So the Gospel is also God’s justifying word about Himself, since under the old covenant, with its symbolic sacrificial system, it appeared as if God was ignoring the sins of those who simply trusted in Him for forgiveness (Rom. 3:25). Now, in the shadow of the cross, it is possible to see that Jesus is the reason that God could justify the ungodly, like Abraham and David (cf. Rom. 4:1-8), without compromising His own integrity. When God forgave His people in the past, He do so looking forward to the cross of Christ as the basis of and revelation of that divine righteousness which makes forgiveness possible. The death of Jesus demonstrated with finality God’s “justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26).

Scott Hafemann (b. 1954), Theologe und Neutestamentler

Related Bible passage: ROM.3.25

Topics: Grace & Redemption, God, Jesus & the Holy Spirit, The Bible & the Word of God

Occasions: For Reflection

Scott Hafemann

Scott Hafemann (* 1954) ist ein US-amerikanischer evangelikaler Neutestamentler und Theologe, der unter anderem am Wheaton College, am Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary und an der University of St Andrews lehrte. Bekannt ist er für seine Arbeiten zur paulinischen Theologie, insbesondere zum zweiten Korintherbrief, sowie für die theologische Betonung der Kontinuität von Altem und Neuem Testament. Bibellesern vermittelt seine Exegese ein vertieftes Schriftverständnis, das alttestamentliche Verheißungen eng mit praktischer Kreuzesnachfolge und Glaubensgehorsam verbindet.

All quotes by Scott Hafemann (39)

More on this topic

It wasn't the nails that held Jesus to the cross. It was love.

Max Lucado

Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.

Philip Yancey

In our own woundedness, we can become sources of life for others.

Henri Nouwen

God does not love us because we are lovable, but because his nature is love.

Oswald Chambers

We live out of the boundless riches of Christ. Some of us talk as if our heavenly Father had fobbed us off with pocket money.

Oswald Chambers

God counts on your failure far more than you do yourself.

Hans Peter Royer

Ultimately mourning means facing what wounds us in the presence of One who can heal.

Henri Nouwen

The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.

Tim Keller

All quotes · lumen.bible

lumen.bible