Christ Set Forth as a Propitiation Through Faith in His Blood (Romans 3:25)

Rom. 3:25–26. Whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in His blood, for the demonstration of His righteousness, because of the remission of the sins that were previously committed, in the forbearance of God, and for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Above, all has been said about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21–24). One could proceed directly to the conclusion: “where then is boasting?” (Rom. 3:27). But such is the nature of the spirit of the holy Paul that, having touched upon salvation in the Lord, he could not confine himself to a brief indication of it. His discourse at this point began to flow in a swift stream, to embrace from many sides and more fully represent this great work of God’s goodwill toward us. So he does here too, clarifying especially the truth that God, in having mercy on us in the Lord, has mercy righteously; He does not have mercy by indulgence contrary to righteousness, but because righteousness is satisfied and has opened the way to us for God’s mercy. God saw that there is no salvation if not for help from above; but we have blocked its path by our guilt. What does His goodness do? He gives His Only-begotten Son, that He might innocently bear upon Himself the guilt of all and satisfy His righteousness. When then righteousness is satisfied, what can prevent help from descending to us from above? And it descends; but it descends righteously, through satisfaction of the eternal righteousness. And when this path is established, is mercy from above poured out upon all without discrimination? No—but only upon the believing. And here too, therefore, is righteousness. Present faith—and you will obtain the fulfillment of all in which you were lacking for salvation. Thus the economy of salvation is all established freely, and each is saved freely, yet all this is accomplished righteously. And in this work of boundless goodness, the righteousness of God shines forth. For the demonstration of it—this is how it is all arranged.

“Whom God set forth. Whom”—His Only-begotten Son, who was to be incarnate and in His flesh to bear the death on the cross for the sins of all. “Set forth,” προεθετω—can mean also: proposed; but since the Apostle casts his gaze at the state preceding the coming of the Lord, it will be more correct to say: set forth beforehand. “By conveying the sense that this is not something recent and new, the Apostle says: ‘set forth beforehand’” (Holy Chrysostom); “to show that redemption by the blood of Christ was foreordained from of old” (Blessed Theophylact); “bringing to mind the ancient Council concerning this” (Oecumenius). Consequently, from eternity God the Father set forth, not without the Son and the Spirit. “Having said: ‘God set forth’—and thereby showing that this is the work of the Father, he also shows that it belongs to the Son. For the Father set forth, and Christ accomplished this work by His blood” (Holy Chrysostom).

“A propitiation through faith in His blood. A propitiation,” ίλαστήριον—the mercy seat. So it was called the golden cover that covered the ark, on which on the edges were positioned Angels, uniting their wings above and forming in such a way a place where God gave His answers. On the Day of Atonement, or the day of general repentance of the sons of Israel—and only on this day—the high priest would enter with the blood of sacrifice into the Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood seven times upon the mercy seat (Ex. 25; Lev. 16). God was invisibly present above the mercy seat and received this blood as a sacrifice of propitiation. Through this both the sanctuary, and the sacrifices, and all Israel became cleansed from all uncleanness that had accrued to them during the year. In this one cannot but see a great symbol of the cleansing of all mankind by the blood of the Son of God. The mercy seat, receiving the blood upon itself, lifted it up to God, here present. The Lord Jesus Christ, sprinkled with His own blood and having it upon Himself, lifts it up to God the Father, with Whom He remains inseparably even after the Incarnation—and thus becomes the perpetual, eternally effectual mercy seat of our race. What the symbolic mercy seat gave once and for one year, in the Lord through His blood, being upon Him, is given continuously and throughout all ages of ages. This truth the Apostle conveys when he says that God from eternity determined that the Lord Jesus Christ should be for us the mercy seat or the propitiation; for He propitiates God and receives the forgiveness of our sins, which is true cleansing. Thus all our commentators. Blessed Theodoret depicted this most fully. Here are his words: “the mercy seat served as a golden cover; it lay upon the ark and had on both sides images of Cherubim; it became clear to the High Priest serving upon it that God was pleased. Therefore the divine Apostle teaches that the Master Christ is the true mercy seat. For that ancient one was a type of this true one. This name is fitting to Him as man, not as God. For as God, He gives answers through the mercy seat, but as man, He receives this appellation, as also others, such as: sheep, lamb, sin, curse, and the like. But the ancient mercy seat was bloodless, as it was without life, yet it received upon itself a drop of the blood of sacrificial animals; and the Master Christ is both High Priest and Lamb, and by His own blood He acquired our salvation, requiring from us faith alone.”

