while today

Didn’t know you have a problem? All of us sin. We make mistakes. We fail to do what is moral at the time. But the context of these failures is that we and our world are the products of a Creator God. And God is holy. No sin. No moral failures. So, our sin becomes a barrier to fellowship with him. And that is very bad news for us.

But God doesn’t let it end there. He sends his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus is sinless. It has to be that way. Someone with the sin problem can’t save people with the sin problem. Yet though sinless, he willingly dies on the cross for the sins of the world. Paul explains this solution with a number of terms (Romans 3:21-31).

It means we are justified. This is a law court word. The charges are dropped against us in Christ, not because we are innocent, but because the demands of the law have been satisfied by our substitute. For those of us who are united to Christ this is great news. And Paul says later in Romans, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1, ESV)

It means we have redemption. Redemption is a marketplace term. It means to buy back or release by payment of a price. An Old Testament example of redemption is the buying back of the firstborn male sons of a family (Exodus 13:11-13). The firstborn male animals were to be sacrificed except the donkey which could be redeemed for a price or killed, but it couldn’t be sacrificed. The unfortunate practice of slavery gave another example of redemption. A price could be paid so that a slave was set free.

It means we have a propitiation (“sacrifice of atonement” NIV, “mercy seat” NET, CSB cf. Heb. 9:5). This word comes from the setting of the temple. Propitiation is a sacrifice which averts the wrath of God. Paul makes clear that the wrath of God is revealed again all ungodliness and unrighteousness (Romans 1:18, 2:5, 2:8, 3:5).

Jesus is the solution for our sin problem, but how is the solution applied to our lives. It is applied to “the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:26). The opposite would be by works (or earning it.) Yet, Paul’s definition of faith is not mere intellectual assent. Paul teaches “the obedience of faith,” that is obedience that is produced by faith and is an example of trust. So, within Romans, Paul mentions a number of things that clearly are not merit but fall under the category of faith/trust: repentance (Rom. 2:4), baptism (Rom. 6:3-4), and confession (Rom 10:10). We must trust in what Jesus had done for us with all that this trust involves.

Jesus is the solution to our problem!

— Russ Holden