In Romans, Paul argues from plight to solution. The gospel is the “power of God for salvation.” Due to sin, two forces are at work – righteousness and wrath. In his Son, God provides salvation, the solution to the desperate plight of all men that is available to all on the same basis - “from the faith of Jesus.”
And the “good news” announced by
Paul was promised beforehand in the Hebrew scriptures, and it concerned the Son
of God “who came to be of the seed of David according to the flesh, was marked
off as the Son of God by power, according to a Spirit of Holiness, by means of
a resurrection out from among the dead” - (Romans 1:2-4).
Through
him, Paul “received grace and apostleship for
the obedience of faith among all the nations.”
And
the resurrection of Jesus is irrefutable proof that he is the Messiah and Son
of God, and of the validity of the message preached by Paul.
RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WRATH
In
the present age, two forces are being revealed – righteousness and wrath.
Every person will experience one or the other, depending on his or her response
to the gospel, which is the “power of God
for salvation”:
- (Romans 1:16-19) – “For I am not ashamed of the good news, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, both to Jew first, and to Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is being revealed from faith for faith; even as it is written: But the righteous man from faith will live. For there is being revealed the wrath of God from heaven upon all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who in unrighteousness possess the truth.”
This
“righteousness” is being revealed from faith for faith. In the passage,
the Greek verb apokaluptetai is translated as “being revealed,” and
it is in the present tense, signifying an ongoing
process of unveiling.
Whenever
the gospel is declared the “righteousness of God” is revealed. And this “righteousness”
is revealed, “from faith for faith.” That is, faith is both the source and
the proper response to His “righteousness.”
At
this point, it is not clear precisely what or who is intended by the clause “from
faith.” Who or what does Paul mean by the “righteous one,” singular, who
lives from faith?
In
the passage, it is the “righteousness of God” that is under discussion, NOT
the righteous deeds, nature, or status of individuals. And this “righteousness”
is manifested in His covenant faithfulness when He provides salvation
for His wayward creatures.
At
the same time, “wrath” also is “being revealed”; only, against
all “who possess the truth in unrighteousness.” Thus, two ongoing processes
occur whenever the gospel is proclaimed, both to Jews and Gentiles alike.
The
“wrath from heaven upon ungodliness” is the negative counterpart to the
revelation of righteousness. Anyone who embraces the gospel, whether Jew or
Gentile, is empowered to receive salvation, but “wrath” is revealed
against all who refuse it, whether Jew or Gentile.
Elsewhere,
Paul links the “wrath” to the final judgment, but here, he describes its
present aspect. The very sins practiced by and delighted in by those who
reject the gospel prove that, even now, they are under “wrath” - (Romans
1:22-25).
God
delivered rebellious humanity to the very sins for which it lusts, even though sinners
“acknowledge the righteous sentence of God, that they who practice such
things are worthy of death.”
Humanity
wallows in idolatrous sins because of the “wrath of God,” sins that
demonstrate humanity is under “wrath.” This is the plight of all men, including
Jews and Greeks.
DEMONSTRATION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
Sin
is the Great Leveler. Both the Jew and the Gentile fall short and miss
the mark. Therefore, both stand under the just judicial “sentence of God.”
Everyone is “inexcusable” because of sin. Jews and Gentiles stand or
fall before God on the same basis.
Without divine intervention, and regardless of race, everyone stands condemned, whether “within the law” or “apart from the law.” Without exception, every man and woman will experience condemnation on the coming “day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.”
And
this must be so, for “there is no respect of persons with God.” His
righteousness demands equal treatment for all before the law.
On
that day, God “will render to each one according to his works.” Here,
Paul stresses the future aspect of “wrath.” Elsewhere, he links the
“day of wrath” to the day when Jesus arrives “from heaven” - (Romans
2:16, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).
Using
several proof texts, he demonstrates that “both Jews and Greeks are all
under sin.” Everyone is in the same sorry state. Since all have “sinned
and lack the glory of God,” men are not set right before God “from the
works of the Law.” Instead, the Law “exposes sin” for what it really
is, the “trespass” of God’s righteous commandments, whether violated “within”
or “apart from the law.”
However,
in the gospel proclaimed by Paul, “righteousness” is available “through
the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe.” In other words, “from the
faith” of Jesus, and “for the faith” of believers. He is the “righteous
one who lives from faith.”
In
this way, God declares all who believe “righteous by His grace, through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” and this is apart “from the works
of the law” - (Romans 1:16, Romans 3:9-24).
The
term rendered “faith” or pistis can signify “faith” or
“faithfulness.” The latter is the intended sense when Paul speaks of the “faith
of Jesus.” And most likely, the phrase is shorthand for Christ’s
faithful obedience unto death. His “faithfulness” provided the means for
placing men in right standing before God - (Galatians 2:15-21, Philippians
2:6-11).
HEIR OF THE WORLD
Next,
Paul introduces Abraham as the great exemplar of faith. God declared him “right”
and reckoned his faith as “righteousness” while he was uncircumcised, and
thus apart from the “works of the Law.” Therefore, he became the father
of all those who are “from faith” circumcised or not.
