for [the] shewing forth of his righteousness in the present time, so that he should be just, and justify him that is of [the] faith of Jesus.
The gospel raises a hard question: how can God forgive sinners and still be right? This verse answers it — at the cross God declared His own righteousness, so He can now call a guilty believer righteous.
The verse says "He might be just." Everything turns on who that "He" is.
May I not ask any fair mind, Who is meant here? "That He might be just and the justifier," etc. — that who might be just? Answer honestly. "That He might be just." Who is He? Is it Christ just? Or is it not God just by virtue of Christ? There can be no doubt in the world... It is by virtue of Christ, or God could not be righteous in this way on behalf of the sinner. Redemption is the righteous groundwork. The blood of Christ deserves at God's hands that the believer should be justified. And God Himself is just in justifying him.
The phrase marks a change from the ages that came before. The earlier "sins" in the passage are often misread.
The phrase "the sins that are past" in our translation does not mean what the wording may suggest. It is not the sins of a man's past life, up to the moment of his justification. It is the sins committed in the ages before Christ, while God held back. But the ground of His forbearance was not yet made clear. Now, "in the present season" of gospel grace, God does not just hold back or "pass over." He justifies: He pronounces righteous. The cross, the blood of atonement, now declares His righteousness both as to the past and in the present.
To justify means to pronounce a person righteous. God's justice is what makes that possible, not what stands in the way.
Christ took my place in death and judgment on the cross, and now I get Christ's place before God, by faith in His blood. Is this right? Clearly so... So God, against whom I have sinned, is "just" when He now justifies me. Jesus was delivered up and condemned for my sin. God then raised Him, to prove His satisfaction and delight in Him and in His work of redemption for me. I might go further and say He would be unjust to Christ to condemn me for those very sins for which He condemned His Son... He judges sin, and justifies the sinner who believes in Jesus.
For the guilty conscience, God's righteousness is the last thing to hope in. This verse turns that around.
The sinner feared God's righteousness. He imagined that justice was against him. Now he finds it is for him. Instead of being against him to condemn him, it is the very thing that witnesses for him. God shows His righteousness by justifying the believer in Jesus — by justifying the ungodly. I am a poor sinner with all my sin on me. I am a wretched, guilty soul standing before a righteous God. And I find that His very righteousness is my friend. It is the thing that justifies me.
The verse names who God justifies. Some point to the next chapter, where God justifies "the ungodly," and wonder if the circle is wider.
It is the believer, and the believer only, whom God justifies... But someone may answer that in the next chapter we read of God justifying "the ungodly." True — but not in his ungodliness. The next words add, "his faith is counted as righteousness." So the word describes his state up to the time when he became a believer. God justified him not as ungodly at that moment, but as a believer.
Knowing who the Justifier is does more than settle an argument. It settles a life.
What comfort, what deep peace it brings into a life! What stability it gives to faith to understand that it is God who justifies! He is "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). In this bright gospel day He can take to Himself the title of "Him who justifies the ungodly" (4:5). Yes, this title is His glory, the righteous triumph of His grace in a world where sin abounded.
- Cause. The blood of Christ is the righteous groundwork. God justifies the believer because of what Christ has done, not despite it.
- Timing. "At the present time" contrasts with the earlier ages, when God held back and passed sins over. Now the cross declares His righteousness, and He does more than hold back: He pronounces righteous.
- Reversal. The righteousness the sinner dreaded now speaks for him. It would be unjust to Christ to condemn the man whose sins were already condemned in Him.
- Reach. God Himself is the Justifier, and He justifies the believer — the believer only. "Ungodly" describes what the man was until he believed.
- Result. Comfort, deep peace and a settled faith — because God calls justifying the ungodly His glory.
Where then [is] boasting? It has been excluded. By what law? of works? Nay, but by law of faith;
Paul has just said that God justifies sinners freely, by His grace alone. So he asks what is left for anyone to boast about — and the answer turns on how justification comes.
Boasting does not vanish because God bans it. It vanishes because there is nothing left to boast about: someone else did the work that saves.
All boasting on our part is shut out. Our blessing depends entirely on the work of another, and we have received the report of that work by faith. If that is so, we clearly have nothing to boast in, as if our own works had secured the blessing. So the Apostle says we reach the conclusion that a man is justified by faith, apart from works of law.
The word "law" appears twice in this verse. Neither time is it a code of rules. It stands for a settled way of operating: one way works for the blessing, the other receives it.
All boasting on man's part is shut out. God's work and God's grace justify man. This is clearly not by a law of works, for then man would have his boasting. It is by the law of faith, which simply receives, through grace, the effect of another's work. We may see here that law is used for a regularly acting principle: the law of faith, the law of works. We shall find this again. There are two principles here: gaining a thing by working, and receiving a thing by faith. What faith receives is indeed another thing — God's righteousness, not man's. We cannot mix the two, so one of them excludes the other.
Paul asks which principle shuts boasting out, and rules out works. On a works basis, boasting would be fair.
The Jews boasted a great deal over the Gentiles. Self-righteousness always boasts. It is not a law of works that can shut it out. A man justifying himself by his works would have something to boast in. It is this law of faith, this divine principle on which we are placed, that shuts it out.