“Through faith in His blood.” Not faith in the blood, but cleansing through blood by means of faith. One who has soiled himself with dirt washes in water, plunging into it, and becomes clean. One who is defiled by sins washes, plunging into the blood of Christ, and becomes clean from the filth of sins. The blood of Christ is a bath that washes away the sins of all who plunge into it. How does this plunging take place? Through faith. By faith each draws upon himself the cleansing blood of Christ. The blood of Christ, by its power, has already cleansed the sins of all the world; but each becomes personally cleansed by it when through faith he receives upon himself the sprinkling or anointing with the blood of Christ. This is accomplished mysteriously in the water bath of baptism, and afterward in the tear bath of repentance.

God has established for us the shown mode of justification “for the demonstration of His righteousness,” so that for all it would be evident that He has mercy and justifies not by arbitrary will or overflow of goodness, but righteously. To have mercy when righteousness is not satisfied would not be permitted by righteousness; but when righteousness is satisfied, righteousness itself demands mercy. Satisfaction of righteousness is established by God’s independent goodness, it is free grace, grace given freely. But after satisfaction, justification is worked not by grace alone, but also by righteousness. The Apostle speaks here of this—that in justifying us or cleansing us by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, God demonstrates His righteousness.

This demonstration of righteousness he presents in two aspects—before the coming of Christ and after the coming of Christ. To the first belong the words: “for the demonstration of His righteousness, because of the remission of the sins that were previously committed, in the forbearance of God;” to the second: “and for the demonstration of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”

How was the righteousness of God demonstrated before the coming of Christ? In this way: God, looking upon the death on the cross that was to be, forbearingly bore the sins of those who sinned at that time, did not punish them as they deserved, did not utterly destroy them. This thought is conveyed by the Russian translation, which reads: “for the demonstration of His righteousness in the forgiveness of sins previously committed. In forgiveness.” Forgiveness, πάρεσις—which means: passing over something without attention, overlooking something, as if you do not notice it. The Apostle wished therefore to express the thought that God, though He passed over without attention, did not turn the eyes of righteousness upon the sins previously committed, yet nevertheless in this also demonstrated righteousness, for He had ordained beforehand that the Lord Jesus should be the cleansing for all in His blood. Thus, looking upon this blood, He righteously had mercy upon those who sinned before. Blessed Theodoret writes: “and God showed His own goodness in prolonging forbearance to people violating the Law for a long time, yet He made His righteousness evident to all. He did not bear people who transgressed the Law in vain, but was preparing for them this remedy.” Ambrosiaster understood it similarly.

Thus it appears if one looks from the time of the Law into the time of grace. But if one looks from grace into what preceded, another thought is born, namely: God ordained that the Lord Jesus should be the cleansing for all in His blood on account of the remission of the sins that were previously committed, so that in this remission His righteousness would not be violated but demonstrated. It was as if a question arose in the Apostle’s mind: The Lord most pure pours out innocently the blood of His flesh—for what reason? For the remission of previously committed sins. God forgave by mercy, but righteousness was not satisfied. Behold, He pays what is owed to righteousness as well, pouring out the innocent blood of His Son—He compensates righteousness for the previous mercies; and thus He makes it so that through the forgiveness of previous sins righteousness suffers no damage. This thought is suggested by the Slavonic translation: “on account of the remission of sins previously committed,”—which translation exactly corresponds to the Greek: δια την πάρεσιν.

