The Faithfulness of God
The righteousness of God refers to His faithfulness to fulfill His promises, and this is demonstrated by the salvation He has provided in Jesus. In his Letter to the Romans, Paul stresses the “righteousness of God” that is revealed whenever the Gospel is proclaimed. It is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Moreover, in this message, His “righteousness” is being proclaimed throughout the Earth, to “Jews and Greeks” alike. Salvation is now available to all men through the “faith of Jesus Christ,” His “Righteous One” (“From faith for faith… My Righteous One will live from faith”).
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By the “righteousness of God,” the Apostle means HIS “righteousness” – namely, God's faithfulness in providing salvation for His wayward creatures. The genitive construction of the Greek clause, the “righteousness of God,” must be given its full weight. Like the “goodness of God” and the “mercy of God,” it refers to something that belongs to Him, a characteristic that defines Who and What He is.
Moreover, that “righteousness” is
found in and demonstrated by His concrete acts on behalf of humanity
accomplished in His “Righteous One,” Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was
“marked out as the Son of God according to a Spirit of Holiness, from a
resurrection of the dead” - (Romans 1:4).
The second and third chapters of Romans present
the Gospel as the Great Leveler. Both Jews and Gentiles have fallen
short of the requirements of the Law. Therefore, both groups stand convicted under
its “just sentence.” Short of divine intervention, both Jews and
Gentiles alike are destined to suffer His “wrath” on the “Day of
Wrath.”
Every man is “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 are doomed to experience His “wrath” unless God intervenes to provide
for their redemption - (Romans 2:5-11).
In Chapter 2, Paul declares that “God
will render to each one according to his works.” Here, the emphasis is on the
future aspect of this “wrath.” It will be unleashed on “the day when
God judges the secrets of men…through Christ Jesus.”
Elsewhere in his letters, Paul links the “Day
of Wrath” to the moment when Jesus arrives from heaven - the “Day
of the Lord.” At that time, all men will be judged by Him and receive their
just desserts - (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
GOD’S PROVISION
Next, using a series of scriptural proof texts,
Paul demonstrates conclusively that “both Jews and Greeks are under sin”
- “All have sinned and lack the glory of God” - therefore, men and women
are NOT and cannot be reconciled with God “from the works of the Law.”
Instead, the Law serves to “expose sin” for what it is – the trespass of God’s clear commandments and righteous requirements - (Romans 3:9-18, 3:23).
The “righteousness of God” is being
revealed through the proclamation of the Gospel - “through the faith OF
Jesus Christ for all who believe.” In Christ, God declares all who believe “righteous
by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus.” All this is
provided apart from the works required by the Torah - (Romans
3:22-24).
This has been done “with a view to the showing
forth of His righteousness in the present season.” The stress is on the present
reality of the “righteousness of God,” and this is demonstrated
in the proclamation of the Gospel - clear evidence of His faithfulness to
redeem men who respond in faith to Him - (Romans 1:16-18, 3:19-30).
The faithfulness of God is
unveiled in the present whenever He declares men to be in right standing through
the “faith of Jesus Christ” in response to their faith in him. The salvation
articulated in the Gospel message demonstrates His righteousness.
Paul speaks of His “righteousness”
from an Old Testament perspective, of “righteousness” as the faithfulness
of God to His promises. Thus, He demonstrates His “righteousness”
for all men to see, in the present tense, and in a most personal way, by
providing redemption and the forgiveness of sins through the “faith of Jesus.”
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