25 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 [prove] His righteousness [judicial righteousness],
A purpose of Christ’s death was for God to demonstrate His righteous consistency with Himself by sacrificing Jesus’ life for our sins. He must be just with Himself; therefore, God must take the action. God takes action on our behalf and demonstrates His righteousness in this way. It proves that God is just in His dealings. God is more than loving; He is also righteous and just. The death of Christ for our sins fully placates God’s wrath against sin.
Justice and forgiveness of sins appear to be in conflict. God resolves this conflict in this passage. It was necessary to publicly vindicate God’s justice because He forgave sin in Christ’s work. Satisfaction of God’s justice was the objective of Christ’s death.
God will demonstrate two dimensions of His justice:
1. To avoid the charge against His character that He offers inconsistent justice to sinners (Ro 3:25)
2. To reveal His absolutely righteous character by being both just and the One who justifies—the justifier (Ro 3:26)
God vindicated His mercy by demonstrating that the sins symbolically atoned for by Old Testament sacrifices are now permanently paid for by the death of Christ. God demanded of Himself something that would resolve His absolute righteousness; He met that demand by providing Christ as a sacrifice for our sins.
The cross as propitiation demonstrates how just or right God is. The cross was necessary to vindicate God’s righteous character.
PRINCIPLE:
God is both the subject and the object of what He does.
APPLICATION:
God will always punish sins, but it is just a matter of how He does it. He can do it by sending people to hell, or He can do it by sending Jesus to pay the price for sin.
In God’s work, He is both the subject and the object of what He does. That is, He is the standard, and He meets the standard. God’s standard is His own absolute righteousness, and He meets that righteousness in the death of Christ. He presents the claim and satisfies the claim. He meets His displeasure with sin by the cross. He demands a sacrifice, and He gives the sacrifice.
