion? Every religion informs us what we should do. The Gospel of God’s grace tells us what God has done. And He wants us to come with our sin, our shame, our unrighteousness, just as we are; and by our simple trust in Him, by our putting our trust in the Saviour Jesus Christ, we are pronounced—rather, He pronounces us — righteous.

You know, I love the testimony of John Bun­yan—that cursing tinker, you remember—the man who wrote Pilgńm’s Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. And that dear old John Bunyan with his conscience slashed went across the fields in the south part of England. He had been cursing and swearing and spitting at every­body, and the Lord convicted him of his condition. And then he realized in the midst of it that only in Christ could he be found acceptable; only in Christ did he have righteousness.

And he shouted, “Praise the Lord! My righteous­ness is at the right hand of God where my good works can’t help it and my bad works can’t hurt it.”

Christ is our righteousness! Allow me to give you a few verses concerning this. In Romans 10:3-4, Paul writes about Jews who, “not knowing about God’s righteousness,” tried to establish their own. But “they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law (not the beginning) for righteousness to every­one who believes.” In 1 Corinthians 1:30, he writes, “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us . . . righteousness.”

Then, in Romans 5:1, Paul writes, “Therefore having been justified (declared righteous) by faith, we have peace with God.” And this righteousness is to the one who believes. Again, it’s not the one who is good or religious that God pronounces righteous; but it is the one who will simply put his or her trust in the Lord Jesus. It’s not an experi­ence. It’s not coming to what God does in me.

Get this clear in your mind.

It is not what God does in me. It is coming and knowing what God has done for me. If we do not have God’s righteousness, then, my friend, we haven’t anything. Everything else fails.

And where is this righteousness of God mani­fested? Where is it revealed? In only one place—in Jesus Christ. It has been unveiled before us in Je­sus Christ. You remember in 2 Timothy 1:10 we read that “life and immortality” have been brought “to light through the gospel.” And in this good news from God, He pronounces righteous the one who puts his trust in Him. And this righteousness of God is witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Let me remind you, for example, of Jeremiah 23:6 where, when our Lord returns to the king­dom, He is going to be called Jehovah Tsidkenu, “The Lord our Righteousness.” The whole nation is going to come to the realization that Jesus Christ is its righteousness. Isaiah 53:11 says, “By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many.” The Righteous One shall declare righteous the many. What many? The many who believe. And this righteousness of God, of course, is only received on one ground and that’s on the ground of faith—“unto all and upon all them that believe.” When? The moment we accept the Sav­iour.

The righteousness of God was mine the mo­ment I accepted Christ as Saviour. And from the moment I became a Christian and came into right relationship with Jesus Christ by simple faith, from that very moment to this present moment and through eternity, I’m going to stand before God in all the righteousness of Christ.

Now you say to me, “Mr. Mitchell, aren’t you go­ing too far?”

No, I am just telling you that, if this is not true, then nobody can stand before God. This is true of any sinner who accepts Jesus Christ as Saviour.

Now, let’s chew some more on these verses I’ve given you. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, I read: “But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who (in the wisdom of God) became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and re­demption.” In 2 Corinthians 5:21, I read that Je­sus Christ was made to be sin for us—Him who knew no sin—“that we might become the right­eousness of God in Him.”

In Philippians 3:9, Paul says, I am going to “be found in Him (in Jesus Christ), not having a right­eousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the (very) righteousness (of God) which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

My friend, how clearly can God put it? Jesus Christ became what I was—sin—that I might be­come what He is—righteousness. There never has been a person in the Old or the New Testament that ever stood before God righteous—justified— apart from Christ. The next question is raised in verse 23. But who needs this righteousness?

Verses 21-31

Verse 23

Romans 3:23. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

What is God’s measurement? Or, if I might change the word to make you see what we are talking about, what is His righteousness? We have all sinned and fallen short of the righteousness of God. You can’t come into the presence of the blaz­ing glory and omnipotent righteousness of God. Nobody can, except we come His way—in Jesus Christ. We all need this righteousness.

This is God’s yardstick.