Such thoughts are conveyed if the word πάρεσις—is given the meaning: passing over, remission. But it means also: weakness, extreme loss of strength, mortal agony. Our commentators, besides those cited, accept it in this meaning and understand the expression δια την πάρεσιν—as: on account of extreme moral corruption or deadness. Holy Chrysostom says: “δια την πάρεσις—means: on account of weakness from sins previously committed. A strong expression. He did not say: on account of sins, but on account of weakness or deadness from sins. There was no longer any hope for recovery; on the contrary, as a weakened body needed higher help, so a dead soul. God showed us great forbearance and loving-kindness. When we had come to despair, evil had grown, sins had multiplied; then God demonstrated His power, that you might understand what abundant righteousness He has. If this had been done at the beginning, it would not appear so wondrous and extraordinary as now, when all means of healing had already been tried.” Photius understood it similarly according to Oecumenius, and Oecumenius himself and Theophylact. And in Holy Anthony the Great, Holy Macarius, Holy Ephrem, Holy Basil the Great, and others is found the thought that before the Birth of Christ, God employed various means to correct people—guided them by natural law, gave the Law through Moses, sent Prophets. But since nothing helped and people reached the utmost moral corruption, He finally sent His Son to heal such a sickness of ours, to cleanse and renew our nature.

In such a case “for the demonstration of His righteousness”—will mean: not for the demonstration of justice, but for the demonstration of righteousness and holiness. God saw that people could not manage themselves and set themselves on the right path; therefore He decided to infuse His righteousness into them, as fresh blood is infused into a corrupted organism—and to demonstrate it thus in them. And for this to be accomplished, He gave His Only-begotten Son, to be the cleansing for all who believe—not only so that on account of Him sins would be forgiven, but so that the believing would inwardly become clean and holy through the reception of the grace of the Holy Spirit through faith. Holy Chrysostom says: “what does it mean: ‘demonstration of righteousness?’ As the demonstration of wealth consists in not only being wealthy oneself, but also making others wealthy, and the demonstration of life in not only being alive oneself, but also raising the dead to life, and the demonstration of strength in not only being strong oneself, but also strengthening the weak; so the demonstration of righteousness consists in not only being righteous oneself, but also making others, wasting away in sins, suddenly righteous.” In demonstration of such righteousness God set forth the Lord Jesus “as the cleansing through faith in His blood.”

Such are the thoughts in the words: “for the demonstration of His righteousness, because of the remission of the sins previously committed.” The words following: “in the forbearance of God” point to the time preceding the coming of the Son of God in the flesh, when God forbore. And whatever of the shown thoughts one chooses for oneself, they all suit this meaning with only slight application to the chosen thought. But what did God forbear and what was He waiting for? He waited for the time to be fulfilled and for people to become capable, having received the Gospel, of entering upon a new way of righteousness under the sanctification and guidance of grace. Or He waited while people tried all their means and finally, exhausted, came to the awareness that it is impossible for them to correct themselves. Or He waited whether they would not repent, not amend themselves, as “God’s forbearance waited in the days of Noah” (1 Pet. 3:20), while they ever more sank into sins and were corrupted by them; so that it remained either to deliver them entirely to ruin, or to come to them with His extraordinary, incomprehensible to the mind, help. God chose the latter and established a special wondrous way of salvation, which is now offered in the Gospel.

How is the righteousness of God revealed in the present time, after the incarnation of God the Word?

Let us first set down a brief philological note on the words: “and as a demonstration of His righteousness at the present time”—namely, that there is no conjunction in the Greek and that above: “for a manifestation”—in Greek stands: εις ενδειξιν — and here: “for a demonstration” — προς ενδειξιν. By adding the conjunction, our Slavonic translators showed that here begins a new line of thought, corresponding nevertheless to the preceding—which is entirely justified by the content of both halves of this small section, one of which begins with the word: “for a manifestation”—and the other: “for a demonstration”. But what is the reason that one and the same word: ενδειξις — is there translated: “manifestation”—and here: “demonstration”? None, except to preserve in the translation the nuance of thought conveyed—there by the preposition εις, and here—by the preposition προς. Εις ενδειξιν — for a manifestation of something distant, as something awaited, hoped for, as a goal. Προς ενδειξιν — for a demonstration of that same thing before our eyes, as a fulfillment of what was hoped for and awaited—as a goal attained.

