Romans 3:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See how many arguments the Apostle brings to confirm what he has said. First, he proves it from the dignity of the person. This is accomplished not by a man weak in power, but by God, for whom all things are possible.

Thus it is said that the righteousness is God's. Second, he proves it from the law and the prophets. Do not be afraid when you hear the words "apart from the law" (Rom 3:21), for this has significance even with respect to the law itself.

Third, he proves it from the sacrifices of the Old Testament. For this reason he said, "in His Blood," reminding the Jews of sheep and calves.

If, says the Apostle, the slayings of irrational animals delivered from sin, then much more does the Blood of Jesus Christ.

He mentioned cleansing, the sacrifice of propitiation, and blood, in order to convince the Jew that forgiveness and justification are accomplished through Christ.

If, he argues, you believed that sins were loosed by the blood of sheep, then much more are they loosed by the Blood of Christ. If the legal cleansing, being a type of Christ, had such power, then the truth itself has far greater power.

The "cleansing," or mercy seat, was the cover of the ark, adorned with cherubim set on its two sides. It pointed to human nature, which was the covering of the Divinity, concealing Him.

Yet this human nature was glorified by the angelic powers serving it, because of its union with God the Word.

I know that it is written of certain persons that both were righteous, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and ordinances of Christ (Lk 1:6, abridged). Blessed Paul also said that, as to righteousness under the law, he was blameless (Phil 3:6).

Yet one who is blameless in this respect has not yet accomplished that by which he will be renowned and glorified. Blessed Paul himself said that he counted everything in the law as vanity. He reckoned it as refuse, that he might gain the surpassing knowledge of Christ (Phil 3:8).

Moreover, the law condemns transgressors. Therefore the Apostle says elsewhere, "If the ministry of condemnation had glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory" (2 Cor 3:9).

If the flesh is alive and has not been offered in sacrifice according to the law of the spirit, the will of God cannot be revealed in it. Thus Christ, understood as a sacrifice of propitiation in His Blood, teaches that everyone who grasps this becomes for himself a sacrifice of propitiation. He becomes this through a soul purified by the mortification of the bodily members.

"And are justified freely by His grace," all the more because God granted it to sinners from the beginning of the ages.

Before grace was given, the law spread its rays over many centuries. In each of them sinners were released from justice. Thus, when they made the calf, who delivered them?

For the law was already condemning idol-makers to death. Therefore, if the laws pronounce anathema and command sinners to be put to death, how were you saved, you who committed all these transgressions daily?

If, then, it had already been established that you too must be saved through grace and faith, why do the others seem different and new in your eyes?

"Whom God set forth as a sacrifice of propitiation." Paul speaks this way because God set forth in Christ, that is, foreordained, a future propitiation for the human race, if it should believe.

"In His Blood," since through His death we have been freed, so that God might manifest Him to us as having died and might condemn death itself through His Passion.

"For the showing of His righteousness" means that He fulfilled His promise and freed us from sin through Him, just as had been promised. By fulfilling what He had promised, He manifested His righteousness.

"In the forgiveness of sins committed beforehand, during the forbearance of God." God knew the purpose of His mercy: to come to the aid of sinners, both those living on earth and those held in Hades.

"Whom God set forth as a cleansing through faith in His Blood." The mercy seat was a golden plate lying upon the ark. On both sides it had images of the cherubim.

Upon it the divine good pleasure was made manifest to the high priest who served (Num 7:89). Therefore the divine Apostle teaches that the Master Christ is the true mercy seat. The ancient one was a type of this true one.

This name belongs to Him as man, not as God. As God He gives answers through the mercy seat. As man He receives this name, as He also receives others: sheep, lamb, sin, curse, and the like.

The ancient mercy seat, being inanimate, was without blood. It received upon itself drops of the blood of sacrificial animals. But the Master Christ is God and mercy seat, High Priest and lamb.

By His own Blood He obtained our salvation, requiring from us only faith.

It belongs to Christ precisely to be merciful toward our sins, not only now, but also in times past. Paul also says this: "Whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, to manifest His righteousness."

"God set Him forth as a cleansing." This setting forth may refer both to the eternal counsel, by which God before the ages appointed Christ to be a redeeming sacrifice for mankind, and to the actual offering of the sacrifice.

"Cleansing," ἱλαστήριον, properly means the mercy seat. This was the upper golden slab of the Ark of the Covenant, with images of cherubim standing on its two sides. It served as the throne, as it were, of God Himself.

There the Lord received worship from His people and revealed His will through the high priest (Ex 25:22).

Some apply this expression to Jesus Christ in the same meaning in which the Apostle elsewhere calls Him the throne of grace (Heb 4:16). That is, "now apart from Jesus Christ no one can either worship God worthily, know His will, or please Him."

