Romans Chapter 3 Vs. 25

 

The Righteousness of God Through Faith

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; Rom 3:25

set forth to... God has set forth, made, appointed, and published this sacrifice to be a propitiation, or covering for sin.

be a propitiation... This is the act of God whereby He becomes propitious or gracious to the sinner through Jesus Christ (Heb. 9:5; 1Jhn. 2:2).

to declare his... Mat. 26:28; Eph. 1:7; Col. 1:20; Rev. 1:5. God cannot declare any man righteous or remit one sin without faith in the atonement (Heb. 9:22; Eph. 1:7).

sins that are... This refers to two things:

1. Forgiveness of the sins of Old Testament saints (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 9:15)

2. Forgiveness of past sins of each sinner that repents (Eph. 1:7; 1Jhn. 1:9)

the forbearance of... See Rom. 2:4.

God’s purpose in Christ’s death was to demonstrate His justice (i.e., God’s own judicial righteousness, dikaiosynēs; see Rom. 1:17) because in His forbearance (anochē, “holding back, delay”) He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished (cf. Acts 17:30). This great sacrifice was not accomplished in secret, but God publicly displayed His Son on Calvary for all to see.

“Propitiation”: Crucial to the significance of Christ’s sacrifice, this word carries the idea of appeasement or satisfaction; in this case Christ’s violent death satisfied the offended holiness and wrath of God against those for whom Christ died. The Hebrew equivalent of this word was used to describe the mercy seat – the cover to the Ark of the Covenant – where the High Priest sprinkled the blood of the slaughtered animal on the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the people. In pagan religions, it is the worshiper not the god who is responsible to appease the wrath of the offended deity. But in reality, man is incapable of satisfying God’s justice apart from Christ, except by spending eternity in hell.

“Forbearance”: means to hold back. Rather than destroying every person the moment he or she sings, God graciously holds back His judgment.

“Remission of sins”: This means neither indifference nor remission. God’s justice demands that every sin and sinner be punished. God would have been just, when Adam and Eve sinned, to destroy them, and with them, the entire human race. But in His goodness and forbearance, He withheld His judgment for a certain period of time.

2 Cor. 5:21 "For he hath made him [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

Why did God not always punish sins in the past? Does this mean He is not righteous after all? Previously Paul said God was forbearing because He wanted to lead people to repent (Rom. 2:4). Here God is said to be forbearing because He anticipated His provision for sins in the death of Jesus Christ. Such forbearance was an evidence of His grace (cf. Acts 14:16; 17:30), not of His injustice.

Paul was so insistent that God’s righteousness be recognized that (Rom. 3:26) he repeated (from Rom. 3:25) the words to demonstrate His justice (dikaiosynēs, “righteousness”). God’s purpose in the redemptive and propitiatory death of Jesus Christ was so that He could be seen to be just (dikaion, “righteous”) and the One who justifies (dikaiounta, “the One who declares righteous”) the man who has faith in Jesus. “To declare … His righteousness”: through the incarnation, sinless life, and substitutionary death of Christ.

The wisdom of God’s plan allowed Him to punish Jesus in the place of sinners and thereby justify those who are guilty without compromising His justice.

God’s divine dilemma was how to satisfy His own righteousness and its demands against sinful people, and at the same time how to demonstrate His grace, love, and mercy to restore rebellious, alienated creatures to Himself. The solution was the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God’s incarnate Son, and the acceptance by faith of that provision by individual sinners. Christ’s death vindicated God’s own righteousness (He is just because sin was “paid for”) and enables God to declare every believing sinner righteous.