In Romans 3:10 mankind is described without righteousness: “There is none righteous, no, not one.”

²⁰ … by the deeds of the law there shall NO flesh be justified in his sight: …

²¹ But Now the Righteousness of God Without the Law is manifested, …
²² Even [that is] The Righteousness of God Which Is by Faith of Jesus Christ unto ALL and upon ALL them that BELIEVE: for there is no difference [whether Jew or Gentile]: Romans 3:20-22 (KJV)

Christ was set forth as God’s own one great “Propitiation” for all men … by His death He released us from the necessity of a righteousness and holiness of our own. Christ has become the believer’s righteousness.

Jesus Christ was the One Great ‘Propitiatory’ Sacrifice adequate to pay for the sins of the whole world. It is by His work of ‘Propitiation’ at the Cross that God can justly justify ALL believers of ALL ages who will appropriate The Righteousness of Jesus Christ’s ‘BY FAITH.’ God thereby ‘declares’ us also, His present Grace-age believers, to be … ‘RIGHTEOUS’ as seen here.

²⁶ To declare, I say, AT THIS TIME [after the cross] his [Christ’s] righteousness: [so] that he [Jesus Christ] might be Just, and The Justifier of him [all those] which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26 (KJV)

We know that God in Christ is … ‘The manifest Righteousness of God as The Only Righteous One.’

²¹ For HE [The Father] HATH MADE HIM [Jesus] TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin [He never sinned]; [so] that we [the believers] might be made the ‘righteousness of God in him’ [In union with Christ]. 2 Corinthians 5:21, cf. Rom. 6:3 (KJV)

We now can understand this O.T. prophesy that was never explained until the Lord from heaven revealed its meaning to Paul for us today as expressed in Paul’s epistles.

⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him [Jesus Christ] the iniquity [sins] of us all. Isaiah 53:6 (KJV)

Now Consider how the many attributes of our Righteous God worked together in order to ‘justly’ accomplish the justification and salvation of believers.

• God’s ‘Righteousness’ demands ‘Justice.’ Mankind’s Sin could not we winked at. It had to be paid for.
• Since God alone is ‘the Only Just and Righteous One,’ He alone is able to Justify His believers. He did this through substitutionary Cross-death of Jesus Christ for all mankind.
• We know that “God is Love” (1John 4:8). At a time “before the world began” … God’s ‘Love’ appealed to God’s ‘Wisdom’ to create the ‘Plan’ that would justly justify the sinners whom He foreknew were yet to come and believe.
• That ‘Plan’ could only be fulfilled by The Creator Himself as The Only Just and Righteous One’ … Justifying His fallen Sinful Creatures … of which we are as the offspring of Adam. As self-seeking selves, we’ve all lived our lives apart from knowing and trusting in Christ as our righteousness and as our Savior.
• God’s ‘Plan’ for actually accomplishing the Cross-death of Jesus had to be “KEPT SECRET” as a “mystery of God.” Otherwise, Satan and his “princes,” who were the Romans governmental leaders and Israel’s religious leaders of the time, Would NOT have Cooperated in Crucifying our Lord.

Paul explains this Secret Plan here in the verse below as “The Wisdom of God in a Mystery.”

⁷ But we speak The Wisdom of God in A Mystery [in accord with the ‘SECRET Plan’], even the HIDDEN Wisdom, which God Ordained Before The World Unto Our Glory:

⁸ Which none of the [Satanic] princes of this world knew [the ‘princes’ of the Jews religion and of the Roman government]: for had they known it [God’ secret plan], they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (KJV)

But, why would Satan and his earthly “princes” ‘not’ crucify the Lord if they knew the Mystery Plan of God?

Answer: Christ’s death and resurrection as “the life-giving Spirit (1Cor 15:45) has not only justified us believers but also and made it possible for all men to literally receive the eternal life of Christ as their new and eternal life. I expect that now, in retrospect, Satan would now rather have one living UNcrucified Jesus still in His earthly body … than the Crucified Resurrected Christ in the form of the ‘life-giving Spirit’ now living His life in and through every genuine believer. We represent the multiplication of Christ’s life living in and through in millions of believers on the earth.

Thus, we’ve seen in Part 1 how that God dealt with the “sins that are past” pertaining to the Old Testament believers who believed God’s words before the Cross of Christ. Now also here we see how that “HE [The Father] HATH MADE HIM [Jesus Christ] TO BE SIN FOR US” – that is for us who have believed AFTER the Cross of Christ.

