Justified by God’s Grace

IN OUR CONSIDERATION of this lesson from Romans 3, we begin with verse 23, which states: “All have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” All are sharers of the original sentence placed upon our first parents and are in need of a Redeemer. (Rom. 5:12-21) Our Key Verses remind us that through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, and by the grace, or favor, of God, true Christians are justified—that is, cleared of guilt—from Adamic sin. God, the supreme judge, has set his Son, Christ Jesus, to be a propitiation, or satisfaction for sin, through faith in his blood. Therefore, remission of past Adamic sin has been made possible by divine grace and the “forbearance of God.”

God’s grace in this matter is the result of his love. He “so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son,” John writes. (John 3:16) Jesus paid the claim against the condemned race by giving his untainted human life in sacrifice, in order that God might set Adam and his posterity free without violating his law of justice. Thus is shown the fact that God “might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”—Rom. 3:26

Paul tells us that Jesus, “by the cross,” has “slain the enmity” between God and fallen mankind, therefore making possible their reconciliation with God. (Eph. 2:16) Now all who desire to give their lives in full consecration to God may do so, realizing that the ransom provided has fully settled the claims of justice. The Apostles Paul and Peter state concerning Jesus: “In that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.” “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”—Rom. 6:10; I Pet. 3:18

Looking further into the fact that our Lord’s death provided the ransom price for all of mankind, the Greek word, hilasterion, rendered propitiation in our Key Verses, signifies “place of expiation.” This reminds us of Israel’s Tabernacle, in which the blood of certain sacrifices was appointed, in a typical way, to be a propitiation for sin. This literally took place upon the mercy seat in the Most Holy compartment of the Tabernacle, Israel’s “place of expiation,” and pointed forward to the much greater redemptive work of Jesus.—See Heb. 9:1-12

Jesus’ blood is the basis for the forgiveness of sins. “And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” (Col. 1:20) All who desire to come to the Father must confess that they are sinners and cannot pay the penalty of their own sin. Redemption comes only through Jesus. Let us ever remember also that this entire arrangement is provided by the mercy, love, and grace of our Heavenly Father. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.”—Eph. 2:8,9