Spend time in prayer and silence with God, asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
God presented Him (Jesus) as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in His blood. He did this to demonstrate His justice, because in His forbearance He had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—He did it to demonstrate His justice at the present time, so as to be just and the One who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.
– Romans 3:25-28
Devotion
In verse twenty-three, Paul wrote that the whole world was guilty of falling short of God’s glory. Now he follows this up by beginning to explain what God did to rectify this hopeless situation. God provided a sacrifice of atonement! God offered up His Son, so that by His death He should become the means by which people’s sins are forgiven through their faith in Him. The death of Christ, then, is the means by which God does away with people’s sin—not symbolically, as in the Old Testament rituals of sacrifice. The phrase, “through faith in His blood,” refers to the sacrificial death of Christ as the means by which the one effective atonement for sin has been made. Since, therefore, we are now justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God (Romans 1:18). Paul, therefore concludes, “For we maintain a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.”
The Big Question
If the Law was not meant to be a means of salvation, what was its purpose? What does the word “justifies” mean in this context? Have you been reconciled to God by placing your faith in His Son who was sent to be a “sacrifice of atonement” to cover over or pay for your sins? Are you still trying to keep the Law as a way of earning your own salvation (self-righteousness)?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence, reflecting on what God revealed to you today.