As I said earlier when we were dealing with the character and the conduct of man, there is none righteous. This is what God sees.

“But, Mr. Mitchell, I’m as good as everybody else,” someone says. “I’m as good as that preacher. I’m as good as those religious folk down the street.”

Well, you may be and you may not be; that’s not the question. Certainly you are not going to come before God and say, “I’m as good as my neighbor,” are you? The moment you catch a glimpse of the eternal glory of God, my friend, you will be glad to get out of His presence. I say this reverently.

All of us need this righteousness. If you don’t believe that, let me give you some of God’s conclu­sions concerning you and me. I’m talking now about the merits of Christ.

“All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.” “The Scripture hath shut up all men under sin.” That’s Galatians 3:22. “God has shut up all in disobedience that He might show mercy to all” (Romans 11:32).

All have become destitute of righteousness. There is not one who has attained the glory of God. There is not one who could measure up to the righteousness and the holiness of God.

My friend, the gospel is a display of the right­eousness and glory of God. Remember 2 Corin­thians 4:4 says, “The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving.” Why? “That they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” No, all of us need this righteousness.

Which leads me now to another wonderful truth:

Verse 24

Romans 3:24. Being justified as a gift by His grace through the re­demption which is in Christ Jesus.

This righteousness of God is given freely. Don’t you like that? If God would have put a cost on it, nobody could have been saved. And if He had, I am sure I couldn’t have paid the cost, nor you.

If God had said to us, “You climb on your knees to the top of the highest mountain on your conti­nent; and, when you get up there, I’m going to give you eternal life,” believe me, we would all be head­ing for that mountain. What for? To become the recipients of eternal life.

Well, you know, I’m so glad He didn’t do that. A lot of folks would fall by the wayside. No, this righteousness is given freely. And this word “freely” means, if I can use another word, to be without a cause.

The same word is used in John 15:25 where the Lord Jesus said, As it “is written in their Law, they hated me without a cause.” There was no rea­son why they should hate Him. It was just envy and jealousy.

It’s the same word—“being justified freely,” with­out a cause. There is no cause in me why He should do it. It’s because He is the One who has done it. The cause is in Him. It costs me nothing to be saved. I cost Him everything—and, my, what a cost.

I remember here, during a gospel campaign years ago, dealing with the leaders of the counsel­ing program.

We were working out a series of lessons for personal workers, and I raised the question in our little committee meeting, “Shall we put something in this about justification to teach redemption and forgiveness so that, when we deal with these dear souls who are hungry for the Lord, we will not only bring them to the saving knowledge of Christ but we will tell them what they have in Christ—that they’re forgiven every trespass, that they’re re­deemed, that they’re children of God and that they have life eternal.”

In other words, I wanted to know what they were going to do about justification.

And one other gentleman on the committee (he and I didn’t agree on doctrine—I knew that and that’s why I raised the question) said this to me, “Why, Dr. Mitchell, of course. Of course, we all be­lieve in that.”

And I said, “And what do you believe justifica­tion is?”

And he said, “Don’t you know?”

And I said, “Yes. Do you know?”

“Oh, yes,” he said, “justification means that we stand before God just-as-if-we-had-never-sinned.”

And that’s the common definition of justifi­cation which is not true. It’s only a part of the truth. It is true in a sense, but that’s just plain in­nocency. Justification is a pronouncement from God that the sinner who puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is righteous. It’s a positive thing! God says, “I put to your account My righteousness.”

When you speak of God, you’re speaking of One who is holy and righteous in His character. And the holy, righteous God not only sees us with our sin, but He sees us absolutely righteous in His Son. Oh, I hope we can get hold of this fact.

You take that simple verse, “Therefore, being justified by faith,” we have what? “We have peace with God.”

Look, friend. Listen. You couldn’t have peace with God if you weren’t righteous.

We have just seen in the first three chapters the blackness and condemnation, but I want you to see some of the glory. I want to say to you, my Christian friend, if it ever gets hold of your heart, you will never again be the same.

