24 and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins.

26 It was to show His righteousness at the present time, so that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of works? No, but on that of faith.

28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

— Romans 3:24-28

18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.

19 For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

— Romans 5:18-19

Thoughts on Today’s Reading

Grace, mercy and salvation from Christ to you.

How can the Almighty God justify and declare sinner’s righteous? God’s glorious rule and the restoration of sinners require that He deal with a harsh reality – our sin. How can sinners, infected with sin’s corruption, ever be right with God whose utter holiness demands absolute perfection? The good news is That God’s Word tells us sinners are made right with God not through personal effort, but through faith in Jesus Christ, whose death paid for sins and whose righteousness is imputed to believers.

Through the sacrifice of His Son, God has provided a way for those condemned by sin to find forgiveness and wholeness. When sinners look to Christ for salvation, God graciously attributes to their account Christ’s record of sinless perfection. This glorious declaration is known as justification. God can forgive sinners without compromising His holiness because Christ bore our deserved penalty for our sin through His death on the cross. Then God declares sinners righteous through grace, offering believers regeneration, repentance, and daily cleansing from sin’s corruption.