The Faithfulness of Jesus

We are not acquitted before God through the faith of Jesus Christ, and not from the works of the Law – Romans 3:21-26.

Having demonstrated that all men violate God’s revealed will, the Apostle Paul concludes that no man or woman is acquitted from the penalty of sin from the works and rituals required by the Law of Moses. Instead, we are declared innocent through the faith or faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

We are reconciled with our Creator because of the sacrificial death of the Messiah for us. Because we deserve condemnation and death, all we can do is respond with repentance and faith to what God has done through the faithfulness of His Son.

Jews have the Mosaic Law, but fall short of its requirements. Gentiles have the witness of their own conscience yet continue to sin. Our sinful tendencies demonstrate that we are under God’s wrath even now. Our never-ending transgressions are manifestations of the wrath that is “being revealed [present tense] from heaven against all unrighteousness” – (Romans 1:18).

[Bridge - Photo by joyce huis (Netherlands) on Unsplash]

We persist in ungodliness. We demand it! Therefore, God gives us over to the very sins for which we lust. His judgment and wrath are manifested in our multitude of sins, especially idolatry. We worship anything and everything except the God who made us.

Sin begets more sin and even worse transgressions as we “treasure up for ourselves wrath for the Day of Wrath.” This, after all, is a fair “exchange”:

• “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For in it is being revealed a righteousness of God from [‘ek’] faith for [‘eis’] faith. As it is written, BUT THE RIGHTEOUS MAN [masculine and singular] WILL LIVE FROM [‘ek’] FAITH. For the wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who possess the truth in unrighteousness. <…> Wherefore, God delivered them to the lusts of their hearts for uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonoured among themselves, for they exchanged the truth of God for a lie and venerated and gave homage to the creature rather than the Creator” - (Romans 1:16-25. Note the verbal allusion to Habakkuk 2:4).

Israel possessed the Law yet sinned all the same, and Jewish transgressors will be judged by the Torah. Gentiles sin “without the Law” and will “perish without the Law.” Jews and Gentiles alike are “under sin,” and, therefore, they will pay the penalty, especially death. However,

• “But now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, borne witness to by the Law and the Prophets, a righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who have faith, for there is no distinction. For all have sinned and lack the glory of God. Being declared righteous freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth a covering [‘hilastérion’], through faith in his blood, for proof of his righteousness by the passing-over of the previously committed sins in the forbearance of God, with a view to a showing forth of his righteousness in the present season, that he might be righteous even when declaring righteous the man who has faith in Jesus” – (Romans 3:21-26. “Covering,” or “mercy seat.” The Greek noun ‘hilastérion’ or ιλαστηριον is used in the Greek Septuagint for the “mercy seat.” See also Exodus 25:21-22 and Leviticus 16:15-16).

• “And after the second veil, the tabernacle, which is called the Holy of holies; having a golden altar of incense, and the ark of the covenant overlaid with gold, in which was a golden pot holding the manna, and Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; and above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat [‘hilastérion’], of which things we cannot now speak severally” - (Hebrews 9:3-5).

Just as wrath is being revealed from heaven, so the righteousness of God is being revealed, from faith and for faith. Paul is deliberate in his choice of prepositions, beginning in Romans 1:16-17 (“A righteousness of God from [‘ek’] faith for [‘eis’] faith”).

The righteousness of God is revealed “from” faith. This rendering represents the Greek preposition ‘ek’, which stresses origin, source. In Romans 1:17, the clause “my righteous one” is singular and refers to Jesus, the Messiah, and not to righteous men in general. He is the man from whose faith or faithfulness the righteousness of God is revealed “for” or unto faith (the Greek preposition ‘eis’).

The grammatical structure is important to Paul’s summary statement in Romans 3:21-26. No one is declared innocent of sin’s penalty “from the works of the Law,” therefore, we are reconciled to God on another basis, namely, “from faith.” But not just from faith in general or any form of faith, but a very specific faith.

Notice in Romans 3:25 that God “set forth” Jesus as a “covering” or “mercy seat.” Paul’s Greek term ‘hilastérion’ is borrowed from the ancient Greek translation or the Pentateuch, the Septuagint, where, in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Leviticus, it translates the Hebrew word for “mercy seat,” the place where God met with Israel and the sins of the nation were covered or expiated. This Greek noun (‘hilastérion’) is used only one more time in the New Testament, in Hebrews 9:5, where it also refers to the mercy seat of the ancient Tabernacle.

