Ephesians 1:

Nice, I like this, if I may add:

Justification is not a change made in us by God, but a change in our relationship with God. When we accept Christ, God declares us righteous (justification) and God looks and deals with us as though we had never sinned. Sanctification is the process that God uses to make the believer more like Christ.

Justification solves the problem of man’s guilt before a righteous God, redemption ends man’s slavery to the world, sin, and Satan.

Christ is our Kinsman Redeemer, the only One worthy to open the scroll in Revelation 5. Jesus, by His shed blood was a propitiation (substitute sacrifice) for us.

Since He was judged in our place, the Father could demonstrate His righteousness in judgment against sin, while sparing those who deserved the judgment.

Propitiation (sacrifice of atonement) referring to Jesus Christ as the sacrifice that satisfied God's wrath and removed our sins. Propitiation is also used in the Septuagint in regard to the mercy seat, the lid that covered the Ark of the Covenant, upon which sacrificial blood was sprinkled as atonement for sin. Jesus is our “mercy seat,” standing between guilty sinners and the holiness of God.

God, in His forbearance, had passed over (left unpunished) the sins of the Old Testament saints who trusted in the coming Messiah. At the cross, those sins were no longer passed over, they were paid in full. Through the animal sacrifice of the Old Testament, those who looked in faith to the coming Messiah had their sins “covered” (by the animal blood) and that temporary covering was redeemed by full payment at the cross (by the blood of Jesus). We can be justified, redeemed and receive atonement all through faith in Christ Jesus.

God demonstrated His righteousness by offering man justification, while remaining completely just because the righteous penalty of sin had been paid by Jesus at the cross. To summarize, the characteristics of justification are that it is apart from the Law, through faith in Christ, for all people, by grace, at great cost to God, and in perfect justice.

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