Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Freedom

“All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

Romans 3:23-25

A major theme of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans is faith in Jesus Christ. Faith and repentance are closely related. When we explored the nature of repentance in Chapter 2, we learned that it encompasses two Hebrew meanings. The first was that of naham, meaning to be sorry or remorseful, and sub, meaning to turn around. Both aspects are included in the Greek word metanoeo that we translate as repent. The idea of turning around and turning back to God, is what we do when we have faith in Jesus as the Son of God. When we fully grasp who Jesus is we will want to live according to his teaching and in a personal relationship with him. This is essentially what it means to have faith.

Faith

Scripture puts both repentance and faith as different aspects of one act. We examined repentance in chapter two. Repentance involves a turning away from sin, but as we found it also involves turning towards God. However, a person does not turn from sin and then trust in God, nor does a person first trust in God and then turn away from sin. The two are inextricably linked. A person’s awareness of sinfulness and sorrow for their sinful thoughts and actions does not signify true repentance unless it is combined with a recognition and understanding that the sin is contrary to God’s will, has offended God, and forms a barrier between them and God.

John’s baptism of repentance involved turning around, turning away from sin and towards God. When we speak of faith, we refer to our abandoning any reliance on ourselves to gain our salvation, the forgiveness of our sin and our freedom from its bondage. Faith is about complete trust in Jesus Christ as living person who forgives sin and offers eternal life with God. Repentance and faith are inextricably linked.

The apostle Paul focused his letter to the Romans on the subject of faith. He is adamant that we are put right with God through faith in Jesus Christ.^[1] Faith is not simply knowing about Jesus, what he taught and did and his death and resurrection. Faith requires a person to have a personal relationship with the living Jesus and to rely on him to forgive and provide all that flows from that forgiveness. Faith involves a personal trust in Jesus.

Jesus himself said that “whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”^[2] Importantly, he says not whoever believes him, but whoever believes in him. Leon Morris said that faith for John the Gospel writer, who recorded these words of Jesus, “is an activity which takes men right out of themselves and makes them one with Christ.”^[3]

The apostle Paul emphasises this in his letters, often speaking of being in Christ. Indeed, in Romans 6 where he writes about baptism, he says that, all who have been baptised are baptised into Christ. Paul wrote, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.”^[4]

Faith is one of the most important New Testament teachings. When we speak of faith we imply abandoning self-reliance and trust in our own abilities. Faith means living in Christ, placing our total dependence on him for forgiveness, being put right with God and our total trust in God and his mercy. It means that we are new people, a new creation reborn of the Holy Spirit.

Faith includes four crucial elements. First, is knowledge about Jesus. To have faith in Jesus, we must first have some knowledge about who he is - that Jesus is God’s Son and that he lived on earth died on a cross was raised to new life. John wrote his Gospel so that his readers, “may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”^[5]

The second element of faith is to believe that what we know about Jesus is true. Particularly, that his death upon the cross was an “atoning sacrifice for our sin”^[6], meaning that his death was accepted by God as payment for your own guilt and sin. As Paul put it when writing to the faithful in Colossi, “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.”^[7] Faith means that we believe Jesus’ perfect life and righteousness has been credited to us; that God counts us as perfect and worthy to share in his inheritance of eternal life. Peter expresses it like this, in his first letter, that God, “in his great mercy his given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fail.”^[8]

Thirdly, and crucially, it is through faith we receive the benefits of forgiveness won for us by Christ on the cross. As we noted in chapter four, Paul expressed this truth in his letter to the Romans. “God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith”^[9].

Fourthly, faith means that our understanding and belief in Jesus transforms us. The new person he makes us results in our developing an on-going personal relationship with the living Jesus, to rely on Him, and devote ourselves to him as Lord and Saviour.

