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Romans 3.21-25
January 17th 2021
So last week we discussed how that by the Law is the knowledge of sin. What does Paul say next? (verse 21)
21 But now . . . the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 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;
So again, after convincing all that we are guilty under the law in some way or another, Paul wrote last week:
“Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
We talked about this at length. And Paul continues in verse 21 saying:
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
Having shown the entire failure of all attempts to be justified by law of anykind, whether among Jews or Gentiles, Paul proceeds to lay out “God’s plan of justification” by His grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
You know, this is the main design of the entire epistle. Recall that back in the first chapter Paul wrote in Romans 1:17:
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just (meaning the justified before God or the righteous before God) shall live by faith.”
And all the way through the rest of this chapter Paul will reaffirm this key point in his message. So again, notice that what he writes here – it is a slam dunk.
21 But now (meaning in that day when Paul wrote this all the way out to today) the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
It’s important to know that when Paul writes or uses the sentence, “the righteousness of God” he is not speaking of an attribute of God but instead how God makes Man righteous before His sight – how God justifies the condition of human beings.
In other words, we could read verse 21 this way:
But now, the way God makes man righteous without the law is made known.
And Paul uses this phrase throughout his epistles. Because there is no righteousness Man can offer on his own by or through obedience to the Law, Paul points out that it was going to take God to provide a plan that did not include the Law to save mankind.
This does not mean that God abandoned His law or that Jesus didn’t have any regard for it. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Remember, the Law is good because it is of God. It is His perfect Law and His Law was a representative of Him on earth to the world. But we, being in sin and living in sinful flesh, could not abide in any semblance of it. So what did God do? He did John 3:16 –
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
How did this work? In a few ways.
First, Jesus came and both fulfilled the law through perfect adherence to it AND then
“magnified it” in the lives of those who believed on Him.
Up to this point all Paul has been doing is he has endeavored to show that human justification could not be accomplished by personal obedience to any law of the Jews or Gentiles. But now he is beginning to explain how God accomplished the justification of fallen Man in this other way.
We also see here that justification by faith is not a new doctrine – it is actually found in the Old Testament. And this is why Paul writes that it was “witnessed by the law and the prophets.”
In fact, Habukkuk plainly states that, “The just shall live by faith.”
Additionally, Isaiah 53:11, Isaiah 28:16, 49:23 and Psalm 22:1-31, and Daniel 9:24 all allude to the fact that it is “faith that saves all men.”
When we think about it, it was and would be faith that would get men and women to really attempt to live the Law in the first place. Those who died and went to the paradise part of sheol did so because of faith.
So, going on to verse 22 we see Paul further delineating his point of God’s plan to make all men of every ilk righteous when he says:
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them (Jew or Gentile) that believe: for there is no difference:
What could be more plain than Paul stating here that the plan God has instilled for man to become righteous before Him than by faith in Jesus Christ?
Where the COI in the Old Covenant were “saved by faith in God” (which compelled them to adhere to His Law the best they could) Paul writes that we are now all saved by “faith in Jesus Christ” and this fact compels the saved to adhere to His command to love (according to the strength of His Spirit).
It is an amazingly complete plan reaching backward and forward into the history of humanity.
So again, Paul tells us that God’s mode of regarding men “as righteous” is by faith in Jesus Christ.”
What does this mean? Are we saved by the faith itself? LISTEN – we are not.
We are saved BY the grace of God through faith IN the shed blood of His only begotten Son.
Again, does FAITH save us? Faith does not save us. Faith is the cause by which God bestows His grace (which is made “bestowable” for lack of a better word) BY and through the shed blood of His Son.
If God could capriciously bestow grace upon non-believers, then Jesus did not need to come and die.
Can God capriciously bestow grace on non-believers since the death and resurrection of His Son? If He does, it is by and through the shed blood of that Son.
Could God capriciously bestow grace on all human beings without Jesus coming to earth? I suppose He could, but it seems that he would be found unfair and capricious by ignoring the demands of justice.
In other words, faith is the instrument or means by which we become qualified to receive God’s grace which is only possible, all things considered, by and through Jesus shed blood.
Faith is the state of mind and/or the condition of the humble heart to which God seems pleased to promise justification to the one in possession of it.
Over the course of ministry, I have found many people misunderstand faith – myself included.
Saving faith is a gift of God and like all of God’s gifts I would suggest it comes in varying degrees to each person.
Why some embrace this faith and others do not remains a mystery to me. However, I’ve observed that some people are of the opinion that faith is an presence or power that just overwhelms a person’s ability to think for themselves.
Maybe in some cases this is true (as God provides the gift). But I have found that faith is more often than not a matter of choice.
