But Now: The Chasm That Changes Everything
(Romans 3:21-26 as the Bible’s Viewing Lens)
Romans 3:21-26 is one of the most concentrated, powerful statements of the gospel in all of Scripture. After the long demonstration that every mouth is stopped and the whole world is accountable to God—that by works of the law no flesh will be declared-righteous—Paul turns the corner with two small words that open an infinite horizon. This passage gathers up the themes we have already explored: the faith-of-Jesus-Christ and the rich Greek textures of faith itself. Now we step back to see the whole paragraph as a single, radiant jewel. Understanding it not only clarifies these six verses; it becomes a viewing lens through which the entire Bible comes into sharper focus.
Throughout this article you will see “made-up” English compounds in parentheses. These are deliberate. In Greek almost every key term belongs to the same word family built on the root for “righteous.” English Bibles traditionally split that family into two different groups (“righteous…” and “just/justify…”). The compounds keep everything visibly connected the way the Greek does, so the unity is easier to feel. The same for “faith”. English Bibles traditionally split that family into two different groups (“believe” and “belief”).
“But Now” – The Chasm as Far as East Is from West“
But now the righteousness-of-God without the law is manifested (shown), being witnessed by the law and the prophets” (Romans 3:21).The Greek opens with νυνὶ δὲ (nyni de). These two words mark a salvation-historical chasm. They are not a mere logical “however.” They announce a new era, a new concept, a decisive break between the age of wrath, sin, and the law’s inability to declare anyone righteous, and the age in which the righteousness-of-God has been openly displayed. The distance is as great as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12). What lay on one side of the chasm could never reach the other by human effort. “But now” God Himself has crossed it; the image for this article tries to express this concept; using the “Cross” as the path or connection across this chasm…
The verb “is manifested” (pephanerōtai) is perfect tense: it has been revealed and remains revealed. This righteousness-of-God appears χωρὶς νόμου—apart from, separate from, without the law as a means of attainment. Yet it is not against the law. The Law and the Prophets themselves bear continuous witness to it. The old covenant pointed forward; the new has arrived.
“Even” – Equating the Righteousness of God with the Faith of Jesus“
Even the righteousness-of-God which is by faith-of-Jesus-Christ unto all and upon all them that believe (the-ones-faithing): for there is no difference” (Romans 3:22). The little word “Even” translates the Greek particle δὲ (de). In the manuscripts that underlie the KJV, this δὲ functions explicatively. It does not introduce a contrast. Instead, it further defines and specifies what was just stated. A natural sense is “namely / that is / even / and this is…”
The Greek structure therefore tightly equates the two expressions: the righteousness-of-God that has now been manifested is the righteousness-of-God which is by (through) the faith-of-Jesus-Christ. In this verse they are presented as one and the same reality. Paul is not placing two separate things side by side; he is defining the manifested or shown righteousness-of-God as none other than the righteousness that comes through the faith-of-Jesus-Christ.
Here the genitive is best read as subjective: the faith (or faithfulness) that belongs to Jesus Christ Himself—His perfect trust, obedience, and fidelity to the Father all the way to the cross. The righteousness-of-God is not an abstract attribute floating free; it is God’s saving, declaring-righteous action that is accomplished and displayed through the faithful life and death of His Son.
The Placing Upon for the One Who Is Faithing
The righteousness-of-God comes “unto all and upon all them that believe (the-ones-faithing).” Many manuscripts (and the KJV tradition) preserve both prepositions: εἰς (unto / toward) and ἐπὶ (upon). “Unto” speaks of the direction and offer; “upon” speaks of actual placement—like a garment of righteousness laid upon the shoulders.
It is placed upon τοὺς πιστεύοντας—the ones who are faithing (present participle). Not the ones who once believed and finished the transaction, nor the ones who work to earn it, but the ones who are presently trusting, receiving, resting. This is the opposite of placing confidence upon works. The righteousness-of-God is freely laid upon the one who is faithing. There is no difference—Jew or Gentile—because all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. We are being declared-righteous (righteousified) freely by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The Forbearance of God – How It Works
God set forth Jesus as a propitiation (ἱλαστήριον—mercy seat, atoning sacrifice) through faith in His blood, to demonstrate His righteousness. Why the demonstration? “Because in his forbearance [ἀνοχῇ] God had passed over [πάρεσιν] the sins previously committed” (Romans 3:25).
