The Righteousness of God

I think if we were to look at the theme of Romans 1-3, we would see that it is the righteousness of God. The purpose of the letter is given in 1.15:

So, as much as is in me, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also.

It is the gospel that reveals the righteousness of God "from faith to faith." Why? Because "the just { i.e., the righteous } shall live by faith." The bolding here is perhaps a bit excessive, but I want to draw attention to the repetition in the language: the gospel reveals the righteousness of God.

The phrase "from faith to faith" is interesting and bears a bit of examination. I'll do this in another post (Lord willing). As a bit of word salad, though, compare the phrase "Author and Finisher of the faith" (Author is parallel to "from"; Finisher is parallel to "to"). It's perhaps also worth noting that it is the righteousness of God that is revealed by the gospel (from faith), but it is expressed in righteous men (to faith).


For all the arguments about how Romans may or may not be a systematic theology, it is clear that the apostle's train of thought is aimed squarely at 3.21:

But now the righteousness of God ... is revealed ...

The intervening text squarely addresses two ways in which the righteousness of God is revealed: by his punishment of sin (ultimately by giving men over to sin) and by the law. On the one hand, we have those without special revelation (the Gentiles) and those who were given "the oracles of God," that is, the Jews (3.3).

Neither of these ways, we are told, leaves man with any hope. The purpose of the law was to condemn, not to justify, and so both the Gentiles who have no law will be judged for sin, and the Jews, to whom the law was given and the prophets came, will likewise be condemned. There is no excuse to either—on the one hand, creation is sufficient to testify to God's judgment for those given no revelation, and on the other, the explicit revelation of the Law taught man his inability to live up to God's righteous standards.


And so we see in the wake of the moral devastation of the passage that

[T]he righteousness of God without the law is revealed, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe

So here we see again our thematic elements: the revelation of the righteousness of God from faith (of Jesus Christ) to faith (upon all them that believe). This is how the gospel reveals God's righteousness. In the person of Jesus Christ, God is incarnate in human flesh, redeeming humanity, exemplifying the righteousness of God in his faithfulness to perform the work he was given, and this same righteousness is revealed (for there is no difference) by our faith—for we are justified by faith, and our faith reveals the righteousness of God.