God's Justice Satisfied

Rom 3:23-27 is one of my favorite passages of scripture. It teaches us why God had to crucify His Son on our behalf. It tells of how the death of Jesus Christ satisfied the justice of God.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 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. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. Romans 3:23-27

Here is what Jerry Bridges has to say about it:

A pardon is excusing an offense without exacting a penalty. It may be
granted gratuitously by a president or govenor for no reason at all, and sometimes has been done at the expense of justice. for example, there was a great outcry when the late President Nixon was pardoned because many felt, rightly or wrongly, that justice had been violated by the granting of his pardon.

In God's plan of justification, however, justice is not violated by a gratuitous pardon of the convicted sinner. Rather, justice has been satisfied; the penalty has been fully paid by the Lord Jesus Christ. In a sense, to justify is to declare that the claims of justice have been fully met.

-- Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace