The Means of Obtaining God's Righteousness - Romans 3:24-26
- gibcsg
- Feb 23
- 14 min read
Introduction
We have been moving slowly through this passage that begins in 3:2, the second major section of the book of Romans where Paul explains how sinners are to obtain God’s righteousness.
We see that God’s righteousness is obtained by sinners when he declares them to be righteous. However, how can a righteous Judge make that kind of declaration on guilty sinners without being unjust in doing so?
That is what this passage (Romans 3:24-26) addresses.
We have broken these 6 verses into two sections. The first describes how God justifies unrighteous sinners in vv. 21-24 and the second in v. 25 is how God can maintain His own justice while doing so.
What we have seen is that God’s righteousness cannot be obtained by works of the law.
Works have zero contribution to getting you saved, and works contribute nothing to keeping you saved.
The purpose of the law has never been to save, so what is the purpose of the law? As 3:20 tells us “through the law comes knowledge of sin.” It shows us how far short we have fallen from God’s righteous standard.
If works does nothing to contribute to my salvation, then what must happen?
The only righteous one, Jesus Christ, is qualified to do something about our sin, as we shall see today. And it is Christ who saves through faith.
Christ is the object of our faith because only Christ saves.
Today we will see what God has done in order for our sins to be forgiven by Him.
Let me say at the beginning that it is very possible even for believers to fall into a flippant and shallow spirit regarding God’s forgiveness of our sins.
We say, “Of course God will forgive me; that is what God does. It is to be expected. In fact, it would be unfair for God not to.”
But the fact is God is entirely just to condemn each one of us into eternal separation from Him because sin is of such a heinous nature and the righteous Judge would be perfectly righteous to sentence all of us in accordance to what our sin deserves.
To think or expect that God is required to save me or that He is obligated to do so shows that we have not truly appreciated the tremendous cost of my salvation.
The Means of Obtaining the Righteousness of God (Romans 3:24-26)
The word “justified,” and “justification” are related to the word “righteous” and “righteousness”.
What does it mean to be justified?
That word means to be “declared righteous.” Picture God as the righteous judge declaring a sinner to be righteous.
To clarify, it would be inaccurate and unbiblical to say that justification means that we are “made righteous.”
It seems to be such a minute difference, but there is a major difference.
To be declared righteous is something that only God can do and it takes place at a point in time.
To be made righteous denotes a process that we are utterly unable to achieve in our own fallen flesh, but only through God’s supernatural enabling grace.
We have another term for it: Sanctification. But that process can take place only after justification.
We cannot confuse these two terms. Remember that God’s righteousness comes to us apart from works of the law.
So how we obtain that righteousness is described in the following four phrases:
I. By Grace as a Gift (Romans 3:24a)
A. Grace
God’s grace is His unmerited favor. That is why we often define grace as God giving us what we do not deserve. Grace is therefore God’s unmerited favor to those who deserve the very opposite. We do not deserve God’s righteousness; we do not deserve to be declared righteous. What do we deserve? Condemnation and eternal separation in a place called hell. We deserve death. And God would be absolutely just to sentence us to that judgment. Yet God gave the opposite to us. God gave us what we do not deserve.
B. Gift
That is why grace is a gift. I mentioned previously that the word gift is translated “freely” in the KJV. In John 15:25 this word appears as a phrase: “But the word that is written in their Law must be fulfilled: ‘They hated me without a cause.’ We are justified without a cause in ourselves. But the cause is all in God. We have done nothing and we can do nothing to earn it. We just have to receive it with open hands.
C. God’s Motivation
What is God’s ultimate reason in providing us with the free gift of salvation? “So that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus” (Eph 2:7). Do you realize that our salvation means more to God than to us? Because, according to this verse, God is putting on display to all of creation the immeasurable riches of his grace when he shows kindness toward us. When God sent His Son into the world to give His life for sinners, it was a display of kindness never seen before.
Application
If this is God’s motivation for saving sinners, then it should become our primary motive for evangelism. Our motive for evangelism is not so much the salvation of souls as much as the glorification of God for all of eternity. We evangelize because souls are not glorifying God and bringing honor to the Creator. When we give the gospel, and that soul turns to the Lord, that soul can begin giving glory to God and in effect become a trophy of God’s grace. That is the ultimate purpose for evangelism.
But there is a work by the Son of God that must take place, which we find in the next phrase.
II. Through the Redemption in Christ (Romans 3:24b)
A. What Is Redemption?
The word redemption refers to liberation, release, or deliverance from captivity, slavery, or sentence of death through the payment of a ransom. It is very important that we not think of redemption merely in terms of being released or delivered. The release comes with the price of a ransom.
B. Who are the captives or slaves, and why are they slaves?
In John 8:34 Jesus says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” We have seen for two chapters in Romans how everyone is enslaved to sin.
A slave obeys his master. In Rom 6:16 Paul says “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?”
