How Christ Died For God – The Cross Reveals God’s Righteousness |
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| Pastor Bill Farrow |
Romans 3:25-26 |
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25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Verse 25b-26) - As explained in the previous chapter, the words righteousness, and justification, and their verb and adjective forms are from the same Greek root. As those two English words indicate, the basic meaning relates to what is right and just. A look at ethnology and the history of religion shows that, without exception, pagan gods were, as they still are, made in the likeness of men. Their only difference from men is in their presumed power. Otherwise, they reflect the same moral deficiencies and frailties. They are capricious, inconsistent, and totally unpredictable. In the Greek and Roman pantheons, the fabricated deities were continually competing among themselves and were jealous of one another and even of human beings who demonstrated unusual intelligence, skill, and power. Some of the gods supposedly demanded a high standard of conduct from human beings but were themselves whimsical and often grossly immoral. That is exactly what one would expect. Man-made gods can never be more than larger-than-life images of men. Many ancient men and women, in fact, lived on a much higher moral plane than their gods reportedly did. Men would frequently accuse a particular god of unfairness and wrongdoing and appeal to another god or gods to rectify the wrong of the erring deity. Men have even been quick to judge the true God in much the same way. Unbelievers frequently point to what they consider capricious, unjust, and even brutal acts on God’s part. “If your God is so holy and just,” they ask, “why does He let His own people suffer so much and let wicked people, including the enemies and persecutors of His people, get by with terrible sins? And why does He let innocent people suffer because of the wickedness of others?” Many things that God is reported in Scripture to have done do seem, from the human perspective, to be unjust and unrighteous. Why for instance, did God not let Abraham actually inherit the land promised to Him? Why did He allow His people to stay and suffer so long in Egypt before He delivered them? The Hebrews who were delivered were no better than their ancestors who came there in the first place. They were, if anything, much worse, having picked up many pagan beliefs and practices from their Egyptian masters. After God gave possession of the Promised Land to Israel, why did He frequently use ungodly and fiercely wicked pagan nations to conquer, persecute, and scatter His own chosen people? The punishers were worse than those they were used to punish. In human systems of justice, a judge or other high official in public office who commits a given crime often receives greater punishment than would an ordinary citizen. Their high office demands a higher standard. “Why, then, should the highest of all gods,” people have wondered, “not Himself be held accountable to man’s highest standards of righteousness and justice?” The prophet Habakkuk doubtless understood with Moses that the Lord is “The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He” (Deut. 32:4). Yet the godly Habakkuk could not understand why the Lord would let His own people suffer while pagan nations prospered. “Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness with favor,” He prayed. “Why dost Thou look with favor on those who deal treacherously? Why art Thou silent when the wicked swallow up those more righteous than they?” (Hab. 1:13). Certain Jews in Malachi’s day were concerned about the same thing, but unlike the humble Habakkuk they presumed to judge God, saying impiously “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them.” Others asked, “Where is the God of justice?” (Mal. 2:17). Anticipating such questions, the Holy Spirit led Paul to declare that, through the cross, God not only allowed but planned before the foundation of the world what would be the most unjust act that men could commit—the putting to death of His own sinless Son. But through that heinous act on men’s part, God not only manifested His divine righteousness by offering His own Son but also used that act of divine grace to demonstrate His divine righteousness. Through that incomparable sacrifice, God provided punishment for sin sufficient to forgive and blot out every sin that would ever be committed by those whom He would redeem - including the supreme sin of crucifying His own Son, for which every unregenerate person shares the guilt (Heb. 6:6). That greatest of all acts of God’s grace was further demonstrated by His divine forbearance, as He passed over the sins previously committed. God is not unaware of nor does He condone even the smallest sin. His forbearance is therefore not a sign of injustice but of His patient and loving grace. “The Lord is not slow about His promise,” Peter assures us, “but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9). God’s justice and grace are on a perfect and infinitely grander scale than human wisdom can perceive or comprehend. Because of His justice, no sin will ever go unpunished; yet because of His grace, no sin is beyond forgiveness. Therefore every