“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3:23-26).

How Does Jesus’ Blood Cleanse Sin? A preacher speaking from the text, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin’ (1 Jn. 1:7), “was interrupted by an atheist who asked, ‘How can blood cleanse sin?’ “For a moment the preacher was silent; then he countered, ‘How can water quench thirst?’ “‘I do not know,’ replied the infidel, ‘but I know that it does.’ “‘Neither do I know how the blood of Jesus cleanses sin,’ answered the preacher, ‘but I know that it does.’” (Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations, pg. 204). This story illustrates the challenge of understanding how the death of Christ effects the forgiveness of sins. The answer can be more easily appreciated if one were to ask, “What if the death of Christ were eliminated from the gospel and God were simply to forgive sin without it, perhaps on repentance and the request for forgiveness on the part of the sinner?” This idea might appeal to sinners — until they are asked if this is what they want for criminals. In other words, what if there were no consequences at all for their crimes? One quickly sees two problems with this: (1) it does not satisfy justice, and (2) it does not deter crime. Yet, what would not work for crime would also not work for sin. If anyone were to contemplate how his sense of justice would be offended if the criminal who murdered his loved one were let off with a simple, “I’m sorry,” then he should be able to understand why God should not be expected to let the sinner go on the mere request for forgiveness and nothing else. However, if sinners were duly punished for their sins in order to satisfy divine justice, then that would mean they would go to hell. “The wages of sin is death” (Rom. 6:23). Thus, the problem at this point is God’s, for though sending sinners to hell would satisfy His justice, it would do nothing to requite His love for them. There needed to be some way to satisfy both the justice and love of God or, in the language of Scripture, for God to “be just and the justifier.” The only place where God’s love and justice can meet and be satisfied is in the death of Christ. This might be illustrated in a father paying a fine for his son’s traffic violation. Neither justice nor the court would allow the father to be punished for his son’s violation. So, if the son is unable to pay and no one else has an interest in paying his fine, he might be facing time in jail. Yet, neither justice nor the court refuses to allow the father to pay the son’s fine on his behalf. Thus, the law is satisfied and so is the father’s love for his son. The father pays his son’s fine without being punished with jail, and the son, knowing his father’s love and what it required of him, feels remorse and determines not to violate the law again. So it was with God and Christ in relation to sinners: “Knowing that you were not rede emed with perishable things like silver or gold …, but with precious blood … of Christ” (1 Pet. 1:18,19). The Bible’s intricate plan of salvation, implemented over thousands of years of human history and explained in the Bible, shows that it is divinely inspired. No other religion has conceived or made such an arrangement for the forgiveness of sin and the satisfaction of divine justice, and no religious system devised by God could have overlooked it.

Justice

Forgiveness