Jaunary 11 Romans 3-4
The devotion today focuses on Romans 3:21-26. Imagine you are in a courtroom. All the evidence has been presented, and the verdict is painfully clear - GUILTY! That is the state of every human being before a holy and righteous God. Romans 3:23 declares that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
Now comes the question: How can a holy and righteous Judge declare guilty sinners “righteous” without corrupting His holy nature? If God simply swept man’s sin under the rug, He would not be just. Yet, if justice prevailed, all of us would be condemned forever.
Romans 3:26 gets to the heart of the gospel - It reads, “to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.” The apostle Paul explains how God remains perfectly just while at the same time justifying sinners who believe in Christ for salvation. The question is: How can a holy God forgive unholy people and still remain holy?
Through Jesus Christ and His sacrifice, God puts His justice on display. From the beginning of time, God has revealed Himself as holy, righteous, and just. His law reflects His perfect character and nature. Every violation of God’s law demands judgment. The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). The soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20).
For generations, it may have seemed that God was overlooking man sin. For example, when David committed adultery and murder, Nathan the prophet announced, “The Lord has put away your sin” (2 Samuel 12:13). What - Adultery and murder??? Did God just ignore what he had done? No. The cross of Jesus Christ was always in view. In the Old Testament, God “passes over” sins because He knew that one day, Jesus Christ would come and pay for them in full (Romans 3:25). At this present time - through the cross - God’s justice was put on display.
At Calvary, sin did not go unpunished. Our sin was judged in the body of Jesus Christ. Every lie, every theft, every lustful thought, every rape, every murder, every sinful deed - all our sin was laid on Jesus. Therefore, justice was satisfied in the sacrifice that Christ made. The cross proves that God never compromises His justice. At the cross, God’s justice and wrath was poured out - not on the sinner, but on the Substitute. Christ bore the penalty for our sin. Had God simply pardoned us without punishment, He would no longer be just. But because Christ took our punishment, God’s justice is upheld and satisfied.
God is the justifier - “the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). Justification is not automatic. God only justifies those who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The moment a lost sinner believes in Jesus, God declares them righteous - not because of what they’ve done, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf (2 Corinthians 5:21).
In the words of an old hymn: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus and His righteousness.”