When God destroys a person's sins and makes that person righteous, God's acts in that process are incredible! By desire, God does things for each guilty man and woman who responds to His accomplishments in Jesus Christ. God does things for the guilty that humans have no desire to do for the guilty.
What God did in Jesus' death and does in His continual cleansing of penitent believers defies human imagination. That is why the vehicle of salvation must be faith--human trust in God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ. No human would do for any guilty person what God did and does for each person in Christ.
If a person cannot trust God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ, he or she cannot escape his or her guiltiness. However, when a person trusts God's accomplishments in Jesus Christ, escape from guilt and evil is a continuing reality in daily existence. Both that person and God are partners in maintaining their relationship. The person in faith lovingly depends on God. God in love sustains the person.
First, consider the context of Paul's letter called Romans. Commonly in a first century city, the first converts to Christ were Jewish people or non-Jewish converts to Judaism (see Acts 13:14,16; 14:1; 16:13; 17:1,2 as examples). Because these people (1) knew the living God; (2) were familiar with the scriptures; (3) lived past lives that identified with basic Christian morals and ethics; (4) and recognized Jesus' identity as God's promised Christ; their ranks often produced the leaders of Christian congregations.
The Roman emperor Claudius ordered Jews out of Rome (See Acts 18:2). At that date it seems the public was not conscious of the distinction between Jews devoted to Judaism and Jews who were Christians. Because of Claudius' edict, Jewish Christians had to leave Rome. As a result, congregations in Rome lost (1) fellow Christians and (2) leadership.
When Claudius died, the edict banning Jews from Rome ended. When Jewish Christians returned to Rome, some expected to assume their former roles in the Christian community. In the absence of Jewish Christians, Christians who were not Jews spiritually developed and filled voids. The return of Jewish Christians to Rome increased the existing need to understand God's work in salvation. God's salvation needed to be understood in the context of the relationship between Jewish Christians and Christians who were not Jews. In salvation, were non-Jews dependent on Jews? Did non-Jewish Christians have to observe Jewish lifestyles--kosher foods, cleanliness regulations, sanctification codes and traditions? Was it necessary for "church practices" to be regulated by some Jewish Christians' consciences?
Second, consider a paraphrase of Romans 3:21-26. God revealed the means of a person being righteous (before God) that is not "law dependent." The Law and the Jewish Prophets gave witness to God's intention to do this. This means of becoming righteous before God is based on faith. Everyone [Jew and non-Jew] needs this means of being righteous before God. Everyone [Jew and non-Jew] is (1) guilty of evil and (2) fails God's intentions at the creation. Salvation is provided as God's gift to believers through the interaction of two things: God's justification and God's grace. The result of that interaction is redemption in Jesus Christ. Redemption occurs for those who place their confidence in Christ because God accepts Jesus' blood sacrifice as a propitiatory sacrifice. By allowing Jesus' sacrificial death, God demonstrated His own righteousness (the fact that He is just). God demonstrated by Jesus' propitiatory death that He was not unjust when He patiently endured people's wickedness prior to Jesus' death. Jesus' death paid for every evil from the garden of Eden to the last expression of ungodliness before time ends. Therefore God has the right to justify any person who places his or her trust in Jesus.
Note the obvious. (1) In Jesus' death, God did something never before done. (2) This "something" done by God produced a way to make a human right (righteous) in God's sight. (3) The previous way was based on response to God's law. (4) The foundation of God's introduced way is based on Jesus' death [trusting what God did in Jesus' death]. (5) God's "new" way exists because of God's righteousness, not human righteousness. [We can be righteous because of what God did and does.] (6) God has every right to do what He does for us.
However, that does not explain what God did. It emphasizes the fact that no human can make himself or herself righteous. All any human can do is respond to what God did in Christ by placing his or her trust in God's achievements. Realizing that God did "something" in Jesus' death still does not answer the question, "What did God do in Jesus' death? What specifically did God accomplish in Jesus' death?"
It seems obvious from Romans 3:21-26 that God's accomplishments are contained in the concepts found in specific words.
The concepts represented by these words reveal the heart or core of God's accomplishments in Jesus' death. The concepts represented by these words couple our salvation [the destruction of our guilt for our evil by God's forgiveness] with Jesus' death. Insights into the continuing, trustworthy completeness of our salvation must be based on an understanding of these words. The following lessons focus on the concepts declared by these words.
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 2