Table of Contents:

Romans 3 verses 22 – 27:

**Petrus van Mastricht: (A Dutch-German Utrechtian Presbyterian Divine): A.D. 1706:**

CHAPTER SIX ON THE JUSTIFICATION OF THE REDEEMED:

(Romans 3:22–27): “Indeed, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all and upon all who believe—there is no distinction—for they are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness for the remission of previously committed sins, etc.”

We have considered the applications of redemption with respect to its nature as an act of God applying, and the foundation thereof; it remains to pass on to the benefits to be applied, and thus to the communion of benefits that flows from union with Christ, in the order that we set forth in Chapter XVIII above. In this order, justification holds the first place, for which the latter part of the third chapter of Romans provides the classical seat. From there we shall construct words excerpted for the foundation of our consideration.

Exegetical Part II:

In these words, the Apostle, as if in summary, presents the doctrine of the justification of the sinner, in which the following points are noted:

Justification as “the Righteousness of God through Faith in Jesus Christ.”

Here is:
1. The righteousness by which we are justified before God—namely, the righteousness of God, not indeed His essential righteousness (as Osiander dreamed, which could not become ours without our becoming God Himself, for the righteousness of God is God Himself)—but rather the righteousness of Christ, who is God, namely “Jehovah our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6), who “became for us righteousness from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30). Accordingly, that righteousness by which God has in a special manner ordained this in the eternal counsel of peace, which alone prevails before the tribunal of God for the justification of the sinner, which alone He admits on behalf of the elect sinner, which alone He has revealed to us in the Gospel, is opposed to that righteousness which is of the law, or of the legal covenant, which is not of faith (Galatians 3:12) and which is properly our own righteousness, as something to be performed by our own strength under the tenor of the legal covenant.
2. The appropriation of that righteousness, by which that righteousness of God becomes ours through faith in Jesus Christ. We mean the righteousness of Christ, not that essential to either His divine or human nature, but the mediatorial or procured righteousness, which He acquired for sinners by His satisfaction and merit. It becomes ours through faith, by which we apprehend Christ and His righteousness, and from the divine promise it becomes ours—that is, it is granted to us, imputed to us. It is called “the faith of Christ,” not in the active sense (where Christ is the one believing), but in the passive sense (where one believes in Him), in which sense one finds “the faith of God” (Mark 11:22), “faith in the name of Jesus” (Acts 3:16), “faith of the Son of God” (Galatians 2:20), so that here the possessive case denotes the object or matter in which faith is engaged; so that “the faith of Jesus Christ” is the same as διὰπίστεωςἐν Χρισῷ Ἰησοῦ. Also noteworthy is the omission of the article in ἡ διὰ πίστεως, by which the righteousness of God, which is of the same Jesus Christ, is distinguished from that righteousness which is of the law, mentioned in verse 21, through faith.
Those to be Justified: “Unto all and upon all who believe.”

The adequate object of justification is all believers (John 1:11–12; 3:16, 36). Ἐις πάντας καὶ ἐπὶ πάντας. The latter phrase, ἐπὶ πάντας, is not found in the Arabic version nor in a certain manuscript, yet it is found in the Vulgate and the Syriac. It is not superfluous but highly emphatic. Hence the Apostle proves the universality of the object:

α) “For there is no distinction,” i.e., no difference among men, whether Jews or Gentiles, by which they might rather be justified by works than by faith in Jesus Christ (cf. verse 9).

