If there is a characteristic of God that is most celebrated and exalted from the human perspective, it is God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness is what makes it possible for Him to rightly judge the world. According to the Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary, the term righteousness bears two different meanings in the Old Testament and the New Testament. The Old Testament “locates the meaning in the sphere of God's gracious, covenantal relation to his people and the appropriate behavior of the covenant partners (Yahweh and Israel) toward each other.” The New Testament “fixes the meaning in the sphere of a life in conformity to a known standard or law--thus honesty, legality, and so on”[1]—although this meaning of the word is also found in the Old Testament. Psalm 9:8 says, “He will judge the world in righteousness; he will govern the peoples with justice.” Psalm 33:5 says, “The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.” Psalm 89:14 says, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; love and faithfulness go before you.” These verses demonstrate fairly well the definition of God’s righteousness as used in the Old Testament and the New Testament—God’s just judgment against the standard of His holiness. However, these do not fully encompass what the phrase “the righteousness of God” means. As Douglas Moo notes, “Four main interpretations of the phrase should be considered: (1) the justice of God; (2) the faithfulness of God; (3) the status of righteousness given by God; (4) the act of putting people in the right performed by God.”[2] This phrase has a variety of applications, but as Moo also notes, “this ‘putting in the right’ that God is carrying out is a forensic act. That is, it does not mean that people are ‘made right’ in a moral sense but they are ‘declared to be in the right’ in a judicial sense.”[3] Kenneth Wuest defines righteousness in this manner: “Righteousness in the biblical sense is a condition of rightness the standard of which is God, which is estimated according to the divine standard, which shows itself in behaviour conformable to God, and has to do above all things with its relation to God, and with the walk before Him.”[4] But what does Paul think about the righteousness of God? What view would Paul take in his argument for the righteousness of God? When Paul addresses the Romans, what aspects of God’s righteousness does he want to highlight?
There are several distinct passages in the book of Romans which deal with God’s righteousness, and how it relates to both mankind and mankind’s redemption. The first passage which speaks of God’s righteousness is near the beginning of the letter—Romans 1:17, “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’” Romans 1:16 helps us to understand the bigger picture, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.” Romans 1:17 expresses the reason for the power of God in the Gospel. Kenneth Wuest explains, “the apostle informs his readers what it is that makes the gospel a power of God, or what it is that makes it effectual in the saving of a believing sinner. He says, ‘A righteousness of God (or God’s righteousness) in it is revealed.’”[5] The righteousness of God is what gives the Gospel its power, according to the Apostle Paul. It is God’s righteousness which makes the Gospel so powerful. Next, Paul explains how this righteousness of God is shown forth in this powerful Gospel. The phrase “by faith from first to last” emphasizes the manner in which this righteousness is acquired by men. The phrase thought by many to be a comment on both the nature and extent of salvation faith. John Murray explains it in this way, “’From faith’ points to the truth that only ‘by faith’ are we the beneficiaries of this righteousness…. ‘To faith’ underlines the truth that every believer is the beneficiary whatever his race or culture or the degree of his faith.” He further adds, “Faith always carries with it the justifying righteousness of God”[6] Paul then emphasizes the personal nature of saving faith by appealing to the Old Testament and showing that this was not a “new message” of salvation through faith. John Calvin says, “we necessarily gather from his reasoning, that there is a mutual connection between faith and the gospel: for as the just is said to live by faith, he concludes that this life is received by the gospel.”[7] Paul ties the message of the gospel and the Old Testament together, showing that both display the righteousness of God through faith. Moo further emphasizes the tie between faith and eternal life by the following: “the argument of Romans suggests rather that we should translate it as, ‘The one who is righteous by faith will live.’ Life, eternal life, is granted to the person who has been declared righteous before God through his or her faith.”[8] Faith is tied to the Gospel, and the Gospel leads to eternal life.
The following verse, Romans 1:18, begins an indictment by the Apostle Paul on the unrighteousness of man. This section serves, it would seem, as a pedestal which raises God’s righteousness to a level infinitely higher than man’s righteousness. Thomas Schreiner says, “[God] is now fulfilling the promises made in the OT through his Son, Jesus Christ. One can grasp the greatness of God’s salvation, however, only when one understands the devastation introduced in to the world by human beings—both Gentiles and Jews.”[9] Paul brings indictments against both Jews and Gentiles. He brings indictments against the Gentile nations in Romans 1:18-32. Paul then switches and dethrones the arrogant Jewish audience, who would have been confident in their knowledge of God’s law as sufficient to save them. However, Paul uses their own law to condemn them—by showing that the Jews do not even obey the Law of God that they claim makes them superior to the Gentile nations. It is after these indictments that Paul then returns to the topic of God’s righteousness.
