{"id":314,"date":"2011-08-07T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/2011\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-propitiation-and-the-justice-of-god\/"},"modified":"2011-08-07T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T12:00:00","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-propitiation-and-the-justice-of-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/2011\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-propitiation-and-the-justice-of-god\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about propitiation and the justice of God?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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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, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25–26—NKJV)<\/cite> <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Here is a startling thought: \u201cGod is just in justifying the guilty.\u201d As Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown\u2019s commentary says, it is easier to grasp that God is \u201cjust in punishing, and merciful in pardoning\u201d rather than \u201cjust in justifying the guilty.\u201d But our text shows how this is not just possible and understandable, but also gloriously settled and irrevocable. The satisfaction of God\u2019s justice is only met in the propitiatory work of Jesus Christ, the Just in place of the unjust. <\/p>\n

Sadly, in this day and age, authentic justice must be defined, for it is seldom seen by 21st century man. Justice is not equity or equality in outcomes. It is not forgiving or making allowances for previous deficits and excuses. Justice is fair only in that it is impartial. Justice keeps its eye only on the righteous standard, while being blind to all else. Justice makes its aim to decree a fitting punishment for crime as well as a fitting reward for excellence. The biblical statement \u201ceye for an eye, tooth for a tooth\u201d resonates with justice. Our expressions \u201cto do justice to,\u201d \u201cjust deserts,\u201d and \u201cjustify the checkbook\u201d retain this foundational definition. <\/p>\n

God is Just. He is righteous. He is the standard for undeviating righteousness. His nature will not change, nor would He wish it. His righteous character is at constant odds with and is antagonistic to all sin, no matter its manifestation. When sin is acted upon, the holy law of God is transgressed and His holy nature offended. For that offense, justice must be satisfied. Divine justice knows no compromise. <\/p>\n

Since all mankind has fallen short of the glory of God (verse 23), God has demonstrated (to prove, to demonstrate a proof) His just righteousness. He commissioned His own sinless Son to become one of us (a human), to live a life free of offense to the holy nature of God, and to become our substitute, the Just in place of the unjust. Verse 25 states that Jesus is set forth (place before so that He can be seen) as the propitiation (the satisfaction of all that God\u2019s justice demanded). Jesus Christ\u2019s death accomplished two great things: first, the believers\u2019 sins are paid for, and second, justice is maintained. A believer is saved by mercy, for Jesus bore his sin and died in his place, and he is saved by righteousness—for Jesus\u2019 righteousness is placed upon his account. The checkbook has been justified, so to speak—all of grace. <\/p>\n

The beneficiary of all this is \u201cthe one who has faith in Jesus.\u201d Faith is only as good as its object. Jesus is the sinless Son of God. Your faith must be placed exclusively in Him; He alone must be your object of faith. When we have faith in any other man, we put our trust in what we know of him, his character, his reputation gained through the years, his proven ability to live up to his agreements, and we trust him without verification until he proves unworthy of our trust. <\/p>\n

When you elevate this living faith to the realm of saving faith, you dare not extend it to any mortal man, especially yourself. Such faith must be reserved for only One, the eternal, sinless Son of God who Himself is Just. When your trust is fully reliant upon Jesus Christ\u2019s substitutionary work for you upon the cross\u2014bearing your sin and the just punishment that you deserved—and in Him you are declared justified, then you know the meaning of the fact that God is Just and the justifier of the believer, and that indeed He is just in justifying the guilty. <\/p>\n

Are you living fittingly in the grace of God every day? Trust and obey. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the Justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:25–26—NKJV) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}