The Greatest Question Ever Asked
6/13 Bible Thought (Romans 3)
Ever since the Garden of Eden, sin has been a real problem (see Rom. 5:12).
Sin is the cause of all death in the world (Gen. 2:17; Rom. 6:23; Jas. 1:15) and in a world filled with death, surely the consequences of the Fall are more deeply ingrained in our earthly home than we’ll ever know.
Likewise, I’ve been a part of the problem. So have you. We’ve all contributed, because we all sin.
Only One has ever lived a perfect God-pleasing life. All are born with the condition of sin (Rom. 3:9) and likewise all have participated in it (Rom. 3:23). God’s law reveals this so clearly.
It’s interesting that once babies grow into toddlers, they get into all sorts of mischief. My youngest daughter has recently learned how to shake her head, “No” when being asked or told to do something. She’s not even two years old yet, and already there’s this defiant side to her.
Since we now have rules and can communicate, this has awakened in her a desire for that which is off-limits. This is what Paul meant when he wrote,
“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20).
God’s moral law proves that we’re all transgressors. We’ve all looked at God, our Heavenly Father and shook our heads, “No” when He told us how we ought to live.
As such, human beings can’t be justified by the law, for the law is condemning. People might seem like they’re decent creatures, that is until they’re compared to a holy and perfect God who has given to humans a law they frankly can’t keep.
Sin is a real problem, and hence there was a dilemma: How could God be just, and the Justifier?
How could God, who loves sinful humanity despite their sin, allow them into His eternal abode?
He would be unjust if He just let us get away with it. A judge who never drops the gavel on a guilty convict is unjust. Human beings have committed a cosmic treason against their Creator and as such we deserve to hear, “Guilty!”
But God is also a God of love (1 Jn. 4:8). He is merciful. He is gracious. In fact, in both testaments He is presented this way.
David writes of God,
“The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love” (Ps. 103:8).
The same God that torched Sodom and Gomorrah and flooded the earth, is also a God of incredible mercy. Just because He is slow to anger doesn’t mean He won’t get angry. These are all equal parts of His nature and have been since before the dawn of time.
So, how could God be both just, and also justify the ungodly? This is probably the best question ever asked.
The answer is a substitute (see Rom. 3:24-26).
A substitute took the punishment we deserved. God was just—He punished sin.
If anyone wants to know God’s opinion of sin, he need look no farther than Calvary where the Lamb of God was brutalized on behalf of sins not His own (Is. 53:3-11; 2 Cor. 5:21).
Likewise, God is the justifier, the vindicator of the guilty and if one wants to see the incomprehensible love of God, he need look no farther than Calvary.
God is love. He is gracious and merciful! God has dug us out of our mess of sin without just letting us off the hook. God didn’t let us get away with it—no, the penalty for sin, namely death, had to be paid. But by amazing grace another stepped up and took our place!
I owed a debt I could not pay. He paid a debt He did not owe.
It was a debt too great to be worked off. A lifetime of good works could never have made up for our sins (see Matt. 18:24). As a result, salvation had to be offered by grace (Eph. 2:8-9). A gift. Something we couldn’t ever earn or deserve.
What a humbling, awesome, and totally incomprehensible love of God (see 1 Jn. 3:1).
I’m thankful that someday I will hear the greatest words of all, “Not guilty!” and it’s all due to grace.
This was a powerful and beautifully written reflection. I was deeply moved by the clarity with which you presented both the problem of sin and the profound mercy of God in providing a Substitute. What a Savior we have! “God is just and the justifier”—those words will echo in my heart today. Thank you for lifting up the cross and magnifying grace so clearly.