Romans 3:21

But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

But now ... These words are the pivot between the old and the new, the hinge upon which the door closes upon the old and shameful darkness of human history and opens upon the new and living way in Christ Jesus. Paul had concluded all people under sin, under the judgment of God; but at this point he would announce the means by which Paradise lost may be recovered; he was about to announce the revelation of the mystery hidden before times eternal, the mystery of "how" God would provide forgiveness of fallen man. In this connection, it should be remembered that in all previous history there was never any such thing as the forgiveness of sins, except conditionally and typically, and that the justification and forgiveness to be made available through Jesus Christ constituted an utterly new thing. Good news indeed it was, the gospel. This gospel (which means good news) was, and is still, provided for all races and conditions of people, without regard to prior privilege, not upon the basis of merit, but upon the basis of God's gracious favor to mankind, and provided actually by and through the righteousness of Christ. Paul was ready to discharge that debt to all mankind he had acknowledged in 1:14, and he would do it by preaching that gospel.

Apart from the law ... Whiteside and others are quick to point out that Paul here used a term which includes more than the law of Moses,[24] but, as pointed out under Romans 3:20, the impossibility of procuring justification under God's divine law automatically argues the impossibility of such a thing's being possible under any other similar kind of law; and, therefore, the translators have wisely left it to read "the law." Of a different category is the law of the gospel.

A righteousness of God hath been manifested ... is identical with the translation in Romans 1:17, and is, without any doubt whatever, an incorrect rendition. See notes on that place. Enough here to note that RSV, Phillips, and the New English Bible all reject the rendition of "a" righteousness, making it read "the righteousness" as in KJV. Apparently, the English Revised Version (1885) committee believed that "a righteousness" favored the popular theory of a forensic or imputed righteousness, which God bestows upon believers under certain conditions; but in that they were doubtless wrong; for what is in view in this passage is God's intrinsic righteousness, not an imputed righteousness at all, the particular proof of God's righteousness lying in this, that salvation has at last been made available to all people who will receive it.

Being witnessed by the law and the prophets ... This refers to the Old Testament witness to Christianity and shows the intimate connection between them. The Old Testament revealed, through a number of types and shadows, the marvelous teachings of the new covenant, there being no less than four distinctive Old Testament witnesses to the identity, character, mission and teaching of Jesus Christ the Son of God. This is a matter of such consequence that a fuller discussion of it is inserted here.

THE OLD TESTAMENT WITNESS OF JESUS CHRIST

The four great Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and the new institution he came to establish are: (1) the verbal prophecies; (2) typical persons; (3) the tabernacle in its plan of construction and in various devices within it; and (4) the grand ceremonial functions of Jewish religion, such as the Day of Atonement, the Passover, etc.

The verbal prophecies, numbering some 333, foretold the coming of the Messiah in such detail and clarity that hardly any phase of our Lord's life and character was omitted. The time and exact place of his birth, the particular tribe of Israel through whom he would be born, the fact of his betrayal by a friend, even the very amount of the betrayal price, the details of his crucifixion, that he should be buried but not see corruption, that he would speak in parables, that he would be despised and rejected by human beings, and that not a bone of him should be broken - and on and on, literally hundreds of such facts as these were faithfully predicted in the Old Testament prophecies.

Great typical men in the extensive history of Israel were laid under the burden of setting forth the nature, character, attitude, mission, and even the name of Christ. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah, Aaron, and Melchizedek, to name only a few, were all typical, in one way or another, of Jesus Christ, and all reflected in one degree or another the coming glory of Messiah. To take, as an example, one of the very least of those men, Jonah, will show the wealth of particulars by which each one of them bore witness to Christ. Both Jonah and Jesus were asleep in a ship at sea in a storm, and both were awakened. Both were involved in the safety of the vessel, though in opposite ways, Jesus being responsible for the safety of his, and Jonah for the danger to his. Both produced a great calm, Jesus by fiat, Jonah by being thrown overboard. Both willingly consented to die for the salvation of others. Both came from approximately the same spot on earth, Gath-hepher, the home of Jonah, being less than three miles from Nazareth. Repentance of the Gentiles resulted from the mission of both.

Likewise, the tabernacle, and later the temple patterned after it, typified the ultimate scheme of redemption as it would be revealed in Christ. The candlestick typified the word of God; the table of showbread the providence of God; the veil the flesh of Christ; the mercy seat the supremacy of Gods' mercy, etc. The design and Construction of the three courts represented various aspects of the world, the church, and heaven. Such things as the great bronze altar, the bronze laver, the golden altar of incense, and even the checkered squares of the floor of the sanctuary, symbolizing life's joys and sorrows - all of these things, and many others, bore a mighty weight of symbolism looking to the new institution, so great a weight, in fact, that volumes would be required to give full treatment to so vast a subject.

The fourth Old Testament witness of Christ and the New Testament was that of the religious services themselves, things like the thank offering, the sin offering, the Passover, the Day of Atonement, etc. Thus, Christ is the true atonement; he is our Passover, having been slain at the very hour the paschal lambs were being slain; and the exact correspondence between type and antitype is so extensive as to be utterly amazing. In fact, all four of these witnesses being taken together provide the most overwhelming proof that can be imagined of the true identity and authenticity of Christ. The God-inspired preparation for Christ's entry into the world was so abundantly adequate that it seems almost incredible that Israel should not have recognized the King when he came.

The pre-Christian Jew could not look in any direction without beholding some eloquent symbol of Jesus Christ. He could not heed any major voice of Jewish prophecy without hearing (or reading) some majestic prophecy of the coming Redeemer. There was hardly any truly significant man in the whole history of the Hebrews who was not typical of Christ; nor was there any honored institution among them that did not share the burden of enlightenment looking to the revelation of the Son of God; and, added to all this, there was the extravagant symbolism of their most sacred religious services and ceremonials. This combined testimony of men and institutions, in the aggregate, embracing practically all that was of any significance in Jewish history - this total testimony was designed for one thing only, and that was to reveal the Christ when he came. The entire national life of the Jews was so totally permeated, pervaded, and infused with pre-knowledge of the coming Saviour, and with such an intensity and profusion as to approach a surcharge! No wonder, then, that Paul who was about to announce to all people the salvation that Christ had made available would have paused at this point to recall that it was all witnessed by the law and the prophets.