Romans 3:5 says, “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.)” Paul now fields an objection from an imaginary opponent. He speaks as if this were a logical objection to the previous statements that he has made regarding God’s righteousness and the unrighteousness of men. Adam Clarke poses the question in this way: “May we not suppose that our unrighteousness may serve to commend and illustrate the mercy of God in keeping and fulfilling to us the promise which he made to our forefathers?” He further states, “The more wicked we are, the more his faithfulness to his ancient promise is to be admired. And if so, would not God appear unjust in taking vengeance and casting us off?”[10] This objection seems to be the logical human response to God’s righteousness, much like the response Paul receives to exalting the grace of God in Chapter 5, “Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?” (Romans 6:1) Paul receives a response that asks—if God is shown to be more righteous by the fact of our unrighteousness, then should we not try to exalt God’s righteousness as high as it can go by being as unrighteous as we can be? This is the conclusion Paul reaches in Romans 3:8, “Let us do evil that good may result”. This argument is shot down by Paul with the response in verse 6, “Not at all!” God’s judgment over the entire world would not be just if He were to condemn us with unrighteous judgment. God is not unjust; nor are His judgments unjust—even if every man were “a liar,” according to verse 4. God’s righteousness is further exalted through the total sinfulness of man—demonstrated in Romans 3:9-18 by a string of Old Testament verses which speak of the “wicked.” Paul quotes these verses to claim that all men—Jews and Gentiles—are completely sinful, and unable to justify themselves before God—they are totally unrighteous. This is the point of God’s law, according to Paul—“so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.” Albert Barnes notes on this passage, that those who have been indicted by the Law through Paul’s arguments “are not made guilty by the Law; but the argument from the Law, and from fact, proves that they are guilty.”[11] Paul then goes further, saying that no one will be justified by the works of the Law, because it is the Law that brings the knowledge that we haven’t lived up to God’s standard reflected in His Law.
So, then, if no one will be found righteous by living out the Law of God, how can they be made righteous? How can man be counted as righteous, so as to escape the wrath of God poured out against their unrighteousness? The answer Paul gives to these questions is the most glorious answer that has ever been spoken—and it truly reflects the “righteousness of God” which is the power of God unto salvation, according to Romans 1:16-17. Schreiner notes this, “the term harks back to 1:17, where the accent is on the saving righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel.”[12] The “righteousness” which Paul reveals to his readers is the righteousness brought about by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. This righteousness is one that was attested to in the Old Testament, but has been most fully revealed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This righteousness of God has been revealed apart from any effort on the part of the human to perform the acts of God’s Law. These laws were meant to show us that we are sinners, and we fail to obtain God’s righteousness by our works; yet Christ is meant to show us the righteousness of God by grace. C.I. Scofield quotes John Bunyan as saying about this righteousness, “The believer in Christ is now, by grace, shrouded under so complete and blessed a righteousness that the law from Mt. Sinai can find neither fault nor diminution therein. This is that which is called the righteousness of God by faith.”[13] This righteousness given by God is powerful—powerful enough to cover “all who believe.” John Gill comments, “faith is a means of apprehending and receiving righteousness; it views the excellency of Christ's righteousness; it owns the sufficiency of it; the soul by it renounces its own righteousness, submits to Christ's, rejoices in it, and gives him the glory of it: now this is by, or through faith,”[14] Christ is the one who has obeyed God’s Laws perfectly, as a representative of ours, earning the righteousness that we could not earn. Paul expresses at the end of verse 22 the universality of the need for righteousness, “There is no difference”. Gill notes, “the righteousness is equally applied to one as to another, and one is as much justified by it in the sight of God as another.” The need is universal; without regard for age, sex, race, or religion—and Paul explains why in 3:23. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” The need for righteousness is universal, because the problem of sin is universal. Jamison, Fausset, and Brown comment on this verse, “Though men differ greatly in the nature and extent of their sinfulness, there is absolutely no difference between the best and the worst of men, in the fact that ‘all have sinned,’ and so underlie the wrath of God.”