What does it mean to be a slave to sin? It means we obey sin. The power of sin is overwhelming. The bondage to sin is overpowering. People try to turn over a new leaf, even Christians sometimes feel bound by sin. The sentence of sin is death (Rom 6:23).
What everybody needs is to be released from the bondage of sin and from the sentence of death.
C. Who Is Qualified to Redeem?
The OT psalmist is correct when he says in Ps 49:7-8 "Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life, 8 for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice,
Therefore you cannot pay money for a soul to be released from the consequences of sin, either in purgatory or hell. You can’t redeem another person, not by prayer for the death or the payment of indulgence. Why? For the ransom of their life is costly.
Redemption is release with the payment of a ransom. The Son of man came to give His life as a ransom for many. The “for” is very precise, it means “in place of.” Jesus gave his life as ransom in place of many.
Then the chief of the Apostles, Peter says this in 1 Pet 1:18-19: “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”
The ransom is the blood of Christ shed on the cross. I will have more to say about that later.
D. What Did Christ Redeem Us From?
And what it has procured for us are these four things:
1. Guilty of Sin.
Eph 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, (which is) the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.”
2. Penalty of Sin.
Gal 3:13 “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.” The curse is the condemnation of the law for those who have not kept it.
3. Power of Sin.
Titus 2:14 “who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Christ released us from the power of sin so that we might live pure lives of good works.
4. Process on the Body of Sin.
Rom 8:23 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Why does Paul use the term “redemption” to describe salvation? It is the most comprehensive term to describe the complete reversal of the effects of sin.
Application
“You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Cor 6:19-20).
So we have seen how God justifies guilty sinners, but how does God maintain His own integrity in declaring sinners to be righteous? That is what v. 25 explains.
III. Through Propitiation by His Blood (Romans 3:25a)
Salvation is not just between me and God, but it is something that takes place between members of the Godhead.
A. What is Propitiation?
Now we come to another term: propitiation. Like so many other words that have been diluted, this word has also been diluted. We have seen how justification can be taken to mean to be made righteous.
Some translate redemption as deliverance, without reference to the ransom that needs to be paid.
For the word “propitiation” an English theologian by the name of CH Dodd proposed at the turn of the 19th into the 20th century that the Greek word for this term should be translated as “expiation” which means to wipe away sin.
His view was reflected in translations like the Revised Standard Version of the Bible.
But the word “propitiation” means something else. The word means to appease and satisfy someone who is angry. This word is rejected by some because they do not believe in a God of wrath.
But the Bible clearly teaches that God is angry with the sinner, not just the sin, do not make that distinction. Ps 7:11 “God judgeth the righteous, And God is angry with the wicked every day (KJV).
B. Why Is Blood Necessary in Propitiation?
What it does is that it takes us from the law courts (justification) to the marketplace (redemption), into the temple.
Put next to propitiation Heb 9:5. “Above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat.” This word is translated as “the mercy seat.”
This word has a reference back to “the OT mercy seat, which is the cover over the ark where Yahweh appeared and on which sacrificial blood was poured” (Moo). On the Jewish day of atonement, the high priest on a yearly basis, after sacrificing an animal for his own sin and the sin of his family, will sacrifice another animal, and enter the “Holy of Holies” to sprinkle the blood of the sacrificial lamb on the mercy seat, hence making atonement for the people.
But the blood of these animals are merely a covering, not an appeasement of God’s wrath. The fact that the priests had to do it year after year also shows that animals’ blood does not appease God’s wrath. There is a need for a once-for-all appeasement of God’s wrath. Nevertheless, the mercy seat became the place of atonement.
The mercy seat then foreshadows Christ’s atoning death where his blood was shed in order to propitiate the Father’s wrath once and for all. Some theologians would say that the word “blood” is simply another way of saying that Jesus died.
There are some liberal denominations that actually reject the use of the word “blood.”
In the 1980’s, the United Methodist Church removed references to “redeemed by the blood” from their hymnals. They have been a liberal denomination for decades.
In May 2024 the United Methodist Church voted overwhelmingly to repeal bans on LGBTQ pastors and same-sex marriage.
What is the big deal about Christ’s blood?
Rom 5:9 “we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”
Eph 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,”
Eph 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.”
Col 1:20 “[Jesus] reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.
1 Pet 1:18-19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
Rev 1:5 “Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.”
Rev 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation,”
The passage that gives extended explanation of the importance of the blood of Christ is found in Heb 9:11-22; 10:4. Yes, the shedding of blood is a violent picture, but do we realize that is what it takes to purchase our redemption?
We can so easily take that for granted and we almost expect God to forgive us, but there is a tremendous cost to Him. But that was what it takes for us to be declared righteous.
C. Why Propitiation Must Be Made?
1. Because God is Justly Angry with the Sinner
God is justly angry with the sinner. In the OT, there are 20 Hebrew words in over 580 occurrences that speak of God’s wrath. That is a vast number of passages in the OT.
Someone who understands this is Jonathan Edwards, who on July 8, 1741, that is 283 years ago, preached a sermon entitled, “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut.
