The Righteousness of God Revealed

Romans 1:11–17 KJV 1900

For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end you may be established; That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me. Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren, that oftentimes I purposed to come unto you, (but was let hitherto,) that I might have some fruit among you also, even as among other Gentiles. I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Paul longs to see the Romans

That he may impart some spiritual gift to the end that they may be established

That they may encourage each other’s faith

That he might have fruit among them

Because he is a debtor through the message of which he is a steward

So therefore he is ready to preach the Gospel, and there it is. It is the gospel that burns in Paul’s heart. This is the spiritual gift that he wishes to impart which will establish them. It is faith in the gospel that he wishes to encourage in them and be encouraged of them. It is the seed of the gospel which he hopes to sow among them that it may bring forth fruit. And it is the message of the gospel of which he is a steward and is therefore indebted to them to deliver to them. And this is the build up to these powerful verses 16 and 17 in which we are looking at this morning and which are so critical because the rest of this letter Paul expounds on these two verses.

“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.”

So Paul tells us he is not ashamed of the gospel (regardless of how the world views it) and then in the rest of verse 16 Because it is

the power of God

Unto salvation

To everyone who believes both Jew and Greek

And then in verse 17 he tells us how the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. Beginning with...

God’s Righteousness Revealed

The first thing we must face in this verse is God’s Righteousness. This is such a strange thing for Paul to say when he is speaking of the salvation of a sinful people. Surely he meant to say the mercy of God is revealed. Why would he say that the righteousness of God is revealed? The reality is that the righteousness of God was revealed in the Law. Thou shalt not… The righteousness of God is revealed in the great flood when he destroyed all the wicked and unrighteous people because every imagination of their heart was only evil continually. We see God’s righteousness revealed in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorra. God’s righteousness is the judgement and execution of the unrighteous and wicked sinners. So how is it that Paul says that the Gospel is the righteousness of God revealed?

Martin Luther really struggled with verse 17 he said...

"I hated that word, 'the righteousness of God,' by which I had been taught according to the custom and use of all teachers ... [that] God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner."

Surely God’s righteousness demands that he condemns sinners and our only hope in the gospel is for God’s attribute of Mercy to overpower His attribute of righteousness so that he can forgive instead of condemn.

look if you will at 1 John 1:9

1 John 1:9 KJV 1900

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God’s righteousness cannot be denied. He is a just and righteous God, that is who he is. You see this is the great dilemma. Because of Adam’s sin we all inherited a sin nature so that we are all sinners. The Bible says there is none righteous no not one. And God is righteous and just and as such He must punish and condemn sin. So the gospel of Jesus Christ is that Jesus took all our sin, past present and future, and put in on himself and endured the full punishment of the wrath of a righteous God and he put His righteous on me so that that same righteous God could fully accept and forgive me. There is no loop hole for sin, God cannot deny His own righteous character, He doesn’t turn a blind eye to us so that we can slip in under the radar. No, because of Jesus if we confess our sin God is faithful and God is just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. No that is the power of God unto salvation. That is how God’s righteousness is revealed through the gospel.

Martin Luther later wrote.

"At last meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of God, namely by faith… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."

God’s righteousness is revealed in us who have placed our faith in Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV 1900

For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Which brings us to our next point which is that the righteousness of God is revealed...

From Faith to Faith

There have been numerous understandings of this phrase and so I’ll try to give you a few of them and then tell you what I think that Paul meant.

1. From faith to faith could mean from God’s faith (or rather faithfulness) to our faith.

2. It could be for emphasis meaning that the righteousness of God is revealed by faith through and through which would be more inline with the NIV rendering “a righteousness that is by faith from first to last”

3. From faith to faith could mean that it is evangelical in nature. From my faith to your faith to someone else’s faith

4. from faith to faith could imply that this faith which reveals the righteousness of God is a living faith and a continuing faith. So that I put my faith in Christ and from that faith grows more faith, daily faith, by which the righteous live.

I believe that all these understandings are Biblically accurate God’s faithfulness to his promises and His person is faith from which this gift of faith comes.

And it is faith and only faith by which we can reveal the righteousness of God unto salvation

Faith is evangelical in nature and the faith of the gospel must grow from my faith to other’s faith.

But I believe in the context of this passage that Paul’s use of this phrase is in that faith in the gospel or saving faith as it might be called, produces more faith within us. and this is necessary because we need faith everyday. Faith in Christ is not a once only activity rather we must continue in faith remind ourselves of faith. We often must return to Christ when we wander from Him and be reminded of our faith and where it stands. When I fall short of God’s righteousness, when I sin and I feel like such a sinner, I come back to my faith I’m reminded that my righteousness is not because of my works or good deeds but because of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. I confess my sin and he is faithful and just to forgive me of my sins and to cleanse me of all unrighteousness and the righteousness of God is revealed to me and in me afresh. From faith to faith because the Just live by faith. It is our very sustenance. I believe that this understanding fits with Paul’s scripture reference from

Habakkuk 2:4 KJV 1900

Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: But the just shall live by his faith.

In this passage we have contrasted the righteousness which is by works and the righteousness which is by faith. There are many who think that their own righteousness, their own morals and works are good enough. These are those who’s souls are lifted up in pride but is not upright in him. And then there are the just. They are not just because they live to a higher standard or because they have higher morals or do better works. They are just because they life by faith. How do you live? by works or by faith?