The new creation we become brings many joys. Jesus promises us that he will live within us by his Spirit. Jesus promised the faithful that the Holy Spirit will live within them, telling the disciples that he will ask God to “give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. … you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.”[10] Paul emphasised this when writing to the Corinthians – “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?”[11] Jesus promises that he will lighten the load all who are weary and weighed down by the worries and burdens of life and give them rest.[12]

We have already seen how there is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner that repents.[13] Paul urged his readers in Philippi to always rejoice in the Lord. He encouraged them to rely on God taking everything to him in prayer, their anxieties, their requests, and their thanks for God. God gives peace to the hearts of all who turn to him in faith.[14]

When writing to the Romans, Paul was crystal clear that salvation (being saved from the consequences of sin) is by faith in Jesus Christ. He tells us that “the wages of sin is death.”[15] This is consistent with the Old Covenant and helps us to grasp the nature of the sacrificial system. Reassuringly, Paul went on to say, “but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[16]

In a key passage in his letter to the Romans Paul refers to those three elements we identified at the end of Chapter 4, ransom, propitiation, and justification. Each refers to the idea of being free, yet each refers to a different kind of freedom. They are highlighted in this extract below from Paul’s letter to the Romans.

“Now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.”[17]

Justification emphasises Christ’s death as an atonement for sin. Ransom, a word related to slavery, puts the focus of Christ’s death on setting sinners free from the bondage of sin. Propitiation highlights the renewed relationship the forgiven sinner has with God as a result of Christ’s work on the cross.

Justification

Paul, almost uniquely in the New Testament, speaks of our being ‘justified’ through faith, meaning being put right with God through faith in Jesus.

The idea of justification comes from the Law Courts. It is a legal term signifying acquittal, discharge, or freedom. It is the opposite of condemnation. It is because “the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all”[18] that the New Testament writers can declare that Christ’s death was an atoning sacrifice, putting us right with God. Indeed, justification is a legal declaration by God that a person is righteous or not guilty, hence Paul can write that all who have faith in Jesus Christ are counted, or regarded, as righteous in God’s eyes. See Romans 4:22-25.

Notice that there are two aspects to justification. First is a declaration by God that a justified person is not guilty, i.e., has no penalty to pay for sin. This simply makes us neutral in our relationship with God. However, the other aspect of justification is that God sees us as righteous. What God is doing is imputing Christ’s righteousness to us. Hence, Paul was able to write to the Romans about the “free gift of righteousness.”[19] “Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand.”[20]

Interestingly, Luke also uses the Greek verb dikaioo, meaning to justify. He twice uses it in Acts 13:39, “by him [Jesus] all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (The translation here is the King James Version since most modern translations prefer to translate the word dikaioo in this verse as ‘free’ rather than ‘justified’.) In his Gospel Luke uses the word when recalling Jesus telling the parable of the Tax collector and the Pharisee. “I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted.”[21] That is, the tax collector went home acquitted.

Ransom

Jesus was once was talking to the disciples about relationships. He drew attention to the fact that many people like to have power and control over others and that when they are put in positions of authority people often like to laud it over others. Jesus had observed how the rich and powerful demanded, and were given, deference by the poor and weak. However, he said it should not be like that at all. He said of himself, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”[22] Note that Jesus spoke of his death as a ransom. So, what does that mean, particularly in the context of his death as an atonement for sin?

The Greek word we translate as ransom was most often used for the price that was paid to redeem a slave; to buy a slave out of bondage and give him or her freedom. Jesus said, "everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there for ever. So, if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” ^[23]

A ransom is the price that gives a slave liberty, a payment that achieves freedom. In his first letter the Apostle Peter highlights this, saying, “For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.”[24]

Jesus’ death was the price paid to redeem people from the slavery of sin and bring them back into a right relationship with God. This was part of God’s purpose and foreseen by Zachariah (the father of John the Baptist) when he gave praise to God for the birth of his own son, recognising the promised time of a Messiah had come, saying, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people.”[25]

There is an important aspect to the notion of being a slave to sin and redemption through Jesus Christ. It relates to what we have learned about the nature of forgiveness and how it is impossible for the one who has hurt another to mend the relationship. Similarly, a slave cannot set himself free. All a slave is, and all a slave has, is owned by his master. Even if a philanthropist sought to pay the master to free a slave the master has the power to accept or reject the offer.

