“They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood, received through faith.”
Your salvation cost God everything.
In Romans 3:24-25, Paul moves from the wonder of grace to the price that made it possible. Salvation, though freely offered to sinners, came through the costliest exchange in history: the blood of Christ. These verses open a window into the heart of God, revealing both His justice and His mercy, both His wrath against sin and His love for the sinner.
The Price of Freedom
The word redemption means freedom purchased at a cost. In the first century, it referred to the price paid to free a slave or a prisoner of war. It’s a word of deliverance, but never without sacrifice.
That is precisely what God did for us. We were enslaved to sin and powerless to free ourselves. But Jesus paid the ransom with His own blood. Grace is the gift; redemption is the payment that made the gift possible. K. C. Moser wrote, “We are saved upon the principle of grace, but grace stands upon the cross.” (The Gist of Romans, p. ix.)
Grace may be free to the sinner, but it came at infinite cost to God.
The Meaning of Redemption
To redeem means to buy back what was lost. That’s what God did at Calvary. We belonged to Him by creation, but sin separated us from His fellowship. Redemption means He purchased us back by paying the price of our release.
Paul wrote,
“In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace.” (Ephesians 1:7)
From Genesis to Revelation, redemption always involves substitution: the innocent dying for the guilty. Jesus’ death was not accidental or incidental. It was purposeful. It was sacrificial. It was necessary. God Himself designed it as the means of removing our guilt.
That’s the message of the cross: our debt, His payment.
Peter expressed it clearly:
“You were redeemed… not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
In Christ Jesus: The Source of Redemption
Paul is careful to say that redemption is in Christ Jesus. That short phrase carries eternal weight. There is no redemption apart from Him.
Every spiritual blessing: forgiveness, peace, adoption, and hope, exists only in union with Christ (Ephesians 1:3). We are not simply rescued by Christ; we are redeemed into Him. Jack Cottrell observed, “The blood of Christ is not a mere symbol of forgiveness; it is the very price of it. It satisfies the justice of God, purchasing for us what we could never afford.” (God Most High, p. 372.)
The cross is the center of everything God has ever done for humanity. Our redemption is personal, not abstract, secured by a real Savior, in a real body, shedding real blood for real sin.
Whom God Presented: The Initiative of God
Paul continues, “God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice.”
Those words change everything. The cross was not man’s idea; it was God’s plan.
The phrase “God presented” means God Himself set Jesus forth as the offering for sin. It was a public display of divine love and justice. Moser captured it this way: “Law demanded punishment for the guilty, but grace provided the Substitute.” (The Gist of Romans, p. 16.)
God took the initiative. We were in no position to do it. It goes beyond human comprehension to contemplate that while we were still guilty, God devised a plan to forgive our sins.
That is what Paul describes here: God Himself doing for us what we could never do for ourselves. The gospel begins, not with man reaching up, but with God reaching down.
As a Propitiation in His Blood: The Satisfaction of Justice
Here Paul uses one of the most profound words in Scripture: propitiation (Greek hilastērion). It means “the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift.”
In the Old Testament, it referred to the mercy seat, the gold cover of the Ark of the Covenant, where the high priest sprinkled the blood of sacrifice once a year. It was the place where God’s justice and mercy met. “Propitiation is the removal of wrath by the offering of a gift. Humanity stood condemned and helpless. God Himself offered the gift that satisfied His own justice.”
At Calvary, Jesus became that mercy seat. The wrath that should have fallen on us fell on Him. As Cottrell wrote, “Grace does not mean sin is ignored; it means sin has been judged — but in Christ.” (God Most High, p. 373.)
The cross shows that God remains just while justifying the ungodly (Romans 3:26). He didn’t compromise His holiness to save us; He satisfied it through the blood of His Son.
Through Faith: The Response of the Redeemed
Paul ends this verse by saying this redemption is “received through faith.”
Faith is how we accept the benefits of the cross. It’s not payment for salvation but trust in the payment already made. Moser explained, “Grace demands faith, for faith is the only attitude that honors the gift.” (The Gist of Romans, p. xix.) Faith is the open hand that receives what God freely gives. It’s not a one-time decision but a continual trust: a lifelong reliance on the sufficiency of Christ’s blood.
Romans 5:1 says,
“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Faith brings peace because it rests, not in what we’ve done, but in what Jesus has finished.
Living as the Redeemed
If we’ve been redeemed, we belong to God. Paul said, “You were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body.” (1 Corinthians 6:20) Redemption changes everything. It changes how we live, what we value, and whom we serve. The redeemed are not people trying to prove themselves to God: they are people living in gratitude for what God has done.
Jesus’ death changes everything. The cross is the great turning point in history. It is there that the guilt of sin was removed, the justice of God was upheld, and the door of grace was opened to all who believe.
That’s our story. We were slaves, but now we’re free. We were guilty, but now we’re justified. We were condemned, but now we’re children of God.
The Message for Us
Romans 3:24–25 teaches that salvation is a righteous act of divine mercy. God satisfied His own justice through the blood of His Son so that He could freely justify sinners who come to Him in faith. Grace is not God overlooking sin. Grace is God paying for sin Himself.
We are redeemed by His blood.
This is the center of the gospel.
It’s the reason we sing, serve, and stand in hope.
Freely given.
Fully paid.
Secure by His blood.
