ROMANS CHAPTER 3 VERSES 24-25 - MESSAGES IN ROMANS – GREAT BIBLICAL WORDS WE MUST KNOW – JUSTIFICATION AND PROPITIATION – HOW CAN A GUILTY PERSON BE PARDONED? MESSAGE 12
Paul has spent careful time showing that the whole world is guilty before God and there is not one who is righteous. He has brought the whole world in condemned before a righteous and holy God, a God who must judge and punish sin. Any iniquity of any kind can not abide in His presence. Now Paul leads us on the path out of that condemnation of sin, and opens the windows of light on two of the greatest words in Romans – JUSTIFICATION and PROPITIATION. We will look at each of these.
[A]. THE GREAT PINNACLE OF JUSTIFICATION BORN OUT OF GRACE AND REDEMPTION
{{Romans 3:24 “BEING JUSTIFIED AS A GIFT BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS”}}
How wonderful it is in a court of law when a not guilty verdict is finally announced for an innocent person. But if a guilty person is tried in court and the guilt is real, what does it mean when a not guilty verdict is given? How can a guilty person be pardoned?
Well in man’s justice system we start thinking of a miscarriage of justice. How can the guilty be pardoned and excused? There must be some factor we are missing. What if the guilty person is standing before the judge and he announces, “You are not guilty. There is no record of your crimes. In fact they were never committed.” What do we make of that total lack of sentencing?
God has a record of sins stored up against the day of judgement that will most certainly be the great white throne of Revelation chapter 20. There the sins will be enumerated and judgement passed according to what is written in the books, and all there are sentenced. However for the Christian, there is no record of sin.
I spoke on this matter in a message from the Songs of Ascent – Psalm 130. That message is in the folder on SermonCentral in the folder of that name in my sermon series. Here are two verses from that Psalm – {{Psalm 130:3 “If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:4 But there is FORGIVENESS with You that You may be feared.”}}
The Lord marks iniquities and no one can stand, BUT THERE IS FORGIVENESS. Every single person is guilty every single day. However there is no record of the sins of a Christian because such a record does not exist. It did exist, once, but no longer exists. How can this be the case?
Here is the verse – {{1John 1:7 “but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and THE BLOOD of Jesus His Son CLEANSES US FROM ALL SIN.”}} The Christian has his sins cleansed and forgiven. Forgiven sins are not on any record. They do not exist. We are made whole when we are converted and the blood of Jesus Christ washes us pure white.
There is not one sin that condemns a truly born again Christian to separation from God. In case you are wondering, when we enter God’s presence either through the Rapture or through the doorway of death, most likely there is some unconfessed sin in our lives but that will be dealt with immediately when we pass to be with the Lord. Nothing will condemn us. We do pick up some contamination from the world in our walk for not one is in a state of sinless perfection, but that is not a problem for salvation.
Now we will come to the process that makes this possible. Never forget the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ is central to all aspects of our belief. Our sins deserved penalty and eternal death but the penalty that was ours was born by the Son of God when He became sin for us, and the Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Because the penalty was paid through the suffering of the Lamb on the cross there is no more penalty for us. That is a beautiful example of substitution.
When Abraham offered Isaac, there was a substitute there in the bushes and that ram died instead of Isaac. Christ died instead of us. How much we owe Him and yet, how often we think lightly of His sacrifice for us. That is one reason why the Lord wants us to remember Him in the Lord’s Supper weekly as was practised in the Acts. The reminder of the Lord’s crucifixion before us, is for our edification. Never think lightly of the Lord’s death for you!
We now come to our special word in the Romans verse. {{“Being JUSTIFIED through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”}} We are justified. It is all because of redemption. Two great words are in verse 24. Redemption means to buy back again from the slave market or to purchase again. Some of us may recall the Sunday School story about a boy who made a special boat to sail on the lake. It was a lovely fashioned vessel and he was so thrilled to sail it on the lake, but one day a wind gust blew it out of his control and it sailed away and he lost it. Sadness was his for ages but one day he saw his very boat in a shop for sale, but naturally the shop owner would not give it to him so he saved up and eventually bought his boat. Then he said, “You are twice mine. Firstly I made you and secondly I bought you.” Buying back is redemption.