[15] This universal sin problem makes us unworthy to receive praise or acclamation from God—our sin is what causes us to fall short of receiving God’s praise. However, this universal problem has a solution—found in verse 24, “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.” The solution to man’s universal problem of unrighteousness is the redemption which Christ has purchased for those who will believe in Him. The justification is freely by His grace, but as Matthew Henry points out, “It comes freely to us, but Christ bought it, and paid dearly for it”.[16] The justification is freely given to us, but that does not mean that it was freely acquired. Jesus paid the price for our redemption with His blood. This is what Paul points out in verse 25. Christ was put forth by the Father as a method of payment for the sin-punishment of those who would believe. The payment is transferred through faith in Christ, and trust in His blood as sufficient to pay the full price of our sins. The reason why God has put Christ forward as the propitiation was to demonstrate His righteousness, according to 3:25. The reason for this demonstration was, according to 3:25, “because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.” Paul then explains in verse 26 why God was so forbearing and willing to let sins committed go unpunished in times past. “He did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.” God’s righteousness is on display in the justification of sinners through Christ’s atoning work, because it shows Him both to be just—because Jesus took the full weight of sin’s punishment for those who would believe—and the justifier—because Jesus is God, in essence taking off His judicial robes and taking His place on the cross to die. Barnes says this of God as the justifier, “His admitting them to friendship and heaven does not show that he approves their past conduct and character, for he showed how much he hated even their sins by giving his Son to a shameful death for them.”[17] This then, could lead Christians to think that they are something special in God’s sight—indeed, God has justified them through Christ. So then, what is wrong with boasting in the fact that we’re justified? The Apostle Paul answers this in 3:27-28, “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Paul’s argument is that boasting is excluded because our justification has nothing to do with our observation of God’s Law, but is based simply on our trust in Christ’s obedience to the Law of God. Next, Paul shows the universality of the solution in verses 29-30, “Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.” The problem of sin affects every man despite their cultural heritage or upbringing. The argument is that the solution to the problem is offered universally as well. The sin problem affects everyone, and the redemptive solution is able to save everyone who has faith in Christ’s work. It would be humanly logical to assume that this grace that has been extended toward us means that there is no more need for the Law, because the Law is said to have no way to justify us. But Paul argues that this isn’t the way it is. The Law isn’t meant to be done away with because of God’s offer of grace. Instead, we show the righteousness of God by acknowledging that the Law is right, and that we have offended God by our disobedience to His Law. The reason this is important is because the Law is established based on the character of God. Jamison says of God’s Law:
“The glory of God’s law, in its eternal and immutable obligations, is then only fully apprehended by the sinner, and then only is it enthroned in the depths of his soul, when, believing that “He was made sin for him who knew no sin,” he sees himself “made the righteousness of God in Him” (2Co_5:21). Thus do we not make void the law through faith: yea, we establish the law.”[18]
Thus, the righteousness of God is shown through the upholding of His Law as a mirror to show man his imperfections, and to drive him to seek a righteousness “not his own” as Paul says in another epistle. This righteousness by faith is then shown in Chapter 4 to have been God’s plan all along. Paul uses the example of Abraham as a man who trusted in God for his righteousness, quoting Genesis 15:6 as the example of the fact that Abraham’s righteousness was based on his trust in God’s promise. This example leads to Paul’s discussion of the life that has been credited with Christ’s righteousness. This stretches from Genesis 5-8, and it speaks of the doctrine of sanctification and the security of the believer in the righteousness of Christ. This leads to the discussion of the Apostle Paul on the nation of Israel, and their relationship to the righteousness of God. Chapter 10 picks up on this theme, although Douglas Moo makes the note,
“The early editors of the Bible placed the chapter break where they did because Paul’s personal comment in 10:1, matching 9:1-2, seems to initiate a new section. But a more important break occurs between 9:29 and 9:30. The question that Paul raises in verse 30 signals a break in the argument; and, with verse 30, Paul introduces a new set of key terminology. Dominating all of 9:30-10:13 is a contrast between two kinds of righteousness”.[19]
