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Peter Barnes | Romans 3:25-26
SERMON NOTES
GOD IS JUST AND THE JUSTIFIER
(Romans 3:25-26)
– C. S. Lewis never tried to explain: ‘Christ died for sinners.’ But Paul does. It is propitiation because otherwise we cannot see God and live (Exodus 33:20).
1. There was no sufficient atonement in the Old Testament period.
– 3:25; see Acts 17:30
– Heb.9:15; the bulls, goats and lambs never really took away sin (Psalm 51:7, 16-17; Isa.1:11-15)
2. God’s justice is vindicated.
– 3:26; the death penalty must be paid
– to those who object to this, Anselm has replied: ‘You have not yet considered the weight of sin.’
3. In being just, God justifies sinners with faith in Jesus.
– 3:26; Robert Haldane: ‘Mercy and justice are irreconcilable except in Christ.’
– we receive this by faith in Christ (3:22-24, 26)
– Romans 3:25 was the verse which converted William Cowper in 1764