The Cross Propitiated God

On Good Friday, I would like to share with you some of my notes from studying Romans 2 & 3 in my ESV Reformation Study Bible. I have been particularly blessed by a number of the study notes in this fine resource …

In a Romans study note entitled, “Mankind’s Guilty Knowledge of God,” the editors write: “God will not allow human beings to suppress entirely their sense of God and of His judgment. Some sense of right and wrong, as well as of accountability to God, always remains. Even in the fallen world everyone is endowed with a conscience that from time to time condemns them, telling them that they ought to suffer for wrongs they have done. When conscience speaks in these terms it speaks with the voice of God.

In one sense, fallen humanity does not know God, since what people believe about the objects of their worship falsifies and distorts the truth about God. In another sense all human beings do know God, but in guilt, with uncomfortable inklings of the judgment they cannot avoid. Only the gospel of Christ can speak peace to this aspect of the human condition.

And then in a later Romans study note entitled, “The Atonement,” the editors write: “An atonement is a reconciliation of alienated parties, the restoration of a broken relationship … According to Scripture every person sins and needs to make atonement, but lacks the power and resources for doing so. We have offended our Creator, whose nature it is to hate sin (Jer. 44:4; Hab. 1:13) and to punish it (Ps. 5:4-6; Rom. 1:18; 2:5-9). Those who have sinned cannot be accepted by and do not have fellowship with God unless atonement is made. Since there is sin in even the best actions of sinful creatures, anything we do in the hope of making amends can only increase our guilt or worse our situation, for the “sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord” (Prov. 15:8 ).

There is no way to establish one’s own righteousness before God (Job 15:14-16; Is. 64:6; Rom. 10:2,3); it simply cannot be done.
 
But against this background of human hopelessness, Scripture reveals the grace and mercy of God, who Himself provides the atonement that sin has made necessary. God’s amazing grace is the focus of Biblical faith; from Genesis to Revelation it shines out with breathtaking glory. …

According to the New Testament, Christ’s blood was shed as a sacrifice (Rom. 3:25; 5:9; Eph. 1:7; Rev. 1:5). Christ redeemed His people by means of a ransom; His death was the price that freed us from guilt and from enslavement to sin (Rom. 3:24; Gal. 4:4, 5; Col. 1:14). In Christ’s death, God reconciled us to Himself, overcoming His own hostility that our sins provoked (Rom. 5:10, 2 Cor. 5:18, 19; Col. 1:20-22).

The Cross propitiated God. That is to say, the Cross quenched His wrath against us by expiating our sins, and so removing them from His sight (Rom. 3:25; Heb. 2:17; 1 John 2:2; 4:10). The Cross had this effect because in His suffering Christ assumed our identity and endured the retributive judgment due to us, that is, “the curse of the law” (Gal. 3:13). He suffered as our substitute, with the damning record of our transgressions nailed by God to His cross as the list of crimes for which He died (Col. 2:14; cf. Matt. 27:37; Is. 53:4-6; Luke 22:37).”

Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

With love and gratitude,
Tara B.