Beginning in 9:30, Paul contrasts the “righteousness of faith” and “the righteousness that is by the law”. The righteousness of God is in this section of the book of Romans shown to be far superior to the righteousness of man by obedience to the Law. God’s righteousness shown through Jesus Christ is far superior to any attempt at righteousness made by sinful men. The Israelites are said to have not known about God’s righteousness, therefore they looked to set up their own standard of righteousness apart from God. However, Paul explains the nature of God’s righteousness through Christ as the “end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” When we trust in Christ, we cease striving to earn our righteousness through obedience to God’s Law. Paul then demonstrates that this concept of righteousness through faith is not new by quoting from the Scriptures of the Old Testament—including Moses—in order to show them that they cannot keep the Law in order to make themselves righteous before God. Moses said that the one who puts the righteous actions of the law into practice is the one that will live by that righteousness. This standard should have caused Israel to seek the mercy of God, but instead they sought to lower the standard and then strive to earn that lower level of righteousness, which is really self-righteousness. Paul then explains the free nature of Christ’s righteousness, by quoting and applying to Christ two different verses from the Old Testament, one of which was written by the chief authority in the Jewish mind—Moses. Wuest, quoting Marvin Vincent, says the following on verses 6 and 7,
“’Christ has accomplished the two great things necessary for salvation. He has descended to the earth and has risen from the dead. All that is necessary is to accept by faith the incarnate and risen Christ, instead of having recourse to the long and painful way of establishing one’s own righteousness by obedience to the law.’”[20]
Paul bounces from Deuteronomy 30 to Psalm 107 in verses 6 and 7; and in verse 8, he jumps back to Deuteronomy 30 to show that the “word of faith which we are preaching” is a direct application of the Old Testament passage which speaks of the nearness of faith—in the heart and mouth. Paul then explains this message more fully in verses 9-10, “that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.” Paul applies the nearness of the message to both the heart and the mouth by saying that one must confess with the mouth Jesus as Lord and one must believe in the heart that God raised Christ from the dead. The righteousness of faith requires a confession and a belief, and both are recorded in these two verses—confession of Christ’s righteousness as sufficient to credit to one’s account, and belief in His resurrection from the dead as a sufficient payment for sin. Next, Paul shows that this is a fulfilled promise, by quoting from Isaiah, and again shows the universality of the offer of salvation by a quote from Joel. This demonstrates the righteousness of God by faith to be far superior to Israel’s righteousness according to the Law. God’s righteousness by faith earns for us the righteousness of Christ, and the payment of our sins by Christ. Righteousness by the law will only result in death, and unpaid sin debt.
Paul’s letter to the Romans is a masterful work demonstrating the doctrine of justification by faith alone. The greatest thing on display in the justification of sinners, however, is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is displayed in the unrighteousness of man by exalting His righteousness beyond any attainable measure. The righteousness of God is displayed in the work of Christ, because it is God’s righteousness on display to the entire world. Christ demonstrated perfectly the righteous character of God, and God has now offered Christ as a sacrifice for the payment of the unrighteous acts of sinful men. Finally, God’s righteousness is displayed in the superiority of the righteousness by faith offered through Christ over the righteousness of man by observance of the Law. God’s righteousness is seen clearly through the righteousness by faith because it shows the righteousness of Christ and His resurrection from the dead as sufficient for salvation. This is far superior to attempting to gain righteousness by obedience to God’s Law, which will ultimately end in a frustrated attempt. God’s righteousness is clearly displayed in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and this is what makes it the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes”.
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[20] (Wuest 1964)
Works Cited
Barnes, Albert. Barnes New Testament Notes. Grand Rapids: BakerBook House, 1949.
Calvin, John. Commentary on Romans. Public Domain.
Clarke, Adam. Commentary on the Bible. Public Domain.
Elwell, Walter. Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996.
Gill, John. An Exposition of the New Testament. Public Domain, 1746-8.
Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume VI (Acts to Revelation). Logos, Inc., 1706-1721.
Jamieson, Robert, Robert Fausset, and David Brown. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible. Public Domain, 1871.
Moo, Douglas. Encountering the Book of Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002.
Murray, John. The Epistle to the Romans. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.
Schreiner, Thomas. Romans. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1998.
Scofield, C.I. Scofield Reference Notes. Public Domain, 1917.
Wuest, Kenneth. Romans in the Greek New Testament. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1964.
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