β) He confirms it with a twofold argument:
1. From universal sin: “For all have sinned” (πάντες γὰρἥμαρτον), hence there is no difference, no exception. All, Gentiles as well as Jews, as he showed in the first and second chapters. He had stated more emphatically in verse 9: προητιασάμεθαἸουδαίους τε καὶ Ἕλληνας πάντας ὑφʼ ἁμαρτίαν εἶναι (“we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin”), for from certain causes we have proved that all are under sin, that is ὑποδίκες, guilty, verse 19, or under the power of sin, and consequently, even if they now kept the law in the most scrupulous way, they must be condemned on account of sin committed. By “sin,” he means both original and actual, for both make one a sinner.
2. From the penalty or consequence of sin: καὶὑστεροῦνται τῆς δόξης τοῦΘεοῦ (“and they fall short of the glory of God”). And here the causal “kai” applies: “therefore they fall short.” ὑστεροῦνται. The Vulgate renders it “they lack” (egent), as though χρείαν ἔχουσι, a bit imprecisely; Erasmus has “they are destitute,” which is indeed more accurate, though not entirely expressive. Properly, ὑστερεῖσθαι is said of those in a race who are left behind for lack of strength, so that they do not reach the finish line. From this we also ascertain what the Apostle understands by “the glory of God,” namely eternal life (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:24; Philippians 3:12–14), unless you would prefer here to interpret “the glory of God” as the ground of glorying before God by one’s own works, which aligns exactly with the Apostle’s aim, who in this proves that no one can be justified by works.
Causes of Justification:
1. Two, as it were, impelling causes:
  1. Προηγωμένη (the antecedent, or internally moving cause): δικαιούμενοι δωρεὰν τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι, “being justified freely by His grace.” δικαιούμενοι means “justified” or “they are justified.” You should understand δέ, in place of δικαιοῦνται (“they are justified”), or as “that they may be justified,” and so it will depend on the verb ὑστεροῦνται.Δωρεάν (“freely”) comes from δωρεά, a gift or giving which has no preceding ground of right, without price, without merit (Hebrew חנם, Isaiah 1:2). Τῇ αὐτοῦ χάριτι is added exegetically, so that what he had just said becomes clearer, i.e., “by His (namely God’s) grace or unmerited love,” Romans 4:2–3, 4–5. It is set in opposition to debt and any works considered in any manner (Romans 11:6). Elsewhere it is called χρηστότης καὶ φιλανθρωπία (Titus 3:5).
  2. Προκαταρκτική (the preparatory, or externally moving cause): διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως τῆς ἐν Χρισῷ Ἰησοῦ, “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” This is noted as the meritorious cause of justification, and regarding it:
    1. Redemption (διὰ τῆς ἀπολυτρώσεως, “through redemption”). Ἀπολύτρωσις, in its emphasis, is such a deliverance wherein a captive soldier is not freed by force nor by intercession alone, but by the payment of a price. If you object, “How then are we justified freely by God’s pure grace if a price was paid?” I reply: freely, not in respect to the Redeemer (for upon Him fell the requirement to pay the ransom price, Matthew 20:28), but in respect to those redeemed, whom He freely loved from eternity, to whom He freely gave the Redeemer, and for whom He allowed redemption (John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
    2. The Redeemer (τῆς ἐν Χρισῷ Ἰησοῦ): “that which is in Christ Jesus,” not that which once existed in Moses, Joshua, and others, nor that which is in ourselves by our own satisfactions, but precisely that which is in Christ Jesus, which Christ Jesus alone obtained by His satisfaction and merit. This is thus the only δικαίωμα (right or claim) of our justification before the divine tribunal.
2. The principal efficient cause (i.e., the constitution of the propitiatory) is indicated, in that:
  1. He is constituted the Propitiator (ὃν, “whom,” namely Christ Jesus, outside whom there is no salvation, Acts 4:12, who alone is the way, the truth, and the life, without whom no one comes to the Father, John 14:6, in whom the Father is well-pleased, Matthew 3:17).
  2. The Constituent (ὁ Θεός, “God,” that is the Father οικονομικῶς, or the entire Trinity theologically), on whose sole good pleasure and will everything depends (Matthew 11:26–27), from whom Christ received all power (Matthew 28:18).
  3. The Constitution προέθετο (“He proposed”):
    1. In the eternal counsel of peace (Psalm 2:6–7; 1 Peter 1:20; Isaiah 42:1) “He proposed” or “foreordained.”
    2. In the first promulgation of the Gospel (Genesis 3:15) “and I will put enmity” (אשית), and “He himself,” etc., “foreordained.”
    3. In the shadows of the ceremonial law (for example, in the mercy seat of the ark), which He “foreordained” ἱλαστήριον, as these things are the body of Christ (Colossians 2:17), which He…
    4. “Foreordained” openly in the promulgation of the Gospel, offering Him to be received and promising that, upon receiving Him by faith, remission of sins would be granted (John 3:16; Acts 10:43). In this foreordination of God lay all the power and efficacy of Christ’s death and obedience (Acts 2:36; Psalm 118:22; Isaiah 28:16).
  4. The Term or Use of the Constitution: ἱλαστήριον (Hebrew כפרת), formerly the covering of the ark where God was present, from where He gave answers, showed Himself appeased, upon which a cloud sat enthroned, signifying that the people had certain favor from Him; see Leviticus 16:2; Numbers 7:89. The text declares it was a type of Christ, and the Apostle confirms it (Hebrews 4:16).
3. Instrumental Cause (διὰ τῆς πίστεως ἐν τῷ ἐαυτοῦ αἵματι, “through faith in His blood”). And here:
