Tag Archives: redemption

How God can call us righteous (Romans 3:21-31)

In this overview of Paul’s letter to the Romans, we return to what has become the motive for all that Paul does. God is revealing his gift of righteousness[i].

But here, he says it has been revealed. It’s not a human idea—an ideology. It’s been accomplished by God, through Christ, and all this before it is announced to us. God has sent Jesus to change how things stand between him and us.

As we’ve noticed, the human race is in trouble. God’s wrath is already working out in our history. Or, it is being stored up because our good deeds are a cover rather than an expression of who we are. But Paul is eager to tell us about God’s salvation—salvation from his wrath. He’s eager to see us reconciled to God.

Paul uses three words, well known in his world, to describe what God accomplishes for us through Jesus—particularly through his death and resurrection. And with each word, we are taken a little deeper into what has happened.

First, we are ‘justified by God’s grace as a gift’.

To be justified, in the way Paul uses this word, is to hear a judge declare in court that we are righteous. No charge remains against us.

On judgement day at the end of history, everyone will have to answer to their Maker[ii]. But here, that final judgement is being announced in advance. The Judge of all the earth says we are righteous!

Paul calls this God’s righteousness because that’s where it comes from. But it’s an announcement about us. He’s giving a status of righteous to us who trust his Son[iii]. And it’s a kindness being shown to us, not what we deserve.

All of this is being given to us because of our Lord Jesus. He is the one who does everything he is asked to do. He is the one who knows we need a saviour. God looks at his Son and all that he does for us, and is satisfied. He loves his Son for doing all that he has asked[iv].

But God also looks at us who are trusting his Son and are looking to him for our righteousness—and he finds nothing in us to condemn. In God’s presence, we are righteous.

Only an authoritative judgement like this can persuade us to give up our hollow boasting about our goodness. But there is more. This announcement is more than words.

Paul’s second word is redemption.

This is what would happen in a slave market. If someone pays for a slave and sets him free, he is said to be redeemed. It’s also what happens when Moses leads Israel out of slavery in Egypt and into freedom in their own land.

Paul says we have redemption that comes to us in Christ Jesus.

You may recall Jesus saying that he had come to offer himself as a ransom for many[v]. A ransom is the price paid to buy and release a slave. If we are to be set free, it must happen because of what happens to Jesus first. He buys our redemption with his blood[vi].

Everyone who sins is a slave. It’s easy to see that we can become slaves to bad habits. But there’s more to our slavery than that. We carry our failures with us—as guilt. And our accuser has evidence that we belong to him—and he reminds us of it. We lose our nerve[vii].

The world then seems a more attractive home for us than the Father we’ve offended. And, all the while, God’s judgement, and death, loom over us. We are far from free. And then, we get so accustomed to suppressing all this that we don’t really see what redemption is until God shows it to us.

Are we living freely, graciously and boldly? Or are we imagining our freedom and timidly serving ourselves? My eager prayer is that all of us will see the graciousness of God in giving us his Son for this purpose. And that we will receive his redemption as a gift!

The third word Paul uses is propitiation or sacrifice of atonement. This is what happens when a Jewish priest offers up a sacrificial lamb or other animal as a sin offering.

The order prescribed for Israel’s sin offerings is very helpful. The worshipper places their hands on an animal’s head and confesses their sins. They then kill the animal and offer it to God on an altar. The imagery could not be clearer. The one who bears the sin is the one who should die. But here, God says, your sins are transferred to the animal, and it dies in your place.

But now, God presents Jesus to the whole world as a propitiation[viii]. Until this point, God has effectively been passing over sins—awaiting, of course, this coming of his Son.

In our case, Jesus is our sacrificial Lamb[ix]. He diverts God’s wrath from us by bearing it himself.

Only this can explain the awful death Jesus dies. In the same way that God gives godless people up to the consequences of their sins[x], he gives up his Son to the sins of the whole world, and to the wrath that rightly falls on such evil[xi].

God does not fix us up by sweeping our godlessness under his carpet—like a worrisome remnant of dirt. Rather, he shows us what he means by righteousness, not by ignoring our hostility to him, but by exposing its vileness and providing an atoning sacrifice.

Here is the love that has been shown to us. Our sins are lifted from us, and the shame of them, and the penalty they deserve. And when Jesus has borne them, and the Father receives his offering, there is no sin or shame or penalty remaining towards ourselves[xii].

So, to sum up, being justified is not just God making out we’re lovable when we are not. Redemption is not just God setting us free because he’s strong enough to do so. There’s a price to pay. And propitiation is not just cleaning us up so there’s nothing objectionable in us anymore. It’s Jesus bearing our sins in his body, bearing God’s curse on that sin.

When Jesus is about to die, he asks for some water, and then says, ‘It is finished!’[xiii] This may be the loud cry that Mark reports[xiv]. Jesus wants us to know that we have been accounted for, that we are free to live truly, and that we are called righteous by God.

Notice that in these eleven verses we are looking at, Paul talks about faith or believing nine times. He doesn’t just want to tell us about Jesus. He wants us to trust him.

If we want God’s righteousness, we’ll need to trust in him and rely on the redemption Christ has accomplished. We need this to be clear because we defend our own righteousness with everything we’ve got—vainly, of course, because we have to go on doing it.

But Paul has shown how comprehensive and final this God-righteousness is. But he’s got one more bubble to burst. He still has some Jewish readers who boast in God and the law. They need to learn from Abraham how to live by what God promises rather than what they can perform.

