God's Righteous Justification by Faith

Introduction

The Law’s Inability to Save (Keep short)

Last week we concluded Paul’s argument that all people, Jew and Gentile alike, are under sin because the law condemns them.

The sin is exposed by the law, since the commandments of God enforce his will on rebellious people, it is only then that sin is exposed. Someone may speed all they like, but as soon as the police lights go on their sin is exposed and they are left without excuse. So it is when God’s law is revealed, it condemns all men of their sin because all are depraved sinners who have no desire for anything other than what is self-serving, self-worshiping, and rebellion against God.

This is the purpose of the law, not that we may keep it and be justified, but that we may be shown for what we truly are in the eyes of God. We are all in our nature what James describes in James 1:23-24, someone who looks into the mirror of the law but, rather than keeping the law, we look away and continue in our sin and are held accountable without excuse. We do know better, but we have no desire to do better.

The consequence is the wrath of God, which has been revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (Romans 1:18).

God’s Righteousness

It is now that Paul begins to unveil the righteousness of God through the Gospel, as he said in Romans 1:16-17

Romans 1:16–17 ESV

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”

The law reveals the wrath of God by revealing the just nature of God as opposed to our unrighteousness, but the Gospel reveals the righteousness of God in justifying the sinner by Grace through Faith.

Again, lets define Justification. Justification is the process of being declared innocent of a crime, or in a theological sense, being declared right with God, or righteous. That is, God sees us not only as innocent, but in Christ we are declared to be as righteous in the Father’s sight as Jesus Christ himself. That is not to say we are that righteous, I think we all know that we are still waging our war in the flesh with sin, but we are declared righteous by our sinfulness being taken upon Christ and his righteousness, his goodness, purity, excellence, and all that makes him in his humanity right with the Father is accounted to us.

So this is how Paul says justification can take place, having established that works under the law are completely unable to justify us before God.

Vs 21 first, this is how the righteousness of God has been revealed, as Paul had previously said in 1:17, as opposed to the wrath of God which is revealed against ungodliness and unrighteousness of men (1:18).

What is meant by “the righteousness of God is revealed” is that God, rather than showing us his wrath, shows us his righteousness. That means, he is showing us a way in which we may be made right with him that is based on his initiative and his right standing in the broken covenant. We broke the law, so it is not him that needs to reconcile our broken relationship to God, it is us. In fact, what he is obliged to do is show us wrath, or else he too would be a covenant breaker since that was his promise to those who sin.

There is a seeming contradiction in God’s character here, which is only resolved at the cross.

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

How can God both forgive sin but also not clear the guilty? Doesn’t this say he will forgive sin, but also that he will not forgive sin? In Israel, this was reconciled through the sacrificial system, where sin would be atoned for and forgiven. This was a picture of how God would actually reconcile the guilty to himself.

Hebrews 10:4 ESV

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

So we have a motive: God does not merely want to reveal himself as wrathful against sin, he equally and even preferably wants to reveal himself as righteous, as one who forgives sin and thus restores the broken relationship.

So when the righteousness of God is revealed, it means that God is showing himself to us as someone who wants to mend our broken relationship through his own justification. He is glorified when he is revealed as righteous. He is glorified because that is who he is. God created the world to show himself because he is glorious.

What About the Law?

After this, Paul makes an interesting claim. This righteousness is revealed apart from the law, and yet the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it. This may be hard to understand at first, but what Paul is doing is showing the true nature of the law. No where in the New Testament is the OT seen as a bad or unnecessary thing. In fact, over 10% of the NT are quotations or allusions to the OT. So how is it that this righteousness of God is revealed apart from the law?

It is revealed apart from the law because the law is the foundation, but not the substance, of the Gospel. Although the Gospel is often alluded to in the OT, even in the OT commands themselves, it is not the Gospel. Under the old covenant, there was an expectation for something new, something that Scripture tells us both angels and prophets longed to discern. It was clear that without a further, glorious revelation, there would be no good news for people, Jew or Gentile.

It is revealed apart from the law because the law was never able, nor was it meant, to justify anyone. Rather, it is the wrath of God that is revealed by the law. How so? Because through the law came the knowledge of sin. It is through the law that we come to know that God is righteous and we are definitely not. Our condemnation is perfectly made clear through the OT law and prophets, but it is never enough to justify. The faith the OT saints had was in a future promise of redemption, not the law since the law condemns. Even David, who praised God for his law and walked in them, was condemned by that same law for murder and adultery. Only his faith in a future revelation of God’s righteousness could give him hope.

In this way, the law and the prophets bear witness by foretelling and preparing the way of the revelation of God’s righteousness.

Hebrews 1:1–2 ESV

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

Through Faith

This righteousness is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. That is, God’s character and plan as the righteous one who desires to make us right with him is becomes reality through faith in Jesus Christ.

Conclusion