The End of Bragging
Passage: Romans 3:27-31
I received a bit of criticism for last week’s sermon. She told me I didn’t give a clear definition of the big word I used, propitiation. I talked about it, talked around it, but didn’t actually say what it means. Wives are great critics and we are wise when we listen to them.
So here is a definition of what propitiation means when we read God put Jesus forward as a propitiation by His blood. Propitiation is the act of God by which He redirects His just wrath for our sin away from us and onto Jesus who bore the full cup of God’s wrath, died our death in our place, and bore the shame of all our guilt.
God has turned aside His wrath, appeased it, satisfied it by the atoning work of Christ on the cross. It is there God makes Jesus to be a propitiatory sacrifice to satisfy God’s divine justice.
This is a huge deal. When you see a bleeding and dying Savior that should get our attention there is something really serious is going on. If that’s the remedy, the problem must be way beyond our ability to fix it. If that’s the medicine then clearly the disease is life threatening.
Jesus so perfectly fulfills the demands of the law and justice, that God is satisfied, and He can remain just even while He freely justifies us by grace through faith. Everything that stood between us and His grace and mercy is now removed.
So what? What are the implications of this?
Let’s look at our text in the light of the three questions Paul asks and the answers he gives, what about boasting (27-28), what about the Jews (29-30), what about the law (31)?