Everything has already been said above about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ (see Rom 3:21-24). One could go straight to the conclusion: "Where then is boasting?" (Rom 3:27). But such is the character of Saint Paul's spirit that, once he touches salvation in the Lord, he cannot limit himself to a brief indication of it. At this point his speech begins to flow like a swift stream, so as to embrace from many sides and present more fully this great work of God's favor toward us. He does this here also, clarifying especially this truth: when God has mercy on us in the Lord, He has mercy in righteousness. He does not have mercy by indulgence, contrary to righteousness. He has mercy because righteousness has been satisfied and has opened the way for God's mercy toward us.

God saw that there is no salvation unless help comes from above. But we had blocked its path by our guilt. What then does His goodness do? He gives His Only-begotten Son, so that He, without guilt, might bear upon Himself the guilt of all and satisfy His righteousness. When righteousness has been satisfied, what can hinder help from above from descending to us? And it descends. Yet it descends righteously, through the satisfaction of eternal righteousness. Once this path has been arranged, is mercy from above poured out upon all without distinction? No, only upon believers. Here also, therefore, there is righteousness. Present faith, and you will receive the completion of everything in which you are lacking for salvation. Thus the economy of salvation is wholly arranged freely, and each one is saved freely. Yet all this is accomplished righteously. In this work of boundless goodness, God's righteousness shines. It was arranged in this way to manifest it.

"Whom God set forth." "Whom" means His Only-begotten Son, who was to be incarnate and, in His flesh, to undergo death on the Cross for the sins of all. "Set forth," προεθετω, can also mean "presented." But since the Apostle immediately afterward casts his gaze upon the condition that preceded the Lord's coming, it is more correct to say, "foreordained." "To show that this is not something recent and new, the Apostle says, He set forth" (Saint Chrysostom). "In order to show that redemption by the blood of Christ was predestined from of old" (blessed Theophylact). "Bringing to mind the ancient counsel concerning this" (Oecumenius). Therefore God the Father foreordained from eternity, not without the Son and the Spirit. "By saying, God set forth, and thereby showing that this is the Father's work, he also shows that it belongs to the Son. For the Father set it forth, and Christ accomplished this work by His blood" (Saint Chrysostom).

"A propitiation through faith in His blood." "Propitiation," ίλαστήριον, means the mercy seat. This was the golden plate that covered the ark. On its edges the Angels were fixed, joining their wings above and thus forming the place where God gave His answers. On the day of purification, or of the general repentance of the sons of Israel, and only on that day, the high priest entered the Holy of Holies with sacrificial blood. He sprinkled the blood seven times upon the mercy seat (see Ex 25; Lev 16). God was invisibly present above the mercy seat and accepted this blood as a sacrifice of propitiation. Through this, the sanctuary, the sacrifices, and all Israel were purified from every uncleanness that had attached itself to them during the year.

In this one cannot fail to see a great symbol of the purification of all humanity by the blood of the Son of God. The mercy seat, receiving the blood upon itself, presented it to God, who was present there. The Lord Jesus Christ, sprinkled with His own blood and having it upon Himself, presents it to God the Father, with whom He remains inseparably even after the Incarnation. Thus He is the unceasing, eternally effective mercy seat of our race. What the typological mercy seat gave once for one year, the Lord gives continually and unto ages of ages by His blood that is upon Him. The Apostle suggests this truth when he says that God from eternity appointed the Lord Jesus Christ to be for us a mercy seat, or propitiatory. For He propitiates God and receives the remission of our sins, which is the true purification.

So say all our interpreters. Blessed Theodoret depicted this more fully than all. These are his words: "The mercy seat was a golden plate. It lay upon the ark and had images of the Cherubim on both sides. Upon it God's good pleasure was made manifest to the high priest who ministered. Therefore the divine Apostle teaches that the Master Christ is the true mercy seat. For that ancient one was a type of this true one. This name belongs to Him as man, not as God. For as God He gives answers through the mercy seat, while as man He receives this name also, as He receives others, such as sheep, lamb, sin, curse, and the like. But the ancient mercy seat was bloodless, since it was inanimate, and received upon itself a drop of the blood of sacrificial animals. The Master Christ, however, is both High Priest and Lamb, and by His own blood He acquired our salvation, requiring from us only faith."

"Through faith in His blood." It is not faith in blood, but purification in the blood by means of faith. One who has been soiled with mud is washed with water by being immersed in it, and becomes clean. One who has been defiled by sins is washed by being immersed in the blood of Christ, and becomes clean from sinful stains. The blood of Christ is the bath that washes away the sins of everyone immersed in it. How then is this immersion accomplished? By faith. By faith each one draws upon himself the purifying blood of Christ. By its power, the blood of Christ has already cleansed the sins of the whole world. Yet each one personally becomes cleansed by it when, through faith, he receives upon himself the sprinkling or dew of Christ's blood. Mystically this is accomplished in the water bath of Baptism, and afterward in the tearful bath of repentance.