Forbearance is not indifference. It is deliberate restraint—a holding back of the full force of judgment. For long ages God “passed over” (temporarily suspended the full penalty of) the sins of those who trusted Him, while the sacrificial system provided only temporary coverings. That patience could have been misunderstood as a failure of righteousness. The cross removes every shadow of doubt. In the blood of Jesus the deferred sins are fully dealt with.
God the Righteousifier – An Ongoing Work of Righteousification
This brings us to the heart of verse 26:
“…to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be righteous and the righteousifier (the-one-who-is-declaring-righteous) of him which believeth (is-faithing) in Jesus.”
Notice the Greek carefully. God is described with a present active participle: δικαιοῦντα (dikaiounta). It is not a one-time title frozen in the past. It means “the one who is [right now and continually] declaring-righteous / making-righteous.”
God is the Righteousifier.
What He does is righteousification—an ongoing, living activity.
He remains righteous in His own character, and at the same time He is actively, continually the One who declares and treats as righteous every person who is faithing in Jesus. The cross did not merely settle a past account; it established God as the perpetual Righteousifier of all who keep faithing. The process of being declared-righteous (righteousified) is grounded in the finished work of Christ, yet it is applied and enjoyed as an ongoing reality for every believer.
This ongoing righteousification by the Righteousifier also sheds light on Paul’s earlier statement that the righteousness-of-God is revealed “from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). The revelation and application of that righteousness moves from the faith-of-Jesus-Christ (the faithfulness that accomplished it) to the continuing faith of the believer (the faithing that receives and lives in it). God remains the living Righteousifier, and His righteousification proceeds from faith to faith.
The Viewing Lens That Unlocks the Whole Bible
Once these verses are seen clearly, they become a lens. The entire story of Scripture is refracted through the righteousness-of-God revealed through the faith-of-Jesus-Christ, received by those who are faithing, and vindicated at the cross after ages of forbearance—so that God is both righteous and the ongoing Righteousifier.
Old Testament examples
Abraham (Genesis 15:6): “He believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” Centuries before the law, faith received the declaration-of-righteousness. Paul unpacks this in Romans 4.
David (Psalm 32): “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” God did not impute iniquity—an anticipation of the “passing over” that would later be fully resolved at the cross so God could remain the Righteousifier.
The sacrificial system and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16): Blood on the mercy seat provided temporary covering while God forbore. Every sacrifice pointed forward to the true propitiation (mercy seat, atoning sacrifice) that would allow God to be both righteous and the Righteousifier.
Isaiah 53: The Servant’s faithful obedience and sin-bearing—the faith-of-Jesus already foreshadowed—brings righteousness to many.
The whole prophetic witness, beginning with Genesis 3:15: the promised Seed and the righteousness that would one day be manifested (shown or revealed) apart from law yet attested by the Law and the Prophets.
New Testament echoes
Hebrews 9–10 develops the same logic at length: the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins; God was forbearing until the better sacrifice arrived that would establish Him forever as the Righteousifier. Galatians 2–3 and Philippians 3:9 repeat the faith-of-Christ language and the contrast with law-righteousness. Acts 17:30 notes that God “overlooked” former times of ignorance but now commands all people everywhere to repent—consistent with the “but now” of Romans 3:21.
Conclusion
Romans 3:21-26 is the great “but now” of the Bible. A chasm has been crossed! The righteousness-of-God has been manifested through the faith-of-Jesus-Christ. It is offered unto all and placed upon all the ones who are faithing. In the cross, God’s long forbearance is shown to have been fully righteous all along.
And the result is permanent and living: God is both righteous and the ongoing Righteousifier—the One who is continually declaring-righteous everyone who is faithing in Jesus. This is not a static transaction finished and forgotten. It is the continuous, joyful activity of God toward His people, proceeding from faith to faith.
Read the rest of Scripture through this lens and watch the colors brighten. The Law and the Prophets were never about earning righteousness; they were always witnessing to the One who would bring it and to the God who would be its perpetual Righteousifier. The sacrifices were never the final answer; they were shadows of the propitiation that makes ongoing righteousification possible. Every call to trust finds its substance in the faithful Son.
This is the heart of the gospel.
This is the chasm that changes everything.
And this is the lens that lets us see the whole Bible as the single, coherent story of the righteousness-of-God revealed through the faith-of-Jesus-Christ for all who are faithing—declared and kept righteous by the God who is forever the Righteousifier.