“Be it known to you therefore, men, brethren, that through this man is proclaimed to you remission of sins, and by him every one who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.”
‘Be it known to you therefore.' As a result of what he has declared about Jesus certain things necessarily follow and should be heeded. We must remember here that the full content of his speech would have been a lot more and that some of his points would have been applied in more depth.
‘Men. brethren.' All are included, whether Jew, proselyte or God-fearer.
‘Through this man is proclaimed to you remission (forgiveness) of sins.' Through Jesus forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed. Why? Because as the innocent One He suffered cursing by being hung on a tree. Because He suffered for sins not His own. And because He was then vindicated and raised again from the dead demonstrating that those sins had been dealt with for ever. Because He was the living embodiment of the suffering Servant in Isaiah 53, Who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities..
And it should be noted what this forgiveness involves. It is not speaking of being ‘let off' It is speaking of having the sin ‘remitted', ‘sent away', ‘removed', put behind God's back. The forgiven person is made as though they had never sinned.
‘And by him every one who believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses.' And the result of full forgiveness is that the forgiven one who believes is ‘justified', is ‘legally pronounced righteous', being free from the guilt of all their sin. They stand there as though they had not sinned. The law of Moses could not do this. The law of Moses could only declare a person ‘justified' where there had been complete obedience. But none stood before God completely obedient, therefore none could be justified by the Law.
It is pedantic nonsense to argue about whether someone could be ‘partly justified' by the Law, with the remainder being made up by forgiveness. Partial justification is no justification at all. That is to treat sin as a thing. But it is not the sin that is being judged, it is the man. It is not the action that is being either justified or declared guilty but the man. Either the man is wholly a sinner or he is wholly not a sinner. It is not possible to be half and half. The question is not whether some particular action can be justified but whether each man stands there justified, cleared on all counts. And the answer in all cases is that if the standard is the law he is wholly guilty. The law shrieks out again and again, ‘you are the lawbreaker, you are guilty, guilty, guilty'. Thus by the works of the law shall no man be found guiltless, for by the law is the knowledge of sin (Galatians 3:10). He who has offended on one point is guilty of all (James 2:10).
And how is this justification and forgiveness achieved? Through His cross. We have nothing to do, He has done all. What then is necessary to our salvation? The answer is faith. Not as a work that we must do but as a response which will come from our hearts through the working of the Holy Spirit within us as we learn what He has done for us. No man there chose whether he would believe. Some believed and responded because they were prepared ground. They were open to Paul's words, and to the Holy Spirit at work in their hearts. And as they heard response welled up within them. Others rejected because the ground was hard, or weed-ridden. They rejected the working of the Spirit. Yet in the end each responded as he would. They could not blame God.