23 October 2012

On Romans 3

We also hosted a local pericopal study at the IC today and Dr. Fritz Baue held forth on the epistle for the Reformation festival: Romans 3:19-28. It struck me in a way that it had not previously that the "surprise" in these verses is that GOD sets forth the propitiation/hilasterion. In Paganism one thinks of it working the other direction: you propitiate the offended Deity. But St. Paul actually inverts that. God puts forth the Propitiation, namely, His Son, so that by faith in His blood we be justified. The directionality is Him reaching us salvation in our Lord Jesus, not vice-versa.

2 comments:

Matthew Johnson said...

This is also seen in the Agnus Dei--the Lamb of God is God's Lamb, the One He brings/sends to be the sacrifice. So it is not Joachim's lamb or Benjamin's lamb or Judah's lamb (as the Israelites brought their sacrifices--according to God's institution). Rather, Jesus, God's own Son, is the Lamb that God has provided (Genesis 22).

William Weedon said...

Excellent point.