That is a picture of redemption. The Lord created us but them He bought us at Calvary through His blood. He redeemed us! {{1Peter 1:18-19 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless - the blood of Christ.”}}
So far in verse 24 we see these two magnificent words, but I deliberately left something out and now we return to that - {{Romans 3:24 “being justified as a GIFT by His GRACE through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus”}}. Here we have another two magnificent words, which are “gift” and “grace”. God’s salvation is offered as a gift, and a gift is free. A curse be on those who try to make profit through the gospel! Paul develops justification later so here we will only mention the verse – {{Romans 5:16 “and the gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned, for on the one hand the judgment arose from one transgression resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift arose from many transgressions resulting in justification.”}}
How wonderful grace is. This undeserved favour from God, this heavenly grace, brought about our justification. We are justified from all things. It is justification that declares us absolutely free of guilt with no sin whatever. It is like we had never sinned. Perhaps you have heard this. “Justified means JUST IF I’D never sinned.”
What a powerful verse 24 is with four of the great words of our faith – gift, grace, justification, redemption.
[B]. LET US EXAMINE WHAT IS PROPITIATION – THE SACRIFICIAL ACT OF THE LAMB OF GOD
{{Romans 3:25 “whom God displayed publicly AS A PROPITIATION IN HIS BLOOD through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God, He passed over the sins previously committed.”}}
This word “propitiation” is one of the misunderstood words in scripture probably most people find the concept difficult. It does need a knowledge of the Old Testament especially of the Tabernacle sacrifices. Paul says Jesus was displayed as a PROPITIATION in His blood through faith, but he also said it was done publicly so the reference is to the cross.
The majority of bible translations use the word “propitiation” though the NIV uses “a sacrifice of atonement”, and a few others use something similar.” A couple of earlier versions shied away from using “propitiation” because the translators could not get their thoughts away from the relationship of propitiation with paganism. When used in the pagan sense it meant placating or appeasing some deity with offerings or sacrifice. It was thought the wrath of the pagan deity would be appeased, and even human sacrifices were used to “make a stronger case” with the deity.
From memory I think the old RSV used “expiation” and the NIV steered clear of using the word propitiation altogether, either for that same reason or it was thought people did not have enough understanding with larger words, a tendency of the NIV to do. Strongs Concordance puts all the words together as in, “relating to appeasing or expiating, having placating or expiating force, expiatory.”
We will never understand the full meaning of the word unless we look at how it is used. For that we have to go to the furnishings of the Tabernacle and look at the Ark of the Covenant which was the central piece of furniture. It was a chest of acacia wood overlaid inside and outside with gold, and the lid for that chest that was called “the mercy seat”. The mercy seat was constructed fully of gold and at either end had a cherubim with wings extended, and wings and faces looking at each other. The Septuagint uses the word “propitiation” for the mercy seat. The word is used twice in the New Testament, once in Romans and once in Hebrews 9:5.
Upon the mercy seat the blood of sacrifice was sprinkled. This great event happened once a year in the most important offering for the year. It was known as The Day of Atonement. The whole of chapter 16 of Leviticus is devoted to this event and that chapter should be read for a better understanding of our verse in Romans 3. I will paste this quote and I am not sure of its origin though it could be Strongs – [[“the well-known cover of the ark of the covenant in the Holy of holies, which was sprinkled with the blood of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement (this rite signifying that the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins, was offered to God in the blood as the life of the victim, and that God by this ceremony was appeased and their sins were expiated); hence, the lid of expiation, the propitiatory,”]]
I just want to take a few verses from Leviticus 16 to cover one point that is important because it will lead us into the book of Hebrews.
{{Leviticus 16:5-10 He (Aaron) shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household, and he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the doorway of the tent of meeting, and Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the LORD and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the LORD fell, and make it a sin offering, but the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell, shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.”
Leviticus 16:14 Moreover, he shall take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east side. Also in front of the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.
Leviticus 16:15-16 “Then he shall slaughter the goat of the sin offering which is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil, and do with its blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. He shall make atonement for the holy place because of the impurities of the sons of Israel, and because of their transgressions, in regard to all their sins, and thus he shall do for the tent of meeting which abides with them in the midst of their impurities.”}}
This most holy day in Israel – Yom Kippur – known as the Day of Atonement is when atonement was made for the sins of the people of Israel. When Aaron went into the Holy Place then through the curtain into the Holy of Holies – he went in ALONE and if God accepted the sacrificial goat, then Aaron emerged with the bells on the end of his garments ringing, for it was ornate with bells and pomegranates. The bells rang out the news that the atoning sacrifice had been accepted by the Lord.