Following this observation, let us turn to answering the proposed question. Just as earlier, in answer to the question how the righteousness of God was revealed before the coming of Christ in the flesh—more than one thought was presented; so here too, in answer to how this righteousness is revealed after the coming of Christ, we may present more than one thought, developing them in correspondence with the preceding ones. Let us take the first of the former: God revealed His righteousness in His compassion for sinners before the incarnation of God the Word by showing mercy to them not solely out of a superabundance of goodness and benevolence, but looking upon the blood of His Son that would be shed for them, the cleansing power of which they received when He, “having gone down to Hades,” preached to them the salvation, redemption, and cleansing prepared for them through faith in Him. In light of this thought, how is the righteousness of God revealed in the compassion and justification of sinners now, when the Gospel is preached? It is the same: the righteousness of God is revealed in that mercy and justification are given not out of an indiscriminate excess of benevolence, but through the faith of those who receive this mercy. Faith covers the sinner before the face of righteousness—“the faith of Jesus”—and justification descends upon him not without satisfaction, not without the involvement of righteousness, but righteously, with a manifestation of righteousness. Thus God shows that He is righteous; for He justifies the one who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. This faith unites the believer with Christ the Lord and presents him before God as he whom the Lord Himself is before Him. Herein lies the righteousness of the One who justifies now! As there, so here mercy is grounded in the person of Christ Jesus the Lord, in the all-cleansing power of His blood, shed for sinners.

If from the preceding we take this thought: God revealed His righteousness in His compassion for the sinners of old by giving His Son for the remission of their sins, so that He through His blood might be a cleansing for all who believe; then the demonstration of righteousness in the present time will consist in this: the believer at once receives upon himself drops of this cleansing blood—the blood does not act backward but directly upon the one of faith. By this thought, the cross of Christ with His blood is presented as set up in the midst and by its cleansing power overshadowing both all the sinners of old and all the present.

If we accept the thought of Saint Chrysostom and our other commentators—that when moral corruption had reached its ultimate limits, God then resolved to pour His own righteousness into humanity and thus reveal it in them; then the words: “for a demonstration of righteousness at the present time”—will serve as a confirming repetition of what was said before, thus: “for a manifestation of righteousness” and so forth—“for a demonstration,” I say, “of righteousness at the present time.” By this the past and present are divided into two halves: there corruption, and here righteousness and holiness begin. New blood flowed in the veins of humanity: it began to grow healthy and be sanctified. One may here allow that an allusion is made to the actual universal experience that believers were at once transformed and from vicious became spotless and holy.

The words: “that He might be righteous and justifying”—will then have this sense: that it might be plain that He is not only Himself righteous, but also makes others righteous (as Saint Chrysostom says), under the condition of faith in the Lord Jesus. Faith marks a great transformation in the believer and a great change in God’s relation to him. In the believer there begins to dwell a love of all righteousness and a hatred of all lawlessness, for love of the Lord, and from above the heaven that was sealed before opens and pours into the heart of the believer abundant grace, giving him the power to bear fruit in righteousness and holiness, like a tree planted by “the courses of waters” (Ps. 1:3).

Such is the content of verses 25 and 26, uttered by the Apostle in explanation of what is salvation “which is in Christ Jesus” or justification “by His blood.” Having set forth this, he again bears down on the Jew. It was difficult to break his pride. Therefore the Apostle employs various means to this end: at times he drew from their own life that they are no better than the Gentiles, at times he painted with prophetic reproofs how they had fallen in their conduct. Now he removes from them all occasion for boasting by pointing to the establishment of the New Covenant.