Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Romans 3

Rom 3:3 For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?

faith

faithfulness.

Rom 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.

true

found true.

That thou mightest be justified

Psa 51:4.

Rom 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commend the righteousness of God, what shall we say? Is God unrighteous who taketh vengeance? (I speak as a man)

righteousness

Scofield Romans 3:21, note.

Rom 3:6 God forbid: for then how shall God judge the world?

world

kosmos (Mat 4:8) = mankind.

Rom 3:7 For if the truth of God hath more abounded through my lie unto his glory; why yet am I also judged as a sinner?

sinner [See also Rom 3:9, 20.]

Sin. Scofield Romans 3:23, note.

Rom 3:8 And not rather, (as we be slanderously reported, and as some affirm that we say,) Let us do evil, that good may come? whose damnation is just.

damnation

i.e. condemnation.

Rom 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

There is none

Psa 14:1, 3.

righteous

Scofield Romans 10:10, note.

Rom 3:11 There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.

There is none that understandeth

Psa 14:2.

God

God. Psa 14:2.

Rom 3:12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

They are all gone out of the way

Psa 14:3.

Rom 3:13 Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:

Their throat is an open sepulchre

Psa 5:9; 140:3.

Rom 3:14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:

mouth is full of cursing

Psa 10:7.

Rom 3:15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:

swift to shed blood

Isa 59:7.

Rom 3:17 And the way of peace have they not known:

peace have they not known

Isa 59:7-8.

Rom 3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

no fear of God

Psa 36:1.

God

God. Psa 36:1.

Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

the law

Law (of Moses). Rom 3:20-21, 27-28, 31; 4:13-16. (Exo 19:1; Gal 3:1-29).

become guilty before God

be brought under the judgment of God.

Rom 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

there shall no flesh be

Psa 143:2. Cf. Gal 2:16.

justified

Justification. Rom 3:20-28. (Luk 18:14; Rom 3:28).

Rom 3:21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested

Apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested.

righteousness of God

The righteousness of God is neither an attribute of God, not the changed character of the believer, but Christ Himself, who fully met in our stead and behalf every demand of the law, and who is, by the act of God called imputation (Lev 25:50; Jas 2:23), "made unto us…righteousness" (1Co 1:30). "The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith."—Bunyan. See 2Co 5:21; Rom 4:6; 10:4; Phl 3:9. See Rom 3:26 [below].

Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

righteousness

Righteousness (garment). Rev 19:8. (Gen 3:21; Rev 19:8.)

by faith of

through faith in.

faith

Faith. Rom 3:22, 25-26, 28, 31. (Gen 3:20; Heb 11:39.)

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

sinned

Sin, Summary: The literal meanings of the Hebrew and Greek words variously rendered "sin," "sinner," etc)., disclose the true nature of sin in its manifold manifestations. Sin is

• transgression, an overstepping of the law, the divine boundary between good and evil (Psa 51:1; Luk 15:29);
• iniquity, an act inherently wrong, whether expressly forbidden or not;
• error, a departure from right (Psa 51:9; Rom 3:23);
• missing the mark, a failure to meet the divine standard;
• trespass, the intrusion of self-will into the sphere of divine authority (Eph 2:1);
• lawlessness, or spiritual anarchy (1Ti 1:9);
• unbelief, or an insult to the divine veracity (Jhn 16:9).

• Sin originated with Satan (Isa 14:12-14);
• entered the world through Adam (Rom 5:12);
• was, and is, universal, Christ alone excepted (Rom 3:23; 1Pe 2:22);
• incurs the penalties of spiritual and physical death (Gen 2:17; 3:19; Eze 18:4, 20; Rom 6:23); and
• has no remedy but in the sacrificial death of Christ (Heb 9:26; Act 4:12) availed of by faith (Act 13:38-39).

Sin may be summarized as threefold:

• An act, the violation of, or want of obedience to the revealed will of God;
• a state, absence of righteousness;
• a nature, enmity toward God.

