God Declares the Guilty, “Not Guilty!”
God Declares the Guilty, “Not Guilty!”
We might conclude God Himself must be unjust because only an unjust judge would declare guilty people not guilty.
Romans 1-3, makes it crystal clear that all of mankind is guilty.
The heart of all evil is first of all, human beings wanting to go our own way and disowning the God Who has made us, and focusing only on us and our own desires.
If I do not love God with my heart, soul, mind and strength and Jesus says this is the commandment of first importance, then I’m guilty of breaking the primal command.
How is it that people such as us, get restored to God, and are able to have our guilt erased?
God’s Righteousness in Relationship to the Old Testament
Romans 3:21 But now, (He means now at this point in the Bible’s storyline, at this point in Redemptive History): Now that Jesus has come, now apart from the Law given by Moses, the righteousness of God has been made known.
The righteousness of God which transcends the ages, has now been disclosed. It is not in the framework of
the old Law covenant with its sacrificial system and its structures. These things pointed forward to what is now being introduced by Christ. If the righteousness of God is now made known “apart from the law,” that very law bore witness to this new state of affairs and anticipated this day.
It is not something different. If you read the Old Testament carefully and look and listen well, you will see that the Law covenant Moses gave was actually always about and always anticipating what is coming in Christ.
God’s Righteousness is Available to All Based on the Condition of Faith
Romans 3:22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. Now there’s a righteousness from God that meets our need, and it’s open to Jew and Gentile alike on condition of faith.
This righteousness from God is not given on the old covenant grounds. It’s given through faith in Jesus
Christ to all who will place their faith in Him. The grace is extended as far as the need, and the need is everywhere: for Jew and Gentile alike.
God’s Source of Righteousness is Jesus Our Propitiation
Romans 3:25. 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.
Propitiation is that sacrificial act by which God becomes favorable toward us. Our sin sets us over against God in wrath, but now by this sacrificial act He favors us.
Expiation is the act by which sin is cancelled. It’s wiped out, taken off the board, so the object of expiation is sin. The object of propitiation is God can favor us.
God sent Christ to be the sacrifice of atonement for our sins, canceling our sin and turning aside the wrath of God. God is always the most offended party. He’s the one we have mugged, and He alone is our ultimate judge. His justice is immaculate, but He’s also the most offended party. In wrath He demands justice be done, and then, in the person of his own dear Son, He pays our penalty.
God Demonstrates His Righteousness and Justice Through the Cross of Jesus Christ
In Romans 3:25 we learn that God can say I forgive you, because the sin penalty was paid, and justice was allowed to be fulfilled. When God views a believer, it is through the lens of Jesus. God looks at the believer and declares him or her just, (not because we are; we are guilty) but because He set forth His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
The Emphases Has Always Been On Faith
Faith Excludes Boasting (Romans 3:27) At the end of the day I am declared to be just before God
because I have received God’s gift by faith.
Faith Is Necessary to Preserve Grace (Romans 3:28) If somehow I can earn my pardon from God, then grace is no more grace. We cannot barter with God for a pardon, guilty people are forgiven only through grace offered by the cross.
Faith Is Necessary If Jews and Gentiles Alike Are to Be Saved (Romans 3:29–30; 4:9–17)
On the basis of the cross, and only on that basis, God justifies believing Jews and believing Gentiles.
Christian Faith Fulfills and Upholds the Old Testament (Romans 3:31; 4:18–25)
God’s purposes have been unified all along: layered, complex, interwoven, but unified! Now, in the cross and resurrection of Jesus, the law-covenant is fulfilled and its long-term purpose in the plan of God is fulfilled. Guilty men and women are declared just and reconciled to God, not because they are just, not because they try to ‘balance up’ good deeds and bad deeds, but because by faith they trust Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, a sacrifice that simultaneously pays for their sin and establishes & fulfills God’s justice.