This book is one of the toughest in the bible sometimes to interpret and admittedly this passage is probably not immediately self explanatory, but…
Romans 3:19-31 (ESV)
[quote]19-Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. 20-For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
21-But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it 22-the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23-for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24-and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25-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. 26-It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
27-Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28-For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29-Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, 30-since God is one who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31-Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.[/quote]
God simply forgiving sin, which in short, sin is to fail the standard of His law, would be the eternal divine equivalent of you simply looking the other way when your children ignore your rules. Only instead of being an attack on the authority of one man who is also sinful, sin against the Lord is an attack on the nature and authority of a blindingly pure, holy and JUST God. A God whose very purity, holiness and justice will not allow Him to simply wink at sin and say “awww, that’s ok, I know how ya’ll are chuckle chuckle!!!” No. His nature and justice demand satisfaction of the violation of His law.
That law was given after the entrance of sin into the world as a tutor to instruct man in his exceeding need of a remedy for his deplorable state of rebellion wherein he is incessantly attempting to run his own life and flipping God off.
This passage is lifted from it’s immediate context, to say nothing of the much larger one that flows through it. However, the short version is that NOBODY in their present state is capable of satisfying God’s perfect law perfectly and as the apostle James said, “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it.” (James 2:10) Two important lessons are learned here. One, this explains how something so seemingly trivial as a bite from a piece of fruit in defiance of God’s command can bring eternal ruin to our entire specie. Two, it shuts up ALL men (and women) under sin seeing that even the most apparently good and moral among us are still guilty of eternal crimes and under the sentence of death.
Paul says in the passage above that redemption from this sin of ours is in Christ Jesus, who though Himself born under the law is the only specimen of our kind to avoid descension and hence corruption from Adam because God is His Father. Having then obeyed the law perfectly, He is thereby singularly qualified to make satisfaction before the Father on behalf of others. In this way the apostle says in verse 26, God is BOTH just and the justIFIER of those who avail themselves of this most merciful and gracious benefit which is acquired by faith in this Jesus who has died in their place. He is just because His law and it’s penalty have been upheld. He can then JUSTLY forgive those who call on Him by applying the satisfaction of Christ’s sacrifice to them…
Jesus of Nazareth, the man born God, satisfied the law on behalf of His elect by both obeying it for them and dying as if like them He hadn’t. Having therefore no sin of His own, death could not hold Him and when He rose again in victory over sin’s penalty, all those who had been given Him by the Father rose with Him. This is why at our church, make no mistake, we celebrate Jesus my dear friend. We have us one spirit filled hallelujah glory shoutin good time exalting and praising Him for His amazing grace indeed. Here’s a tip. He couldn’t care less that this highly offends you. For the record, He couldn’t have cared less when it highly offended me either.
