Thursday in the 28th Week of Ordinary Time, October 16, 2025

Romans 3, 21-30

Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, though testified to by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his Blood, to prove his righteousness because of the forgiveness of sins previously committed, through the forbearance of God– to prove his righteousness in the present time, that he might be righteous and justify the one who has faith in Jesus.

What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out. On what principle, that of works? No, rather on the principle of faith. For we consider that a person is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Does God belong to Jews alone? Does he not belong to Gentiles, too? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one and will justify the circumcised on the basis of faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

In this portion of his Letter to the Romans, the First Reading for today’s Mass, St. Paul reaches the turning point of the argument he began in chapter one and now unveils the heart of the Gospel. Having shown that all stand guilty before the Law — Jew and Gentile alike — he now announces the revelation of a new righteousness, not achieved but received, not earned but bestowed. “The righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law.” These words mark a divine intervention in human history. What the Law demanded but could not produce, grace now bestows through faith in Jesus Christ.

Paul’s meaning here is not that the Law was evil or useless; rather, that its role was preparatory. The law revealed the holiness of God and the depth of human sin, yet it could not heal the wound it exposed. It was a light showing the stain, not the water that cleanses it. Now, through Christ, the righteousness once prefigured in the sacrifices and foretold by the Prophets is fully revealed — not as a system of observances, but as a Person. In the Lord Jesus, righteousness is no longer an abstract measure but a living communion: the sinner justified, reconciled, and made new by the grace that flows from the Cross.

Paul emphasizes that this gift is offered to all who believe, for “there is no distinction.” Jew and Gentile alike share the same need and the same redemption. “All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” Humanity’s tragedy is universal: the image of God, though not destroyed, is darkened and estranged. Yet in that shared poverty lies the possibility of shared grace. The grace that leads to justification, Paul says, is given freely — the word “grace”, from the Latin gracia means “a free gift.” It is the act of divine generosity that reclaims what sin has lost.

This justification comes “through the redemption in Christ Jesus.” The Apostle’s language is rich with Old Testament resonance. The word redemption evokes the freeing of slaves by the payment of a price; expiation recalls the mercy seat of the Temple, where the blood of atonement was sprinkled by the high priest on the Day of Atonement. Christ Himself is now that place of mercy, his own Blood the purifying stream through which the guilty are made clean. The justice of God is not set aside but fulfilled —revealed as mercy that does not ignore sin but transforms it. God is shown to be “righteous,” not because he punishes, but because he restores order to creation through love stronger than guilt.

Faith, then, is not mere assent to a doctrine but the act of entrusting oneself wholly to this divine mercy. It is the open hand that receives what cannot be earned. “What occasion is there then for boasting? It is ruled out.” The proud heart cannot grasp grace; it must be emptied before it can be filled. Works of the Law, valuable in their place, cannot justify because they cannot create faith. They are the fruit, not the root, of righteousness.

At the climax, Paul widens his vision to embrace the unity of all humanity under the one God: “Does God belong to the Jews alone? Does He not belong to Gentiles also? Yes, also to Gentiles, for God is one.” The righteousness of faith thus becomes the great bridge between the covenants. The God of Abraham is revealed as the Father of all who believe, and the promise given to one nation blossoms into a universal mercy.

The mystery Paul unveils is therefore not merely juridical but deeply relational. The justifying grace of God restores the communion that sin had shattered. Humanity is no longer divided by law, culture, or birth, but gathered into one family through faith in the Blood of Christ. The righteousness that once judged now redeems; the justice that once condemned now embraces. In the wounds of the Lord Jesus, God’s faithfulness and mercy meet, and the soul finds its true justification — not in itself, but in the Holy Spirit who “is just and justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.”