What kind of choice? We choose to credit God’s Words and promises as true AND (listen) we act as if His words and promises are always true. In other words . . . people of faith . . . “Let God be true and EVERY man a liar.”
Faith accepts the belief that there is a God, and that we (as non-gods) ought to believe, revere, and love Him.
This is as much a choice as it is a state of mind and heart. We read about Jesus and we choose to believe the story AND to act on the story . . . again – to believe AND to act accordingly – this is faith.
To trust him, rely on him, love him, feel that we have no merit AND cast our cares upon him, forgive in His name, give our lives because He gave His, and love because he loved. We believe (have faith) and then we love (or act) as a response.
To believe on His Son is to erase the failures of our lives; to act (in love) is to deposit into our lives accounts.
To live by faith is to be a saved Christian; to act by faith is to be a fruitful Christian.
Who is saved by grace through such faith?
Paul writes:
“unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.”
Why the redundancy? We don’t know. Probably for emphasis. But Martin Luther suggests that the first phrase:
“Unto all” is used to show that God’s plan of making human beings righteous is offered “unto all” and the second phrase, “and upon all them that believe” is to make sure universalism (or the teaching that God saves everyone to His Kingdom) is refuted.
I readily agree with this.
Referring to the “all” Paul says, relative to the Jews and the Gentiles he has been talking about, “there is no difference.”
All must be saved, if saved at all, in the same mode, whether Jews or Gentiles, bond or free, male or female, rich or poor, learned or ignorant.
In other words, nobody can be saved by works; and all are therefore dependent on the mercy and grace of God available through faith on the shed blood of Jesus Christ.
Why in this way ONLY? (Verse 23)
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
This was the point which he had fully established in the previous chapters.
But now he goes into greater detail in verses 24-26 so let’s read them together, and then talk about them for the remainder of our time.
So he said, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God,” then he continues, saying;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 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; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
That is one giant hunk of theology, friends.
So, let’s work through it, hoping to simplify it and put it in our own language.
Since all are sinful and short of the glory of God Paul states that God’s method of justification is that those saved are
“justified freely . . .”
We are treated as if we are righteous; meaning, we are both regarded by God and treated as if we had kept the Law – freely – meaning, without a cost to us.
Since we cannot be found righteous by our own merits or obedience, Paul now affirms that if anyone is to be seen innocent by God, it must be by a mere favor from Him (His grace) and never as a matter of right . . . instead, a matter of a gift. Grace is a gift not a right. We are not saved after all that we can do. The gift of God’s Grace is the essence of the gospel or good news.
And again, to prove and illustrate this, and to show How God does this, Paul has written this epistle.
Now notice that Paul says that all who are justified are all “justified freely by his grace.”
The Greek word for “freely” is “dorean” and it is a word that stands opposed to something that is purchased, obtained by labor, or is a matter of inheritance, right or claim.
It is an absolute, totally free, unconditional and undeserved gift. It is mercifully bestowed and is not merited by anyone’s obedience to the law, in whole or in part, and again (LISTEN) it is NOT bestowed because a person qualifies for it.
However, this does not mean that the gift was produced and available without a price or cost. Quite the opposite. The cost and price was the highest cost of any thing ever purchased in the annuals of eternal history. But it wasn’t paid by us.
Speaking of God looking upon His Son, Isaiah 53:11 says:
“He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.”
2nd Peter 2:1 speaks of Jesus buying us, saying:
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damn-able heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.”
1st Corinthians 6:20 then talks about the heart of those who have been bought, saying:
“For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”
And 1st Corinthians 7:23 echoes the sentiment, adding:
“Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.”
And here we have yet another proof of the Love God has for the world – that He takes the single most precious and costly thing to have ever existed materially . . . His Only Human Son, and GIVES Him without ANY price or cost.
We have no offering to bring, and no claim upon it. To us, therefore, it is entirely a matter of a gift, or as Paul writes:
“by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:”
By God’s favor; by his undeserved mercy and mercy alone, He bestows grace produced, or made available “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”
The Greek word for redemption is
“apolutrosis.”(ap-ol-oo’-tro-sis). It’s used ten times in the New Testament.
Luke 21:28; Romans 3:24; 8:23; 1st Corinthians 1:30; Ephesians 1:7; 4:30; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:15; 11:35.
It comes from the root word—lutron – which anciently was really defined as the price which is paid for a prisoner of war.
It’s a ransom – or the price demanded to set a captive free. In Luke and Romans 8 and Ephesians 1 it refers to the deliverance of anything with or without a price but here this is not the case.
Why? Because in the very next verse Paul proceeds to specify the price paid (or the means by which this redemption through Jesus has been effectuated).
