Romans 3:25-26, in the light of Romans 2:3-5, seems to assume that God’s righteousness includes kindness, patience, forbearance, etc. It is the unrighteous who are unkind, impatient, intolerant, etc. Yet a penal satisfaction ideology blithely overrides, even bulldozes, this gentle yet stubborn intercontextual observation. How did we ever obscure this simple fact regarding common decent behavior? Do we grade God on a different scale of righteousness than we do humans? Moreover, is it a less ‘humane’ scale of assessment than we deem proper even for mere mortals?
So even though Romans 1:18-3:20 does focus on God’s wrath/indignation against the stubborn, both on the Day of Judgment as well as before, Paul makes a decisive shift in 3:21 to another kind of righteousness–the kind that does not punish the hard-hearted but rewards the amenably faithful ON THE GROUNDS OF CHRIST JESUS THE UTTERLY FAITHFUL ONE! This may be why Paul even bothers to bring up the observation about God’s forbearance or longsuffering, BECAUSE IT FURTHER ILLUSTRATES THE NATURE OF REWARDING OR PREMIAL RIGHTEOUSNESS/JUSTICE IN RELATION TO THE FAITHFUL COVENANT PARTNERS WHO HAPPEN TO BE SINNERS IN NEED OF GOD’S PROTECTIVE COVER/SHELTER AROUND THEIR OFFENSES.
For His part, God is faithful and just to “set forth,” provide, and proffer such a wrath-proof protective method on behalf of all who trust Him for it, thereby releasing them from their sins. This provision in particular entails the wrongful shedding of blood so innocent, flawless, and sinless–i.e., full of faithfulness to God’s will–that God Himself was justified in intervening virtually immediately to avenge (ekdik-) it BY RAISING THAT MURDER VICTIM FROM HIS GRAVE, NOT MERELY ALIVE, BUT IMMORTAL, WITH ROYAL GLORY AND UNIVERSAL PRIESTLY AUTHORITY TO INTERCEDE ON BEHALF OF HUMANKIND CONCERNING THEIR SINS. (A just deed of that superlative quality is a tough act to follow with a needlessly punitive one! [1/13/22])
It was by virtue of this authority, rooted in Christ’s own personal and historically demonstrated faithfulness to the true spirit of the Old Covenant, that he himself constituted a protective shelter concerning the sins of all time, both before his timely appearance in human flesh, but also, and with considerably more understanding and widespread publicity, after his well-attested resurrection from the dead. This all means that the source of Christ’s power and authority to provide such indemnity lies in a perfect sinlessness that, in line with God’s justice, would not permit his disgraceful demise but insured, instead, a glorious restoration, not to favor–FOR HE NEVER FELL OUT OF GOD’S GOOD GRACES, NOT EVEN WHILE ON THE CROSS OR IN THE UNSEEEN–but rather to AN EXPLOSIVE MAGNIFICATION OF GRACIOUSNESS, ALONG WITH ITS OVERFLOW OF DIVINE SPIRITUAL GIFTS (charismata) IN ORDER TO BLESS THE HUMAN RACE IN ITS GRAVE NEED AND MORTAL PERIL. This is the capacious legacy of God’s atonement on our behalf. [9/20/10]
The Premial Atonement 