Paul said, “When I saw Him in His righteous­ness and when I saw that His righteousness would be put to my account, I counted all things as loss—the things that were gain to me, the things that I counted wonderful—I count them but the re­fuse of the streets. Why? That I might be found in Him, having His righteousness” (my wording of Philippians 3:8-9).

It’s a complete reversal of value. We spend much of our time criticizing and sitting in judgment of other people, but we wouldn’t if we could see the thing that God demands—an absolute righteousness that will stand in the blazing glory of the presence of God.

How in the world are you going to get a right­eousness that equals His righteousness? There is only one real righteousness, and that is God’s. But now the righteousness of God is revealed from heaven without the law, and it’s being witnessed to by the law and the prophets—even the righteous­ness of God which is by faith in Jesus Christ.

It’s unto all and, thank God, it’s upon all them that believe. There is no difference.

Now, remember this little statement, “For there is no distinction,” is not part of verse 22. It is tied to the next verse. “There is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” That is true, but the little statement refers to this question of righteousness.

There is no difference between Jew and Gen­tile. There is no difference between any man, whatever his color, whatever his background, whatever his country or tongue.

There is no difference as far as God is con­cerned. All men need righteousness. Anyone who comes and puts his trust in the Saviour is pro­nounced righteous.

I spoke with a man who has been religious most of his life, and he wanted to know if he was saved.

I took my Bible and gave him some scripture; and he said that he’s been hearing that, but he wanted to know that he was saved.

After talking about it, I said, “Listen, Mr., do you know what you’re doing? You’re questioning the character of God. I just read you a verse, and you don’t believe it.”

“I do believe it,” he said.

And I said, “Who said it?”

And he said, “God.”

And I said, “There’s no ifs, ands or buts in there. If God says it, believe it.”

And it was as if someone had taken the blind­ness and moved it out of his eyes. I could just see the thing move right across. Brightness came.

And he said, “Dr. Mitchell, I’m saved.”

“Is that because you feel it?” I said.

“God says it,” he said. “And if God says that I am righteous in His sight, who am I to question God?”

It’s high time that we Christians got down to bed-rock on this thing. When Jesus Christ died, we died. When He was buried, we were buried. The Saviour who died for me on the cross satisfied God.

Listen, I want you to get this statement. God must act either in grace or He must act in judg­ment. Now which would you rather have—God act­ing toward you in grace or God acting toward you in judgment?

Now God has acted toward the human race in grace. As 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God (we didn’t love Him), but that He loved us” and sent His only begotten Son into the world to be a sacrifice, to put away our sins, to make it possible for Him to pronounce us right­eous and to free His hands to take sinners— ungodly, unrighteous men and women—and to make us the sons of the living God in all the right­eousness of Christ.

My friend, what a Saviour!

Oh, what a Saviour!

No wonder the hymn writer says, “I need no other argument; I need no other plea. It is enough that Jesus died and that He died for me.” He died for you and me and rose again, guaranteeing this very salvation we have in Christ.

I wish you’d read and reread this passage until it gets hold of your very being. It was the first great truth that got hold of my heart.

May I give a little testimony?

When I was saved, I came into contact with a lit­tle bald-headed barber in Calgary, Alberta. (I don’t know why a barber should be bald-headed.) And this dear brother never had gone to school in his life. He had been saved out of a life of alcoholism and had moved from New York to Calgary, Alberta, to get away from his old habits and friends. And the Lord wonderfully transformed him. And all he knew and all I heard for the first six months I was with him was Romans 3:21-31.

And I said to him one day, “Heddy, don’t you know any other scripture besides this?”

He said, “I know a few. I’ve learned to read a few. But I’m not gonna give you up until you know Ro­mans 3!”

“Well,” I said, “I know it backwards and for­wards.”

And he said, “Yes, you know the scripture, but you don’t know the truth.”

And after I’d been sitting with that barber for a year, I went out preaching. And what do you think I preached on.

I was fooled, if I might use this term. The man fooled me into the ministry, but the sovereign God was behind the whole thing.

A week of meetings had been announced, and I wasn’t going to be the speaker. I thought the other fellow who announced the meeting was going to be the speaker. But he took the train and beat it and left me with the meeting in my hands. I had to keep one jump ahead of the people so I began to read the book of Romans; and I taught the book of Romans every night.