This opens us up to one huge discussion for which I apologize if it is overwhelming. But here we enter into the conundrum of sorts with Romans 3 verse 25. Speaking of Jesus Paul says . . .
25 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;
This is one heck of a mouthful – especially in the King James, but really in any translation.
So, let’s break it down. Referring to Jesus, Paul says in verse 25:
“Whom God hath set forth.”
We could take this in the sense of a fore-ordination, physically, as in “to place in public view” OR as in making Him a decree – setting Him forth to speak to the world.
I tend to think it covers all of this. So yes, God set Jesus forth through fore-ordination, to save the world.
Yes, God placed Jesus in public view, when He was lifted up, for all that world to see, off the highly traveled roads outside of town.
And yes, God decrees that He so loved the world He sent His only begotten Son to save it.
So, we see that in every way God set forth His Son. But now we come to a big word.
“Propitiation.”
“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.”
PROPITIATION – let’s define the term.
First of all, it is NOT a Greek or Hebrew word, but a Latin term employed to help us comprehend the Greek and the Hebrew words used in the biblical text. Which we will get to in a minute.
But what all the words signify is “an appeasing, a placation, an expiation.”
As a Latin term it means “that which renders one propitious (or favorably disposed) towards another.”
According to a contextual understanding of the New Testament, propitiation sums up the idea that guilt is removed and broken relationships with God are restored.
From verse 25, we can believe that God has set forth Christ “to be a propitiation (or that which favorably disposes Him towards those who believe) through faith in his blood . . .”
From this we can conclude that Christ “propitiated” God on our behalf. In other words, he regained “God’s favor toward mankind” favor once present in the garden when God created all things and said, “it is Good.”
All of us, as Paul so eloquently described, lack righteousness, and were from the fall, so to speak, on God’s bad side.
Simplistically speaking, Christ got us onto His good side by propitiating God on our behalf. He corrected all the problems caused by Fall (as the second Adam and through His work on the cross). Therefore, we can, if saved by grace through faith, stand before God (as Adam stood before Him prior to the fall) but this time “by and through the shed blood of His Son.”
Now, there are three Greek words translated “propitiation” in the New Testament.
The first is
“hilasmos.”
This term is seen in two passages where it depicts what Christ did for mankind.
In 1st John 2:2, it reads:
“And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
In 1st John 4:10 it reads:
“Herein is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
Two things we need to notice here.
First of all, the “propitiation” was for our sins and the reconciliatory work was done by Christ.
Secondly, the propitiation was for the “. . . sins of the whole world.”
Just how CALVINISTS and their teaching of limited atonement get around this is utterly amazing to me.
Then there is a second Greek word in scripture that translators use for propitiation –
“hilasterion.”
This word makes understanding our passage here a bit difficult because it really relates to the place of propitiation, where Jesus is a person.
In Hebrews 9:5 we have another place where this Greek word is used. It says:
“And over it the cherubim of glory shadowing the mercy seat [this is the term] of which we cannot now speak particularly.”
This Greek word hilasterion is used here for Mercy Seat and it is translated, propitiation.
Now, looking to the Old Testament the dwelling place of God in the Wilderness was named propitiation. The very spot where the blood of animals was sprinkled (Leviticus 16:15) is here in Hebrews used to signify what the New Testament calls propitiation.
Where the COI sprinkled the blood of bulls and goats on an actual covering or table top called “the mercy seat of propitiation for the sins of the nation,” the book of Hebrews tells us that Christ offered His own blood in the “heavenly tabernacle” as an everlasting propitiation for our sin.
Again, it is faith in that blood that saves man. Not the faith, but faith in His blood.
The third term is (3) “hilaskomai.” (hilask-om-ahee)
It refers to the act of God toward man which is propitious.
In Luke 18:13 we read:
“And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be “merciful” to me a sinner.”
The actual word used here in the Greek is our third application and the translation, for consistencies sake, ought to be propitiation.
Hebrew 2:17 uses this word too, saying:
“Wherefore, in all things it behooved him to be made like his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation (propitiation) for the sins of the people.”
The English word “reconciliation” is the propitiation word we are looking for.)
Greek scholars state that the use of this term among Greek people inferred that “the gods were propitious and appeased NOT of their own goodwill or natural attitude, but because something was paid for on their behalf.”
Interestingly, these same scholars, even non-Christian scholars, mention that the term is never, ever used in a way that suggests that mere mortals are able to ever propitiate God.
Bible scholar Cambron relates the word to the term “satisfaction.”
“The law demanded death for sin; therefore, the blood of the sacrifice was placed on the mercy seat (Exodus 25:22; Leviticus 16:13,14), showing that “blood shed unto death” had taken place.
For the Nation of Israel God looked upon the mercy seat and saw blood – “life” – and was temporarily satisfied.
Simply put, since Calvary, God looks upon the Mercy Seat that is in heaven, witnesses Christ eternal and everlasting perfect shed blood, and is everlastingly satisfied.
It is in this way we can think of propitiation as “satisfaction” of the living God’s demands once and for all.
Often people ask, “Why did Jesus even need to come? I mean couldn’t God have suffered for sin from on high somehow and bestowed forgiveness through some other means?
I would suggest that when we are contemplating God and His interactions with Man – flesh and blood – we have to also remember all the essentials to the principles of mercy and justice.
For some reason unknown to me, for God to forgive Man, God, in the name of true justice and equanimity, had to become Man . . . had to enter time and mortality and enter the place that humanity exists, in flesh and blood.
God make the reason why obvious way back in Leviticus 17:11, saying:
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.”
Years ago there was a horrible shootout up in Ogden where six police officers were shot – one being killed the others being more than wounded.
We have a dear brother who had close colleagues involved in that shooting and was on scene during and after – and was been assigned to oversee the scene since.
I spoke with him after the event and he said, in effect,
“I am just so sick of the blood. Every where I walk I am walking over the lives of these guys. Over and over again I am forced to see it, walk around and over it.”
He spoke of how draining it was, that there was something to it – something real – that there on the floor was the literal lives of six men who were gunned down in senseless evil violence.
For human beings, “earth-life life is in the blood.”
God is satisfied and man is at peace with Him by and through the loss of life through the shedding of its source – blood – for the payment of sin.
But why is life-blood shed for the payment of sin?
We know several things about life.
We know life is a gift from God, given to us without any merits of our own. Additionally, we are all given the freedom to do with it as we wish – no matter the circumstances. And then we know that life here on earth is composed or captured, or represented, in increments of time.
Ben Franklin said that time is the stuff that life is made of.
The best use of this time given us is in the bestowal of agape love. To me, agape love is synonymous with living in the purest form. The expression of true agape love, then, makes the best use of time, the best use of life.
On the other hand, the opposite of love, therefore the opposite of life is not hate, but evil.
Evil, or what we could call sin, is a detraction of time, which is the increments of which we measure life. In other words, sin steals life from others.
If we really wanted to bring the point home, we could, in earthly terms, place sin into a hierarchy of evil based on the amount of time it steals from the victims and others around them.
For seven years our youngest has been in school. That whole time she has meticulously gathered things that were important to her and stored them in containers. Including years of unique articles of clothes of which she loves, tools and materials used in being an architect, and other things.
We moved all of it from Michigan six months ago and stored it here in CAMPUS and then last Sunday we rented a trailer and loaded it to the brim with these items to take her to her new job and place in LA.
When we came out at 5AM Monday morning the trailer had been stolen off the back of the car.
Seven years of work, time, labor and money to collect it – gone. The shock was palpable. But that was only the beginning.
The trailer was found in another part of Salt Lake but it had been impounded. I don’t know if you know this but if you have a car stolen from you and impounded, you have to file pap
ers and pay a fine to get the car or trailer out!
It was 3pm in the afternoon when we finally had the trailer again – only to see that it was gutted of 75% of its contents and they left only broken pieces of nothing behind.
We are not dealing with insurances, the police, and the time to go out and replace all the items taken.
And the stuff that life is made of – TIME – is surrepticiously ripped from our lives because of the selfishness of some thieves.
That life, that time lost, can only be repurchased by the shedding of what makes up human life – blood.
But all the blood in the veins of animals, men and women had not the capacity to propitiate God – it had to be the shed blood – the life blood – of a perfect, never-deserving-to-die being that had to be shed.
This may be partly why Jesus had to come, take on a body of flesh and blood, and then freely shed that perfect untainted life-force of blood, spilling it once and for all over the heavenly mercy seat, for God to be satisfied in the realms of justice!
Praise Him.
Praise Jesus for giving all who receives His blood “satisfaction”in the heart of God toward them. In reconciling us and redeeming the time. Making us presentable to the Father.
And while He made propitiation for all mankind, both lost and saved (remember 1st John 2:2 which says)
“And he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Verse 25 here in Romans seem to make it clear that faith must be embraced, received, and/or enacted for this blood to be efficacious or operative in the sense of saving someone FROM sin and TO the kingdom of God.
Listen again, speaking of Jesus Paul writes:
“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;
We’ll talk about the rest of this verse and the chapter next week.
Questions/Comments/Prayer
