Romans 3:21-26, Through the Cross

The Culmination of Redemption in the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ (v. 25a)

In the passage so far Paul has described the need of the demonstration of God’s righteousness based on the failure of humanity and that this demonstration came in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Now Paul explains why that sacrifice is indeed a righteous act on the part of God. Many people today view the idea of the cross as cruel and inhumane suffering that is not characteristic of a loving God. Here Paul makes it clear that in order to view God as righteous; He must be viewed through the cross. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is not an argument against God’s righteousness; it is the argument for it. In this verse we gain a keen insight into how God can remain righteousness in redeeming sinful people.

In the original Greek, this verse is really a continuation from the previous one, beginning with the relative pronoun “whom” (ὃν) referring back to Christ Jesus in v. 24. But because of the complexities of the passage it is really best to start a new sentence here in English. “God displayed Him publicly” (προέθετο) could also be translated as “God purposed/intended Him.” The verb here is only used three times in the New Testament, and each by the hand of Paul (Romans 1:13, 3:25; Ephesians 1:9).

In Romans 1:13 it clearly has the idea of purpose, with Paul declaring his intention to visit the church in Rome, but the other two instances are not quite as clear in that they both refer to God’s revelation through Christ. Conceptually the nuances between the translations make little difference. Translating it as “purposed” emphasizes more the eternal plan of God while “displayed publicly” emphasizes more the physical and historical act of the cross, but neither explicitly deny the other.

God’s eternal purposes were realized in a specific historical event, and that historical event was not a spur of the moment decision on the part of God, but rather it was the final culmination of His eternal purposes. Based on the context within which Paul is arguing, focusing on the occurrence of a given event which made manifest the righteousness of God (v. 21), the translation “publicly displayed” is preferred here.[1] It is interesting to note that the verb could also carry the idea of “offer” as in a sacrifice (BDAG).[2] This would fit well with the imagery Paul uses in the remainder of the verse that we will begin exploring tomorrow.

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[1] There are a number of terms within the immediate context that denote publicity (πεφανέρωται, εἰς ἔνδειξιν, πρὸς τὴνἔνδειξιν), compared also with Galatians 3:1 “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified?” (Sanday and Headlam, 87). Also, though the verb is used scarcely in the New Testament, it’s LXX usage (Exodus 29:23, 40:23; Leviticus 24:8) was used primarily in reference to the setting out of the showbread, pointing to the concept of a public display (Fitzmyer, The Anchor Bible Commentary, 349). Cranfield, who argues for the translation of “purpose,” points to the usage of the cognate noun of προέθετο, προθεσις, in the New Testament. It is used twelve times, eight in reference to purpose and four in reference to the showbread (Cranfield, 1:209). With such a small sample size it is difficult to argue with certainty that the idea of “purpose” is evident in Romans 3:25, when the concept of “public display” was also in use at the time. Outside of the Bible the verb was also used to denote “public display” in other Greek literature (see, Herodotus, History, 31:48 and Thucydides, Peloponnesian War, 7.34). The verb as it appears in context, in the middle voice, typically refers to either “set before oneself/put forth on one’s own part” or “propose to oneself” (LSJ). It overwhelming appears to be used in reference to specific tasks or objects rather than an underlying purpose or intention that is void of any tangible effect. As was stated, taking the translation of “purpose” is not an explicit denial of the physical event, but the verb seems to require that if “purpose” is used it is done so in a way that places an emphasis on the outcome of that purpose.

[2] This sense of “offer” is noted of the active voice, and as mentioned, in this context, προέθετο appears in the middle voice. Perhaps though a possible translation might be “Whom God offered of Himself,” bringing out the deity of the perfect sacrifice of the God-man Jesus. It I impossible to bring this out of the text as the intending teaching of Paul in this verse, but conceptually it does seem to fit with a sound biblical and systematic theology of the cross.