Paul the apostle wrote the Roman believers and, in his letter, made a profound statement about the power of God’s grace. “And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).
In the English language one of the definitions of “justified” is “to make excuses.” That’s nowhere near its meaning in the New Testament. The word in the New Testament has as its root, “righteous.” It means that God declares sinners to be righteous. It isn’t our righteousness, it is His own righteousness. It isn’t earned or deserved—it is His gift of grace. How can God, who is holy, just declare us to be righteous? He can’t overlook sin. His holiness won’t allow Him to ignore it. Sin has to be dealt with. His plan from the beginning of time was to send His Son to pay the penalty of our sin so we could be saved. Jesus had to die in our place.
When Billy Graham was driving through a small southern town, he was stopped by a policeman and charged with speeding. Graham admitted his guilt, but was told by the officer that he would have to appear in court. The judge asked, “Guilty, or not guilty?” When Graham pleaded guilty, the judge replied, “That’ll be ten dollars—a dollar for every mile you went over the limit.” Suddenly the judge recognized the famous minister. “You have violated the law,” he said. “The fine must be paid—but I am going to pay it for you.” He took a ten dollar bill from his own wallet, attached it to the ticket, and then took Graham out and bought him a steak dinner! “That,” said Billy Graham, “is how God treats repentant sinners!”
That illustrates the power of God’s grace. The penalty for sin had to be paid, but God Himself paid it so we could be brought into His family and sit down at His table. We don’t have to pay for our sins, God already has. Jesus has paid the penalty for us and we are saved by simply believing that. “We are justified freely by His grace.”
“Redemption” is the fulfillment of an Old Testament picture. When someone sinned he would have to bring a sacrifice, an animal, to the priest who would then kill it to atone for the sin. The person wouldn’t die but the animal would. That wasn’t the final payment for sin but it postponed the payment. It was like a credit card installment. Yet, someday the final payment would have to be paid. That’s what Jesus did on the Cross.
The importance of that picture is that when a person brought his sacrifice the priest didn’t’ examine him, he would examine the sacrifice. It had to be perfect and unblemished. That’s our picture of redemption. If God looked at us He would see our sins and our failures. Instead, He looks at our perfect sacrifice, His own Son, Jesus. He sees Jesus’ perfection, not our failures, and declares us righteous. That is redemption. We are given the gift of righteousness because Jesus has taken our place. He paid our penalty and we are credited with His righteousness when we believe in Jesus.
That’s why Paul could write, “And all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”
