The “righteousness of God” refers to His faithfulness to His promises, and this is demonstrated in the salvation He has provided in Jesus.
The
genitive construction of the clause, “righteousness of God,” must be
given its full weight. Like the “goodness of God” and the “mercy of
God,” it refers to that which belongs to Him, to something that defines who
and what God is. And His “righteousness” is found in and demonstrated by
His concrete acts on behalf of His children.
The second and third chapters of Romans present the gospel
as the Great Leveler. Both Jews and Gentiles have
fallen short of the righteousness of God, therefore, both stand under His “just
sentence.” Consequently, short of divine intervention, Jews and Gentiles
alike are destined for “wrath.”
All men and women are “without excuse” because all
have sinned. No one is in a proper state to judge others. Regardless of ethnicity,
whether “within the law” or “apart from the law,” all
men and women are doomed to experience His “wrath” without His
redemption.
- (Romans 2:5-11) – “After your hardness and impenitent heart treasure up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to every man according to his works: to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, everlasting life; but to them that are factious and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation, tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that works evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; but glory and honor and peace to every man that works good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: for there is no respect of persons with God.”
“God will render to each one according to his works.”
Paul emphasizes the future aspect of His “wrath.” It will be unleashed
on “the day when God judges the secrets of men…through Christ Jesus.”
Elsewhere, Paul links this “day of wrath” to the moment when Jesus
arrives from heaven - the “Day of the Lord” - (1
Thessalonians 1:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
Next, using a series of scriptural proof-texts, Paul demonstrates
that “both Jews and Greeks are under sin” - “All
have sinned and lack the glory of God” - Therefore, men and women are NOT
set right with God “from the works of the Law.” Instead,
the Law “exposes sin” for what it is – the trespass
of God’s righteous requirements - (Romans 3:9-18, 3:23).
But mercifully, the “righteousness of God” is being revealed through the proclamation of the gospel, “through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe.”
In him, God declares all
who believe “righteous by His grace, through the redemption that is in
Christ Jesus,” and all this is provided apart from the works
required by the Torah - (Romans 3:22-24).
This has been done “with a view to a showing forth of His
righteousness in the present season.” In Paul’s teaching, the stress falls
on the present reality of the “righteousness of God,”
and this is demonstrated in the proclamation of the gospel to all
nations, clear evidence of His faithfulness to redeem all men right
who respond in faith to the message - (Romans 1:16-18, 3:19-30).
Thus, the faithfulness of God is
unveiled in the here-and-now whenever He declares men and women to
be in right-standing before Him through the “faith of Jesus Christ”
and their faithful response to the gospel. The provision of salvation in Christ
demonstrates the righteousness of God.
Paul speaks of His “righteousness” from an Old Testament
perspective, “righteousness” as the faithfulness of
God to His promises. In view is not some impersonal force or
abstract moral standard that governs the universe. Instead, by providing the
means of escape from “wrath,” God has demonstrated His “righteousness”
for all the world to behold, in the present tense and in a most personal way.
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