Romans 3:25 - Printer Friendly

ESV: whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.

NIV: God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood--to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished--

NASB: whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in God’s merciful restraint He let the sins previously committed go unpunished;

CSB: God presented him as the mercy seat by his blood, through faith, to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his restraint God passed over the sins previously committed.

NLT: For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,

KJV: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;

NKJV: 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,

The previous verse concluded with the statement about God's gift of grace. God's justifying of us—His making us righteous—came through the redemption that is in Jesus.

Now Paul writes that God put Christ, His Son, forward as a "propitiation." This is yet another weighty and meaningful theological word. Propitiation comes from the Greek term, hilastērion, which means "sacrifice of atonement." God literally gave Jesus over as the blood sacrifice to pay the debt of (or to atone for) our personal sins. It's also important to note that this same term, hilastērion, is used in Hebrews 9:5 to describe the "mercy seat:" the place on the ark of the covenant where blood was placed for atonement (Exodus 25:17).

In other words, God expressed all of his righteous anger against our sin on Christ on the cross to the point of death, paying what we owed in full. This gift of the sacrifice of God's own Son to atone for our own sin must be received, Paul writes. We must receive this gift by faith. In fact, Paul will make clear through the rest of this letter that faith in this gift, this act by Christ on our behalf, is the only way for anyone to be made righteous before God and to be included in His family.

This brings us to a great question: Why did God do this for us? Why would He do this? The answer Paul gives is that it is because of God's righteousness or justice. God did not say, "Your sins don't matter; I'll just ignore them." He fully poured out His justice against sin when sinless Jesus was sacrificed for sin on the cross.

Paul shows that this includes the sins of the past, before Christ died on the cross. He writes that God "passed over" those previous sins in an act of divine patience and perfect timing. Again, it's not that God failed to punish those old sins. It's that He stored up His punishment and poured it out on Jesus to fully satisfy the payment for those "former sins."

Romans 3:21–31 finally introduces the ''good news'' part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Up to this point, Paul has shown that even following the law cannot spare us from being judged by God for our sin. Now Paul announces that, through faith in Christ, we can be made righteous in God's sight. Entirely apart from the law, we can be redeemed by the atoning sacrifice of Christ's blood, willingly shed for our sin. This gift of God's grace instead of wrath is available to everyone, Jews and Gentiles alike. This is truly good news!

Romans 3 begins with a question-and-answer scheme. These are responses one might expect from someone opposed to what Paul wrote in Romans 2. Next, Paul quotes from a series of Old Testament passages. These Scriptures show that those writers also agreed that nobody, not one person, deserves to be called righteous. Paul declares emphatically that no one will be justified by following the works of the law. Finally, though, he arrives at the good news: righteousness before God is available apart from the law through faith in Christ's death for our sin on the cross.

The prior chapter explained that God's judgment on sin will come to all men, whether or not they understand the literal law. Faith in God, in the heart, matters more to God than rote obedience. At the start of this chapter, Paul answers a series of questions from an imagined objector to those teachings. Next, he quotes a series of Old Testament passages which support His teaching that human beings are by nature sinful. Each of us turns away from God. Nobody can be justified by the law, Paul insists. Fortunately, it is possible to attain God's righteousness: but only by His grace, through faith in Christ's atoning sacrifice for our sin on the cross. We must come to this by faith, and it is available to Jews and Gentiles alike.

The book of Romans is the New Testament's longest, most structured, and most detailed description of Christian theology. Paul lays out the core of the gospel message: salvation by grace alone through faith alone. His intent is to explain the good news of Jesus Christ in accurate and clear terms. As part of this effort, Paul addresses the conflicts between law and grace, between Jews and Gentiles, and between sin and righteousness. As is common in his writing, Paul closes out his letter with a series of practical applications.