Once in the afternoon, I got to Romans 3:1-31. I spent all day and night reading Cruden’s Concordance on justification and righteousness and, when I stood up to speak on Sunday afternoon to the group that was present, I declared to them that I have a righteousness that is the righteousness of God.

There was another preacher in the audience, and he got up and went out. And he said all over town that this young fellow Mitchell was declaring that he was God. But I didn’t say that.

I can still see the man that was in charge of that work, sitting in the front seat with his mouth open. He was horrified.

I looked at him and said, “Did I say something wrong? When I said that I have a righteousness— the righteousness of God—am I wrong?” And out of my mouth came scripture after scripture on jus­tification and righteousness.

I said, “Please don’t judge till you read them all.” And I closed the meeting and walked out.

I didn’t stay in there because I was scared stiff. I didn’t know what I had done. I was in my innocence. You see, I wasn’t a preacher. I wasn’t raised in the churches. I didn’t know anything about it except what I was reading in the book of Romans.

The next Sunday afternoon in the middle of the testimony meeting, this same dear old man got up. He had been a lay preacher and a circuit rider for the Methodist Church for years.

He got up and said, “Last Sunday afternoon, when our young brother spoke about justification and righteousness, I thought that something was gone wrong with his head. He was making some drastic statements.

“But,” he said, “it’s true!”

I didn’t even get a chance to preach that after­noon. He opened his mouth and spoke a whole hour on the righteousness of God which believers in Jesus Christ have.

My friend, justification is not just an experi­ence. Some people say that justification is having your sins forgiven. It isn’t. Justification is God pronouncing righteous the man who believes in Christ. And, seeing that there is only one right­eousness, then the believer has the righteousness of God, the very righteousness of God, put to his account.

Now, going on in Romans 3:24, we are “justified (de­clared righteous) as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

Now, underlying all of justification is the great doctrine of redemption. The word “to redeem” means to purchase for the purpose of setting free. You remember 1 Timothy 2:6 says that our Lord was a “ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time.” In Matthew 20:28, Jesus said, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Romans 7:14 declares that we were “sold into bondage to sin.”

You and I were slaves in a slave market. We were slaves of sin. Sin was our master and, when Jesus Christ came, He came to be a ransom; and He paid the price to deliver us from the markets of sin. Whether you like it or not, my friend, we were sold under sin. We get that in Romans 6:1-23.

We not only were delivered from the penalty of sin and from the guilt of sin, but we were delivered from sin as a master. We have been emancipated from sin as a master. We have been set free.

Now you remember in 1 Peter 1:18 through 21 Peter writes, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold . . . but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. For He was fore­known before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you (and me) who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.”

And in the book of Revelation 1:5, I read, “To Him who loves us (and that’s a con­tinual thing—He loves us), and released us (the King James Version says He has washed us) from our sins by His blood.” The word there is the same word used here. He loosed us from our sins in His own blood.

In Revelation 5:9, you have the heavenly hosts singing and praising God; and what do you think is the theme of their song in heaven? “For Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.”

My friend, listen. I cannot say this often enough. We are not saved by what Christ is doing in us. We are saved on the ground of what Christ did for us at the cross. His life was a ransom. He bought us from the slave markets. It was a real cost. It cost everything to redeem you and me. We’re redeemed freely without any charge. It’s by His grace; it’s through the redemption.

“But, Mr. Mitchell, what if I lose my redemp­tion?”

My friend, you can’t do that. In Hebrews 9:12, I read, “Through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemp­tion.” He didn’t obtain our eternal redemption for a year or ten years. He bought you and me for Him­self forever. And, if He bought us with His own blood, isn’t He going to take care of us?

Aren’t we His purchased possession?

Didn’t He buy us?

That’s why Paul says in Romans 5:9, “Much more then, having now been justified (declared righteous) by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.”

Isn’t that an amazing thing? You and I who are trusting the Saviour, we ought to be filled with continual joy and thanksgiving to God.

