CF Bible Study: What Is “the Righteousness of God” in Romans?

Paul’s view of the righteousness of God is embedded in the Old Testament. The feel of the Old Testament is prevalent throughout Romans and he himself claims that the righteousness of God to which he refers in 1:17, 3:21-22, and 10:3 was “witnessed by the Law and the prophets.”

Broadly, the Old Testament meaning of God’s righteousness is His blamelessness in a courtroom setting. As judge, plaintiff, or defendant, God is always found to be in the right–He is always justified. It may be helpful to use the term “courtroom blamelessness” to encapsulate this attribute.

This broad definition is often narrowed to focus on a subset. For instance, when David says, “God is a righteous judge, and a God who has indignation every day” (Psalm 7:11), he is obviously focusing on God’s blameless as a judge. God vindicates the righteous and brings destruction upon the unrighteous. This is a subset of the larger meaning.

One subset that is seen a surprising and seemingly inordinate amount of times is God’s blamelessness regarding His people, the Israelites. God is always faithful to forgive, vindicate, and deliver them according to His promises (Exodus 15:13, Exodus 34:7, 1 Samuel 12:6-11, Isaiah 46:12-13, Isaiah 51:4-8, Isaiah 59:9-15, Isaiah 63:7). He must be. And when He is, He is righteous

Paul saw this. In Romans 9, discussing the plight of lost Israel, he says, “but it is not as though the word of God has failed.” By implication we see that in Paul’s mind, if there is no other explanation for the Jews accursedness (i.e. the fact that “not all Israel is descended from Israel”), God’s word has failed. If God does not keep His word and save His people, He is not righteous.

Isaiah brings forward this theme like few of the prophets. And it is apparent that in Romans Paul is saturated with Isaiah. The last 26 chapters of that book are full of the idea that God’s righteousness one day will come powerfully, with the result that Israel will be saved. In fact, God’s righteousness and God’s salvation for Israel are paralleled often. “I bring near My righteousness, it is not far off; and My salvation will not delay. And I will grant salvation in Zion and My glory for Israel” (Isaiah 46:13). God will soon display His blamelessness with regard to Israel and justify, and deliver them.

The Jews of the 1st Century understood this to some extent. God would reveal His righteousness in their deliverance, and it would probably be in connection with the Messiah (Isaiah points to this). But they had a fundamental problem. They thought that their hope of attaining this deliverance was in the Law. By circumcision and Law-keeping they could attain a righteousness by which they would be justified and saved. They would have a Law-righteousness through which God would reveal His righteousness.

Paul’s object in Romans 1:17, 3:21-22, and 10:3 is to show that the righteousness of God that “was witnessed by the Law and the prophets” has already been revealed. The Messiah has come and God has brought forward His salvation in blameless faithfulness to His people (remember, His people are not really ethnic Israel, but the true Israel). This is real forgiveness of sins in Christ, a real righteousness that will result in a real justification and salvation!

Perhaps the biggest point of all is that this revelation of God’s righteousness in justification and deliverance is not for those who keep the Jewish Law, it is for those who have faith. If justification is by the works of the Law then God would be “the God of Jews only” (Romans 3:28-29). But it is not. It is by faith. Therefore it is for Gentiles as well as believing Jews. There is no distinction. “Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

“But now, apart from the Law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus . . .”
Romans 3:21-22

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com

CF Bible Study: Incomplete Thoughts regarding “the Righteousness of God” in Romans

For a while now, I have felt a lack of full coherence in my understanding of Paul. I knew that I should have been able to sit down, read through Romans, and comprehend it in a complete way. But I couldn’t. And so I began a more intense quest than ever to really get into the mind of Paul.

By recognizing the prominence in Paul’s thinking of the salvation of Gentiles, we made an advance on the right road. This is what Romans is about. But we have still not understood all of the theological groundwork for that thinking which is presented in Romans.

It all seems to revolve around one set of words–a set that is very unique to Romans–”the righteousness of God.” The phrase (or a related idea) is used around eight times. In 1:17, 3:5, 3:21-22, 3:25-26, 9:14, and 10:3. The most clear use is in 3:21-22:

“But now the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe . . .”

I believe that these words are the key to unlock the book of Romans and the thinking of Paul. I also believe, after much study, that we are closer to comprehending Romans and Paul than ever before.

In our discussion on Wednesday we considered several possibilities for the meaning of these words.

1. The righteousness of God could be the legal righteousness we have in Christ.

In this view, the righteousness of God is not an attribute of God, but a gift that He gives through Christ to those who have faith. It would make Philippians 3:9 a parallel: “. . . and 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 . . .” The idea is that Paul is proclaiming in Romans the revelation of the righteousness which truly justifies. Not a righteousness from the Law, but through faith “apart from the Law.”

This view is supported by 2 Corinthians 5:21 and by long years of church history (Luther, for one, saw it this way). There are, however, some difficulties.

First, it would separate the meaning in 1:17, 3:21-22, and 10:3 (the gift of righteousness) from the meaning in 3:5, 3:25-26, and 9:14 (which seem to refer to an attribute of God Himself). This is big problem, especially considering that, in one case, this separation would have to be made within six verses (3:21-26).

Second, it may not link enough with the inclusion of Gentiles into salvation. It seems that Paul often uses the fact that God’s righteousness has been revealed to support the idea that all nations may be saved (1:17, 3:21-24, 10:3).

This is very legitimate option and must be carefully considered.

2. The righteousness of God could be the impartiality of God toward Gentiles and Jews.

From this angle, Paul is saying in Romans that God has revealed His impartiality (righteousness) toward all nations in the gospel. Everyone, Jew or Greek, may have salvation. The flow of thought in the beginning chapters could back this up (see 2:11, “there is no partiality with God”). It also does a good job of getting at the Jew/Gentile object of Romans.

Again, there are some problems. It still does not synthesize all of the uses of the phrase in Romans. Paul could not mean the same thing in 3:5, 3:25-26, and 9:14. There is also not much support for this in the Septuagint.

3. The righteousness of God could be His justice as a judge.

In this view, 3:25-26 would get at the heart of Paul’s meaning: “. . . Christ Jesus whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness because in the forbearance of God He passed over sins previously committed; for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be the just and justifier of the one what has faith in Jesus.” Basically, through Christ, God has revealed that He is both righteous and justifies ungodly people.

The advantage to this is that it could bring together all of the uses of the phrase in Romans. The disadvantage is that it does not seem to get at Jew/Gentile salvation as well as would be expected.

4. The righteousness of God could be faithfulness to His commitments.

To Abraham and his seed God promised blessing and salvation. This included promises of blessing to all the nations of the earth. The idea is that God is being true to what He has promised. He has finally revealed his faithfulness to his covenant in huge and unexpected way through Christ and faith.

This view does link to Jew/Gentile salvation. There are overtones of it in 3:5, and there are mounds of evidence in the Septuagint (we’ll look at that later). The disadvantage, however, is that it does not seem to quite blend all the uses of the righteousness of God in Romans.

Even though we did not discuss this one much, it definitely needs consideration.

Conclusion

There may be more options and some of these may blend in interesting ways. Hopefully next week we will be able to come to some concrete conclusions. I have a lot of ideas. In fact, I have my own opinion!

Pray like crazy.

Bryan

 

CF Bible Study, Romans 9:24-29: God Is Faithful, and Salvation Is for All Nations

24 Even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.
25 As He says also in Hosea, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,” And her who was not beloved, ‘beloved.’”
26 “And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, ‘ You are not My people,’ there they shall be called sons of the living God.”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved;
28 for the Lord will execute His word on the earth thoroughly and quickly.”
29 And just as Isaiah foretold, “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah.”
Romans 9:24-29

The text tonight is not extremely difficult to understand. For that reason, we will spend only half of our time actually analyzing it. For the rest of the time, I want to make a few general comments about the theme that it brings forward.

A Faithful God, and a Salvation for All Nations

Romans 9 is here because the rest of Romans surrounds it. The point of this letter is that salvation is for all nations, which means that the ethnic Jews are not the chosen people of God. The pressing question then in Romans 9 is this: Is God turning His back on His promises to Israel?

Paul answers by saying that God is being faithful to Israel. In fact, they actually are still the people of God. It is just that Israel is not who you thought Israel was. True Israel is not the physical seed of Abraham. It is whoever God elects. And God has only elected some of the ethnic Jews to be part of the true Israel. “They are not all Israel who are descended from Israel” (v. 6).

But then Paul takes it a step further. This is really what he is driving at with the whole chapter. Not only has God chosen only a few ethnic Jews to be true Israel, He has also chosen many Gentiles. “. . . vessels of mercy which He prepared beforehand for glory [the elect--true Israel], even us, whom He also called, not from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.”

That’s all this passage is saying! God is both faithful to His promises and salvation is indeed for all nations. It’s not complicated; it’s just really true!

Quotes from Hosea: the Inclusion of the Gentiles

The rest of the passage (verses 25-29) is simply support from the Old Testament for what is being taught in verse 24.

“As He says also in Hosea, ‘I will call those who were not My people, “My people,” And her who was not beloved, “Beloved.”‘ ‘And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, “you are not My people,” there they shall be called sons of the living God’” (v. 25-26).

