Several years ago I got a call from a market testing company, asking if I would be interested in field-testing a new hamburger for a local fast food chain. With food involved, I jumped at the chance! I sat at a long table with about a dozen other food testers and waited for the event to begin. We received instructions on looking for presentation as well as identifying different tastes with the blend of beef, seasoning, and bun. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed the test! No burger was bad but one or two quite clearly stood above the rest. Six different burgers were brought in succession with enough of a pause between each to discuss presentation and taste. In the end, we favored one burger that ended up becoming the staple item on this food chain’s menu.
Marketing tests the desires and preferences of the consumer in order to accommodate the product toward the consumer. Ultimately, sales drive the result or else the company will not stay in business for very long.
Yet some things must not be marketed. While marketing strategies might attempt to influence or sway our moral and ethical decisions, integrity demands that we resist. Much more so, right standing with God for eternity cannot be marketed. Some have tried. They have gone light on the holiness of God, skipped over the sinfulness of man, twisted the cross into a motivational tactic rather than the place of atonement, and ignored the resurrection lest inquirers to Christianity strain their credulity. With a goal to add more faces to their programs and names to their database, these spiritual deceivers only denigrate the very gospel they claim to believe. Having stumbled over the declarations in the gospel they steer others in the same path of destruction.[1]
When man faced the certainty of God’s wrath and no recourse for averting it, God intervened in grace. But He did not market test the way of salvation! He did not see what would be appealing to human sensibilities and desires. Rather, the Lord God chose the one way that would avert His wrath with justice and reconcile enemies to Himself so that sinful rebels could be counted as His children. Jesus Christ, His bloody death at the cross, and His resurrection is that way. God chose the instrument of faith as the means for receiving what He has accomplished through His Son’s redemptive work.
But this is precisely where some struggle. In an effort to keep everything in nice, tightly boxed categories, faith appears antithetical to election. The Apostle has set forth God’s sovereignty in salvation by showing mercy to whom He desires and hardening whom He desires. That’s election. The reaction, as we noted in verses 19-29, was to blame God for one’s spiritual condition. If a person is not a Christian then it is the fault of God for not electing him—plain and simple! But Paul shows that attitude amiss since the thing molded does not question the potter making it. He transitions in our text to explain that the only reason one can offer for not being Christian is his own unbelief. Each one has personal responsibility for relying on the righteousness of God. Yet the sad truth is that many do not—even many religious people. They seek to establish their own righteousness, thinking it adequate for standing with God. But He does not accept any righteousness except the righteousness of Jesus Christ. That solitary truth causes some to stumble. Have you stumbled over Jesus Christ—God’s righteousness?
Who would have dared to think that the Gentiles, who lived in idolatry and pagan rituals, would attain righteousness while the Jews, the strictly devoted people of Yahweh, would not? Paul explained the topsy-turvy view, as Stott put it, of the religious world. The very people one would not think of as having a faint interest in right standing with God became the recipients of God’s favor. None would deny that the Jewish people labored at being righteous yet Paul insists that they failed to attain the very thing they sought.
What is the Apostle’s point? He does not totally leave the subject that he’s addressed in this chapter—that of the sovereign work of God in salvation. He highlights the mercy of God. The only reason that Gentiles attained righteousness can be attributed to one thing alone: the mercy of God. We must not stray from this vital truth. Salvation is nothing less than a sovereign act of God in mercy toward sinners. It is more than this when we think of all He did to accomplish His saving work but certainly not less than this. Notice how Paul sets forth this topsy-turvy religion so that we learn to rely upon the mercy and grace of God rather than our own righteousness.
“What shall we say then?” His rhetorical question leads him into drawing some conclusions from his argument regarding God’s electing grace. What he aims for is to counter those who would insist, in light of election, that man has no personal responsibility in his salvation. We’ve noted before that some view predestination/election with fatalistic lens. Muslims are notable in this. Many that want to argue against the doctrine of election counter that if God is sovereign in salvation, as Paul has clearly declared in this chapter, then man no longer has any personal responsibility. He is just to sit back and wait for God to ‘zap’ him with righteousness.
Paul objects. His explanation shows that he refuses to operate under the assumption that we can put everything into tightly packaged categories with reference to the working of God. We cannot. While He is sovereign in saving, the Lord God does not remove responsibility from man. Both divine sovereignty and human responsibility coexist (whether we can fully grapple with it or not!). Here he shows the two in tandem.
Israel failed to achieve the righteousness necessary for right standing with God. As we’ve noted throughout our study of Romans, righteousness refers to the character, attitude, and behavior necessary to a right standing with God. It reflects the moral character of God. To accept us, God requires us to possess His righteousness. So Israel sought to do this through rigid adherence to the law. “But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.”
The phrase, “a law of righteousness,” points to the codified law given to Israel by Moses. In other words, they had specific laws written in stone that spelled out precisely what righteousness demands. Now the question is whether or not they were wrong to pursue this law in obedience to the Lord God? Certainly not, it is what God required of them. Yet they failed. “Israel…did not arrive at that law.” What went wrong? Note the answer in verse 32: “they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works.” It was not that Israel should have thrown the law out and had nothing to do with it as though it led them down a path of destruction. No indeed! It is God’s law! It is the revelation of His own righteousness in ten tightly worded commands. The problem came when they viewed their obedience to the law as the means to produce righteousness. Such a view, as we shall see in a moment, lowered the standard of righteousness to a point totally unworthy of right standing with God. Their pursuit failed. And so does similar pursuit by any of us who think that by obedience to the law we can attain righteousness.
But what about the Gentiles? They did not pursue God’s codified standard of righteousness in the law. It is not that some did not try to do what was morally right, at least as much as they understood morality. Some did while others, the majority, pursued idolatry, often accompanied by grave moral depravity. If we re-read Romans 1:18-32 we would hear again Paul’s exposition of Gentile sinfulness with all its ugliness in light of God’s holiness.
Yet, though not pursuing righteousness, they attained it! “That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith.” How did Gentiles who did not know God or anything about His revelation to Abraham, Moses, or the prophets attain righteousness? There’s an intentional play on words in verses 30-31. Gentiles “attained righteousness,” while Israel “did not arrive at that law.” Attain and arrive imply two different positions. The first indicates the idea of laying hold of something or obtaining it. The other pictures a journey or a goal that one pursues and makes his destination. The first is offered by God and laid hold of by faith. The latter is man’s attempt to reach what only God can give.
So how did the Gentiles attain righteousness? God pursued Gentiles (read “us”) by grace. Nothing in them, nothing around them, nothing worthy, and not even right motive helped them. But God, rich in mercy and the great love with which He loved us, pursued Gentile sinners to save them by grace (Eph. 2:4-7). But what does this pursuit look like when God pursues sinners in electing grace?
Keep in mind the comparison that Paul makes. The Jews “pursue righteousness” but fail to achieve it while the Gentiles seemingly do nothing, and yet they attain righteousness. One sees righteousness as the product of human effort in conformity to an external moral standard. He pursues that standard established by God but continues to come up short. The other holds no claim to righteousness. He does not understand it even as clearly as the Jew, yet through faith in God’s provision in Christ he lays hold of righteousness. Let’s consider how Paul develops this contrast.
The word “pursue” comes from the realm of hunting. It’s the same word that would be used for a hunter pursuing his prey or a dog chasing a rabbit. There’s aggressiveness to it. Hunters labor long and hard to bag their prey. They rise early in the morning, battle the elements, endure frigid temperatures, traverse rugged terrain, and refuse to stop until they achieve their aim. Paul indicates that the Jews pursued righteousness in that way: “but Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.”
If the “law of righteousness” pursued equates to the Ten Commandments (at minimum) then the one pursuing it would have to consider it achievable if he thought that he could reach a point of righteousness. Yet we are dealing with the Law of God. We’re pursuing the imprint of the divine character in every point of our attitude, action, and words. So what would have to take place for a person to reach that goal? Realistically, that goal is unachievable, if indeed the law is the revelation of God’s character in codified form. So if one is to reach the goal he will have to make changes at the target. If his aim is too high then he must lower the target.
That’s precisely what men do. They begin by (1) lowering the standards of righteousness. Rather than perfect righteousness, holiness in every part of life, complete restraint from sin, and actively doing what is good, one would need to begin to carve away at the standards. Instead of having no other gods before him, one would have to be content with having few gods before him. Instead of not taking the Lord’s name in vain, one would have to seek to rarely take His name in vain. The command against murder would not include the positive exhortation to love, as we see fleshed out in the New Testament. The command against adultery would not include the look of lust that Jesus warned against. If the standard is lowered then the expectation is lowered. One can pacify himself that he has done well if the standard is low.
(2) Yet even with lowered standards, we’re still sinners at our very best. So to meet the lowered standards, which are not God’s standards of righteousness, one would need a high degree of perfection. What would this require? It demands that whatever the command prohibits then one must always and on every occasion refuse to break the command. Positively, it means that the other side of the equation, the good that is to be exercised, such as loving instead of murdering, fidelity instead of adultery, contentment instead of coveting, would need to be consistently practiced. No exceptions on either side of the equation can be tolerated if one seeks to achieve righteousness.
(3) Realistically, the one pursuing righteousness in this way will come up short. So he must have a plan to convince himself that he’s okay with God. He does it by ignoring sin and obedience. If he acts as though these things do not exist then he can convince himself that he is righteous! He avoids confrontation with his sin.
Please understand: there’s nothing wrong with seeking to obey God’s commands. Indeed, we need to pursue obedience to His law. It is right that we follow what the Creator and Sovereign of the universe demands. But even with our very best efforts we will not achieve righteousness by our works. “By the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight” (Rom. 3:20). Works as the means of righteousness is a trap that leads to eternal destruction.
The contrast is quite clear. If one needs righteousness to have a right standing with holy God and yet he has no ability to arrive at the goal of righteousness through his works, then his only hope is in the grace of God. He must rely upon God to do what he is himself quite incapable of achieving. That’s precisely where Paul has taken us through the past 9 chapters of Romans. He has shown us in chapter 9 that God’s sovereign, electing mercy stands behind the work of salvation—hidden as it were in the mystery of God’s grace, yet not releasing us from responsibility for righteousness or to respond to the gospel.
There are two views of righteousness in our text. One is “a law of righteousness” which indicates the divine standard that man thinks he can achieve. He may do this by either a false assumption of human ability or by lowering the standard of righteousness. The other view is no less righteousness than the other in terms of the standard. Yet it focuses on God’s provision of righteousness. Paul calls it, “the righteousness which is by faith.” So it is a righteousness that is not achievable by human effort but rather one that is received by faith. In this case, it is an “alien righteousness.” By that, I mean it is a righteousness outside oneself—it is not self-produced or self-manufactured by slavish adherence to a standard. It recognizes that the answer to right standing with God is not found in us but in God as He revealed Himself in Jesus Christ as our Prophet, Priest, and King.
If we continue reading into the next chapter we see precisely what Paul had in mind. The Jews thought that they could achieve the righteousness of God through their own efforts. “For not knowing about God’s righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.” In other words, the Jews were actually looking within to their level of performance to the law of righteousness as a standard of behavior instead of looking to God’s righteousness. They thought that God would accept their behavior as righteous and acceptable in His holy presence. Consequently, they did not bow the knee to the righteousness of God. And what is that righteousness? “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:3-4)
John Piper points out that the original language better reads, “The goal [or end] of the law is Christ for righteousness for everyone who believes.”[3] I agree. The goal of the law is “Christ for righteousness,” not self-produced righteousness. The law brings us to the end of ourselves as the means to righteousness. It shows us that we cannot attain to the standard necessary to appear unscathed before the infinitely righteous God. It points beyond the mere standard of the Ten Words to the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that is ours by faith. That’s why Paul calls it, “the righteousness which is by faith.”
Do you rely upon Christ for righteousness? Or have you been relying upon yourself? It is Jesus Christ that has fulfilled the law’s demands by His obedience and absorbed the law’s justice by His death. Faith lays hold of His righteousness as we look to Christ and not ourselves for right standing with God.
Why did the Jews not attain righteousness? Or for that matter, why do many religious Gentiles, even many that profess to be Christians not attain the righteousness necessary to stand before God? “Because, they did not pursue it by faith, but as though it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone…” They could not look beyond self-ability and self-righteousness to see that they needed the righteousness of Christ. Multitudes are in the same position as the Jews of Paul’s day. They stumble over the provision of God for righteousness through Christ alone. Here Paul conflates two passages from Isaiah to make his point (Isaiah 28:16 & 8:14; cf. 1 Peter 2:4-8).
“They stumbled over the stumbling stone, just as it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, and he who believes in Him will not be disappointed’.” The analogy is simple. One is walking along a trail or through the woods or even across the lawn, and then trips up due to an unnoticed stone in the path. He does not stop and pat the stone in thanks that it tripped him up but rather he scolds it and maybe even curses it! It is an offense to him that the stone would dare get in his way.
Paul’s assertion is that Jesus Christ and His gospel is this stumbling stone or, as we could translate “a rock of offense,” ‘a scandalous rock.’ The gospel is scandalous to the unbelieving. The scandal, of course, is not the personality of Jesus or the idea of His existence or His sayings (edited, of course) or His miracles or His motivation to help others. Rather it is the offensive nature of Christ revealed in the gospel. That God the Son would become Incarnate in order to bear His own wrath at the cross, offends! The necessity of His perfect obedience and bloody death at the cross for our salvation, offends. It offended the multitudes that followed Jesus after He fed them. So He used the imagery, “Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in yourselves” (John 6:53). You must find your satisfaction in Christ alone. Many left when they heard this. Jesus asked, “Does this cause you to stumble?” Or “Does this scandalize you?” Why is this scandalous?
One must look outside himself for salvation—not within.
One must abandon self-effort and self-dependence for righteousness.
One must admit that he has nothing to offer God for righteousness but cling only to the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Everything about Jesus Christ and the gospel is antithetical to human perception and ability. The cross offends. “But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and wisdom of God” (1 Cor. 1:23-24). By God’s doing, we’re told in that same chapter, you are in Christ Jesus who became to you wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption (1:30). Add the resurrection of Jesus that stretches human reasoning beyond the bounds, and you have a perfect scandal! And yet it is in that scandal of the gospel that we have righteousness that commends us to God.
“And he who believes in Him will not be disappointed [ashamed].” The promise of Jesus Christ in the gospel is that when you truly believe in Him as your righteousness before God, you will not be ashamed or disappointed or dissatisfied. So many people fear what they will lose or how they will change if they trust in Jesus Christ. They have failed to understand that the one rejected by men is choice and precious in the sight of God! He is altogether satisfying! So many think that only this fading, perishing temporal existence can satisfy. They feed on husks when they could enjoy the eternal feast at the King’s Table! They fail to see how transitory and infected with sin is this present existence.
Jesus Christ does not disappoint. None who have truly come to know Him as Savior, Redeemer, King, and Friend would dare to think of returning to the deadness and emptiness of life without Christ and His righteousness.
But you cannot know this unless you are one “who believes in Him.” That’s your responsibility in light of your accountability before the law of God and the provision of God in the gospel. Believe in Him. Cast yourself upon Christ. Rest in His righteousness. Rely upon His death for you. Rejoice that He has been raised from the dead, and you, in union with Him, raised to life with Him. You will not be ashamed when you stand before the infinitely holy God if you have believed in His Son and received Christ for righteousness.
Don’t stumble over the stumbling stone—Christ for righteousness for everyone who believes.
[1] Ligon Duncan’s use of market testing spurred my thought in the introduction: “Why Would Someone Reject Salvation?” Romans 9:30-33, www.fpcjackson.org, p.5.
[2] John Stott, God’s Good News for the World (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1994), 276.
[3] John Piper, “The Gentiles Have Obtained Righteousness by Faith,” Romans 9:30-33, May 4. 2003 at www.desiringGod.org, p. 2.
Permissions: You are permitted and encouraged to reproduce and distribute this material in any format provided that you do not alter the wording in any way and you do not charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. For web posting, a link to this document on our website is preferred. Any exceptions to the above must be explicitly approved by South Woods Baptist Church.
Please include the following statement on any distributed copy:
Copyright South Woods Baptist Church. Website: www.southwoodsbc.org. Used by permission as granted on web site. Questions, comments, and suggestions about our site can be sent here.
Copyright 2011, South Woods Baptist Church, All Rights Reserved