"The Sins That Are Past" - Romans 3

This article was guest authored by: 

 

In Romans Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul declares that God has set forth Christ as a satisfaction for man’s sin and that redemption is obtained by faith in “His blood,” or His payment for sin at Calvary, entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise (Rom. 3:21-26 below).

“But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets, 22  Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ.

[And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23  Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.

24  [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

25  Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a Mercy Seat and Propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be Received] Through ‘Faith.’

This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former (past) sins without punishment. 26  It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season of grace) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 (AMP)

In this same passage he states that this remission of sins also concerns the “sins that are past” (Ver. 25).

What does he mean by this?

Some have taught from this verse that when a sinner turns to God for salvation all his sins are forgiven only up to that time and now that he is saved he is henceforth responsible for himself. But this would mean that God saves men by His grace only to turn them over again to their own weak and sinful natures. If this were the case, the converted sinner would be lost again the same day, for what Christian believer is wholly free from sin?

Paul rather looks back here at past ages and declares that we now know and proclaim that believing men like Abel, Noah and Abraham, and also like Moses, David and Daniel (who lived under the Law) were actually saved by the redemption wrought by Christ, although Christ’s death was still future in their day.

In other words, Christ died, not only for the sins which we have committed, but also for the “sins which are past.” The believers of past ages simply believed what God told them then, and God counted them righteous (Gen. 15:6) on the basis of Christ’s coming payment for sin.

We have the same truth set forth in Hebrews 9:15, where we are told that Christ’s death availed also “for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, i.e., under the Law given to Israel. They were saved by their faith in God’s words, not by the Law.

How blessed we are to live at a time when God’s plan of salvation has been fully revealed, and that we can now look to the Lord Jesus Christ and exclaim with Paul:

“He loved me, and gave Himself for me!” (Gal. 2:20).

In Romans Chapter 3 the Apostle Paul declares that God has set forth Christ as a satisfaction for man’s sin and that redemption is obtained by faith in “His blood,” or His payment for sin at Calvary, entirely apart from works, religious or otherwise (Rom. 3:21-26 below).

“But now the righteousness of God has been revealed independently and altogether apart from the Law, although actually it is attested by the Law and the Prophets, 22  Namely, the righteousness of God which comes by believing with personal trust and confident reliance on Jesus Christ.

[And it is meant] for all who believe. For there is no distinction, 23  Since all have sinned and are falling short of the honor and glory which God bestows and receives.

24  [All] are justified and made upright and in right standing with God, freely and gratuitously by His grace (His unmerited favor and mercy), through the redemption which is [provided] in Christ Jesus,

25  Whom God put forward [before the eyes of all] as a Mercy Seat and Propitiation by His blood [the cleansing and life-giving sacrifice of atonement and reconciliation, to be Received] Through ‘Faith.’

This was to show God's righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over and ignored former (past) sins without punishment. 26  It was to demonstrate and prove at the present time (in the now season of grace) that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies and accepts as righteous him who has [true] faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26 (AMP)

But in this same passage he states that this remission concerns the “sins that are past” (Ver. 25).

What does he mean by this?

Some have taught from this verse that when a sinner turns to God for salvation all his sins are forgiven only up to that time and now that he is saved he is henceforth responsible for himself. But this would mean that God saves men by His grace only to turn them over again to their own weak and sinful natures. If this were the case, the converted sinner would be lost again the same day, for what Christian believer is wholly free from sin?

Paul rather looks back here at past ages and declares that we now know and proclaim that believing men like Abel, Noah and Abraham, and also like Moses, David and Daniel (who lived under the Law) were actually saved by the redemption wrought by Christ, although Christ’s death was still future in their day.

In other words, Christ died, not only for the sins which we have committed, but also for the “sins which are past.” The believers of past ages simply believed what God told them then, and God counted them righteous (Gen. 15:6) on the basis of Christ’s coming payment for sin.

We have the same truth set forth in Hebrews 9:15, where we are told that Christ’s death availed also “for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first covenant, i.e., under the Law given to Israel. They were saved by their faith in God’s words, not by the Law.

How blessed we are to live at a time when God’s plan of salvation has been fully revealed, and that we can now look to the Lord Jesus Christ and exclaim with Paul:

“He loved me, and gave Himself for me!” (Gal. 2:20).