FOR ALL HAVE SINNED AND FALL SHORT OF THE GLORY OF GOD, 24 BEING JUSTIFIED AS A GIFT BY HIS GRACE THROUGH THE REDEMPTION WHICH IS IN CHRIST JESUS; 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; 26 FOR THE DEMONSTRATION, I SAY, OF HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS AT THE PRESENT TIME, THAT HE MIGHT BE JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER OF THE ONE WHO HAS FAITH IN JESUS.”
You have probably seen or heard verse 23 before. All have sinned, and fallen short of God’s expectations. Everyone is guilty. Everyone. But the other verses on this page give some very exciting news. First, let me explain a few words for clarification.
“Justified” means to be “declared right”. We are declared right with God, through simply believing that Christ redeemed (bought) us with His blood.
“Propitiation” means to appease, or pay in full. See verse 25?
“Righteousness”, used also in verse 25, is from a Greek word that means “Way of being right”. So it is saying that God demonstrated the way to be right with Him, by setting forth Christ’s blood as payment for our sin.
Now, here is what is being said in these verses. God declares a person to be right with Him; sins paid for and forgotten; the moment he believes in Christ and puts his faith in the shed blood of Jesus to make propitiation (pay the price in full).
This way, (if you read verse 26) God has demonstrated that He is just (like a judge), in that He did require payment for sins. He cannot just let them slide; after all, He is a holy God and cannot ignore sin.
But at the same time, He demonstrates Himself to be justifier (the one who declares a person to be right with Him) through faith in that payment that was made.
So He has freely accepted us as His children without relaxing His own standards. His law was broken and someone needed to pay. We could not ever be good enough to pay and He knew that, but He wanted to restore fellowship with us, so He became a man and paid the price; opened the cell and let us out. (see Romans 8:1-4. It explains further)
The moment we believe in Christ as our Lord and Savior, God says, “you are now right before Me; your sins are paid for; you are clean, you are free, and you have eternal life. It starts the moment you believe.
God was the offended party, so only He has the right to demand payment or release us from debt.
He did both. Just believe and thank Him. It’s done.
Call Him Lord.
He is.
(Romans 10:9-11)