When we considered the nature of forgiveness in chapter 1, we noted that there is nothing the person who commits the wrong, or the hurt, can do to mend a relationship, only the aggrieved person can do that. Similarly, there is nothing a slave can do to set themselves free. Since we are set free from the slavery of sin by Christ. This demonstrates not that Jesus is the slave master, but rather that Jesus is Lord over all, even sin and death; for he is King of kings and Lord of lords.[26] As Jesus himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”[27]

Our faith in Jesus implies our accepting our redemption from the slavery of Sin that Christ has won for us restoring our relationship with God. That enables God to embrace us gain within his family. Paul speaks of our adoption as God’s children.[28] Adoption was common among the Greeks and Romans and conferred upon the child all of the rights, benefits, and privileges of any natural son. Paul is clear that because God adopts us as his children we are fellow heirs with Christ[29] and therefore we share in his resurrection and enjoy life beyond death. In chapter 6, we will explore in more depth what is means to be adopted as a child of God.

Propitiation

The Apostles John and Paul both referred to Christ’s death as a means of propitiation. Paul wrote that people are justified by a gift of God’s grace “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”[30] John wrote that Jesus is “is the propitiation for our sins,”[31] and that God showed his love for us by sending his son “to be the propitiation for our sins.”[32]

The word translated here as ‘propitiation’ is the Greek word, "hilasmon" or "hilasmos". Theologians have given great attention to this Greek word. It has been translated as both ‘propitiation’ and ‘expiation.’ For example, the Standard English Version published in 2007 and the King James Version published in 1611 both use the English word ‘propitiation’. However, the Revised Standard Version (published in the mid twentieth century) uses the word ‘expiation.’ The issue concerns the nature of Christ’s atoning sacrifice. To fully grasp the connotations of propitiation we need first to explore the nature of God’s wrath.

In Romans 5:9 Paul speaks of our being saved from God’s wrath, “Since we have now been justified by his [Christ’s] blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” It is not that God is petulant or has outbursts of irrational anger. The wrath of God is an expression used to describe God’s revulsion of all that is contrary to his purposes, and desires for the world he created. It describes God’s emotional reaction to all that opposes his direction and desire for the way people are to live together. There are many descriptions of God’s wrath in the scriptures. The Psalmist wrote that “God displays his wrath every day.”[33] We read of God’s anger when the people of Israel made a golden calf to worship. God said to Moses; “I have seen these people and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”[34] John the Baptist also spoke of God’s wrath; “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”[35] Another example of God’s wrath is found in Isaiah 5 where God symbolically breaks down a vineyard which is a metaphor for the nation of Israel.

If God did not hate sin, then he would be a God who either loved sin or was indifferent to it and we would still be in bondage.

To propitiate means "to make favourable", and it refers to averting God’s wrath against sinners. Propitiate is a verb, an action, which is done to someone. So, to take an example, a child is told by his father not to kick a ball in the garden, but the child does, and the ball sails through a window of a patio door. The father is angry that he has been disobeyed and so requires the child to cut the grass for the next ten weeks as a punishment. If the boy’s older brother persuades their father that the punishment is rather severe on his little brother and so undertakes to cut the grass instead, the father’s anger is pacified since there has been a punishment for the disobedience. This is propitiation.

In its New Testament usage, Jesus Christ is called the "propitiation of our sins", because he put himself in our place and took the penalty for our sin. Propitiation carries a nuance of meaning implying that the death of Jesus on the cross makes God propitious, or favourable, towards human beings. Indeed, it fulfils the prophecy of Isaiah that, “he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.”[36]

In his first letter John initially, in chapter 2, casts Jesus as our advocate who defends us against God’s anger. Then he goes on, in chapter 4, to highlight that God is a God of love, who sent his only son to atone for our sins, shielding us from his wrath.

Interestingly, the Geneva Bible, published in 1596, translates the word for propitiation as reconciliation, emphasising that as a result of Christ’s death God is no longer angry with the sinner and that God and his people have been brought back together once again.

Christ paid in full the price to satisfy God, so our sins can be said to be removed, “as far as the east is from the west,” as Psalm 103 puts it, and remembered no more. It is why Paul can write in Romans 8:1 that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Propitiation satisfies and extinguishes God’s wrath through the sacrifice of Jesus.

As we have seen others translate the word “hilasmon" or "hilasmos" as ‘expiation.’

Unlike propitiation, expiation has a thing as its object not a person. It suggests that sin can be dealt with by rubbing it out, or blotting it out, or by putting the wrong right. Using our example above, if instead of taking the punishment of cutting the grass his older brother pays for the window to be repaired, the result of disobedience has been put right. The father is placated. This is expiation.