Boasting needs a neighbour to look down on. Faith removes that, since the same principle that saved you can save anyone.
The law of faith excludes boasting. If a man is justified by faith, he has nothing to boast of over his neighbour. The greatest sinner in the world may be justified on the same principle. If a man were justified by works he would have much to boast of, for it would be seen that he was so much better than others. But justification on the principle of faith puts boasting out of court.
The verse leaves no exemption for the person with the best spiritual credentials.
There is, then, no room for man to boast, not even for the Jew, despite all his privileges. Man, whoever he may be, occupies the place of a sinner. Grace, and grace only, avails for all in the same way.
The verse shuts out one kind of boasting, not every kind. Boasting gets a new object instead.
But the Christian has a just ground of boasting. There is One in whom we may and ought to boast — not self, but the Lord... To boast in the Lord is due to Him and good for us; to boast elsewhere is a danger as well as a delusion. It connects more or less directly with self. The approved man is not the one who commends himself, but the one whom the Lord commends.
- Cause: Another did the work that justifies. Faith only receives it, so nothing is left to boast about.
- Principle: "Law" here means a regularly acting principle. Works and faith are two such principles, and one excludes the other.
- Contrast: A law of works could never shut boasting out. A man justifying himself by works would have something to boast in.
- Reach: The greatest sinner may be justified on the same principle. So no one can boast over a neighbour, and no privilege makes an exception.
- Result: Boasting is not deleted but moved. Self is ruled out. The Lord is the one right ground of boasting.
for we reckon that a man is justified by faith, without works of law.
Paul has proved that everyone stands guilty before God, and now he gives the verdict: faith sets a person right with God, apart from law-keeping. So what does "justified" mean, how far does "works of law" reach, and how does this square with James, who says a man is justified by works?
The word "therefore" points back. If all are guilty, only one conclusion is left.
Justification, then, must be on another principle. "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." What else could Scripture conclude? All are guilty. And justification is not what we are to God, but what He is to us, set forth in Christ. Do not mix these two things together. Let your salvation rest entirely on the principle of faith — what God is to you.
To justify is not to improve someone. It is a verdict, and the difficulty lies in who receives it.
To justify a man is to reckon him righteous. No one can ever bring a charge against such a person. Before the throne of judgement he stands acquitted for ever. To justify someone who has done no wrong is simple. Every court in the world can do it. But to justify a sinner is another matter altogether. Only God can solve that problem. Long ago Job and his friend Bildad both asked how a man can be just with God, and both knew that man is fallen and guilty.
"Apart from" marks off two ways of getting something that can never be blended.
All boasting on man's part is shut out. God justifies man by His own work and His own grace. It is not by a law of works, for then man would have something to boast of. It is by the law of faith, which simply receives, through grace, the effect of another's work. Here "law" means a principle that acts in a regular way — the law of faith, the law of works. So we cannot mix the two principles: gaining a thing by working, and receiving a thing by faith (and, indeed, receiving another thing — God's righteousness, not man's). One of them excludes the other. And we conclude not only that a man is justified by faith through Christ's blood by grace, but that it is without works of law — wholly apart from them, to the exclusion of them.
Some take "works of law" to mean only the law given through Moses. The phrase reaches further.
Works of the law are not only works aimed at keeping the law of Moses. They are works aiming at keeping any law at all (literally: "works of law"). The people of Israel proved this in the case of the law of Moses. But it is a general principle. There are no works, there is nothing that man can do, which would make him just or righteous before God.
If faith is the principle, boasting has nowhere to stand.
The law of faith excludes boasting. If a man is justified by faith he has nothing to boast of over his neighbour, since the greatest sinner in the world may be justified on the same principle. If a man were justified by works he would have much to boast of, for it would be seen that he was so much better than others. But justification on the principle of faith puts boasting out of court.
Scripture links justification to grace, to the blood of Christ, and to faith. Does that mean three separate justifications?
By no means. The three expressions convey different thoughts, but they all refer to the same act. The grace of God is the source of our every blessing, the blood of Christ is the channel by which it reaches us, while faith is simply how we take it all for ourselves.
James says a man is justified by works, not by faith alone. The two statements answer different questions.
There is really no difficulty to get out of. In James the whole point is what is valid before man, as verse 18 of that chapter shows. A man has the right to ask that we display our faith in our works, so justifying ourselves and our faith before him. In Romans the whole point is what is valid before God. Our faith is quite plain to His all-seeing eye. He does not have to wait for works, the fruit of faith, to be sure that the faith is real.
- Cause — All are guilty. So justification is not what we are to God, but what He is to us in Christ.
- Verdict — To justify is to reckon a person righteous, so that no charge can ever be brought again. Only God can do that for a sinner.
- Channel — Grace is the source. The blood of Christ is the channel. Faith is how we receive it. One act, described three ways.
- Exclusion — "Works of law" rules out every law, not just the law of Moses. Working and receiving cannot be blended.
- Result — Boasting is out of court, because the worst sinner alive is justified on the same terms. Before men, works display the faith God already sees.