Daily Devotional · Romans 3:22–24
Righteousness Through Faith
Reflection
"This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3 is the theological core of the entire letter. Paul had spent the first two and a half chapters demonstrating that everyone — Gentiles who have the law of conscience, Jews who have the Torah — is under condemnation. No one is righteous. Not even one (v. 10). Then the turn: "But now" — these two words mark the hinge of the entire argument. Before: condemnation, universal guilt. Now: righteousness, universal availability. The righteousness Paul described is: Not earned — it is "given through faith." Faith is not a work; it is the posture of receiving. Universally available — "to all who believe." The division between Jew and Gentile, which organized the entire social world of Paul's time, is leveled. There is no difference. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" — the universal diagnosis. All have sinned: no exception. Fall short of the glory: the human being was made to reflect the glory of God; sin is the failure to do so. "Justified freely by his grace." Justified: declared righteous, acquitted. Freely: without charge, as a gift. By his grace: because of His favor, not because of merit. "Through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus" — the mechanism. Redemption is a commercial term: buying back a slave, paying a ransom. Christ paid what human beings owed.
Background
Romans 3:21–26 has been called the most important paragraph in the most important book in the Bible. Luther's reading of Romans 1:17 ("the righteous will live by faith") was the spark of the Protestant Reformation. The passage introduces three key theological terms in rapid sequence: justification (declared righteous), redemption (bought back), and propitiation (the wrath-turning sacrifice, v. 25). Together they form the most compressed description of the atonement in Paul's letters.
Truth
The righteousness you need before God is not something you generate — it is something you receive. "Freely by his grace" means the receiving requires nothing but an open hand. You cannot earn it, accumulate it, or deserve it. You can only be given it — and it is given to all who believe, without distinction.
Application
"All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." And: "all are justified freely by his grace." The same "all" appears twice — in the diagnosis and in the remedy. Receive both. Don't minimize the sin and don't minimize the justification. Both are complete. Stand in the righteousness that has been given to you today — not earned, not deserved, freely given.