The past few days, most of us have heard incredible stories of deliverance. Many of those facing the direct hit of the devastating tornadoes in our area have told their stories. Perhaps the most amazing are those from Union University. One of our own young people survived to tell his story along with over a thousand more. We’ve heard of dashes into buildings, slamming bathroom doors to huddle together, as the wrenching sound of wood, steel, and brick breaking apart, debris falling everywhere, ears popping, and within less than a minute, it was over. One young man told of lunging into a bathroom with six other guys just as the storm struck its blow. The ceiling crashed down upon them leaving them trapped under a thirty-foot pile of debris. They could not lift themselves. They could only pray, quote Scripture, and call out for help. By the Lord’s kind hand, rescuers dug their way to them so that within four or five hours, all were saved.
As I read this story, I had just been meditating on our text concerning the righteousness of God in the gospel. My eyes misted over as I thought not only of these young men delivered from death but something even more amazing; that God would send His Son to deliver me from the certain fury of His wrath. We’ve acknowledged that nothing less than the mercy of God delivered those college kids from certain death. When asked about his thoughts as one that survived, Ross Funderburk told his mother, “Mama, people should have died.” Death seemed certain, inevitable in that kind of fury. But God’s mercy proved greater than the wrath of the storm. How much more, when we consider the condition of our souls before an altogether righteous God, is His mercy magnified by the greatness of our eternal deliverance through Jesus Christ.
By faith, God’s righteousness revealed in the gospel delivers us from His wrath. Salvation means deliverance or rescue from the peril of wrath. It is God that delivers us from God! That reality is evident by the way Paul uses the word “righteousness” in our text. What does he mean by it and how does it concern us?
Paul has already told us that the gospel “is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” We considered that this power was not speaking of God’s omnipotence as an attribute but rather the active display of power in the gospel of Jesus Christ. In the gospel God works powerfully for those believing in Christ and relying upon His saving work. But he goes further in explaining this gospel. Not only is it “the power of God for salvation to every who believes” but also, “in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” What is this righteousness of God?
Some identify this as a reference to God’s character, to His personal goodness in all that He is and does. Certainly, the Scripture acknowledges God as righteous. Even Pharaoh confessed, “Jehovah is righteous, and I and my people are wicked” (Ex. 9:27 ASV). “God is a righteous judge” (Ps. 7:11). “For Jehovah is righteous; He loveth righteousness: The upright shall behold his face” (Ps. 11:7, ASV). “Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, and upright are thy judgments” (Ps. 119:137 ASV). “Jehovah is righteous in all his way” (Ps. 145:17 ASV).
But if that is what Paul means, then this is a most fearful statement! Only the upright can see His face (Ps. 11:7). If we are not righteous then we cannot face Him. His righteousness then becomes a dread. Martyn Lloyd-Jones rightly notes, “…if the gospel of Jesus Christ were merely a revelation of the holiness and the justice and the righteousness of God and no more, far from being good news, far from being a gospel, it would be the most terrifying and the most alarming thing that we could ever discover” [Romans: The Gospel of God, Romans 1:1-32, p. 298]. That was Martin Luther’s testimony as well. Hear how he describes his encounter with this term as he studied the book of Romans when thinking that it referred to God’s personal goodness and righteousness.
But up till then it was not the cold blood about the heart, but a single word of Chapter 1 [:17], “In it the righteousness of God is revealed,” 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… [Bernhard Lohse, Martin Luther’s Theology: Its Historical and Systematic Development (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1999), 90, quoted from Luther’s Works, vol. 34, pp. 336-37].
Luther thought of this as only the character of God, who upon seeing the unrighteous, delivers justice by punishing the sinner. He understood that as a sinner, he had nothing to commend himself to God and no means by which he could be accepted by God.
