The late Reverend Doctor Boyce Watson Blackwelder (1913—1976) of Concord, North Carolina, remains one of the greatest scholars the Church of God (Anderson) has ever known. Blackwelder wrote the influential Light from the Greek New Testament and translated the Letters of Paul. He wrote a book on the apostle, himself, entitled, Toward Understanding Paul as well as Pauline commentaries. He also penned The Four Gospels: An Exegetical Translation. Blackwelder was responsible for translating Colossians for the New King James Version and served as an adviser on other passages of the NKJV.In his work, Toward Understanding Romans, Blackwelder translates Romans 3.21-25a, 26b:
But now God's kind of righteousness stands manifested apart from law [of any kind], although it is attested by the Law and the Prophets. Indeed God's kind of righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ. It is effective for all who are trusting [in him]. There is no distinction, for the whole race has sinned, and [man] continues to fall short of God's standard. The permanent principle of justification operates freely by the gift of his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God openly set forth as the means of expiation by his blood, to be appropriated through faith...even while declaring righteous the person who places trust in Jesus.You will never be declared "Not Guilty" of sins based on how good you are. You aren't good at all compared to God's holiness. Rather, you are declared "Not Guilty" by trusting in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