sin will be paid for by the sinner himself in the form of eternal death and punishment in hell or it has been paid for him as one who has placed his faith in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on his behalf. Paresis (passed over) does not carry the idea of remission, as the King James Version renders it, but refers to passing by or overlooking. It means “passing by,” as not noticing, and hence, forgiving. A similar idea occurs in 2 Sam. 24:10, and Mic. 7:18. “Who is a God like unto thee, that passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance?” In Romans it means for the “pardoning,” or in order to pardon past transgression. Technically Passing over, pretermission, differs from remission. In remission guilt and punishment are sent away; in pretermission they are included in the act, but left wholly or partially undealt with. (Compare Acts 14:16; 17:30). Sin, in the word used here, is the separate and particular deed of disobedience, while the more generic word for sin used earlier includes sin in the abstract - sin regarded as sinfulness. Sins done aforetime are the collective sins of the elect before Christ. In the context of God’s forbearance, the meaning is therefore that of a temporary passing over sin and of withholding judgment on it for a certain period of time. After the Fall, when God could have justly destroyed Adam and Eve, and therefore the human race, He passed over the sins of fallen mankind and did not manifestly judge them immediately. Even in the Flood the Lord saved eight people, not because they were perfectly righteous but because they trusted in Him. In the same way, the many subsequent judgments of God recorded in Scripture were never universal, but were rendered upon specific individuals, groups, or nations. The psalmist Asaph understood something of why God allows many wicked people to live and thrive, often at the expense of those who are less sinful. He wrote that God, “being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; and often He restrained His anger, and did not arouse all His wrath. Thus He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and does not return” (Ps. 78:38-39). In his discourse before the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers on the Areopagus (Mars Hill) just outside Athens, Paul said, “Having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:30-31). That are past - That have been committed; or that have existed before. This has been commonly understood to refer to past generations, as affirming that sins under all dispensations of the world are to be forgiven in this manner, through the sacrifice of Christ. And it is the intent of this passage to teach that all who have been justified, in all ages, have received pardon by the merits of the sacrifice of Christ. The design of the apostle is to show the lone ground of a sinner’s justification. That ground is “the righteousness of God.” To manifest this righteousness, Christ had been set forth in the beginning of the gospel age as a propitiatory sacrifice. But though at this time it is manifested or declared in a unique and unprecedented fashion, it had in reality been the ground of justification all along. Believers in every past dispensation, looking forward to the period of its revelation, had built their hopes on it, and been admitted into glory. The idea of manifestation in gospel times, seems most intimately connected with the fact that in past ages, the ground of pardon had been hidden, or at best but dimly seen through type and ceremony. There seems little doubt that these two things were associated in the apostle’s mind. Though the ground of God’s procedure in remitting the sins of his people, during the former economy, had long been concealed, it was now gloriously displayed before the eyes of the universe. Paul has the very same idea in Heb. 9:15, “And for this cause he is the Mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.” It may be noticed also that the expression in Heb. 9:20, “at this time,” that is, in the gospel age, requires us to understand the other clause, “sins that are past,” as pointing to sin committed under former dispensations. Nor is there any fear of lending support to the doctrine of universal salvation. if we espouse this view. the sins remitted in past ages being obviously those of believers only. The very same objection might be urged against the parallel passage in Heb. 9:15.) Through the forbearance of God - Through his patience, his long-suffering. That is, he did not come forth in judgment when the sin was committed; he spared us, though deserving of punishment; and now he comes forth completely to pardon those sins concerning which he has so long and so graciously exercised forbearance. This expression obviously refers not to the remission of sins, but to the fact that they were committed while he evinced such long-suffering; (compare Acts 17:30). I do not know better how to show the practical value and bearing of this important passage of Scripture, than by transcribing a part of the affecting experience of the poet William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”). It is well known that before his conversion he was oppressed by a long and dreadful melancholy; that this was finally heightened to despair; and that he was