Since God is the one who provides the place and the means of “atonement” or reconciliation, ideas about appeasing or ‘propitiating’ the wrath of God do not fit the picture Paul is painting. Jesus is the means and the place of reconciliation where sins are dealt with decisively, and God is the one who provided it. Thus, for example, Paul points to this Divine intervention as “proof” of God’s righteousness, His covenant faithfulness.

God’s faithfulness to save His children is now revealed from the faith of Jesus, His “Righteous One,” and it is for the man or woman who responds to him and his faithful deed with faith - “To those who believe.”

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD

There is a “righteousness of God” that is being “manifested apart from the Law.” Paul is referring to God’s righteousness, something that He possesses, reveals, and delivers. The language reflects the Old Testament concept of God’s covenant faithfulness to His people, which is demonstrated by the salvation He graciously provides for them - “His loving-kindness.”

• “But I have trusted in your loving-kindness. My heart will rejoice in your salvation” – (Psalm 13:5).

• “For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed. But My loving-kindness will not depart from you, neither will my covenant of peace be removed, declares the Lord who has mercy on you” – (Isaiah 54:10).

God did not leave his wayward children without hope. He has provided a solution that remedies our otherwise hopeless predicament, and He has done so in a way that highlights His faithfulness and mercy, a solution confirmed by the “Law and the Prophets.”

Paul hints at this in the opening declaration of Romans. The Gospel was “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy scriptures,” and that promise has come to fulfillment through Jesus of Nazareth - (Romans 1:1-4, 3:21).

God's saving righteousness is provided “through the faith of Jesus Christ.” We must note Paul’s use of the Greek genitive noun case. It signifies something that Jesus possessed or did - his faith or faithfulness. Christ’s faith is the grounds of our salvation from the penalty of sin, especially his death, his “obedience unto death” – (See Philippians 2:7-8).

The salvation secured by his act is “for all men who believe.” Repentance and faith in Jesus are how we respond to what God has provided for us in His son. The purpose of atonement is to reconcile humanity with its Creator, not to appease the wrath of an enraged deity (‘at-one-ment’).

The proposition that we are saved through the “faith of Jesus” is not unique to this passage or the Letter to the Romans. To the Philippians, Paul expressed his desire to be found in Jesus, “not having a righteousness of my own from the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ” – (Philippians 3:9).

In his Letter to the Galatians, Paul wrote that we “know a man is not justified from the works of the law, but through the faith of Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified from the faith of Christ.” In the same paragraph, Paul clarifies what he means by the “faith of Jesus”; namely, Christ’s obedient death:

• “I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me, and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” – (Galatians 2:16-21).

The claim that we are redeemed by the sacrificial act of Jesus goes back to Christ:

• “For the Son of Man also came not to be served, but to serve, AND TO GIVE HIS LIFE A RANSOM FOR MANY” – (Mark 10:45. Note the allusion to Isaiah 53:12).

Men and women who respond to Christ's sacrificial death with repentance and faith are acquitted before God of the penalty of sin, “freely by His grace,” and this is “through the redemption that is in Jesus.”  We are reconciled with God when we respond to His gracious offer with repentance and faith in what He has done for us “through the faith of Jesus.”

• “He was delivered up for our trespasses, and he was raised for our acquittal” – (Romans 4:25).

• “Therefore, having been declared innocent on the basis of faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” – (Romans 5:1-2).

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[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

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SEE ALSO:

• Apart from the Law - (Paul’s references to justification from works have a specific category of works in view, the works required by the Mosaic Law)

• The Age of Salvation - (Jesus came upon the last of these days to provide salvation to men, women, and children of every nation, and life in the coming age)

• To the Ends of the Earth - (The Good News announced by Jesus of Nazareth offers salvation and life to the men and women of every nation)

• Aparte de la Ley - (Las referencias de Pablo a la justificación a partir de las obras tienen una categoría específica de obras a la vista, las obras requeridas por la Ley Mosaica)