What is the connection between God’s patience and his display of righteousness?

Explanation:

Paul says that God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice (Romans 3:25). He then writes that this was to show God’s righteousness, which is related to the fact that in his patience, God passed over former sins. To understand how God’s patience displays his righteousness, we need to understand the meaning of the word behind passed over. It is the noun πάρεσις, in the accusative form, and it means postponement of punishment.¹ So Paul is saying that God, in his patience, postponed the punishment of former sins, and because of this he displays his righteousness by putting Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice.

Now that we understand that God’s righteousness is displayed through the sacrifice of Christ because God postponed the punishment of former sins, we can understand the implicit connection between God’s patience and his display of righteousness. Paul is saying that in his patience God delayed punishing former sins, but because God is righteous, justice must be satisfied. That is, God’s nature is perfectly just, so he can only postpone punishment of past sins, not overlook them entirely. So, God puts Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice to pay for the sins committed in the past, which displays God’s righteousness in that, it displays that God’s justice is intact. 

Counterargument:

We could interpret the term πάρεσις in a number of ways. For example, we could interpret the term as forgive.² If we take it in that sense rather than as postponement of punishment, Paul is saying that God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice to display his righteousness, which has to do with forgiving former sins. That is, in his patience God forgave former sins, and relatedly, he put Jesus forward as a sacrifice of atonement to display his righteousness. If read this way, Paul is saying that God put Jesus forward as a sacrifice of atonement to display God’s covenant faithfulness in patience, forgiving former sins. ³

Another way to interpret πάρεσις is in the sense of deliberate disregard.⁴ If that is Paul’s meaning, then he is not saying that God can only postpone punishment, for to deliberately disregard is to overlook entirely. If God can overlook former sins entirely, there is no reason for him to put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice to display his just nature.

Response to counterargument:

There are two problems with this counterargument. First, translating the term πάρεσις as forgiveness is not plausible, because no ancient writers use the term in that sense. So it ought to be rejected.⁵

Second, if we translate the term as deliberately disregard rather than postponement of punishment, this does not alter the fact that God’s patience is connected to God’s righteousness, in that God deliberately disregarded sins in the past, so now his justice is displayed through the atoning sacrifice of Christ. For, deliberate disregard in the past does not imply that God will never punish past sins so that his justice is satisfied. Rather, it simply implies that formerly God deliberately disregarded the sins, but in order for his justice to be satisfied, he put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice.

Explanation:

To understand the connection between God’s patience and righteousness we need to determine how Paul uses the term righteousness in Romans 3:25. That is, when Paul says that God’s righteousness is displayed due to his patience in overlooking former sins, is he referring to God’s attribute of righteousness or is he referring to God’s saving action? If he is referring to God’s attribute of righteousness, he is saying that because God overlooked former sins, he displays his attribute of righteousness by putting Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice. His attribute of righteousness has to do with his justice, so Paul would be saying that God’s attribute of justice is displayed because he overlooked former sins. The fact is, we have good reason to think that Paul has God’s attribute of justice in mind because he refers to God’s justice in other passages in Romans. For example, in Romans 3:5 he says that our unrighteousness serves to show God’s righteousness.⁶ Likewise, in Romans 2:5 Paul says that the hard of heart store up wrath for when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. Similarly, in Romans 3:25 Paul is referring to God’s attribute of righteousness.

So Paul says that God put Jesus forward to display his attribute of righteousness, or justice, because, in his patience, God overlooked former sins. In other words, God did not punish former sins right away, but because he is just, he displays his justice by putting Jesus forward as an atonement sacrifice for sin.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that Paul not only refers to God’s attribute of righteousness in Romans, but he also refers to God’s saving action as his righteousness. For example, in Romans 3:21 Paul says that God’s righteousness, which has to do with his saving action, has been manifested apart from the law. Of course, that Paul refers to God’s saving action as his righteousness undercuts the notion that he only uses it to refer to God’s attribute of righteousness.

Response to counterargument:

The argument here is not that Paul only uses the term righteousness to refer to God’s righteousness, but that because he uses it in other places in Romans, this is a viable option for Romans 3:25. Of course, once we consider the text in its broad and immediate context, this interpretation becomes convincing. For we know from Romans 1:18–3:20 that God has stored up wrath against sin, and that God is impartial. At the same time, we know that in his patience, God has passed over former sins (Romans 3:25). In fact, Paul also explains this to the Athenians, saying that the times of ignorance are over and God now commands all to repent (Acts 17:30).⁷ So we know Paul uses the term righteousness to refer to God’s attribute of righteousness or justice. We also know that God is impartial, hates sin, and in his patience overlooked former sins, but now his righteousness, or justice, is displayed through the atoning death of Christ. Thus, we can see that Paul is saying that while God was patient to overlook sin for a time, his righteousness, or justice, is now on display in that he puts Jesus forward to take the penalty for sin.

It is hard to see what the weakness of this view might be. Paul says the reason God put Jesus forward is because in his patience, he overlooked former sins. In other words, the reason God put Jesus forward was to show his righteousness in light of the fact that he overlooked former sins.

Explanation:

To understand what it means that Jesus’ atoning sacrifice displays God’s righteousness, we need to consider the meaning of righteousness. We can do so by considering what Paul means by the term in other sections of Romans. For example, in Romans 1:17 he says that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. What he means is that God’s saving action in Jesus Christ is revealed from faith for faith. Likewise, in Romans 3:5 Paul essentially asks, If our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, is God just to punish us? What he is asking is whether our unrighteousness, which motivates God’s saving action through the gospel, implies that God should not punish sin. Thus, in both Romans 1:17 and Romans 3:5 the term righteousness is a technical term that refers to God’s saving action.

Likely, Paul has this same meaning in mind in Romans 3:25. That is, likely he is saying that the atoning sacrifice of Christ displays God’s saving action.⁸

Counterargument:

While it is true that Paul sometimes uses the term righteousness to refer to God’s saving action, this is not always how he uses the term. That is, sometimes he uses it to refer to God’s attribute of righteousness.⁹ Further, the notion that Paul uses righteousness to refer to God’s saving action is ruled out by the rest of the clause. For when we continue reading Romans 3:25, Paul gives us the reason why God displays his righteousness through the atoning work of Christ. In particular, Paul writes that God displays his righteousness because in his patience he passed over former sins. Now, if we take it that Paul uses righteousness to refer to God’s saving action, Paul would be saying that God displays his saving action because in his patience he passed over former sins. Unfortunately, it does not make sense to say that God displays his saving action because he passed over former sins, because if he passed over former sins, it is not clear why God would need to display his saving action.¹⁰

Response to counterargument:

We can make sense of what Paul is saying by understanding him in the following way. Paul could be saying that the sacrificial system in the past was not enough to cleanse from sin. Thus, Jesus is an atoning sacrifice that cleanses from sin once and for all. So, while God passed over former sins, those sins were never fully atoned for, so God displays his saving action in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. ¹¹

The weakness of this view is that it does not make logical sense for God to demonstrate his saving action through Jesus Christ, if he passed over former sins. If God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice because God passed over former sins, Paul needs to explain the connection between offering Jesus and passing over former sins. That is, if former sins are passed over, why put Jesus forward? Paul never explains this, likely because he is not referring to God’s saving action in Romans 3:25b.