then subjected to the kind treatment of one Dr. Cotton in Alban’s, a hospital, as a melancholy case of derangement. His leading thought was that he was doomed to inevitable destruction, and that there was no hope. From this he was roused only by the kindness of his brother, and by the promises of the gospel. The account of his conversion he gives in his own words. “The happy period, which was to shake off my fetters, and afford me a clear discovery of the free mercy of God in Christ Jesus, was now arrived. I flung myself into a chair near the window, and seeing a Bible there, ventured once more to apply to it for comfort and instruction. The first verse I saw was Rom. 3:25; “Whom God hath set forth, etc.” Immediately I received strength to believe, and the full beam of the Sun of righteousness shone upon me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement he had made for my pardon and justification. In a moment I believed, and received the peace of the gospel. Unless, the Almighty arm had been under me, I think I should have been overwhelmed with gratitude and joy. My eyes filled with tears, and my voice choked with transport. I could only look up to heaven in silent fear, overwhelmed with love and wonder. How glad should I now have been to have spent every moment in prayer and thanksgiving. I lost no opportunity of repairing to a throne of grace; but flew to it with an earnestness irresistible, and never to be satisfied.” The passage has given much trouble to expositors, largely, I think, through their insisting on the sense of forbearance with reference to sins—the toleration or refraining from punishment of sins done aforetime. But it is a fair construction of the term to apply it, in its primary sense of holding back, to the divine method of dealing with sin. It cannot be said that God passed over the sins of anyone before Christ without penalty, for that is plainly contradicted by Romans 1:18-32; but He did pass them over in the sense that He did not apply, but held back the redeeming agency of God manifest in the flesh until the “fullness of time.” The sacrifices were a homage rendered to God’s righteousness, but they did not touch sin with the power and depth which attached to Christ’s sacrifice. No demonstration of God’s righteousness and consequent hatred of sin, could be given equal to that of the life and death of Jesus. Hence Paul, as I take it, says: God set forth Christ as the world’s mercy-seat, for the showing forth of His righteousness, because previously He had given no such manifestation of His righteousness, but had held it back, passing over, with the temporary institution of sacrifices, the sin at the roots of which He finally struck in the sacrifice of Christ. From the beginning, God had demonstrated “His eternal power and divine nature” for all men to see (Rom. 1:20). Through the incarnation, death, and resurrection of Christ, God gave mankind the ultimate revelation of Himself—the ultimate demonstration … of His righteousness at the present time. That is why the God of perfect holiness could be both just as well as the justifier of the sinful and unworthy one who has faith in Jesus. Though he could not have known the full truth of what he wrote, the ancient psalmist beautifully pictured Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross: “Lovingkindness and truth have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other” (Ps. 85:10). At this time - The time now since the Savior has come, now is the time when he manifests it. This carries on the idea of this being manifest now in a fashion and to a clarity that it had not, before, been manifest. Remember, it is not that this is a new work, but rather that it is the same work, shown forth with new clearness and with unprecedented unambiguity. That he might be just - This verse contains the substance of the gospel. The word “just” here does not mean benevolent, or merciful, though it may sometimes have that meaning; (see Matt. 1:19, also John 17:25). But it refers to the fact that God had retained the integrity of his character as a moral governor; that he had shown a due regard to his Law, and to the penalty of the Law by his plan of salvation. Should he forgive sinners without there being payment for sin, justice would be sacrificed and abandoned. The Law would cease to have any terrors for the guilty, and its penalty would be nullified. In the plan of salvation, therefore, he has shown a regard to the Law by appointing his Son to be a substitute in the place of sinners; not to endure its precise penalty, for his sufferings were not eternal, nor were they attended with remorse of conscience, or by despair, which are the proper penalty of the Law; but he endured so much as to accomplish the same ends as if those who shall be saved by him had been doomed to eternal death. That is, he showed that the Law could not be violated without introducing suffering; and that it could not be broken with impunity. He showed that he had so great a regard for it, that he would not pardon one sinner without that sin being fully paid for. And thus he secured the proper honor to his character as a lover of his Law, a hater of sin, and a just God. He has shown that if sinners do not avail themselves of the offer of pardon by Jesus Christ, they must experience in