Romans 3:25-26 : Whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith, in his blood, to show his righteousness because of the passing over of the situ done aforetime, in the forbearance of God; for the showing, I say, of his righteousness at this present season: that he might himself be just and the justifier of him that hath faith in Jesus. "Whom God set forth" that is, publicly exhibited him. To propitiate is to appease, to render favorable. When Jacob was to meet Esau, sent gifts to Esau to appease his wrath, to cause him to have a more favorable feeling toward Jacob. It is not meant that God was angry toward the sinner in the sense that men become angry. On the contrary, the whole plan of redemption grew out of God's pity and compassion for sinful men. But God's law had been violated, his authority had been disregarded, and man was under condemnation. There is, so to speak, such a thing as legal or judicial wrath. A judge and a jury may find that a man is guilty as charged in the indictment; and yet the man's sorrow and repentance may be so manifest that both judge and jury would earnestly wish that there might be some way to clear him, and at the same time uphold the majesty of the law; but there is no way that they can show that they are right in freeing him. To main-tain the law they must condemn him. Let that serve as a faint illustration. God's law had been violated again and again and yet in this present dispensation he was justifying sinners and he had passed over the sins done aforetime--that is, sins committed under the former dispensation. How could he show that he was just in so doing? To ignore sins, or to treat them with indifference, would wreck his moral government. He must be just and the majesty of his law upheld. Justice demands that the guilty be punished, and the majesty of the law requires that the penalties of the law be inflicted on the guilty. How, then, could God be just in passing over the sins of the former dispensation and in justifying sinners in the present, time? Only because Jesus died for us. He suffered the penalties of the violated law. Even though he paid the penalty for our redemption from sin and death, he forces no one to accept the freedom he purchased. The plan arranges only that those who now believe in Jesus may be justified. In the light of the foregoing comments reread Romans 3:25-26. The death of Christ made it possible for God to be righteous in passing over the sins committed before the coming of Christ, for the sacrifices they offered pointed to Christ; the death of Christ made it possible also for God to be just while justifying sinners now, who believe in Christ.