The first two and one half chapters of Paul’s letter to the Romans deals with man’s complete ruin in sin, but with two little words he provides God’s perfect remedy in Christ… But Now!
Rom 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. ESV
Then, Was everything that happened before Christ and Now, Is everything that is contingent upon the death of our Lord; Then we were dead in sin and Now we are alive forever; Then we were under the law and Now we are under grace. Now we find the righteousness [character; the quality of being right] of God manifested [made clear; visible; known) in Christ. The unbelieving world does not understand the fact that God is the center of righteousness and the source of righteousness. They fail to understand that God is righteousness, God demands righteousness, and God provides righteousness. Without those truths the gospel can never be understood and as Jesus’ bride we need to understand why all unbelievers depart from God by denying one of these three truths.
God Is Righteousness – Man believes that God is love and therefore there can be no eternal punishment, no judgement of sin, because He is righteous. Because He loves all man He would never commit anyone to eternal judgement; the lake of fire.
God Demands Righteousness – Man believes that God will let them get by judgement on some lower scale as a result of their good works; man can get to heaven without the sacrifice of Christ. Here man secures salvation through rites, ceremonies, church membership, or sacraments. They deny that God must demand a righteousness equal to His own, a righteousness that they can never attain as proven to them by the Law.
God Provides Righteousness – Man believes that Jesus is merely a man and that He is incapable of providing atonement for sinners. There are others who believe that Christ is God, but salvation and righteousness are partly provided by Him and partly by cooperation our cooperation … Works.
The bride of Christ knows that true Christianity is the total avoidance of these pitfalls. The Word of God is a straight road and any of these paths that lead to false thinking that ultimately leads to the final judgement and an eternal separation from God.
God is righteousness and the nature of His being demands that He require His righteousness in us. And since no individual can ever provide that which God demands, in His love He has provided it equally to all. He has manifested His righteousness to us in Christ and His atonement for all sin … for those who by faith believe and repent. His
Manifested is an interesting word that comes from two Latin words; manos [hand] and fendo [strike]. In other words, a thing that is manifested when it is as plain as a the hand that is about to strike you. As D.G. Barnhouse put it: “Today is the day of grace; the hand will not strike you in judgement because it was, itself struck in judgment for you. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His stripes we are healed (Isa 53:5).”