There is a notable difference between us believers today and the of the Old Testament believers. That difference is that we today know from Paul’s epistles, especially from the Epistle to the Romans, how God can be ‘just’ in justifying and saving believing sinners of all ages. Those who believed before this age did not know of the cross let alone its detailed significance in accord with His eternal PLAN.

I’ve heard Christians incorrectly say, “Well the Old Testament folks were looking ahead to the Cross.” But actually, they had no idea of the Cross since that information was part of the Pauline ‘Mystery (secret) Gospel that had been “hid from ages and generations” until it was revealed to Paul for us.

²⁶ Even ‘the mystery’ which hath been hid from ages and from generations, BUT NOW is made manifest to his saints [of this age]: Colossians 1:26 (KJV)

²⁵ Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my [Paul’s] gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [secret], which was kept secret since the world began, Romans 16:25 (KJV)

Jesus Christ was the One propitiatory sacrifice necessary to pay fer the sins of thew whole world. It is by His work of ‘propitiation’ as the One all-sufficient sacrificial sin-payment of Jesus Christ at the Cross, that God can justify us. He thereby declares us believers, His present age Grace believers, to be … ‘RIGHTEOUS’ as seen here.

²⁶ To declare, I say, AT THIS TIME [after the cross] his [Christ’s] righteousness: [so] that he [Jesus Christ] might be Just, and The Justifier of him [all those] which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3:26 (KJV)

But, how exactly was this accomplished by God, what exactly did He do?

Consider this, first, we know that God in Christ is ‘The Righteous One.’

²¹ For HE [The Father] HATH MADE HIM [Jesus] TO BE SIN FOR US, who knew no sin [He never sinned]; [so] that we [the believers] might be made the ‘righteousness of God in him’ [In union with Christ]. 2 Corinthians 5:21, cf. Rom. 6:3 (KJV)

Now Consider how the many attributes of our Righteous God worked together in order to ‘justly’ accomplish the salvation of believers.

• God’s ‘Righteousness’ demands ‘Justice.’ Mankind’s Sin could not we winked at. It had to be paid for.
• Since God alone is ‘the Just One,’ He alone is able to Justify His believers. He did this through substitutionary Cross-death of Jesus Christ.
• We know that “God is Love” (1John 4:8). At a time before the world began … God’s love appealed to God’s ‘Wisdom’ to create a ‘Plan’ that would justly justify sinners, which He foreknew were yet to come.
• That ‘Plan’ could only be fulfilled by The Creator Himself as The Only Righteous One’ … Justifying His fallen Sinful Creatures … which we are as the offspring of Adam. As self-seeking selves, we’ve all lived our lives apart from knowing and trusting in Christ as our righteousness and our Savior.
• God’s ‘Plan’ for actually accomplishing the Cross-death of Jesus had to be “kept secret” as a “mystery of God.” Otherwise, Satan and his “princes,” who were the Romans governmental leaders and Israel’s religious leaders of the time, would NOT haves have cooperated in crucifying our Lord. Paul explains this plan here in the verse below.

⁷ But we speak The Wisdom of God in A Mystery [in accord with a ‘SECRET Plan’], even the HIDDEN wisdom, which God Ordained Before The World Unto Our Glory:

⁸ Which none of the [Satanic] princes of this world knew [the princes of the Jews religion and of the Roman government]: for had they known it [God’ secret plan], they would NOT have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:7-8 (KJV)

Why ‘not’? This is because, in retrospect, Satan now would rather have a living UNcrucified Jesus than the crucified resurrected Christ living His life in and through every genuine believer … as the multiplication of His life on earth.

Thus, we see how that God dealt with the “sins that are past” pertaining to the Old Testament believers and also how that “HE [The Father] HATH MADE HIM [Jesus] TO BE SIN FOR US” – we who have believed AFTER the Cross of Christ.

There is a notable difference between us believers today and the of the Old Testament believers. That difference is that we today know from Paul’s epistles, especially Romans, how God can be ‘just’ in saving believing sinners, whereas those before this age did not know. I’ve heard Christians incorrectly say, “Well the Old Testament folks were looking ahead to the Cross.” But actually, they had no idea of the Cross since the was part of the Pauline Mystery Gospel that was “hid from ages and generations” until it was revealed to Paul for us. ²⁶ Even ‘the mystery’ which hath been hid from ages and from generations, BUT NOW is made manifest to his saints [of this age]: Colossians 1:26 (KJV)