Here Paul is backing up what he has said about the inclusion of the Gentiles. They were not God’s people; now they are His people.

But there is a problem that needs to be cleared up. The Old Testament context of these verses is about Jews, not Gentiles. Through the prophet Hosea, God made known His rejection of Israel that was due to their sins. And then He foretold His reacceptance of them by saying, “I will call those who were not My people, ‘My people,’ and her who was not beloved, ‘Beloved.’” He is talking about Jews, not Gentiles. So for Paul to apply this to Gentiles seems like bad hermeneutics. But we know that he is an inspired spokesman and that the Holy Spirit does not contradict Itself. So we need to figure out what is happening here.

I think Paul is applying a principle to these passages that is really the foundation of everything he says in chapter 9, namely this: the Old Testament Jewish nation is a shadowy picture of the real thing–the Church. God’s election of them is a picture of His election of us. Their redemption from Egypt is a picture of our redemption from sin and Satan. Their promised land of Canaan is a picture our new heavens and new earth. It is all a shadow meant to point toward the Church.

This means that the promises and prophecies in the Old Testament have a temporal, pictorial fulfillment in ethnic Israel, and an ultimate fulfillment in true Israel. God’s promises to Abraham are an example. Paul is applying this principle here. He is saying, “Yes, yes! These prophecies found a temporal realization in the reacceptance of the Jews, but they find their true realization in the calling of the Church, with a specific emphasis on Gentiles. ‘It shall be that in the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,” they shall be called sons of the living God.’”

Quotes from Isaiah: Only a Jewish Remnant

The next two quotes, from Isaiah, support what Paul has said in chapter 9 about the Jews. Only some, not all, will be saved.

“Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, ‘Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved; for the Lord will execute His word on the earth thoroughly and quickly.’ And just as Isaiah foretold, ‘Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a posterity, we would have become like Sodom, and would have resembled Gomorrah’” (v. 27-29).

Both of these texts talk about the judgment of Israel and both talk about the salvation of only a remnant. And again the Israel-foreshadows-the-Church principle is being applied. These prophecies had a shadowy fulfillment in the Jews, but they now have a real fulfillment in the Church. A remnant of the ethnic Jewish nation will be saved in Christ, the rest will be judged.

Paul’s point in chapter 9 then is this: God is still faithful, and salvation is still for all nations.

We Are Wired to Miss It

Now I want to make a few general comments on the issue that this passage (and the whole letter) hits on–the multi-cultural, all-nations nature of the Church.

What I find interesting about Romans is that it was written to a church that already understood what it said. The Roman church was already a multi-cultural church. They were made up of united Jews and Gentiles. And Paul even told them that he was confident that they already knew what he was saying (15:14). Yet he still wrote one of the longest letters in the New Testament to get it across as a reminder.

Why? Because we are wired to miss it. For some reason, our human nature is one that by default does not easily see or remember this.

I have spent some time asking myself the question, “Why is it that we are so prone to miss and forget the all-nations nature of the church?” I thought for a while that the problem was with our Reformation-colored exegesis that causes us to interpret everything in the New Testament with eye of Luther, focused on faith/works issues. I still see this as partly true. But then I realized, “The first-century Romans before the Reformation must have had the same problem! So there has to be something deeper down.”

We Are Too Comfortable

I now believe I have found at least some of the problem. It is this: we are too comfortable. To think and act salvation for all nations is very uncomfortable. We are too comfortable. So we don’t do it.

Crossing cultures and uniting cultures is one of the hardest things in the world. The reason is that different cultures are different. They come from a different place, they eat different food, they look different, smell different, often speak a different language, and most of all they think differently. You only have to look at the deep-seated, long-standing and often bloody animosity between many cultures, that has existed for thousands of years, to understand that what we are trying to do is extremely difficult.

And here we are (the Church all over the world) in our White churches and Black churches and Korean churches and Chinese churches. It’s comfortable. It’s not hard. And it’s killing us! Few people are willing to get up off the ground and press the difficult edges of cultural unity. Whenever and wherever the Church gets too comfortable, it neglects this aspect (this huge aspect) of the gospel.

We must realize that the difficulty is much of what makes this so glorifying to God. No one was doing this in the first-century. Jews and Gentiles did not get along. They were so totally different. But the Church was doing it, and it was screaming to the Universe the worth of God and power of the gospel, because that (and nothing else) is what they were standing on together.

Do not get comfortable. It will kill us. We have to get up off the ground and find ways think and act out the difficult implications of salvation for all nations. It is hard. And it is so glorifying to God.

Bryan Elliff © 2008 www.bryanelliff.wordpress.com