²⁰ Therefore, doing what the law prescribes will not make anyone right in the eyes of God—that’s not its purpose—but the law is capable of exposing the true nature of sin.

²¹ But now for the good news: God’s restorative justice has entered the world, independent of the law. Both the law and the prophets told us this day would come. ²² This redeeming justice comes through the faithfulness of Jesus,^[a] the Anointed One, the Liberating King, who makes salvation a reality for all who believe—without the slightest partiality. ²³ You see, all have sinned, and all their futile attempts to reach God in His glory fail. ²⁴ Yet they are now saved and set right by His free gift of grace through the redemption available only in Jesus the Anointed. ²⁵ When God set Him up to be the sacrifice—the seat of mercy where sins are atoned through faith—His blood became the demonstration of God’s own restorative justice. All of this confirms His faithfulness to the promise, for over the course of human history God patiently held back as He dealt with the sins being committed. ²⁶ This expression of God’s restorative justice displays in the present that He is just and righteous and that He makes right those who trust and commit themselves to Jesus.