Thankfully, Paul narrows the meaning of this word “righteousness of God,” so that he says its explanation is revealed in the gospel. He’s already spoken of the gospel in his introduction; so if we would understand the righteousness of God we must do so in light of the gospel. The gospel is that which was promised by God long ago through the prophets in the Scripture (1:2) concerning His Son (1:3). This gospel involves His Son’s entry into humanity as a son of David (1:3), and His death and powerful resurrection (1:4) which brings about the obedience of faith (1:5) for those called of Christ Jesus (1:6). It is God’s power for salvation to everyone that continues believing (1:16).
So, when Paul states that in the gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed,” then it is obvious that it has to do specifically with Jesus Christ and His redemptive work. This gospel has to do with how God declares unrighteous people to be righteous. Luther wrote, “For the righteousness of God is the cause of salvation. And here again, by the righteousness of God we must not understand the righteousness by which He is righteous in Himself but the righteousness by which we are made righteous by God” [Luther’s Works, vol. 25, 151, italics added]. Now we begin to see what Paul meant by the gospel: it is that which God has done in Christ through which His righteousness is imputed to those that believe. It is that which God has done so that eternal righteousness that demands justice toward sinners is fully satisfied through Christ.
Here’s the predicament. God is righteous; we are not. God cannot accept unrighteousness for to do so would be to deny His own character and contradict His own Law. Moreover, God’s righteousness demands justice. As His Law is a codified standard of His righteousness, lawbreakers (sinners, transgressors) must be brought to justice. We’ll see this more in chapter three, but for the time being, understand that God’s righteousness is not just His eternal goodness but also the assurance that He pursues eternal justice. He does not command His Law without expecting perfect obedience to it. Every breach of His Law demands that the righteous God justly punish lawbreakers.
This is where we come to see what Paul meant by “in it the righteousness of God is revealed.” Christ fulfilled every detail of the Law so that He has become to us “righteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30). He is the end of the law for righteousness for everyone who believes (Rom. 10:4). In this respect, Jesus actively pursued righteousness on our behalf “so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21). We must have this righteousness so that we can be accepted by the righteous God. But the guilt of our sin as transgressors of God’s law is still there. That’s why Christ went to the cross. There, the only perfect human being, standing in our place as our representative before God, passively bore God’s righteous judgment against us. “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’” (Gal. 3:13). Our guilt as law-breakers has been removed by Christ’s death in our place.
Righteousness is important because God is righteous and accepts nothing less from us. Here’s where a low view of God makes this difficult to understand. If we think that God is just a little above us then it would appear odd that He would have such an impossible standard of perfect righteousness. If He’s just a little above us then He should just accept us, sin and all! Think about how often people make light of the need for forgiveness or laugh at the necessity of Christ’s death in our place. They do this because their view of God puts the Creator on the level with the creature.
But there is no unrighteousness in God. “God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all,” as John puts it (1 John 1:5). Darkness metaphorically speaks of sin whereas Light refers to the holiness and righteousness of God. So, if there’s no darkness in God, then surely, God cannot and will not accept darkness in us.
“But we’re all sinners! We all have areas of darkness in us.” Yes, indeed, but that is the very reason that we are not acceptable to God. Hear how Isaiah in a detailed confession describes our condition:
Therefore justice is far from us, And righteousness does not overtake us; We hope for light, but behold, darkness, For brightness, but we walk in gloom. 10 We grope along the wall like blind men, We grope like those who have no eyes; We stumble at midday as in the twilight, Among those who are vigorous [we are] like dead men. 11 All of us growl like bears, And moan sadly like doves; We hope for justice, but there is none, For salvation, [but] it is far from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You, And our sins testify against us; For our transgressions are with us, And we know our iniquities: 13 Transgressing and denying the Lord, And turning away from our God, Speaking oppression and revolt, Conceiving [in] and uttering from the heart lying words. 14 Justice is turned back, And righteousness stands far away; For truth has stumbled in the street, And uprightness cannot enter. 15 Yes, truth is lacking; And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the Lord saw, And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice (Isa. 59:9-15).
“Justice is far from us…righteousness does not overtake us…we walk in gloom…we grope like those who have no eyes…we hope for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.” How do we emerge from such gloom and despair? Without righteousness we cannot stand before God. And without it, God’s wrath is fixed on us: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men… (Rom. 1:18).” Our unrighteousness shows the active rebellion in our hearts against God. We have violated His Law. Paul further characterizes this unrighteousness as a suppression of the truth. And what is truth? It is the glory and worthiness of God who has revealed Himself to us as Creator that we have rejected (1:20); the honor of God as provider and sovereign that we have dishonored (1:21); the worship of God as the only one worthy of devotion that we’ve given to the creature instead of God (1:22-23). So, because of this, God’s wrath will fall upon all unrighteousness. That’s why righteousness is important for us!
This brings us to the point that Paul makes. The righteousness of God refers to God’s action through His Son to declare sinners righteous before Him. That’s the subject of the gospel—so that is why the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel. You cannot understand righteousness apart from the gospel. Further, you cannot understand God’s love apart from understanding His righteousness. Otherwise, His love drifts into sentimentality or some kind of dreamy emotion. Most people would say that God is all about love. Though, indeed, “God is love,” our understanding of it is sentimentality apart from seeing how love is revealed in God’s righteousness. Consider John 3:16. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son…” Now, we do not understand that love except by His act of giving His Son on our behalf. And why did He give us Son? So that whoever believes in Him, might have eternal life, which is another way of saying life with God for all eternity—that’s a life that demands eternal righteousness.
Notice how this passage narrows the specific way that God’s righteousness is revealed. “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.” That could be translated, “out of faith unto faith” or “by faith into faith” or “from faith unto faith.” What does the Apostle mean by that phrase? To begin with, faith is critical in his whole argument. The word implies trusting in or resting upon or relying upon another. But specifically, the way Paul uses the term, “it is always the opposite of everything that is legalistic, not the opposite of the law, but the opposite of everything that is legalistic” (Lloyd-Jones, 306). It uproots the idea that we have anything by which to commend ourselves to God; or that we can produce enough goodness to find acceptance with God. As Lloyd-Jones puts it, “Faith is the contradiction of everything that is meritorious in man. Faith is the contradiction and the negation of every tendency in man to say that his merit is enough. In fact it is in the exclusion of claims of worthiness that the worth of true faith is brought out, so that if what you call your faith has not pushed right out of your life every sense of worthiness you ever had, you have not got faith” [306]. So, faith means that I have nothing to offer God by which He in turn would accept me as righteous. Instead, faith is the means or the instrument by which I receive what God has already done in Christ. Faith doesn’t justify us. Christ does that! Faith is simply the God-given means for receiving what Christ has done for us.
Several different views have been put forth on what is meant by “from faith to faith.” Some insist that it means from Old Testament faith to New Testament faith, thus a progression in understanding. While there is some measure of truth to that, it is not satisfactory because Paul is speaking of something more than growth in understanding. Others point out that the phrase carries the idea “by faith alone,” that is, faith from start to finish. That is certainly true, and is borne out very clearly later on in chapter three. Others suggest that the phrase means from one degree of faith to another degree of faith, that is, there is a growth in and ongoing progression in our faith in Christ. I think that the last two of these ideas merge and offer a clearer picture of what Paul is aiming for.
Since “is revealed” is a present passive verb, coupled with “everyone who believes” being present tense as well, we see that Paul speaks of something that is active rather than static. He’s not calling us to simply a decision of faith but instead to the ongoing revelation of God’s righteousness in the gospel. In other words, he’s not just speaking of our initial entry into a faith-relationship to God through Christ in the gospel. It includes this but is much more than this. He’s speaking of the ongoing revelation of God’s righteousness in the gospel that continues to deliver you from God’s wrath, that continues to be the basis for your forgiveness of sins and your acceptance before God, and that continues to be the only righteousness by which you have standing with God. Let me translate it to show this progressive nature of the present tense:
For I am not ashamed and continue to not be ashamed of the gospel, for it is always the power of God for salvation to every who believes and continues believing, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God keeps on being revealed from faith to faith; just as it has been written and stands forever written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Do you see the implications? This flies in the face of much of modern evangelism that simply calls for a quick decision with excuses made for why a person doesn’t continue in the Christian faith. Here we’re called to live in the gospel; not to embrace it and then lay it aside for works-righteousness. So many struggle at just this point. They genuinely trust in Christ as their righteousness before God. They believe that He died for their sins and that their acceptance with God rests wholly upon Him. At least they believe this at first. Then they begin to revert to their own works to keep them acceptable before God. It comes primarily in the form of legalism—following regulations, do’s and don’ts, lists of things to do and not do—all with the thought that by so doing one is made more acceptable before God. But the righteousness of God is not revealed in those kinds of things! It’s only revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ! It’s continually revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. So our faith is to continually rest in Jesus Christ and His active righteousness in obedience to God’s law, and passive righteousness in bearing God’s righteous judgment for us at the cross.
This is further noted by the quotation that Paul borrowed from Habakkuk 2:4: “But the righteous man shall live by faith.” In that prophetic book, Habakkuk mourned the problems of Israel brought on by their sin with no justice in sight (1:1-4). So God tells the prophet that He is raising up the Babylonians to execute justice on them (1:5-11). But that bewildered the prophet! He wanted justice but he didn’t mean that he wanted those more unrighteous than Israel to be the instrument of judgment. So he confesses, “Your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and You cannot look on wickedness with favor” (1:13). Yet, judgment was on the way. So, how would Habakkuk and other faithful believers survive? Here’s Gods’ answer, “Behold, as for the proud one, his soul is not right within him; but the righteous will live by his faith.” How will we stand up in the face of judgment, the prophet asks? By a righteousness that averts the wrath of God—a righteousness that is only by faith.
Now, it makes good sense why the Apostle used that Old Testament quotation here as well as in Galatians 3:11. Habakkuk wanted to know how God’s wrath could be averted! And so do we who recognize our sin and separation from God.
A fellow can make light of the gospel. He can neglect paying much attention to it if he does not believe that there’s any consequence to his sin. But if he believes that sin has consequences—eternal consequences—then whether he is open about it or not, he wants to know how God’s wrath can be averted. Yet he needs more than just missing God’s wrath for he will be called to stand before God. And how can he stand before a holy God unless he is righteous enough to be presentable? He has two needs: God’s wrath to be averted and righteousness to stand before God.
Well, he will work hard at becoming righteous, someone might say. But Paul understood how foolish that would be. He put it like this to the Philippian church: [that I] “may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Phil. 3:9). There it is! It is a righteousness which comes from God; therefore, it is alien to me. Yet that’s what I need, an alien righteousness because the kind of righteousness that I can muster from my flawed adherence to the Law will not help me before God. But that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness of God that is on the basis of faith—that’s what gives me acceptance before God. Just as God accepts His Son, even so, He accepts all of those to whom the Son has imputed His righteousness through faith.
So, what does Paul aim for in this passage? (1) He calls for us to see the specific nature of this righteousness found in the gospel of Christ. It is the kind that God accepts without condition because it is Christ’s righteousness imputed to us or placed on our account. It is a righteousness that averts God’s wrath through the sacrifice of Christ in our place at the cross. (2) He calls for us to see that this righteousness of God is only for those believing and continuing to believe (present tense!). So, it’s not about a “decision,” as important as that may be initially, but it’s about a faith that continues to cling to Christ alone as his righteousness before God. (3) He calls for us to see such a righteousness that is adequate to begin a life with God and fully adequate to take us through every stage of life to present us acceptable before God.
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