"But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 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; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also: Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." (Romans 3:21-31)
I know the title of this posting is odd and difficult to understand…at least it was for me, and I'm the one who came up with it! I will confess that I had to look up the word "propitiation" in the dictionary. We Christians use it all the time, and we do have the general idea correct, but I thought it best to be specific rather than general in my understanding of this word, so I looked it up:
Propitiation: to gain or regain the favor or goodwill of; to appease; something that propitiates, specifically: an atoning sacrifice
And then I was reading a book called God's Empowering Presence, the Holy Spirit in the Letters of Paul, by Gordon D. Fee, one of my favorite theologians, and he used another word in conjunction with propitiate (which I also had to look up):
Expiate: to extinguish the guilt incurred by; to put an end to
Using these two very important words in one sentence this is how I put it all together:
"Jesus Christ became the punishment for our sins on the cross, by becoming our propitiation [the atoning sacrifice that regained for us the favor and goodwill of a just a holy God, our Father
in heaven] and thus expiating our sins [extinguishing the guilt that was laid upon us by our own sin].
According to Paul, we receive the benefit of the expiation of our sins when we believe in or trust that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was ENOUGH to be the complete and full propitiation that God required. Nothing more is required. Neither circumcision, nor uncircumcision; neither works, nor lack of works can accomplish what has already been accomplished for us once and for all.
"That He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."
We trust that GOD is capable; not us. We trust that He is just, and that He DOES justify those who believe in Jesus. That is the gospel in a nutshell.
BUT, to believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, you must acknowledge that you have sinned in the first place, or else you will not be able to see that you need propitiation and expiation; you will not be able to see that you NEED Jesus.
So…one who acknowledges he is a sinner and turns by faith to God trusting that he has salvation through Jesus Christ, knowing that only Jesus can be his atonement (for there is nothing we can do of ourselves as all of our righteousness is as filthy rags) is expiated…found to be NOT GUILTY….by virtue of the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross for him. He must believe it. He must entrust his entire life to it. And it is only by this faith that he is justified. Now look at the heritage that belongs to all those who believe and are justified:
"You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God's will and order): you shall be far from even the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. Behold, they may gather together and stir up strife, but it is not from Me. Whoever stirs up strife against you shall fall and surrender to you. Behold, I have created the smith who blows on the fire of coals and who produces a weapon for its purpose; and I have created the devastator to destroy. But no weapon that is formed against you shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise against you in judgment you shall show to be in the wrong. This [peace, righteousness, security, triumph over opposition] is the heritage of the servants of the Lord [those in whom the ideal Servant of the Lord is reproduced]; this is the righteousness or the vindication which they obtain from Me [this is that which I impart to them as their justification, say the Lord." (Isaiah 54:14-17 AMP)
What more could we hope for with such a heritage as this? There is nothing, for He has given us all that we need.
So then, Paul says, if faith placed in Jesus Christ is all that was needed, then what exactly was the whole point of having the law? Has faith voided the law, making it extinct? In fact, Paul says, our faith establishes the law.
How does that happen?
It also is a very simple thing. Our faith receives the righteousness of Christ as our own. And the righteousness of Christ was perfect righteousness that fulfilled every bit of the law. If He had not fulfilled every bit of it, He would have sinned. But, we know, of course, that He was sinless; for without being perfectly sinless, Jesus would not have been the "propitiation" for our sin and guilt – the perfect atoning sacrifice – the lamb without spot or blemish (without sin).
So…by faith in Christ's righteousness which we accept as our own….the law is established, or in other words, it is performed perfectly in us. We become perfect keepers of the law; not because we keep the law perfectly, but because Christ in us kept the law perfectly and still does.
Our spirit which was once dead because of sin, is now alive in Christ and in His righteousness. All we need to do now is command the flesh, by that authority of Jesus Christ which is within us, to follow along in obedient submission as we walk in the newness of the Spirit of God. But until the flesh is completely subdued, we still remain justified in God's eyes because of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that we "wear" by faith.
Knowing that it is by faith that we receive this righteousness of Christ, should free us from the expectations we put upon ourselves, or that others put on us, all of which are to no avail…for all has been accomplished in Christ Jesus.
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