“…he did it to demonstrate his justice…so as to be just and the one who justifies…”

The issue is character.  Always has been, always will be.  What’s the difference between Christianity and religions?  Pick a religion…any religion.  What do you have at its core?  Let’s start with the monotheistic religions.  In Judaism you have a partial reflection of God’s character, one that focuses almost exclusively on his holiness, his justice and the requirements of his law.  That’s not a bad place to start, but when Judaism is all you have, you end up with an incomplete perspective.  In Islam, you have Allah, a solitary god that will not condescend to his people.  He neither loves nor negotiates with anyone.  It is submit first and don’t ask any questions now, later or ever.  Moving to the major Eastern religions, you have Buddhism, an impersonal religion that operates by telling its followers to deny the distinguishing features of the physical world.  Hinduism has many — far too many! — gods from which to pick and choose.  Many of these gods have strange combinations of animal and human features, numerous appendages, almost suggesting that the genetic creative pool was adversely affected by radiation from a nuclear plant meltdown.

But it’s different with Christianity.  The Scriptures declare one triune God whose character is perfectly holy, totally other than anything we can observe in this universe.  He is the definition of purity, morality, and sanctity.  He is untouched by anything evil, immoral, corrupt, depraved, sinful or wicked.  This describes him in his character.  There is no other god like him, for he is the only one true God.  He has no rival.  Religions offer no competition.  They depend on man’s futile and worthless efforts to keep them going.  They are completely void and destitute of any true character at the core.

Thus when God made the world, he made it like himself: right, true, good, wholesome and perfect.  But in making man, whom he made in his image and likeness (Gen. 1:26), he gave him a knowledge of morality and the freedom to choose between obedience and disobedience.  The purpose was to verify the creature’s desire to either honor his character or dishonor him and themselves, for they were made in his image.  The serpent sold a bill of bad goods to Eve who encouraged her husband to “taste and see.”  Adam’s choice completed the fall and drove the whole human race into perpetual depravity and death.

At this point the character of God jumps in with both feet.  God would have been just to have condemned Adam, Eve and the rest of us to hell had he wanted to and stop there.  If his character were comprised of that side of justice, he would have.  And he would have been no justifier.  Nevertheless, the Apostle Paul tells of another angle of God’s righteous character and justice “apart from the law” (3:21) through his Son Jesus.  He sets the stage for us in Romans 1 and 2 by citing violations of God’s law by both Jew and Gentile.  Then in the classic justification passage of chapter 3, he shifts gears by explaining the other way that God “demonstrate[s] his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus” (v. 26, emphasis added).  God could maintain his righteous character only if a righteous substitute could be found to pay for the evil choice that man made and makes every day.  Jesus perfectly fit the requirement, both for man and God, being God in human form, or ‘God with skin.’  “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement” so that those who believe “are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus” (vs. 24-25).  Thus God’s holiness, his righteous character and his law were not compromised in the least.  Neither was Christ, and neither was man’s responsibility.  He was given a second chance and a second choice.

And the righteous character of God once again rose to the top, only this time seen in combination with love, mercy, kindness, forgiveness, grace and compassion.  It is this part of his character that makes him the justifier of you and me, and everyone who believes.  There is no boasting here (v. 27), only rejoicing.  This was all done as a demonstration of God’s justice (vs. 25-26), that sin would not be ignored or improperly swept under the carpet.  This is what the Old Testament description of God’s justice misses.

That means that you and I are to be similar demonstrations of his justice, manifesting his righteous character, but mixed with love, mercy, kindness, and the rest that makes him our justifier.  How are you doing with your demonstration to others?