Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
What can be more beneficial to one that loves God than to be justified by God? Paul is telling us this very fact. Our righteousness has come and God is satisfied. In the satisfaction of God we find our justification. Paul has built up to this moment to declare that we are justified in connection with all that he has written until this point. Christ was set forth to be that sacrifice that satisfied God. He was set forth as the bloody sacrifice, the mercyseat. This mercyseat, this propitiation was the climax to what Paul calls the faith of Christ. It was that event that finally appeased the wrath of God. Not only did this appease God, but it also wiped away any charge laid to our account.
Ephesians 1:4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: 5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Justification has 2 primary aspects. Being justified is to be acquitted of any and all guilt and to also be seen or declared as righteous. It is to be forgiven. It is to be guiltless. It is to be viewed in the eyes of God as righteous. God is judge and He has declared us righteous. It is important to make the distinction that this is a declaration. Though we continue to sin in life, God views us in light of the accomplishment of His Son. The one who worked out righteousness in His obedience unto death is righteous. All those who were in the Son are therefore seen just as righteous as He. If Christ represented you there on the cross, if you are part of the seed of Christ then God the Father views you just as He does God the Son. What He earned is yours. In Ephesians 1 above, we are said to be without blame, that is acquitted of any and all guilt or condemnation, and we are said to be accepted; in other words considered by God to be righteous. God cannot accept a sinner, He despises iniquity. God loves only that which is righteous.
Some would say how is any of this fair. How could any be declared righteous. Remember, we all were once considered sinners.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
All did sin in Adam and all have sinned in life. God being righteous, how could he declare a sinner justified? Paul has built up to this very idea. God remains holy and just and good because He did not simply let sin slide. Every sin demands punishment by a righteous and holy God. In Christ, in the body and soul of our Savior, God was punishing sin. In that propitiation the sin of all those who were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world in Eph 1:4 above was dealt with. Sin was punished; sin was put upon the one who came to stand in the place for all those chosen. God set forth Christ for this purpose, Rom 3:25. God had to do something for Himself before He could declare the justification for all those whom He had chosen. Even we who were chosen stood condemned by our fall in the first Adam as well as by the sins we committed in life. God had to satisfy His holy judgment toward our sin before He could declare us holy and without blame. That event, that action that He had to perform was the propitiation we have been studying. For God to declare any righteous, the penalty due that sin had to be paid and a righteousness to impute had to exist. Neither existed until those words of Christ were proclaimed; it is finished. This justification was conditional, but no condition was laid upon man. No decision, no baptism, no faith, no law, no nothing. The condition was Christ’s fulfillment of the law and His obedience unto death and as we just said it was finished. To add one condition is to say that God saw the work of Christ as not sufficient to save His people.
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.
Then and there Christ saved all His people from their sins. Those before, during, and after the cross were all delivered from the penalty of sin and wrath of God all at once. If He died for all men and His work is effectual then every single person ever born was saved. If He died and none were justified then and there, then we must ask what else would God require than His obedience unto death. The fact is He died, saving all those chosen to salvation. Christ was set forth a propitiation; He was set forth to justify His people. Nothing Paul was proclaiming here occurred until God the Father saw the blood. The blood had to be spilled to satisfy God. When that blood was spilled, He was satisfied. By the obedience unto death of Christ, justification came to all His seed.
Romans 8:33 Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. How could God be just to justify? He could be just because He dealt with sin in a just way. He did not let sin go unpunished, He chose to deal with our sin in the body and soul of His Son. None can lay a charge to our accounts for God has justified us in the propitiation that was the sacrifice of His dear Son. I exhort you to see the satisfaction of the Father and rest not adding one condition to the finished work of Jesus Christ our Lord. In His work, God is just to justify and in this God proclaims His righteousness in that He justified us. It is true that He justifies all those who believe on His name. Do not confuse this matter, in our day the belief came after that justification. Do not forget all that Paul has been building up to this point. The work is done, all that is left is for the Spirit to reveal the righteousness earned by Christ, it is from the faith to our faith as seen in Romans 1:17.