their own souls forever the pains which this substitute for sinners endured in behalf of people on the cross. Thus, no principle of justice has been abandoned; no threatening has been modified; no claim of his Law has been let down; no disposition has been evinced to do injustice to the universe by suffering the guilty to escape. He is, in all this great transaction, a just moral ruler, as just to his Law, (that is, to Himself and His character), to his Son, to the universe, when he pardons, as he is when he sends the incorrigible sinner down to hell. A full compensation, an equivalent, has been provided by the sufferings of the Savior in the sinner’s stead, and the sinner may be pardoned. And the justifier of him … - Greek, “Even justifying him that believeth, etc.” This carries the sense and yet, often imported into the Greek word and. It is introduced on dogmatic grounds, and we must be careful to understand that it does not imply a problem in the divine nature itself, namely, to bring God’s essential justice into consistency with His merciful restoration of the sinner. On the contrary, the words are coordinate - righteous and making believers righteous. It is of the essence of divine righteousness to bring men into perfect sympathy with itself. Paul’s object is not to show how God is vindicated, but how man is made right with the righteous God. Theology may safely leave God to take care for the adjustment of the different sides of His own character. The very highest and strongest reason why God should make men right lies in His own righteousness. Because He is righteous He must hate sin, and the antagonism can be removed only by removing the sin, not by compounding it. This is the uniqueness and the wonder of the gospel. Even while pardoning, and treating the ill-deserving as if they were innocent, he can retain his pure and holy character. His treating the guilty with favor does not show that be loves guilt and pollution, for he has expressed his abhorrence of it in the atonement. His admitting them to friendship and heaven does not show that he approves their past conduct and character, for he showed how much he hated even their sins by giving his Son to a shameful death for them. When an executive pardons offenders, there is an abandonment of the principles of justice and law. The sentence is set aside; the threatenings of the law are departed from; and it is done without compensation. It is declared that in certain cases the law may be violated, and its penalty “not” be inflicted. But not so with God. He shows no less regard to his law in pardoning than in punishing. This is the grand, glorious, special feature of the gospel plan of salvation. Him which believeth in Jesus - Greek, “Him who is of the faith of Jesus;” in contradistinction from him who is of the works of the Law; that is, who depends on his own works for salvation. This is the one included in the work of Christ and the one who realizes the benefit of that work. Those who will not “believe in Jesus” were not included in the actual work of Christ accomplished and thus, realize none of the benefit of that work. They will pay for their own sin when they stand before God at the time of the end.
The real “problem,” as it were, with salvation was not the matter of getting sinful men to a holy God but of getting a holy God to accept sinful men without violating His justice. It was only through the cross that God could provide a just redemption for sinful men. But of immeasurably more importance was that the cross demonstrates forever that God is both supremely just and supremely gracious. First and foremost, Christ died that the world might see that neither God’s holiness nor His justice have been abrogated. God has perfect and absolute integrity. The cross was the ultimate vindication of God’s justice and righteousness. The most unfathomable of all spiritual mysteries is that of the holy and just God providing redemption for sinful men and in that gracious act, not violating any attribute of His nature, but bringing supreme glory to Himself. Just as the primary purpose of salvation is to glorify God, so is the confession of sin by those who are saved. When God chastens His children and they confess their sin, they testify to their heavenly Father’s justice and righteousness and therefore to His glory. It is as if a person saw a father spanking his child and the child told the onlooker that he was being rightly punished for something wrong he had done. Just as such a confession by a human child honors and vindicates his human father, so the confession of sin by God’s children honors, vindicates, and glorifies their heavenly Father. Joshua understood that truth, and when Achan’s sin was exposed, Joshua told him, “My son, I implore you, give glory to the Lord, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me” (Josh. 7:19). Two beautiful and beloved hymns express something of the faithful believer’s awesome awareness of God’s justice, righteousness, and grace. From the pen of the nineteenth-century poet Elizabeth C. Clephane came “The Ninety and Nine,” which includes these lines:
“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and
nine, Isaac Watts wrote in his famous hymn:
When I survey the wondrous cross, |
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