being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.Now to fully understand what Paul is communicating here, we first must wrap our mind around some terms. The word justified here is a legal term that means to be found or declared not guilty of something. In this case Paul is explaining that we are declared not guilty of having a problem with God. The Apostle then explains that we are not guilty as a gift by His grace. The word grace refers to God’s transformational intervention and activity in the world. God rightly intervened and acted in order to rescue from rebellion. How God intervened and acted in order to rescue from rebellion was through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
This word redemption is a huge word in our Bibles. This word was used in Paul’s day to describe what occurred at a slave market. In Paul’s day, if one needed additional labor or servants, one could go down to the local slave market, where people were placed into slavery as a result of debts that they had accrued and were unable to pay. There was no bankruptcy in Paul’s day, there was slavery. Thus people were sold to pay off their debts. So when Paul uses the words justify and redemption here, he is revealing for us the reality that God’s right rescue through faith results in a not guilty verdict. God rightly intervened and acted to redeem us, to rescue us from slavery to our selfish sin and rebellion through His Son Jesus in order that we would be able to be declared not guilty of having a problem with God.
In verse 25, Paul explains that God rescued and redeemed us through Christ Jesus, whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. But what does that mean? The word propitiation refers to the satisfaction of God’s right and just response to selfish rebellion and sin. This morning, God has every right to judge selfish rebellion and sin. And God cannot ignore His perfect Law and justice. God’s perfect justice demands that the selfish rebellion and sin of all humanity be punished. Otherwise God would not be just, would He?
So to demonstrate, or to prove to the universe that God is right, Paul explains that God sent His Son Jesus, who entered into humanity and allowed Himself to be publicly treated as though He lived our selfish and sinful lives, so that God’s right and just response to selfish rebellion and sin could be satisfied. You see Jesus publicly died on the cross to prove that God is perfectly just and that God is perfectly right. The cross is public proof that God is just and demands justice.
And it is in Jesus public execution for the selfish rebellion of all humanity that reveals that God’s rescue through faith results in a not guilty verdict for all humanity throughout history who demonstrated faith in God and the promises of God. When Paul uses the phrase “because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed”, the word forbearance literally means to display tolerance. In other words, prior to Jesus life, death and resurrection, God proved that He is was perfectly right and just by deliberately tolerating and putting up with the selfish rebellion of all humanity throughout history so that, at just the right time, Jesus would enter into humanity to live the life that we refuse to live and die the death we deserve to die.
And in verse 26, we see that it is through Jesus life, death, and resurrection that God proves that He is right and that He is not only just, but that He can also be the One who is able to declare the person who has faith and confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as being not guilty of having a problem with God. Now, since there are a lot of 50 cent theological words in these verses, let’s look at these verses again, this time replacing the 50 cent words with what these words mean in the language of our culture today, beginning in Romans 3:24:
being declared not guilty as a gift by God’s intervention and activity through the rescue and redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as He publicly died on the cross to satisfy God’s right and just response to our selfish sin and rebellion through His life, death and resurrection. Thus we are declared not guilty through faith in what God did through Jesus. This was to prove that God is right and just, because in the tolerance of God He deliberately chose to put up with the sins previously committed; for the proof, I say, that God is right and just at the present time, so that He would be just and the One who declares a person not guilty who has faith in Jesus.We are declared not guilty because of God’s gracious and generous intervention and activity in the world through Christ, whose public execution for our selfish sin and rebellion serves as the proof that God is right and just and the only One who can declare the person who has faith and confident trust in the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel as being not guilty of having a problem with God.
Paul then continues to reveal the implications that God’s right rescue from rebellion through faith in Christ has on humanity. We will look at those implications tomorrow.
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