Romans 3:24-26
24 ...And [all] are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - 26 he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
As we turn to verses 24, 25, and 26 of Romans 3, we will discover that Paul is dealing with an extremely important truth here. First of all, I want you to look at verse 24 because here in verse 24 Paul is pointing us to three facts concerning the righteousness of God which He has now made available to us through his son Jesus Christ.
1. The righteousness of God justifies us.
That is the first truth verse 24 brings out, that the righteousness of God justifies us. What does Paul mean by that word "justifies" because it is one of those key words, it's a crucial word in the New Testament. Well, this word, "justifies," primarily had a legal connotation. It's a term that is used in the court, it is used by judges, and it has a legal connotation. We need to be clear on this.
I'll tell you why: because there are some now in our own church, some of our scholars, who want to do away with this legal meaning. Like one scholar says, the word only means "set right." Well, I'll tell you folks, if you take the word "justified" in the New Testament and translate it or exchange it for the words "set right" and you will discover in some places it makes good sense, but in some places it does not because you cannot limit the word "justified" to simply "set right."
The reason for this is because, as we shall see in verses 25 and 26, that there are some (it began among the liberal theologians and it is now creeping into our church) who do not want to accept the legal framework of the atonement and I will say a few more things about it in a moment. But the word "justified" primarily had a legal definition.
Let me give you two examples how this word is used in scripture. Keep your finger here at Romans 3 and turn your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 25. This is counsel given by God through Moses to Israel as God prepares her to be a theocracy in the country of Canaan and this is the instruction that God gives because in a theocracy God is not only their spiritual leader but He is also their political leader. In verse 1 of chapter 25 of Deuteronomy I read these words:
When men have a dispute, they are to take it to court [please notice they come to court, it's a legal matter] and the judges will decide the case, acquitting the innocent and condemning the guilty.
Please notice that you justify, or acquit, the righteous and you condemn the wicked. These two words "justify" and "condemn" are legal terms; they are terms that are used in connection with the law. When you obey the law, the law justifies you, and when you disobey, it condemns you.
Let me give you one more example; turn to the I Kings 8. I want to give you a couple of examples of how this word is used in a legal framework in the Bible. Let's look at verse 32; this is a plea for God to hear and to judge:
...Then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.
Please notice the legal framework of the words. So, going back to Romans 3:24, the righteousness justifies us. What does that mean? That means that those who believe in Christ (because verse 22 talks about righteousness by faith, those who accept the righteousness of Christ through faith), God declares you or looks upon you as if you are righteous. I know some of you will say, "I don't feel righteous. I am not righteous." And you are right in both areas. God doesn't declare us righteous because we are righteous; God declares us righteous because of His righteousness. It's the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ that is the issue here. The righteousness of God justifies us.
Now this is something tremendous because you see, in verse 19, Paul has just told us that according to the law, the whole world is guilty before God, which means that the law of God condemns us. But now comes the righteousness of God and it justifies us.
I want you to notice that is that the word "justified" in Romans 3:24 is in the present tense: "being justified." Paul is not saying that one day in the future God will justify you; he says no, right now, in the present tense, you are justified (as he will go on) through the redemption that is in Christ.
What does it mean for a person to stand justified before God? The answer is found in the words of our Lord Jesus Christ in John 5. You see, in Chapter 3 of John, verse 17, Jesus tells Nicodemus that:
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Now in chapter 5, verse 24, I want you to notice how different translations begin. The New King James Bible puts it "most assuredly"; others read "verily, verily." They all mean, "this is guaranteed" (and this is Christ speaking):
I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has [not will have, but already has] eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.
Yes, in ourselves we stand condemned to death, but in Christ we have passed from condemnation of death to justification of life. That is the first thing that verse 24 says, that in the present situation, the moment you believe, the righteousness of God in Christ becomes effective to you and you have passed from death to life, you are now being justified. That's number one.
2. Going back to Romans 3:24, you will notice that this justification comes to us not because we have paid some money or because we have made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, it comes to us freely.
...And [all] are justified freely....
What does that word "freely" mean? It means "without cost." As Isaiah 55 puts it, "it is without money and without price." It's free, but it is more than a gift. It is more than that because I read on:
...And [all] are justified freely by his grace....
Now "by his grace" gives a very definite meaning to the word "freely." What kind of meaning does it give? That word "grace," like the word "justified," is also a crucial word in the New Testament. What does it mean? Normally, it is explained as "unmerited favor" or "undeserved favor." But let me explain it in a little more in detail by giving you an example.
