Romans 3:26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus. I. THE ATONEMENT WAS NECESSARY ENTIRELY ON GOD'S ACCOUNT. It is easy to see that it could not be necessary on the account of sinners. When Adam sinned, God might have destroyed him and the race, or He might have saved them in a sovereign manner, without doing injustice to them or any other created beings. But the apostle assures us that an atonement was necessary on God's account, that He might be just, and the justifier. II. WHY THE ATONEMENT WAS NECESSARY ON GOD'S ACCOUNT. 1. If we can only discover why Adam, after he had sinned and incurred the penalty, despaired of pardon, we shall see this. Adam knew that God was good, but he knew, too, that God was just; that it was morally impossible that He should exercise His goodness inconsistently with His justice; and that His perfect justice implied an inflexible disposition to punish the guilty. It is not probable that Adam thought of an atonement; and if he did, he could not see how an atonement could be made. Now as God could not have been just to Himself in forgiving Adam, so He cannot be in forgiving any of His guilty posterity without an atonement. And as God did determine to show mercy to sinners, so it was absolutely necessary that Christ should make an atonement for their sins, and its necessity originated entirely in His immutable justice. There was nothing in men that required an atonement, and there was nothing in God that required an atonement, but His justice. 2. Now there never was any difficulty in God's doing good to the innocent, nor in His punishing the guilty; but there was a difficulty in forgiving the wicked. (1) God's goodness is a disposition to do good to the innocent; His justice a disposition to punish the guilty; and His mercy a disposition to pardon and save the guilty. The great difficulty, therefore, was to reconcile God's disposition to punish with His disposition to forgive. (2) This was a difficulty in the Divine character, and a still greater difficulty in the Divine government. For God had revealed His justice in His moral government, There was a clear exhibition of retributive justice in the first law given to man. "In the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." This law, clothed with all the authority of God, man violated, and involved all his posterity. What now could be done? The fallen angels had been doomed for their first offence. But how could pardoning grace be displayed? This none of the intelligent creation could tell. The angels of light could not tell; for they had seen those who kept not their first estate, excluded from heaven. Man could not tell. This question God alone was able to solve. He know that He could be just to Himself, if His justice were displayed by the sufferings of a proper substitute in the room of sinners. Christ was the only substitute to be found who was competent to the great work. Him, therefore, the Father set forth to be a propitiation, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins. III. WHAT FOLLOWS? If the atonement of Christ was necessary entirely on God's account, that He might be just in exercising pardoning mercy, then — 1. It was universal, and sufficient for the pardon of all. What can be more unjust than to punish sinners for not accepting a salvation which was never provided for them? And it never was provided for them, if Christ did not, by His sufferings and death, make atonement for them. 2. It did not satisfy justice towards sinners themselves. Nothing which Christ did or suffered altered their characters, obligations, or deserts. His obedience did not free them from their obligation to obey the Divine law, nor did His sufferings free them from their desert of suffering the penalty. 3. Christ did not merit anything at the hand of God for Himself, or for mankind. There is no phrase more misunderstood than "the merits of Christ." Though Christ suffered the just for the unjust, yet He did not lay God under the least obligation, in point of justice, to pardon. God is above being bound by any; and He cannot bind Himself otherwise than by a free, gratuitous promise. God's promise to pardon is an act of grace, and not an act of justice. Accordingly, the apostle says that believers are "justified freely by His grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." And as Christ did not merit pardon for believers by His sufferings, so He did not merit a reward for them by His obedience. It is true, God has promised to reward Him for His obedience unto death, but His promise is a promise of grace, and not of justice. So He has promised to reward every man for the least good he does, even for giving a cup of cold water in sincerity. But His promise is a promise of grace, not of justice, and without the least regard to Christ's obedience as the ground of it. By obeying and suffering in the room of sinners, He only rendered it consistent for God to pardon or to reward. 4. God exercises the same free grace in pardoning sinners through the atonement, as if no atonement had been made. 5. It is absurd to suppose that the atonement was merely expedient. There was no other possible way of saving sinners. There is no reason to think that God would have subjected the Son of His love to the Cross if He could have forgiven it without such an infinitely costly atonement. 6. We may safely conclude that the atonement consisted in Christ's sufferings, and not in His obedience. His obedience was necessary on His account, to qualify Him for making atonement for the disobedient; but His sufferings were necessary on God's account, to display His justice. 7. God can consistently pardon any penitent, believing sinners on account of Christ's atonement. He can now be just, and be the justifier of everyone that believeth. (N. Emmons, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. |
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