Purposes of Christ's Death: Romans 3:24-25

I’ve been thinking about reposting a series of posts I did way back in 2004 when I first started blogging. It’s a series that looks at the scriptural purpose statements given for Christ’s death—you know, any statements about Christ’s atoning work that include the words “so that” or “for this reason” or “to this end” or something similar. Since I’m sick today, I thought this might be a good day to start recycling. I’ll edit each one up a bit as I repost it.

 

First up—Romans 3:24 and 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. 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. (ESV)

You’ll find the purpose statement in this text stated twice, but a little differently:

This was to show God’s righteousness …

and

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.

One of the purposes of Christ’s death, according to these verses, was to demonstrate God’s righteousness. The word translated just in the second statement could be translated righteous, as well; so the last half of this statement is explaining in more detail the way it is that Christ’s propitiatory death shows God to be righteous: It is a way for him remain righteous and, at the same time, count sinners as righteous.

 

The problem, as the verse lays it out, is that God’s passing over previously committed sins could raise doubts about his righteousness. The former sins referred to are the sins that God left unjudged in the time before Christ’s death, and it would be unrighteous (or unjust) for God, in his role as judge, to simply shove these wrongdoings under the rug. We usually think of injustice in terms of finding someone guilty for crimes not committed, but it is also unjust to ignore crimes someone has committed. Therefore, there needs to be a right or just way for these sins to be overlooked.

 

And that’s what Christ’s death accomplishes; that’s one of its purposes. It is the historical event that makes God’s forbearance in previous times right. That Christ died means that sin was never simply ignored, but there was a righteous way for it to be passed over, and this righteous way was the means of propitiation that would come through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. It is because of Christ’s propitiatory death that God can withhold his righteous wrath against sinners and count them righteous instead; yet still be completely just in everything he does. Christ’s death absorbs the retributive wrath of God that is made necessary by human sin, and in this way his death demonstrates to all people that God is righteous even when he mercifully forgives sin and justifies sinners.

 

Demonstrating that God passed over sin in a way that is righteous or just is one of the purposes of Christ’s death.

 

Everything's Coming Up Irish: A Song, A Quote, and A Quiz

I’m a little sick—just a cold, but a very annoying cold. I’m in no condition for thoughtful blogging, so I’m grateful to these bloggers who’ve contributed something Irish for me to link to.

• Kim of The Upward Call posts a song that I’ll call an Irish lament.
• Missmellifluous, who knows much more about Irish literature than I do, contributes a post called “in which I succumb to the ineluctable attraction of irish literature.” How’s that for a title?
• Island Sparrow has taken a quiz to find out how Irish she is. Why don’t you find out how Irish you are? Me? I scored 25% Irish, and I exaggerated to get a higher score.

 

Would you like to join in the Everything’s Coming Up Irish fun? Post anything related to Ireland or Irish things and send me the link (You can email me, or leave your link in the comments to this post.), then look for a link to your post in one of the upcoming ECUI posts. No blog? No problem. Email me your contribution or leave it in the comments and I’ll post what you’ve contributed in one of the Irish posts.

 

Round the Sphere Again

A collection of links to things I’ve found interesting recently.

 

Theology

• God’s holiness considered at Historia Ecclesiastica
• The Crusty Curmudgeon has a pop theology quiz involving a Jack Chick tract. See if you can answer the question without peeking at the comments first.
• Carla writes about Sola Scriptura.

Unity

• At Pyromaniacs: Unity Across Denominational Lines. This is the last in a series of four posts on the subject of unity. You’ll find links to the first three in the linked post, and they’re all recommended reads.

Blogging

• A hat tip to Jollyblogger for pointing me to this list from ProBlogger of 34 Reasons Why Readers Unsubscibe From Your Blog. I don’t often remove a subscription to a blog on my blogroll because I read a blog for a while to make sure that I enjoy the content before I put it on the list of blogs I read. The most frequent reason that I take a blog off my blogroll is that the blog is dead: there’s never anything new there anymore. Another reason that I might unsubscribe is that there is too much carping, whining, or ranting. I don’t mind people speaking out against things, but if the tone gets consistently shrill, I’ll stop reading.