Passing Over Former Sins
Passing Over Former Sins What is the meaning of the phrase, "God passed over former sins"? What value did this act of God give to the work of salvation by Christ? "Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins." Romans 3:24-25 (ESV) God's plan, the death of His Son Jesus Christ, was to show the righteousness of God. God's righteousness had been in a sense "tarnished" , or hidden, by withholding punishment for "former sins". What were the "former sins"? As Creator, God has every right to immediately punish evildoers for sin . He demonstrated His justice in casting Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden, and in the world-wide flood that destroyed nearly all life, and the sudden, complete destruction of Sodom and Gommorah. Yet hundreds of generations of human civilizations,