However, even if the broken window were repaired, do you think the father might remain cross that his child had disobeyed him?

Apart from Paul and John the only other New Testament writer to use the Greek word for propitiation" is the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews. He uses it to refers to the ‘mercy seat,’ or atonement cover, a component of the altar (see Exodus 25:17-22) on which sacrifices were made in the Temple – literally translated as “the place of propitiation”.[37] It is likely that a deliberate connection is intended so that the readers of the Letter to the Hebrews understands Christ on the cross is how God has dealt with sin.

We each need to make our own minds up about whether Christ’s sacrifice is propitiatory or expiatory, or whether his atonement for our sin involves both expiation and propitiation. That is, did Christ substitute himself in our place and assume the penalty for our sins or did his death on the cross put all our wrongs right and rub out our sins. Or did it do both?

In chapter 1, we read the parable of the Prodigal Son, or the Loving Father, whichever title we wanted to give Jesus’ story. We explored the concept of forgiveness and how the father’s rehabilitation of his younger son served to help us understand God’s love for us and particularly his forgiving of our sin. We do not know how cross or angry the father had been, or still was with his son, but we do know he was overjoyed that his son was not dead and had returned home. The love of the father overcame his wrath.The son had been enslaved by his greed, avarice, self-reliance, and pride. His father’s response was to give him a robe, a ring, shoes for his feet and, most of all, the opportunity to start a new life back in the family home.

In this chapter we have seen how what Christ did on the cross sets us free from the jurisdiction of the courts, liberates us from the slavery of sin and deals with God’s anger at our disobedience. He has torn down the barrier that separated us from God. That gives freedom to all who by faith seek to begin a new life. It has enabled people to turn back to God, to live in a right relationship with him and to develop a personal relationship with him.

Points for reflection

1. Are you able to point to a time in your life when you received God’s freedom, or felt set free from the bondage of sin? Did you do anything to deserve God’s justification or redemption?

2. We have considered Christ’s death as a sacrifice for the forgiveness sin, a setting free from the bondage of sin and as a means of putting people right with God. Have you any new insights about God’s love for you?

3. What does it mean to you to have faith?

4. How does your faith impact upon your life – your attitudes, values, actions?

Prayer

We praise you, God, and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for the spiritual blessings that Christ has brought us! Before the world was created, you chose us to live with Jesus Christ and to be his holy, innocent, and loving people. We thank you for your kindness, deciding that Christ would choose us to be your own adopted children. Glory be to you heavenly Father for you have treated us with undeserved grace. We give you honour, praise and thanksgiving that Christ sacrificed his blood to set us free, which means our sins are now forgiven. We praise you that you have justified us and see us as righteous in your sight. We are ransomed, healed, restored, forgiven. All glory, honour, majesty, and power be yours, almighty and eternal God. Amen.

Prayer based on Ephesians 1:3-7

[1] Romans 3:22

[2] John 3:16

[3] Morris, Leon. The Gospel According to John, New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids. Eerdmans (1971) p336.

[4] Romans 6:6-7

[5] John 20:31

[6] 1 John 2:2 & 1 John 4:10

[7] Colossians 2:13-14

[8] 1 Peter 1:3-4

[9] Romans 3:25

[10] John 14:16-17

[11] 1 Corinthians 6:19

[12] Matthew 11:28

[13] Luke 15: 7 & 10

[14] Philippians 4:4-7

[15] Romans 6:23

[16] ibid

[17] Romans 3:21-26 [ESV]

[18] Isaiah 53:6

[19] Romans 5:17

[20] Romans 5:1

[21] Luke 18:14

[22] Mark 10:45

[23] John 8:34-36

[24] 1 Peter 1: 18-19

[25] Luke 1 :68

[26] Deuteronomy 10:17 & 1 Timothy 6:15

[27]John 11:25-26

[28] See Romans 8

[29] Romans 8:17

[30] Romans 3:24-25 [ESV]

[31] 1 John 2: 2 [ESV]

[32] 1 John 4:10 [ESV]

[33] Psalm 7: 11

[34] Exodus 32:9-10

[35] John 3:36

[36] Isaiah 53:5

[37] Hebrews 9:5