He took the blood of the sacrifice, the goat, and sprinkled with his finger, the blood seven times on and before the mercy seat. Thus the sins of the nation were atoned for but as we have seen already in Romans, they were not absolutely expunged. They were covered over until Calvary came. God made acceptance through sacrifice until in the fullness of time when the Saviour was born and was/became the Lamb for the sin offering.
There were TWO GOATS on the Day of Atonement, the one that was the sacrificial goat and the other that was the scapegoat that had the sins of the nation confessed on its head and then released to wander away into an unknown place.
NOW WE WANT TO LOOK AT HEBREWS.
Paul introduces the great theme we are looking at with these verses – {{Hebrews 9:1-5 “Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary, for there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread - this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil, there was a tabernacle which is called THE HOLY OF HOLIES, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant. Above it were THE CHERUBIM OF GLORY OVERSHADOWING THE MERCY SEAT, but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.”}}
The focus will be on the mercy seat and Paul continues – {{Hebrews 9:11-15 “When Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but THROUGH HIS OWN BLOOD, HE ENTERED THE HOLY PLACE ONCE FOR ALL, having obtained eternal redemption, for if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, in order that since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance.”}}
{{Hebrews 9:24-25 “for Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood not his own,”}}
The great teaching from Hebrews is that Christ the Lamb of God in sacrifice entered into the Holy of Holies (speaking figuratively/typically) with His own blood and sprinkled the mercy seat so that full atonement is available. He did it once and never again, for one sacrifice is eternally efficaciously. As Aaron entered the Holy of Holies alone, so did Christ suffer alone and accomplished our redemption alone.
Jesus is both the goat of sacrifice and the scapegoat. The Lamb was sacrificed for the sins of the world, but for those who have trusted Him for salvation, He is the scapegoat who has carried our sins to a place that is unknown, out to a place of such forgetfulness, it is as if that place never existed. Jesus bought full atonement through His blood. He is our propitiation.
I think it would become tedious to pursue all this any more theologically, so I think I will close that section with a quote from Barnes –
[[“In the former case (the Tabernacle period) there was a sacrifice, or expiatory offering; and so it is in reconciliation by the Lord Jesus. In the former, the mercy-seat was the visible, declared place where God would express his reconciliation with his people. So in the latter, the offering of the Lord Jesus is the manifest and open way by which God will be reconciled to people.
In the former, there was joined the idea of a sacrifice for sin, so in the latter, and hence, the main idea of the Apostle here is to convey the idea of a sacrifice for sin; or to set forth the Lord Jesus as such a sacrifice. Hence, the word "propitiation" in the original may express the idea of a propitiatory sacrifice, as well as the cover to the ark. The word is an adjective, and may be joined to the noun sacrifice, as well as to denote the mercy-seat of the ark. This meaning accords also with its classic meaning to denote a propitiatory offering, or an offering to produce reconciliation.”]]
[C]. A QUICK CONSIDERATION OF FAITH AND FORBEARANCE
{{Romans 3:25 “whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood THROUGH FAITH. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because IN THE FORBEARANCE OF GOD, He passed over the sins previously committed.”}}
As we progress in the development of the gospel, this verse introduces us to two more ideas, faith and forbearance. Without faith it is impossible to please God and so far in this book, the whole world has been brought in guilty before a righteous God, and God has open the way through propitiation so that men and women can be justified but that can only be appropriated through faith. The solution is before us; the remedy of sin is there; God’s blessing await us; perfect cancellation of sin is available BUT all this must be claimed through faith.
God is love and that is such a motivation for Jesus has been given to us as John explains in John 3:16, but the ball is then in our court – “whosoever believes in Him has eternal life”. Disbelief and rejection will result in our own sins rising up to condemn us in the judgement and then the lake of fire. Please do not reject the Son.
The forbearance of God is great. {{Acts 17:30-31 “Therefore 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.”}}
God has put up with the sins of man for 6000 years but since the Lord died on Calvary 2000 years ago, repentance is now required. It is up to you. God requires it. When the voice of God speaks to you, then listen. Do not refuse!
ronaldf@aapt.net.au