Let us say that Steve, my friend, has an appointment and I know about it, so, while he's gone, I come to his house and I beat up his wife, Kathy, giving her a real black eye. Of course, the kids are at school and the baby is crying and while they are all doing that, I take his furniture and I wreck it, taking his axe and smashing his furniture and I burn up his T.V. set and I do everything terrible and then I take off. Steve then comes home from his appointment and sees Kathy on the floor all bruised and beaten up and bleeding and he says, "What happened? Did an earthquake strike?"
Kathy says, "No, it was that fellow Jack who did it."
And Steve gets into his car and he flies, breaking the speed limit, and comes to the house and I see him from the window and his hands are behind his back and I say to myself, "I bet he has a revolver and he is coming to shoot me for what I've done." And I say to myself, "Shall I run or shall I stand up?" And I say, "No, I'll be a coward if I run. I'll try and disarm him before he shoots me."
And so I go and open the door and I look at him and he says, "Jack, why did you do this? I am your friend." I have no answer. He pulls his hands from his back and I am expecting a revolver and guess what it is? It's a check for $1,000.00. Now that is grace, folks. That's grace.
Here we are folks, we crucified the Son of God and what does God do? He forgives us. What did Christ do on the cross? He said, "Father, forgive them."
Now that, folks, is grace. Grace is not only doing you a good favor, it is doing a good favor to somebody who hates you, to somebody who is your enemy, as we shall see in Romans 5:10:
For if, when we were God's enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. That is grace, folks. That is why the gospel is unconditional good news. God doesn't say, "First you shape up and change your ways then I will justify you"; He justifies us not only freely but by his grace. That's number two, folks, we need to keep this in mind.
3. I want to go to number 3, because number 3 is extremely important. For there I read in verse 24 that I am not only justified freely and graciously, but that this justification is:
...through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
And it is here, folks, where creation and redemption part company because, you see, the same Jesus who created us is also the same Jesus who redeemed us, but there is a difference. All that God had to do to create this world was to simply speak, to make a statement. All that God had to do was to say, "Let there be light," and there was light, because the breath of God - the words of God - are power, energy. He can create something out of nothing and all God had to do was to speak the word and it happened.
Now, of course, He could have done that also for us. God did not have to make us out of dust and breathe into us the breath of life, He could have created us by simply making a statement. The only reason why He made us of the dust of the earth is because He knew, through His foreknowledge, that we would sin and He knew that sin would make us a proud people. So He deliberately made us out of mud so that, after we fell, we would be reminded when we got too proud of who we are.
You know, when we were in Africa, we discovered that the word for mud, the word for dust had some beautiful expressions. For example, in Uganda the word for dust or mud is "fufu." Sounds wonderful! That's what you and I are made of. In Ethiopia, the word for mud is "cushasha." It sounds terrible, those words, but that's what we are and God knew that we needed a reminder that our glory is as beautiful as the dust of the earth.
But when it comes to redemption, God could not save us simply by making a statement. God could not say, "Well, I love these dear people. I know they have gone wrong, they have broken my law, but I am God and no one is above me. I can do what I like and I love them and so I declare you forgiven. I declare you justified simply because I love you."
God could not do that because God is not only love, He is a just God. He could not redeem us, He could not justify us, by bypassing his law because his law says the soul that sins must die. God has to be true to his own word, otherwise He becomes an unjust God Himself.
When the policeman forgives me for speeding, he is doing an unjust thing because he never volunteers to pay the ticket. How many policemen that have forgiven you have paid the ticket for you? They can forgive you by excusing you because they are sinful men but God can't do that. He is a holy God, He is a righteous God. He can't simply make a statement and say, "I love you so I forgive you."
Justification by faith is free to you and me but it is extremely costly to God. Let me put it this way: if God gave me a million dollars today, it would cost Him nothing because He can create gold out of stones, He can simply speak the word and the stones can turn into gold. That's no problem for God. But, when He gave me His only begotten Son, do you realize that He gave me something that He could not replace? He gave me His only begotten Son and, in giving me His Son, He was giving me Himself. We shall see in a minute what that involved.
The reason I'm stressing this is because, as I said already, there are many people today who think and teach that God did not have to send his Son, and Christ did not have to die on the cross to justify us. He did it because He wanted to influence us. This is called the "Moral Influence Theory."
Through the years there have been many theories in the Christian church concerning the atonement. There is the Satisfaction Theory, there is the Ransom Theory, the Governmental Theory, and there is the Moral Influence Theory. The 14th, 15th Century came up with this theory.
Each theory says this is the correct meaning of the atonement. I'll tell you, folks, the atonement is too big an event to be locked up in only one theory; it is too big. In fact, we will never be able to comprehend all of the mysteries of the atonement until we go to heaven. We will spend eternity wrestling with the atonement. Each of these theories have an aspect of truth but they become wrong when they deny the other. In other words, there is nothing wrong in the Moral Influence Theory in its teaching, it is correct that the death of Christ on the cross demonstrated the love of God, which should change my attitude towards God. There is nothing wrong with that; that's correct.
