With the first 2 words of Rom.3:21, we have arrived at the second turning point of the book. We have been introduced to Paul and his gospel. Then, in great detail, we learned that every person is a sinner headed for judgment, the wrath of God, and eventual death. At that point, the future didn’t look bright. These two words must therefore be amongst the most wonderful in scripture. Hope at last!  

For two and a half chapters Paul had left his readers in a state of hopelessness and helplessness. In Rom.3:19 he noted that every person stands under God’s just condemnation. Then in v20 he emphatically stated that people couldn’t get right with God even if they wanted to be good and zealously kept the law. At that very point, Paul drops in his emphatic “but now.”  

“But now,” he writes, “a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known.” With those words, Paul sets the agenda for what is to come next. It will pick up the righteousness by faith theme of Romans 1:16-17 and fills out its meaning in a magnificent passage that runs from Rom.3:21 through 5:21. It is probably the most important paragraph ever written and has to be my most favourite passage of scripture.  

The salvation that Paul exposes us to in this tightly packed paragraph will focus on three metaphors: (1) justification (an image of the law court), (2) redemption (an image of the slave market), and (3) propitiation – or atonement (an image related to the Hebrew sacrificial system of the Old Testament).  

The good news is that God has intervened in human affairs. He has done for us what we could not do through the law. “But now” reflects the fact that God’s saving work through Christ has transformed the human predicament.  

With Romans 3:21 we have come to the beginning of the heart of Paul’s understanding of the gospel. From the apostle’s perspective, sinful humanity may be weak, but God is powerful – powerful to justify, powerful to sanctify, powerful to glorify those who accept His grace.