“God presented Him as an atoning sacrifice in His blood, received through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His restraint God passed over the sins previously committed. God presented Him to demonstrate His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.”
– Romans 3:25-26
The Cross at the Center
If redemption is the price of our freedom, propitiation is the reason that price was necessary. Romans 3:25-26 takes us to the very center of the gospel. These are not just two of the most important verses in Romans; they are among the most important in all of Scripture.
Here, Paul answers the ultimate question:
How can a righteous God forgive guilty people and still remain righteous Himself?
The answer is found at the cross. God’s justice was satisfied, His wrath poured out, His mercy revealed, all in one act of holy love. The wrath we deserved fell on Christ.
The Meaning of Propitiation
Paul says that God “presented Him as an atoning sacrifice.” The Greek word is hilastērion, translated in some versions as propitiation. It literally refers to the mercy seat: the golden cover of the Ark of the Covenant where, once a year, the high priest sprinkled the blood of sacrifice on the Day of Atonement.
The mercy seat was the place where God’s wrath was turned away, and fellowship with Him was restored.
That’s the picture Paul is painting. Christ is now the true mercy seat, not in a temple made by hands, but on a cross outside Jerusalem. 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. Jesus is both the Priest who offers and the Sacrifice that is offered. Law demanded punishment for the guilty, but grace provided the Substitute.1
The Wrath That Was Owed
Wrath is not a word we like to hear, but it’s essential to understanding grace. God’s wrath is not uncontrolled anger, it’s His holy response to sin. It is what divine justice requires when holiness is violated. If God simply ignored sin, He would cease to be righteous. Sin must be punished, or God would cease to be just.
Isaiah foresaw it seven hundred years earlier:
“He was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities; the punishment for our peace was on Him, and we are healed by His wounds.” (Isaiah 53:5–6)
The cross is where divine justice was satisfied. The debt of sin was fully paid: not ignored, not postponed, but executed in full upon the Son of God. Grace does not mean God looked away from sin; it means He looked straight at it and dealt with it through the death of His Son.”2
The Restraint of God
Paul explains that the cross was necessary because “in His restraint, God passed over the sins previously committed.” This doesn’t mean God ignored those sins. It means He delayed the full execution of judgment until the cross. Before Calvary, God forgave people based on a sacrifice that had not yet been offered. Their faith pointed forward to what Christ would do. They were forgiven on credit.
The cross is retroactive in its power. It reaches backward and forward to cover all who believe. That’s why God’s “passing over” the sins of the past does not compromise His justice: it magnifies His patience.
From Adam to Abraham, from David to Daniel, every forgiven sinner stood under the promise of a future payment. When Jesus cried out, “It is finished,” that payment cleared every debt.
The Demonstration of Righteousness
Twice, Paul says the cross “demonstrates” God’s righteousness. The cross is the clearest revelation of God’s character ever displayed. At Calvary, God proved that He is both righteous and merciful. His justice was not compromised; His love was not withheld. Grace is not God turning a blind eye to sin, but God dealing with sin through the death of His Son.3
The cross declares that God’s law is unbreakable, and His grace is unstoppable. It shows that God does not change. He didn’t relax His standards to forgive us. He met those standards Himself. Moser said it simply: “At Calvary the Judge took the judgment upon Himself.”4
The Just and the Justifier
This is the climax of Paul’s argument:
“So that He would be righteous and declare righteous the one who has faith in Jesus.” (Romans 3:26)
In those words, the entire plan of salvation finds its resolution. God remained just because sin was punished. God became the justifier because He bore that punishment Himself. The holiness of God demanded that sin be condemned. The love of God desired that sinners be saved. At the cross, both were accomplished.
The wrath that justice demanded fell on Christ; the mercy that love desired now falls on us.
Standing in the Shadow of the Cross
The truth of propitiation humbles us. If wrath fell on Him, then mercy falls on us. If He took the judgment, then we now stand in grace. This truth silences pride and stirs worship. It reminds us that salvation is not a transaction of works but a display of grace. 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.
When we stand at the foot of the cross, we see what our sin cost, and what God was willing to pay.
Romans 5:9 puts it this way:
“How much more then, since we have now been justified by His blood, will we be saved through Him from wrath.”
The wrath we deserved was fully satisfied in Him. That’s why we sing. That’s why we worship. That’s why we live in peace.
The Message for Us
Propitiation is not a word we use every day, but it names the most important reality in the universe: At the cross, God’s wrath was satisfied, His justice upheld, and His grace unleashed. In Jesus, the Judge took our place.
The punishment due to us was poured out on Him, so that righteousness could be poured out on us. God is still just, and He is the justifier of all who believe.
The wrath that was ours fell on Him.
The mercy that was His now falls on us.
That’s the gospel.
That’s the glory of the cross.
Moser: The Gist of Romans, p. 16.
Cottrell: God Most High, p. 373.
Cottrell: God Most High, p. 374.
Moser: The Gist of Romans, p. 17.