The
true “children of Abraham” are men and women who have the “faith of
Jesus.” Neither circumcision nor ethnicity has any bearing on inclusion in
the covenant. Abraham was justified prior to his circumcision, although that
rite is a fundamental requirement of the Torah. Therefore, right
standing before God cannot be dependent on the “works from the law.”
Whatever
the intended purpose of the Law, it was not given to justify individuals before
God. Instead, circumcision was “a sign”:
- “The seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while yet uncircumcised…Abraham is the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of the faith while he was yet uncircumcised.” Therefore, “not through the law is the promise to Abraham or to his seed, for him to be heir of the world, but through a righteousness from faith.”
References
to “promise” and “heir” point to future realities, things
not yet received. For the “children of Abraham,” both believing Jews and
Gentiles, the promised inheritance is the entire “world” or kosmos,
not just the tiny territory of Canaan. Here, Paul universalizes the original but
limited “land promise.” It now encompasses the entire Cosmos.
The
promise is to Abraham and to “his seed,” which includes all those who
walk in the same faith. The promised inheritance is through faith, and the “promise
is firm for all the seed.”
Because
he believed the One “who causes the dead to live,” God appointed Abraham
the “father of many nations.” Paul applies this to Abraham’s belief that
God would grant him “seed” from the “dead” womb of Sarah.
This
links the inheritance to the future resurrection. The record of Abraham’s
justification was not “written for his sake alone,” but “for our
sakes also to whom it is to be reckoned, even to them that believe upon Him who
raised Jesus our Lord from among the dead, who was delivered up on account of
our offenses, and was raised on account of the declaring us righteous.”
FUTURE ASPECTS
Since
believers have been “declared righteous through his blood,” they also “will
be saved through him from the wrath.” Although already they have been “set
right,” just like the “inheritance” of Abraham, “salvation”
is actualized in the future.
- If we have been “reconciled to God through the death of his Son,” how much more “will we be saved by his life.” For though “through one man,” Adam, “sin entered the world and through sin death…how much more they who the superabundance of the grace and the free gift of righteousness do receive will reign through the one man, Jesus Christ” {Note the future tense}. “Just as through one fault the sentence was to all men for condemnation, so also through one recovery of righteousness the decree of grace is for all men for righteous acquittal for life…and through the obedience of the one,” - {through the obedience of Jesus!} – the many will be constituted righteous.” Just as “sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness for everlasting life through Jesus Christ.”
Death
for all men is its universal consequence of sin. This is the common and desperate
plight of every man. For all who believe the gospel, condemnation is in the
past, and right standing before God is a present reality. However, final
salvation will be received when God raises His children from the dead.
For
those who are in Jesus, “there is now no condemnation” since the “law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set them free from the law of sin and
of death.” What the Law of Moses could not do because of human frailty and
bondage to sin:
- “God by sending his own Son…condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who walk according to the spirit and not according to the flesh.”
The
flesh “prefers death, but the Spirit prefers life and peace.” The carnal
man produced by the sin of Adam is “hostile towards God, for it cannot
submit to the Law…and they who have their being in flesh cannot please God.”
The discussion of “flesh” and “spirit” is Paul’s way of contrasting the old Adamic life under sin to the new life provided by Jesus. It is the indwelling of the Spirit that enables us to walk righteously and identifies us as heirs of the promise.
Though
our present bodies remain “dead by reason of sin,” if the Spirit of Him
that raised Jesus from the dead dwells in us, “He that raised from among the
dead Christ Jesus will make alive even our death-doomed bodies through his
indwelling Spirit.”
PRESENT SUFFERING AND RESURRECTION
Paul
next focuses on the future bodily resurrection. Final salvation will be realized
at the time of the resurrection, the redemption of our bodies is foundational to
our salvation - (Romans 8:1-23, 1 Corinthians 15:12-28).
The
Spirit of God “bears witness together with our spirit that we are children
of God.” We are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.”
But
to be co-heirs with him necessitates suffering in this life, so that “they
may also be glorified.” Believers must bear in mind that the sufferings of
“this present season cannot be compared with the glory about to be revealed.”
Because
of sin, even the creation was subjected “to vanity.” It is sighing and travailing-in-birth-throes
until the present hour, “ardently awaiting the revelation of the sons of God,”
– the resurrection when the “creation itself will be freed from the bondage
of decay into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God” - (Romans 8:20-25).
The present gift of the Spirit is the “first fruit,” the sign and guarantee of the future “adoption, the redemption of our body.” Thus, new creation and bodily resurrection are two sides of the same salvation coin.
In the
first half of the epistle, the focus is on the salvation of believers provided
by God, and the corresponding condemnation of unbelievers – righteousness
and wrath. “Salvation” has present and future aspects, justification
now and resurrection later.
In
contrast, unbelievers demonstrate the “righteous sentence” of God as
they continue and even revel in sin and idolatry. Death awaits all men because
of Adam’s sin, but the impenitent also will undergo the “wrath of God,” Jewish
and Gentile sinners alike.
Finally, by
the implication of the Apostle’s argument, both “salvation” and “wrath”
will occur at the end of the age when God raises the dead and liberates the
creation itself from bondage to decay and death.