[i] Rom. 1:17

[ii] Rom. 2:5

[iii] ‘Justify’ is the verbal form of ‘righteousness’—dikaio and dikaiosune.

[iv] John 10:17

[v] Matt. 20:28

[vi] Rom. 5:9

[vii] Prov. 28:1

[viii] 1 John 2:2

[ix] John 1:29

[x] Rom. 1:24, 26, 28

[xi] Rom. 4:25; 8:32

[xii] Heb. 9:14, 26; 10:5-14, 22

[xiii] John 19:30

[xiv] Mark 15:36-37

Freedom—lost and won

Jesus tells us the purpose of his coming is to ‘proclaim freedom for the prisoners’ (Luke 4:18). He’s reading Isaiah 61 to his local synagogue, and he says this is what he is going to do.

Given our thirst for freedom, we need to know what Jesus has in mind.

Ideologies, and this world’s crusaders, say they know what will give us freedom but they all miss what is really needed. Jesus is clear: ‘whoever commits sin is a slave to it’ (John 8:31-36).

Here’s our problem. Freedom must be freedom to be what we really are. We’re made by God and if we’re fighting him, we’re already trapped—and can be seduced by many other so-called freedoms the world says will fix us.

Most of the social freedoms we enjoy have come from ordinary people fighting for them. But this freedom comes from above. It must be provided by God, and it comes with a cost. It’s called ‘redemption’ which means setting people free by paying a price.

Shortly before he dies, Jesus talks about what he is going to happen with Moses and Elijah. They discuss the ‘departure’ he will accomplish in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). The word is actually ‘exodus’. Jesus, like Moses, is going to lead his people in a great victory and give freedom to his people (cf. Exodus 7:16). It will be freedom from sin. And it will be freedom to serve God.

This is what Jesus does when he dies on the cross. He describes what is going to happen as the hour belonging to his enemies, and when darkness reigns (Luke 22:53). He’s not fooled by how hard—or costly—freeing us from our sins is going to be.

Jesus overcomes our sin by becoming our sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). I don’t know how this happens, by I know it is an amazing work of love.

He personally engages what binds us. He bears sin’s futility, its pollution and shame. He owns our liability before God, and the judgement it deserves. And he dies.

But notice, Jesus has also said that Satan is coming. But Satan has nothing to hold him (John 14:30-31). Anything Satan throws at him can be overcome. If you like, Jesus dies as a free man. He’s there to do his Father’s will.

So, Jesus sets us free, by spilling his blood. He’s redeemed us. Here’s how the apostles talk about this.

First, we are forgiven (Eph. 1:7).

This becomes very practical when the gospel is first preached. The apostles announce forgiveness to Christ’s murderers (Acts 2:38). The relief of this is felt deeply and noticeably. These Jews are in big trouble with God, and in moment, they are entirely free of guilt. Their relief before God pours out in an overflowing of generosity to one another.

Guilt is awful! It binds us up in self-justification, self-promotion, self-excusing and busyness. But Christ loves us. Not just when he dies, but now. And he releases us from our sin by his blood (Rev. 1:5).

This means we are released from a life driven by the need to ‘be someone’, or to keep God off our back (Acts 13:39; Rom. 8:1-4; Gal. 4:3-5). A lot of what we do is not because it’s useful, or kind, but because it puts us in a good light, or simply, relieves our conscience. We’re still slaves—not free!

We really need to ask ourselves, often, ‘Is my life starting with guilt or forgiveness?’

Second, we are cleansed.

Think of Peter when Jesus starts to wash the feet of his disciples (John 13:2-10). One minute he doesn’t want his feet washed. Next he wants a complete bath! He’s trying to show he’s in charge, but he’s making a fool of himself.

And Jesus says, ‘You are clean!’ Later, he adds, ‘You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you’ (John 15:3).

Peter needs to find a new way of seeing himself. He is clean—because of Christ’s word. Later, Peter must also find a new way of seeing others (Acts 15:9).

Israel has been told to cleanse themselves from defilement—to ‘circumcise their hearts’ (Deut. 10:16). They won’t do this—not as a nation. So, God will do it for them (Deut. 30:6).

This is what happens when Christ dies (Col. 2:11-14). What is unclean in us is attributed to him, and, in his flesh, it’s cut off. Because we are joined to Christ by faith, we also are clean—and able to enjoy God.

Christ washes his whole church to make her pure—as a bride for himself (Eph. 5:26).

Third, we have a change of master.

When someone trusts in Christ, they are transferred to his kingdom. He’s in charge of the arena we now live in (Col. 1:13-14). This has some amazing consequences

What we used to be—our old humanity—is no longer in charge (Rom. 6:6-7). God has joined us to Christ’s death and resurrection, so our ‘body of sin’ is disabled. Being freed is actually being ‘justified’. Where the guilt of our sin is removed, its power is decisively broken. Notice, Paul at this point is not talking about how we are to behave but what we are to count on (Romans 6:11).

So, sin is no longer in charge (Rom. 6:15-23). We really want God’s good news, and part of this is that we want a new life—living for God. This is not our goal. It needs to be our starting point—all of the time.

If there is no cross where Jesus dies, freedom dies—in a restlessness of guilt, a quagmire of pollution, and a collision of rival powers. But freedom lives and thrives for God’s people because it has pleased him to unite us to his Son, in whom freedom is granted as a gift.

We are free to serve God, and to serve our neighbor. This is what we are created for. Everything is working properly.

Many people have died to preserve freedom for others—a freedom to live in their own chosen way. But Jesus has died to provide true human freedom. And it is free people who can move out into life creating freedom for others—in their families, communities and countries.