(Text Only)
Title: Paul’s Explanation of God’s Decisions
v25 “propitiation” Last week we moved through the text and then I insisted we come to a grinding halt when we arrived at the word “Justification.” I chose to do that because I believe that most Christians know the word justification, some even use it in their Christian dialogue and have made it a regular part of their vocabulary.
“I have been justified through Jesus Christ.”
But most believers don’t fully understand the scope and magnitude of what it really means to be justified, particularly as it applies to the finality and the completeness of being justified in Christ.
Today, we are going to spend some time on this new word of “Propitiation” because, though it is less well-known in Christian language, it is just as important to fully grasping the full concept of what our salavation in Christ really is.
The word Propitiation begins with the pronoun “Pro” meaning “before” or “first”. And that makes sense in the context that Paul uses the word because later in verse 25 Paul uses another word “forbearance” which means “In anticipation of.”
So let’s put this together for a moment and consider the magnitude of what Paul is saying to us here.
Read all of verse 25/26.
What Paul is telling us is this: “Look, God set Christ as the final sacrifice for our sins, so that means it was okay that he passed over the sins committed before Christ actually died. This makes God still righteous.”
Let me explain verse 25/26 another way: Believers have often come to me saying, “Okay, so how did Moses, and Elijah, and Daniel, and all the O.T. greats get to heaven if Christ had not yet died for their sin?” Did the sacrificial system of the tabernacle get them in to heaven?”
And here’s the problem with that thought. One, the sacrificial system wasn’t established until Moses and the Exodus. This leaves out some pretty important characters in the O.T. like Abraham, the father of our faith, Jacob, and Joseph.
Secondly, and even more problematic is this: If the sacrificial system did save them, wasn’t it then by their works and obedience that they were saved?
The correct answer to the question is this: Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Joshua were saved just like you and I are saved, by the blood of Christ. We must remember that we do not serve a God that it bound by time. God is the God of time. And what Paul is explaining to us very carefully in verse 25 is this:
Knowing what God would later do, in sacrificing His son Jesus, God could righteously pass over those sins which were committed before Christ’s death, understanding that even these sins were nailed to the cross.
It is upon this basis that we proclaim the unthinkable thought that when we accepted Christ it covered all our lives sin, past, present, and future. Think on it this way: When God called your heart to submit to the Truth of the Gospel, he knew exactly how many times you sin after you accepted Christ, and he still wants you anyway!
Imagine your wedding day, for some of you that’s a flashback, for others, it’s a dream of the future, but imagine upon the exchange of vows your spouse looks lovingly into your eyes and they say, “I love you. But I will not be faithful. I will try, but I will fail you. I will deny you among my friends who don’t care for you and will praise you in front of those who love you. I will live my life as a hypocrite, but I love you. I will spend much of my life betraying you when I think you can’t see me. But I do love you. Do you still want me?”
“Yes.”
Paul’s main concern is that God’s holiness and justness is not compromised in any way whatsoever. So he feels he has to explain how God could, in a completely holy way, allow pre-Christ sins to be nailed to Christ on the cross.
Conclusions:
1. God’s actions and decisions are explainable and consistent with His character.
2. For Paul, nothing was more important that explaining God’s Holiness and Justness.
3. Which is more impressive: That while we were yet sinners God still chose send His son, or that while we are now saved, and still sinning, He won’t leave us?