You know, I can’t help but add this to it. He has delivered us from three tremendous things. He loosed us from sin and the grave. Remember that verse in Titus 2:14, where He declared, “Who gave himself for us, that He might redeem us from (out of) every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.”

He also ransomed us from the curse of the law. You have this in Galatians 3:13, which says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, Cursed is every one who hangs on a tree.”

Aren’t you glad that He ransomed you from the curse of the law? And Galatians 4:4 says, “But when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.” For what purpose? That He might “redeem (loose) those who were under the Law”—not only from its curse but from the law itself.

He also redeemed us from this present evil world. You find this in Galatians 1:4, where we read, “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver (loose) us out of this present evil age.” He ransomed us not only from sin and from the grave and from hell and from bondage, but He loosed us from this present evil world.

God has made the provision in Jesus Christ whereby we can be delivered from sin, ransomed from the power of the grave and ransomed from the power and guilt and penalty of sin. He is the One who can fit us for the presence of God.

This is redemption. It means that God has set men free from sin, from the law and its curse, from this present evil world—all three—through the precious blood of Christ, who gave Himself a ran­som for you and for me. This is the basis of our righteousness.

We have been dealing with verse 24 where we have been declared righteous freely without a cause. It cost God everything; it cost us nothing. Let me say it all again.

It is on the ground of grace (that’s the source of it), and it is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. He purchased us for the purpose of setting us free.

“Justification” means that God pronounces righteous the sinner who puts his trust in the Lord Jesus. “Redemption” means that we have been set free by the payment of a price; and that price, of course, was the precious work of Christ at the cross.

Verses 25-26

Romans 3:25 a. Whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith.

You see, we are dealing now with what God sees at the cross. In fact, both verses 25 and 26 tell us where the righteousness of God was dis­played—at the cross of Calvary. God set forth His Son as a sacrifice which satisfies Him.

You remember that Isaiah 53:11 says, “As a re­sult of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied.” Propitiation is a divine satisfaction. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He vindi­cated, satisfied, the holy, righteous character of God. This is what the cross means to God. And, may I say, this is the most important part of the work of Christ.

It is not what man sees. It’s what God sees. When you and I think of the cross, we think of Christ’s being a Saviour, giving His life a ransom, dying on the cross for us sinners. We think about what we receive from it.

Did you ever stop to think that God has more involved in the work of Christ at the cross than you and I do? When Christ died on the cross, He did not die to secure the righteousness of man; but he died to reveal and to vindicate the right­eousness of God. The issue is not how to fit man for the presence of God. There has been a tremen­dous misunderstanding of the very character of God.

The question is how can you bring a holy, right­eous, sovereign, eternal God down to man whereby man can be fitted to come into relationship and fellowship with Him.

In other words, there is something that must be done before a man can be fitted for the presence of God. And we find this wonderful truth in this doc­trine of propitiation.

How can God remain righteous and yet declare ungodly sinners righteous?

Now here we have it. At the cross, Jesus Christ met all the demands of God’s character and jus­tice; and God is perfectly satisfied with what He did. He is perfectly satisfied with the work of His Son at Calvary, so He is also satisfied with those who put their trust in the Son.

Christ satisfied the very righteous character of God. He made it possible for God to show mercy to sinful man. It is not that man is satisfied with the work of Christ. But God is satisfied. That’s what God has at the cross. The barrier is gone; access is ours. There is a throne of grace to which we can come, and Christ need never die again. God set Him forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood.

Romans 3:25 b. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.

Man has a misconception of the character of God. In Genesis 2:1-25, God said to Adam and Eve, “I make only one request of you, one law. Do not touch the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That’s all. You can have all the rest; just do not touch that tree.”

But man did touch it. He took the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and ate it. Now God had said, “In the day that you eat thereof you will surely die.” But, you see, man didn’t die.

“But Mr. Mitchell, he died spiritually,” you say.

That’s true, but I believe that when God said, “In the day you eat thereof you shall surely die,” He meant the whole man—spirit, soul and body.