  1. The act of faith (διὰ τῆς πίστεως). These words are lacking in the manuscript of Grotius and also in Chrysostom, according to Beza, yet they are present in Ambrose and most codices. “By faith” (διὰ) not “because of faith,” so that faith itself might be our δικαίωμα on account of which we are justified (as some Remonstrants wish), but rather “by faith” as an instrument, not indeed of active justification (for God justifies us through our faith) but of passive justification, insofar as we are not justified, nor do we have the sense of our justification from God, except through faith—unless you prefer to call faith the condition without which God does not wish to impart to us the righteousness of His Son, on account of which we are justified.
  2. The object of faith: “in His blood.” Some connect these words with ἱλαστήριον (propitiator), to signify that propitiation does not happen except in the blood, and indeed that of Christ Himself (αὐτοῦ), not in the typical blood which the priest brought into the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 10:4), but in the blood of Christ Himself, foreshadowed by that type, or in His own blood. Yet there is nothing preventing us from referring them to faith as its object, or rather to Christ Himself, insofar as He gave His own blood as the ransom price for redemption. Then by “blood” is meant all His sufferings from the beginning of His life until its end.
4. The Final Cause: “to demonstrate His righteousness, by the remission of previously committed sins.” Here we note:
  1. The end (εἰςἔνδειξιν τῆς δικαιοσύνης αὐτοῦ), “to show forth His righteousness.” Δικαιοσύνη αὐτοῦ here may signify: a) that righteousness by which we are justified before God, so that He might show men that it is not our own righteousness, which is of the law or of our own works (Philippians 3:9), but His own, namely the righteousness of Christ which is of faith, of which Romans 1:17 and Philippians 3:9 speak, which He Himself established (προέθετο), which alone avails before Him, and upon which alone the sinner to be justified must rely. b) The essential, vindicatory righteousness of God, which is most effectively shown in the blood of Christ given as propitiation for our sins, insofar as He “did not spare His own Son” (Romans 8:32), and also the remunerative righteousness, insofar as, once the payment has been made in the blood of Jesus Christ, God now, by righteousness, can no longer fail to remit the sins of the believing sinner (2 Corinthians 5:21).
  2. The means toward achieving this end, which is noted:
    1. Remission (διὰτὴν πάρεσιν). This word does not appear anywhere else in the entire Sacred Instrument. Interpreters commonly render it as “forgiveness,” to make it coincide with ἀφεσις, unless that celebrated Cocceius might prefer to refer it to “transmission,” by which God transfers the sins of the faithful onto Christ to be punished in Him at the appropriate time, and only then to be forgiven them, so that up to now they did not have actual or complete remission of their sins. The more common opinion pleases me more, among other reasons because the latter opinion seems too greatly to narrow the Apostle’s purpose. We will see more about this matter in the progression.
    2. Remission of sins (ἁμαρτημάτων): namely, of all, both original and actual, indeed of all the elect, in whom He sees no sin still left to be punished (Numbers 23:21). Προγεγονότων (“previously committed”) is not only because sins not yet perpetrated in actuality cannot also be forgiven in themselves, although God from eternity has decreed that He will forgive them in their own time once they have been committed (Galatians 2:16). From this it does not at all follow that the sins of the elect were forgiven from eternity—no more than from the eternal decree to create the world does it follow that the world was created from eternity. Not for that reason, I say, is the phrase πάρεσις προγεγονότωνἁμαρτημάτων mentioned, but also because sins committed under the Old Testament cannot be forgiven except on account of the blood of Christ (Hebrews 9:15), not because the sins of the faithful under that Testament were only passed over as if hidden and not fully forgiven. The phrase ἐν τῇ ἀνοχῇ τοῦ Θεοῦ(“in God’s forbearance”) is added, which seems to be connected not with πάρεσις (as though πάρεσις consisted in that forbearance, to be its explanation) but with the participle προγεγονότων, so that the sense emerges that He bore with the sins of the faithful as having been transferred to Christ by an eternal promise, and thus existing in Him, not in the faithful themselves, until now, so that now at last He might punish them together in Christ, and by punishing them, demonstrate His vindicatory righteousness.

Dogmatic Part:

Therefore, being united through faith with Christ IN His blood or reconciling righteousness, they are deemed righteous by God for the remission of sins, and consequently for obtaining eternal life. Hence, for those who are in Christ, Christ is said, by God’s appointment, to have become righteousness (δικαιωσύνη) for us (1 Cor. 1:30). And the Apostle, with the renunciation and loss of all his own righteousness, longed to be found IN Christ so that he would not possess his own righteousness from the law but that which is through faith in Christ (Phil. 3:8–9), seeing that, by God’s constitution, Christ is Jehovah our righteousness (Jer. 23:6), inasmuch as God laid on Him all our unrighteousness (Isa. 53:4–5), and He presented His life on our behalf as a propitiatory offering (verse 10). Thus, He was made sin for us so that we might be made righteousness before God IN Him (2 Cor. 5:21). Hence, we are said to have been buried together with Him into His death (Rom. 6:4). In the same direction point all the sacrifices of the Old economy and all the sprinklings of blood, namely to prefigure the sprinkling or application and union of the blood of Christ (1 Pet. 1:2; Heb. 9:13; 10:22), which cleanses us from all our sins (1 John 1:7).