The fact that all human beings are under the dynamic of sin presents a dilemma. Divine justice demands the condemnation of mankind, yet divine love wants to reach out to the guilty human race and extend mercy. Today we come to the universally acknowledged turning point of Paul's letter to the Romans: God performs the miracle of righteousness. God's total provision is sufficient for man's total need. We are justified by Christ alone, which is received through faith alone. Propitiation and expiation are two of the most glorious words here. Propitiation means to satisfy the rightful demands of divine justice. We are saved by God from God, from the wrath that is to come. Christ as our substitute took upon himself the wrath that we deserve. In his work of propitiation, Jesus did something on a vertical level, satisfying the justice of God for us. Expiation has to do directly with us. Christ removes our sin from us and takes it away. The psalmist tells us, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us" (Ps. 103:12). In the work of Christ, there is propitiation and expiation. When you gaze upon the cross, look at the vertical bar and think of the vertical dimension of your justification, which is propitiation. The horizontal bar of the cross represents expiation, whereby Christ not only satisfied the justice of the Father but also removed our sins from us. God set forth Christ as a propitiation by his blood through faith that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom. 3:26). There is no such thing as cheap grace!