Rom 3:24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

grace

Grace (in salvation). Rom 4:4-16. (Jhn 16:1; Rom 3:24.)

redemption

Redemption, "to deliver by paying a price." The N.T. doctrine. The N.T. records the fulfilment of the O.T. types and prophecies of redemption through the sacrifice of Christ. The completed truth is set forth in the three words which are translated redemption:

1. agorazo, "to purchase in the market." The underlying thought is of a slave-market. The subjects of redemption are "sold under sin" (Rom 7:14), but are, moreover, under sentence of death (Eze 18:4; Jhn 3:18-19; Rom 3:19; Gal 3:10), and the purchase price is the blood of the Redeemer who dies in their stead (Gal 3:13; 2Co 5:21; Mat 20:28; Mar 10:45; 1Ti 2:6; 1Pe 1:18);
2. exagorazo, "to buy out of the market." The redeemed are never again to be exposed to sale;
3. lutroo, "to loose," "to set free by paying a price" (Jhn 8:32; Gal 4:4-5, 31; 5:13; Rom 8:21). Redemption is by sacrifice and by power (Scofield Exodus 14:30, note); Christ paid the price, the Holy Spirit makes deliverance actual in experience (Rom 8:2). See also Scofield Exodus 14:30, note; Isaiah 59:20, note; Romans 1:16, note.

Rom 3:25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

propitiation

Literally a propitiatory [sacrifice], through faith by his blood; Greek hilasterion, "place of propitiation." The word occurs, 1Jo 2:2; 4:10 as the translation of hilasmos, "that which propitiates," "a propitiatory sacrifice." Hilasterion is used by the Septuagint, and in Heb 9:5 for "mercy-seat." The mercy-seat was sprinkled with atoning blood in the day of atonement (Lev 16:14), in token that the righteous sentence of the law had been (typically) carried out, so that what must else have been a judgment-seat could righteously be a mercy-seat (Heb 9:11-15; 4:14-16), a place of communion (Exo 25:21-22). In fulfilment of the type, Christ is Himself the hilasmos, "that which propitiates," and the hilasterion, "the place of propitiation"—the mercy-seat sprinkled with His own blood—the token that in our stead He so honoured the law by enduring its righteous sentence that God, who ever foresaw the cross, is vindicated in having "passed over" sins from Adam to Moses (Rom 5:13) and the sins of believers under the old covenant (Scofield Exodus 29:33, note), and just in justifying sinners under the covenant. There is no thought in propitiation of placating a vengeful God, but of doing right by His holy law and so making it possible for Him righteously to show mercy.

faith

Faith. Rom 3:28. (Gen 3:20; Heb 11:39.)

blood

Sacrifice (of Christ). Rom 5:9. (Gen 4:4; Heb 10:18.)

remission of sins that are past

passing over of sins done aforetime, i.e. since Adam. Cf. Heb 9:15.

Rom 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

righteousness

"His righteousness" here is God's consistency with His own law and holiness in freely justifying a sinner who believes in Christ; that is, one in whose behalf Christ has met every demand of the law (Rom 10:4).

Rom 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

justified

Justification, Summary: Justification and righteousness are inseparably united in Scripture by the fact that the same word (dikaios, "righteous"; dikaioo, "to justify") is used for both. The believing sinner is justified because Christ, having borne his sins on the cross, has been "made unto him righteousness" (1Co 1:30). Justification originates in grace (Rom 3:24; Tit 3:4-5); is through the redemptive and propitiatory work of Christ, who has vindicated the law (Rom 3:24-25; 5:9); is by faith, not works (Rom 3:28-30; 4:5; 5:1; Gal 2:16; 3:8, 24); and may be defined as the judicial act of God whereby He justly declares righteous one who believes on Jesus Christ. It is the Judge Himself (Rom 8:31-34) who thus declares. The justified believer has been in court, only to learn that nothing is laid to his charge (Rom 8:1, 33-34).

faith

Faith. Rom 3:31. (Gen 3:20; Heb 11:39.)

without

apart from.

Rom 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.

Do we then make void the law through faith?

The sinner establishes the law in its right use and honour by confessing his guilt, and acknowledging that by it he is justly condemned. Christ, on the sinner's behalf, establishes the law by enduring its penalty, death. Cf. Mat 5:17-18.

faith

Faith. Rom 4:3, 5. (Gen 3:20; Heb 11:39.)