22 Therefore IT WAS ALSO CREDITED TO HIM AS RIGHTEOUSNESS.
23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,
24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
V. 22 - “Therefore” - Based on Abraham’s faith, the following happens, quoted from Gen. 15:6.
I am not sure this is saying Abraham was actually righteous, but he is now treated as being righteous by God. Looking at the Biblical record of Abraham, we can see he was not perfect. He lied about Sarah (or Sarai) being his sister because he feared for his life. Had either of the kings actually had sex with her, all three would have sinned against the Lord. He questioned the Lord when told Sarah and he would have a son. Yet, like David later on, Abraham trusted the Lord, confessed to the Lord, and obeyed Him. Because Abraham acted on his belief in what the Lord told him, he is considered righteous.
V. 23-24 - “Now not for his sake only was it written” - The record was not written for Abraham, but for us. We need to know this (being treated as righteous) is possible for you and me.
This has massive implications for you and me as believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior! As we stand before God the Father, Jesus steps up and says “This person is mine. My righteousness is his.” God acknowledges that Christ’s sacrifice paid the price, and indeed we are acceptable to a God as righteous.
Wowsers!
V. 25 - “He who was delivered over because of our transgressions” - Jesus was handed to the Romans to be executed. He was handed over to death. That is the penalty for sin. The example for this in Leviticus chapters 4, 5, and 16.
He was not forced to do this. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Phil 2:5-9)
Our sin ‘sent’ Him to the cross to be the sacrifice. He did this from love, not coercion. My sin, your sin, separated me and you from God. In our sin, we cannot be with Him in eternity.
“Was raised because of our justification.” - There is no Old Testament “type” or model of resurrection we can call on. We have prophecy, but not examples. In Abraham, Melchizedek, Moses, and Leviticus Priests we have as “types” of Christ in the Old Testament. The resurrection is a “mystery” - a truth of God revealed in the NT for our benefit. See: (Acts 2:31, 4:2, 33, 26:23; 1 Cor. 15:21; 1 Pet. 1:3) Christ, the perfect sacrifice, died on the cross. His death paid the penalty for our sin - NOT HIS, but OUR SIN.
His resurrection is the proof the sacrifice was completely satisfactory, and the debt paid. God the Father has accepted Jesus’ sacrifice, and now no longer sees the believer as a sin-stained wretch. When God looks at each of us, as individuals (not as a group), He knows the basis for our presence before and with Him is His Son and His Son’s resurrection. It is all the proof, the only proof He needs. I am saved in Christ alone. Praise God. Praise the Son. Praise the Holy Spirit.
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