RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD by Dr. Shah, Clearview Church, Henderson, NC

Introduction:  Almost every day I hear from someone as to how much they are learning and growing from our series on Romans. Last week, one person left this comment on my blog – “These messages are eye-opening for me – so much detail in Romans that I have missed.” Thank you for such comments because they are evidence that we needed to do Romans before we started in Revelation. As I have been saying repeatedly, without the theological foundation of Romans, we cannot truly understand the rest of theology, especially eschatology. So far, we have seen such themes such as cosmology, nations, and judgement in Romans which are also found in end times passages. Today, we will see yet another important theme as we turn to Romans 3 for our message titled “RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.” As a doctor moves the stethoscope towards the heart of a patient the sound of their heartbeat gets louder, so also as we move towards the center of the book of Romans the heartbeat of this book will also get louder, and the word you will hear beating louder and louder is the “Righteousness of God.”

Romans 3 (page #1736) 21 “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.”

Context: Keep in mind that Paul wrote the book of Romans to the Church in Rome in the first century that was divided between Gentile background and Jewish background believers. On the one hand, he wanted to educate the Gentile background believers on God’s plan of salvation for the world since creation. He wanted them to understand the role of the Jewish people in that plan and that he was not done with them (we will see more of that in Romans 9-11). On the other hand, he also wanted to teach the Jewish background believers, and the Gentiles, that there was only one plan of salvation for both groups – “to the Jew first but also for the Greeks.” Concurrently, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul was also writing to all believers at all times and all places about the meaning and essence of the gospel. The starting point of the gospel is the “righteousness of God.” The Greek word group “dikai” (righteousness) is found 76 times in Romans (See Naselli, “The Righteous God Righteously Righteouses the Unrighteous”). It has the idea of being “right” or being “just.” Sometimes it is used as the noun “dikaiosune” (righteousness – 34 times), sometimes as the verb “dikaiow” (declare righteous – 15 times), sometimes as the adjective “dikaios” (righteous – 7 times), and sometimes as the noun “dikaioma” (requirement, righteous deed – 5 times). Also, there are other forms of the word as well. Most uses are found between Romans 3:21-4:25 (about 20 times). If we include chapters 3 and 5, that would be 35 times. Can you hear the heartbeat of this book. This is where the stethoscope is sitting right on the heart! Our focus is more on the expression “righteousness of God,” which is found only 8 times in Romans (also in 2 Corinthians 5:21 and Philippians 3:9, in a different form but same implication).

Some of you may be wondering “what does all this righteousness stuff have to do with the end-times?” Romans 1       16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God (that’s the first use of the expression) is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’ (This is anchored in Habakkuk 2:4). 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Don’t forget that the judgment in the end of time is because of human beings individually and humanity collectively rejecting the gospel.

• Revelation 16:5 And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “You are righteous, O Lord, The One who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have judged these things.”
• Revelation 16:7 And I heard another from the altar saying, “Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.”
• Revelation 19:2 “For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her.”

How can we understand end times prophecy if we don’t understand the righteousness of God?

Application: Do you understand the meaning of the righteousness of God? Are you trusting in your own righteousness to vindicate you before God on the day of judgment?

With that said, let’s try to understand the meaning of the expression “the righteousness of God.” The source of the meaning is the Old Testament. The counterpart word is “tsedek.” It has 2 usages: God’s attribute in himself (who he is) and God’s action towards us (what he does for us, especially in salvation). It is subjective and objective, characteristic and communicative.

1. Who God is:
2. Psalm 36:6 Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast. The word for righteousness is tsedek and the word for judgments is mishpath (judge, govern, execute judgment, decide controversy). Remember that they are related.
3. Psalm 71:19 “Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You?”
4. Other passages (Deuteronomy 33:21; Psalm 89:16; Psalm 111:3; Psalm 143:11; Micah 6:5)
5. What he does towards us:
6. Isaiah 46:13 “I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off; My salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, For Israel My glory.”
7. Isaiah 56:1 Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, For My salvation is about to come, And My righteousness to be revealed.”
8. Other Passages (1 Samuel 12:7; Isaiah 45:24-25; Daniel 9:16)
9. The emphasis here is on God as the Judge of his people and the world.

These two meanings are also carried over in the New Testament expression of “Righteousness of God,” where it is found about 3 times outside of Paul, mostly as the first sense:

• Matthew 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
• James 1      19 “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; 20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
• 2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ:”

Paul uses it in this way, but he highlights more the second sense. Here are two examples outside of Romans:

• 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
• Philippians 3:9 “and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;”

Paul uses it specifically in Romans, but there is a nuance – change in status vs change in life. In Romans, the focus is on change in status: Romans 3      21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith…” (The word “hilasterion” or Propitiation = Jesus took my penalty of sin by shedding His blood to satisfy God’s wrath). “…to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

Righteousness is not the human act of believing, but as Ernst Kasemann puts it – it is “the Christ who us grasped by faith…and on account of whom God counts us righteous.”

FAITH + WORKS = JUSTIFICATION or FAITH = JUSTIFICATION + WORKS. It is the latter. What about a change in life? It is also coming in the following chapters.

CHRIST = JUSTIFICATION + WORKS.

The church wrestled with its meaning, especially 2 individuals. This does not mean that the people didn’t believe this way and pastors didn’t preach it. It means that these two individuals gave it the clear reflection that we benefit from:

1. Augustine (the Bishop of Hippo, North Africa, around 391 AD)
2. Martin Luther (1515 AD)

You may not know this but Martin Luther in the margin of his Bible described Romans 3:21-26as “the chief point, and the very central place of the Epistle, and of the whole Bible.” Later, Luther wrote the following in 1545 AD:

I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word in Chapter 1, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed” [1:17, that had stood in my way. For I hated that word “righteousness of God,” which, according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.

– Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the deca-logue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteousness and wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.

At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written,

‘He who through faith is righteous shall live.'” There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates..•• And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word “righteousness of God.” Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise. Later I read Augustine’s The Spirit and the Letter, where contrary to hope I found that he, too, interpreted God’s righteousness in a similar way, as the righteousness with which God clothes us when he justifies us. Although this was heretofore said imperfectly and he did not explain all things concerning imputation clearly, it nevertheless was pleasing that God’s righteousness with which we are justified was taught.

Wesley was reading Luther’s introduction to Romans and got saved.

Why is this so important? Unfortunately, most Christians are unaware of the importance of this section of Romans. Many of us base our understanding of salvation and Christian life on our personal experiences. Our personal experiences can validate the Bible, but the Bible is not waiting to be validated. The Bible is validated by God and we have to bring our lives in conformity to his word. The passage we just read is very very important. You get this passage wrong, it doesn’t matter what else you get right. If you get this right, it’s not that it doesn’t matter what you get wrong, but at least you have the main thing right. 

Our salvation depends on it! The joy of the Christian life depends on it!

Are you saved? Are you rejoicing?