At the very heart of the gospel is the question, "How can God be right and say that I am right when I am wrong?" That is, how can a just God declare sinful men and women to be in a right standing before Him?
This is a serious question. God is one "who justifies the ungodly" (Romans 4:5). Those who simply trust in Jesus are counted as righteous. No human judge in a respectable court of law would be allowed to get away with that. Just imagine if, in the face of clear evidence, a judge was to turn around to a murderer or a rapist and say, "I'm going to let it go this time." There would be uproar. Big questions would be asked over the integrity of the judge, and the judicial system. Yet we do not seem to be overly concerned about God's integrity when He declares that sinful men and women are in the right before Him because they trust in Jesus alone. Is God unjust?
This brings us to the very heart of the gospel. We must go to the cross of Christ. It is only here that we can answer the question, "Is God right to say that I am right when I am wrong?" If we are to answer this question we must recognise that the cross is not only the means of justifying sinful men and women. At the cross God is also justifying Himself. That is, God is showing His righteousness. At the cross God shows that He is both just and the justifier of sinful men and women who believe in Jesus (Romans 3:25-26). He is declaring that He can act rightly and declare me to be right when I am wrong. At the one and the same time He preserves His justice and justifies the ungodly.
Don Carson in his recent book 'Scandalous' explains this very helpfully. Commenting on Romans 3:21-26 he says this:
The cross is not only the demonstration of God's love; it is the demonstration of God's justice...All of God's justice is worked out in Christ, who takes our curse and penalty in his own body on the tree. That is why Christians speak of satisfying the wrath of God. This expression does not mean that God is up in heaven smirking, "This really satisfies me." It means that the demands of his holiness are met in the sacrifice of his own Son. His justice is satisfied in Jesus' propitiatory sacrifice [a sacrifice that turns aside God's wrath] so that all may see that sin deserves the punishment that he himself has imposed, and the punishment has been meted out. This vindicates God so that he himself is seen to be just, as well as the one who justifies the ungodly (cf. Rom. 4:5). Justification is first and foremost about the vindication of God. God simultaneously preserves his justice while justifying the ungodly. That is the heart of the gospel.