God arranged for us the shown manner of justification "to manifest His righteousness," so that it might be clear to all that He has mercy and justifies not by arbitrariness or by the excess of goodness, but righteously. Righteousness would not have allowed mercy when righteousness had not been satisfied. But when righteousness was satisfied, righteousness itself required mercy. The satisfaction of righteousness was arranged by God's independent goodness. It is free grace, grace given freely. After satisfaction, however, justification is effected not by abundance of goodness alone, but also by righteousness. The Apostle speaks of this here: in justifying us, or in cleansing us by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God manifests His righteousness.

He presents this manifestation of righteousness in two forms: before Christ's coming and after Christ's coming. The first is expressed in the words: "to manifest His righteousness, because of the remission of sins previously committed, in the forbearance of God." The second is expressed in the words: "to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time. That He might be righteous and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus." How was God's righteousness manifested before Christ's coming? In this way: looking toward the future death of the Lord on the Cross, God long-sufferingly bore the sins of those who sinned at that time. He did not punish them as they deserved. He did not destroy them utterly.

The Russian translation offers this thought: for the demonstration of His righteousness in the forgiveness of sins committed previously. "In forgiveness." Forgiveness, πάρεσις, means passing over something without attention, passing something by as though not noticing it. The Apostle therefore wanted to express this thought: although God passed over and did not turn the eyes of righteousness upon sins previously committed, He nevertheless manifested righteousness even in this. For He had foreordained the Lord Jesus to be the purification for all in His blood. Thus, looking upon this blood, He righteously had mercy on those who had sinned previously. Blessed Theodoret writes: "God showed His own goodness, manifesting long-suffering for a long time toward people who violated the law. Yet He also made His righteousness manifest to all. He did not endure people transgressing the law in vain, but prepared this remedy for them." Ambrosiaster says the same.

This is the result if one looks from the time under the law toward the time of grace. But if one looks from the time of grace toward what preceded, another thought is born. God appointed the Lord Jesus to be the purification for all in His blood because of the remission of sins previously committed, so that His righteousness would not be violated in this remission, but manifested. It is as though a question arose in the Apostle: the all-pure Lord innocently pours out the blood of His flesh. For what? For the remission of sins previously committed. God forgave by mercy, but righteousness had not been satisfied. Behold, He pays what is due also to righteousness by pouring out the innocent blood of His Son. He compensates righteousness for former mercies. Thus He brings it about that, through the forgiveness of former sins, righteousness suffered no harm. This thought is suggested by the Slavonic translation, "because of the remission of sins previously committed," which corresponds exactly to the Greek δια την πάρεσιν.

Such thoughts are offered if one gives the word πάρεσις the meaning of passing over or remission. But it also means relaxation, an extreme decline of strength, mortal agony. Our interpreters, besides those already cited, take it in this meaning and understand the expression δια την πάρεσιν as meaning: because of extreme moral corruption or deadening. Saint Chrysostom says: "δια την πάρεσιν means because of the paralysis from sins previously committed. He speaks strongly. He did not say, because of sins, but because of the paralysis or deadening from sins. There was no longer any hope of recovery. On the contrary, as a paralyzed body needed higher help, so also did the dead soul. God showed us great long-suffering and love for mankind. When we had reached despair, evil had increased, and sins had multiplied, then God manifested His power, so that you might understand what abundance of righteousness He has. If this had been done in the beginning, it would not have appeared so wondrous and extraordinary as now, when every means of healing had already been tried." Photius in Oecumenius, Oecumenius himself, and Theophylact understood it in the same way.

In Saint Anthony the Great, Saint Macarius, Saint Ephrem, Saint Basil the Great, and others, one also finds the thought that before the Nativity of Christ, God used various means to correct people. He guided them by the natural law. He gave the law through Moses. He sent the Prophets. But since nothing helped, and people reached the last degree of moral corruption, He finally sent His Son to heal this sickness of ours, and to cleanse and renew our nature. In this case, "to manifest His righteousness" will mean not the manifestation of judicial righteousness, but the manifestation of righteousness and holiness. God saw that people could in no way govern themselves and enter the right path. Therefore He resolved to pour His righteousness into them, as fresh blood is introduced into a corrupted organism, and thus to manifest it in them. So that this could be accomplished, He gave His Only-begotten Son to be the purification for all believers. This means not only that sins are forgiven for His sake, but that believers are inwardly made pure and holy by receiving the grace of the Holy Spirit through faith.