Names of God: YHVH, part 16. The righteousness of God is a gift; Rom 3:21-26.

Title: Names of God: YHVH, part 16. The righteousness of God is a gift; ROM 3:21-26.

 

 

ROM 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

 

ROM 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction [God's justice is satisfied only by faith in Christ];

 

ROM 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

ROM 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 

ROM 3:25 whom God displayed publicly [at Calvary in front of all] as a propitiation [satisfying His own justice] in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

 

Propitiation is the place of satisfaction. It is a gift from God as is His love. Pagans tried to satisfy their gods with gifts and sacrifices, in essence buying their love and hoping to avoid wrath. God's love is not for sale. It must be given in grace and we have it through the sacrifice of Christ. We do not ever earn it.

 

Since God is fully satisfied with us and He has freely poured out his love to us, we can love Him in return and love others with His agape love.

 

We love one another from a satisfied position. God fills us because He is free to do so through Christ's expiatory propitiation. We are not looking to the object of love for satisfaction.

 

1JO 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

 

1JO 4:8 The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

 

agape: sacrificial love that is not motivated by attraction or personal desire, which seeks the benefit of another with no thought of self. It is God's love and works out of a fulfilled and satisfied heart.

 

Agape is the sacrifice of the Lord upon the cross.

 

1JO 4:9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

 

1JO 4:10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

 

Propitiation is tied to the life of peace. We are free to love others because we are in the place of fulfillment and satisfaction. We are not looking to love others in order to receive fulfillment. We are already filled.

 

ROM 3:21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,

 

ROM 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;

 

ROM 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

 

ROM 3:24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

 

ROM 3:25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

 

"passed over" - pa,resij[paresis] = to pass over or dismiss. Only used here in the NT.

 

God passed over the sins previously committed. By His mercy, He did not judge them. God saved people before they were atoned for. He reckoned people as righteous before they were officially. He forgave before sins were atoned for and He was propitiated. This does not make God to have an arbitrary and uncaring position on sin.

 

In the mind of God the cross was always a reality and so He could save sinners before it occurred. However He would not show all of Himself before it.

 

ACT 2:22 "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know — 

 

ACT 2:23 this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.

 

ACT 2:24 "And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

 

This means that the salvation of the OT saint was never in the balance. When a person exercised faith in the gospel as it was then revealed, they were saved eternally. God always maintained the righteousness of His saints in the OT while maintaining His own righteousness.

 

Thus, the believing sinner is saved not only by the mercy of God, but by the righteousness of God, for his salvation rests upon the fact that his sins are paid for and justice has been maintained. Thus, God is just and at the same time the One who justifies the believing sinner.

 

ROM 3:25b This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

 

ROM 3:26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

 

Righteousness was credited to the OT saints who by faith were saved men and women. But they had not yet stood in a position that would allow them to see God face to face. When they died they went into the ground in Hades, but when the Lord died for them, He went to Hades and freed them from their temporary holding place, and they all beheld the face of God for the first time.

 

So we return to Mt. Sinai and to the scene that led us to study HEB 10:1-26 and ROM 3:21-26.

 

EXO 33:17 And the Lord said to Moses, "I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name."

 

EXO 33:18 Then Moses said, "I pray Thee, show me Thy glory!"

 

EXO 33:19 And He said, "I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion."

 

EXO 33:20 But He said, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!"

 

EXO 33:21 Then the Lord said, "Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock;

 

EXO 33:22 and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by.

 

EXO 33:23 Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen."

 

EXO 34:1 Now the Lord said to Moses, "Cut out for yourself two stone tablets like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you shattered.

 

EXO 34:2 So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.

 

EXO 34:3 And no man is to come up with you, nor let any man be seen anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds may not graze in front of that mountain."

 

EXO 34:4 So he cut out two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses rose up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took two stone tablets in his hand.

 

EXO 34:5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he called upon the name of the Lord.

 

EXO 34:6 Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth;

 

"Yavah, Yavah, El…" compassionate, gracious, steadfast love, truth, forgiving, and righteous.

 

EXO 34:7 who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations."

 

Elohim is often used in passages that speak of God's sovereignty, while Yavah is used in passages that speak of personal redemption.

 

This is not a solid rule. Elohim is used with terms like mercy, grace, lovingkindness, etc. When we look at the thousands of usages of each name, we can say that more often Yavah is used in passages that speak of personal redemption and Elohim is used in connection with power and sovereignty.

 

For example: Elohim gave commands to Noah, but Yavah shut the door of the ark.

 

GEN 7:16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, entered as God had commanded him; and the Lord closed it behind him.

 

In PSA 19:1-6, the heavens declare the glory of Elohim, but in 19:7-14, Yavah is "my Rock and my Redeemer."

 

Other compound names include YHVH followed by a divine trait. If we remember that YHVH comes from the imperfect of the verb to be or to become, meaning that He was, is, and will always be that what He is, then the trait given in the compound name is the “that”.

 

Compound names of YHVH. “I keep on being that which I keep on being.” The compound provides the “that” of which He always was, is, and will be.

 

GEN 22:9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there, and arranged the wood, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

 

GEN 22:10 And Abraham stretched out his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

 

GEN 22:11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

 

GEN 22:12 And he said, "Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me."

 

GEN 22:13 Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns; and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son.

 

GEN 22:14 And Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide, as it is said to this day, "In the mount of the Lord it will be provided."

 

Sure enough, on that mountain, about 1900 years from then, God would provide everything by the blood of Christ.

 

YHVH yireh (He has, is, and will always provide). On this very hill God would provide is only begotten Son as a sacrifice for the sins of the world.