God mightily used that sermon to bring revival to the US like nothing we have seen since then. I reread that sermon this week and there is an entire section where Edwards gives images of God’s wrath.
He describes God’s wrath as a sword that is drawn and held over sinners (p. 6). The wrath of God is like a bow that is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and held at the sinner’s heart (p. 10).
He speaks of the “black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder” (10). “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present; they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher” ready to unleash on sinners (10).
God in his anger will trample on sinners in His fury as in a wine press, and their blood shall be sprinkled on His garments, staining all His raiment (p. 13).
Every one of these images are taken right out of the Bible.
In case you think that the God of the OT is a wrathful God, but the NT God is different, that is a false impression.
There are two words in the Greek that describe the wrath of God: thumos, orge. Thumos has the idea of a rushing, heavy, heated breathing that describes a spontaneous combustion of anger.
Orge has the idea of swelling or ripening that describes the longstanding settled seething sustained animosity of God against evil.
That is why John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath (orge) of God remains on him.”
But it may even be necessary to bring in these other references because in the book of Romans, God’s wrath is also mentioned. Back in 1:18 we see it.
Now, perhaps some sitting in here has an uneasy feeling.
I will tell you why.
You are equating God’s wrath with man’s anger. God’s anger is always righteous and man’s anger is usually unrighteous. Man’s anger is on and off, and usually uncontrolled emotion.
But God’s anger does not blow on and off, it is His settled indignation against anything that is against His holiness. It is totally principled and rooted in His righteousness.
God’s anger is righteous, on the other hand, it would be unrighteous for Him not to be angry at wickedness. “God’s wrath is not primitive, arbitrary, or capricious but is his holy and righteous response to human sin” (Schreiner).
But neither should we mistaken the notion that Jesus had to die in order to persuade an angry God to put away His anger. Notice that it is God Himself who put forward Jesus to be the propitiation.
God Himself took the initiative to appease His own wrath.
If we take away the word propitiation and substitute it with a lesser word, that has does not mean that God’s wrath has been satisfied. Just because we choose to ignore it because it doesn’t suit us does not mean it is not there anymore.
We need to keep this word in the Bible.
2. To Show His Divine Forbearance in Passing Over Former Sins
A righteous judge must bring righteous judgment. But God, because of His divine forbearance, passed over former sins. To pass over does not mean to forgive, but to deliberately disregard, to let go unpunished. God passed over former sins, that is, the sins committed by OT people: Noah, Abraham, David, Jonah, etc.
This word was used in ancient times where you have two groups of people who are hostile to each other and they decide to call a truce. It is not a resolution of conflict, but a ceasefire.
Picture a sinner firing his weapon at God, the sword of God unsheathed and arrows pointed at the sinner’s heart. But God in His divine forbearance calls a truce.
But that is not right!
This calls into question whether he is really just. So what is going to put to rest at accusation? But the sacrifice of His own Son to atone for sin puts to rest that accusation.
The verb “to pass over” certainly brings up a familiar OT account. We go back to the time when the Hebrew slaves were in Egypt and at the final plague the angel of death was to pass over each household and the firstborn would be killed.
But the Hebrew slaves were instructed to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the doorposts and that would protect their firstborn from dying.
So what does it mean that God passed over former sins?
To pass over does not mean to forgive, but rather to postpone punishment.
So in this context, “God “postponed” the full penalty due to sins in the Old Covenant (“former sins, rather than to our sins before we are saved), allowing sinners to stand before him without their having provided an adequate “satisfaction” of the demands of His holy justice” (Moo).
That might call into question whether God is just or not, but the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ settled that question.
When God passed over former sins, it was not because he closed one eye or two at sin. God, in His divine forbearance, patiently tolerated the sins of men in the Old Covenant because He looked ahead to the atoning sacrifice of His only begotten Son for sin.
And in so doing, God demonstrated His love as 1 John 4:10 says, “ In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
VI. To Show God as Just and Justifier of Believers (3:26)
Notice the time element in this verse, God demonstrating His righteousness at the present time. Therefore, in this present time of salvation history, God’s righteousness has been vindicated in His Son’s death on the cross.
The question Paul answers here is how can God justly forgive any person’s sin? How can God mercifully save sinners without compromising His perfect justice?
Answer:
The penalty, punishment for sin was paid in full by Jesus’s precious blood on the cross.
That because of Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty of sin and appeased the wrath of God, God can be both just (maintain His righteous character) while He be the justifier (declaring sinners to be just) of the one who has faith in Jesus.
Therefore, God’s righteousness is vindicated by Christ’s substitutionary atonement on the cross.
Conclusion
We have just examined the central truth that is at the heart of biblical Christianity.
This is a passage that all believers should take to heart because it teaches the precious truths that are near and dear to all believers, how one can obtain the righteousness of God, how one can be justified by God.
If you have not put your faith in Jesus’s finished work on the cross, why would you wait? There is God’s wrath to avoid. Turn to Him today.
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