I want to tell you that even before man sinned, God already had planned a Redeemer. From the time Adam sinned, right through until Jesus died on the cross, God looked at man in the light of the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world. You have it in this verse: “To demon­strate His righteousness, because in the forbear­ance of God He passed over the sins previously committed.”

How do you think the Old Testament saints were saved? They looked forward to the One who should come. They had been taught by God to put their trust in the One who should come. It’s true. God covered their sins and put them away at the cross. God saved men and women in the Old Testament on the ground that His Son would come to put away those sins.

What I’m trying to get to your heart is the most important thing, my friend. When Christ Je­sus died on the cross, He did it because of His Fa­ther. He did it to vindicate the righteousness of God as you have it in verse 26.

Romans 3:26. For the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Remember in Psalms 85:10, we read, “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.” How could God in His righteousness manifest mercy to sinners who have no righteousness? Je­sus Christ came and put away our sin. He vindi­cated the righteous character of God and made it free for God to come down to man. Oh, no wonder we sing such songs as

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.

I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.”

“I need no other argument.
I need no other plea.
It is enough that Jesus died
and that He died for me.”

“On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.”

And, if God is perfectly satisfied with the work of His Son, are you? The writer of Hebrews could say in chapter 4, verse 16, “Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in (every) time of need.”

My friend, God’s heart is opened up to us. All the misunderstanding from Adam down has been cleared. That’s why Paul could say to the philoso­phical Athenians in Acts 17:30-31, “Therefore having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent.” God let the nations go their own way to do what they wanted to do. But now, something has happened. Jesus Christ has died and satisfied the holy character of God. God today is willing to save all who come to Him.

God is satisfied. Are you satisfied?

In Exodus 34:7, do you remember what God says? He says He will forgive their “iniquity, trans­gression and sin.” As someone has said, “God for­gave men on credit.” He knew that His Son would come.

And the marvelous thing I’m telling you today is that the heart of God is open to us now. God spared not His own Son. Or as 1 John 4:10 says, “In this is love, not that we loved God.” Don’t you love it? “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

In 1 John 4:9, “God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.” This is repeated in the 10th verse with this change, He “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

In other words, He transforms the judgment throne into a mercy throne—from a judgment seat to a mercy seat.

Why doesn’t God today judge the world? Why doesn’t God blot man out for his rebellion? for his corruption? for his lawlessness? for his sin? for his vileness? Why doesn’t God do something?

My friend, aren’t you thankful that “the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some men count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

Without the death of Christ, justification, salva­tion and redemption would have been impossible. But, because He died, we live. His righteousness is put to our account.

Someone is going to say, “Why, Mr. Mitchell, how can I receive this righteousness?” And so we come to verse 27.

Verses 27-31

Romans 3:27. Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith.

Romans 3:28. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.

All human boasting is gone. God is satisfied with the work of His Son, and I manifest my satis­faction by putting my trust in Him. As I say, all boasting is gone. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast.”

And as Peter could say in Acts 4:12, “There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.”

Jesus said in John 10:9, “I am the door; if any­one enters through Me, he shall be saved.”

In John 14:6, He could say, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but through me.”

1 Corinthians 1:29-31 say “that no man should boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, that, just as it is written, ‘let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.’” It’s absolutely apart from works. It is apart from the law entirely.

Romans 3:29. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also—

Romans 3:30. If indeed God is one—and He will justify the circum­cised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Why, of course, there’s only one way of salva­tion. If all men are sinners and there is only one God, how many ways of salvation will He have? Just one way. And the writer rules out the law and circumcision and the works of man as having any part in it at all. So it is received on only one ground, on the ground of faith. And the law is up­held.

Romans 3:31. Do we then nullify the Law through faith? May it never be! On the contrary, we establish the Law.

We don’t cancel out the law. We were slain. We died. In Christ all the demands of the law were met for us. The only way the law can be met is by death. There is no mercy in law. We acknowledge the demands of the law. But I tell you, my friend, it is my Saviour and your Saviour only who met all the demands of the law. We are set free so that the law doesn’t have a word to say. We are saved apart from works and everything else by putting our trust in the One who died for you and for me.

And God is satisfied.