It's wrong because of what it denies. A lot of heresy in this Christian church is not wrong in what they teach; they are wrong in what they deny. Anyone who denies the legal framework of the atonement is doing God an injustice. Do you know that? God could not simply save us because He loved us; God's love and justice had to meet together and they met at the cross. It was only at the cross that God became legally just in justifying us and that is what verse 25 and 26 are talking about. Let us read it first:
God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
In Chapter 3, verse 24, we are told that we are justified freely, but it is through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. What does the word "redemption" mean?
It means to be ransomed from something that you are under. For example, if you read the New Testament, you will discover that we are redeemed from the Devil [Hebrews 2:14,15], or we are redeemed from death [I Cor. 15: 56, 57], or we are redeemed from sin [Roman 6:22], but here in this context Paul is saying that we are redeemed from the curse of the law.
He says the same things in Galatians, so let me give you a similar argument found in Galatians chapter 3. I want you to notice what the law says in verse l0. Please notice the clear statement of Scripture:
All who rely on observing the law are under a curse...
For those who try to go to heaven by their own righteousness, the law will curse them, not because they haven't tried. But, why does the law curse you if you are trying to go to heaven by your works?
...For it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law."
Now the question is: "Have you kept the law in detail, continuously, from the time you were born?" Have you? If you have not, then you are under the curse. The law says so. God could not bypass this curse, he could not do it because He is a just God, He is a holy God. So I read in Galations 3, verse 13 the good news of salvation:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree."
Notice the past tense. There are three main truths that the cross reveals (which I will be covering in detail at another time):
1. The cross demonstrates that Satan is a liar and a murderer and that the human heart is desperately wicked. We need to know that. John 8:44 says that:
You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to cary out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
2. Then I want to show you how the cross demonstrates the love of God. Romans 5:8 will touch that, too:
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
3. But here, the cross demonstrates the justice of God. In other words, through the cross of Christ, God is just in justifying the sinner. He has redeemed us, He has ransomed us, He has set us free by the cross.
When I was in Africa, I had a coworker with me. He was a black American and we worked together in the Ministerial Department. He was from Seattle [Washington, U.S.A.] and, at that time, I had only heard of Seattle and didn't know what it looked like. He was a good man and we worked together and he often would tell a story. It would be a story that had some meaning to him because it had to do with slavery.
The story was about a man - a strapping, strong slave. He was sold in this country many years ago on an auction block and the auctioneer introduced him as a "strong, capable young man and you would be able to get a lot of work out of him." Before anyone could bid, the slave opened his mouth and said, "I am not going to work for anybody."
The auctioneer told him to keep quiet. The bid went on and on and a man at the back kept bidding, refusing to back down and he went up and up and finally nobody could compete with him and he got the bid and the auctioneer said, "He's all yours!"
The man came forward with the money, gave the money to the auctioneer and the auctioneer gave him the keys of the shackles. As the new owner dragged this man away, the slave began muttering "I am not going to work for you." The owner just kept quiet and took him away from the crowd, undid the key, took off the shackles off his hands and his feet and he said, "Now, you are no longer a slave. I didn't buy you; I don't know where you got the idea. But I didn't buy you to use you to work for me; I bought you to free you. You are a free man, you can go where you like. The world is yours!"
This slave did not know how to react. He was so shocked by this that he fell down on his knees and he said to the slave owner who bought him, "I will work for you all the rest of my life!"
That is the attitude we must have towards Christ. Christ did not buy us so that He may use us; He bought us that He may share with us His throne and His kingdom and all the joys of heaven. That's why He bought us, why He redeemed us. It was free to us, but it was very costly to God.
Now in verse 25 there are two words that I want to touch quickly. The first word [in some translations] is "propitiation." It's a word that has caused endless problems in this controversy about the atonement. What does it mean to propitiate? Well, the word comes from a Greek word called "hillastraion" and a similar noun used in 1 John 2:2 and 1 John 4:10. "Hillasmos" and the equivalent verb "hilastros" are found in Hebrews 2:17. This word was used in the days of the New Testament, in Pagan customs and religion, and was used to refer to sacrifices that the Pagans would give to appease their angry god. That is what the word "propitiate" means: to appease somebody who is angry with you.
The word came about because of the idea that God up there is an angry judge ready to punish you unless somebody appeases his anger. Jesus said, "Look God, please don't get angry at these poor people; I will die in their place" and so God was satisfied. No, that is never the use of propitiation in the New Testament. You see, in the Pagan culture: