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The Righteousness of God in Romans
A brief argument that “the righteousness of God” in Romans names God's own character and saving action, read against the Old Testament, not Greco-Roman law.
The reader of Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is confronted very early on with a term that takes on a thematic significance as it plays out across the scope of the letter’s message. The term “righteousness of God” first appears in 1:17: “For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith…,” and occurs a total of five times throughout the letter (1:17; 3:5, 21, 22; 10:3). The correlative term “God’s righteousness” or “his righteousness” occurs twice more (3:25; 10:3).
A difficulty arises when attempting to discern what Paul means by this phrase: in English, at least, the term is ambiguous. What is clear is that its meaning is bound up with that of the gospel, but how, exactly? Does the phrase mean something more objective, like “the righteousness that God approves”? Or are we to understand it more subjectively, as in “God’s own righteousness,” that is, in his own being or his action? We may ask further if this term should be understood in its Greco-Roman jurisprudential context, or rather, did Paul have the OT context in mind?1 It is my view that “the righteousness of God” should be understood subjectively as it relates to God’s being and character/action, and that the OT, rather than Greco-Roman ideas, primarily informs Paul’s use of it in Romans.
What emerges as this term plays out in Romans is that it is bound up with the notion of justification. God’s righteousness is revealed in the declaration that, by the instrument of faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ, sinners are justified. This “impossible possibility” of the unrighteous being declared righteous by God apart from the law operates as a contradiction in relation to the common sense notion of righteousness or justice.2 A righteous judge is one who punishes wickedness and blesses righteousness. But God’s righteousness takes the form of Him pouring out his wrath against unrighteousness on His Son, Jesus, in his death (“blood,” 3:25), thereby dealing with sin and justifying the sinner by the instrument of faith (Rom. 3:25-26), for “the righteous shall live by faith”3 (Rom. 1:17b; Hab. 2:4). A similar statement of Paul is found in 2 Cor. 5:21, yet in the context of “new creation”: “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (emphasis mine). Paul develops this idea that the righteousness of God is a “gift” (3:24), freely bestowed by the righteous God on sinners, “for all who believe” (3:22). Paul expounds these ideas by careful argument through chapter 8.
In 9-11, Paul addresses a problem that arises when considering this understanding of the righteousness of God, namely, what does one make of Israel? What does that say about God’s faithfulness? Has God rejected Israel? Can we trust God? Has the word of God failed? Has God gone back on his promise? Paul’s answer in short is, “By no means!” (Rom. 9:14b)—an answer, again, sustained by careful argument.
In the final section of the letter (12:1-16:27), Paul addresses the moral requirements of the believer that the righteousness of God entails. Though moral obedience is required, this is not to suggest that it is what justifies the believer; rather, given that the sinner has been justified, this is the way justified believers must live before God. Christian obedience is a holistic activity (12:1-2). Interestingly, in 13:8-10, Paul goes on to apply the Ten Commandments to Christian living. He says that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (13:10b), and because of this “the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,’ and any other commandment” (13:9a) are ways of expressing this love.
He also addresses the social dimensions of the Christian life in light of the righteousness of God (15:22-33). In particular, he has in mind the obligation for Christians to support those involved in gospel ministry: “they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings” (15:27b).
Finally, Paul demonstrates the moral implications of the righteousness of God in the context of Christian fellowship (16:1-23). He “commends” a sister that she might be “welcomed” (16:1). He says to “greet” those who risked their lives for the gospel, and those associated with them (16:3-5), along with those who have labored for the Roman church (16:6) and alongside Paul or the other apostles (16:7-15). And he “appeals” (16:17) to the church to be on guard against false teachers so that they may be “wise as to what is good and innocent as to what is evil” (16:19).
The God who, through his righteousness, has declared sinners righteous while in their sin, by the merits of Jesus Christ’s blood, in faith, is in the end referred to by Paul as the “God of peace” (16:20)—the one who has reconciled sinful humanity to himself, “in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory…” (9:22b).
Bibliography
Carson, D. A., and Douglas Moo. An Introduction to the New Testament. 2nd ed. Zondervan, 2005.
Hawthorne, Gerald F., and Ralph P. Martin, eds. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters. InterVarsity, 1993.
Kruger, Michael J., ed. A Biblical-Theological Introduction to the New Testament: The Gospel Realized. Crossway, 2016.
The Holy Bible. English Standard Version. Crossway, 2001.