#81. Romans 3:21 – Righteousness of God (Justification Series, Part IV)

Part III: Our Justification, Confirmed

Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God…

Characteristic Two: Of God

This is a divine righteousness. As silly as it may sound to focus so intensely on these two little words, they are nevertheless quickly dismissed by the common reader. It is hard for me to imagine what I first “thought” when I looked upon the phrase “righteousness of God.” I suppose my brain focused on the “right” of “righteousness.” At the time, my understanding of “God” was best described as an invisible Being that loved me. It was hard to see anything more.

This is because I was trying to arrive at a foreign location without a GPS. I did not have the meaning of the word “righteousness,” as we do here – nor did the phrase “of God” impress me. Those who have read the study on Rom. 1:1, however, realize that “of God” is the English translation of the Greek term theou, which is the “genitive case” of the word theos, “PLACER.”

What a sight! The “righteousness of the Placer.” This righteousness is inflexible. Unlike our standards of “right,” which always shifts the goalposts of “the golden mean,” to accord with the times, this is a righteousness of the God. Many individuals, even in the Old Testament, are said to be “righteous.” Examples include Noah in Genesis, Job in… Job, and others by faith (cf. Hab. 2:4.)

But this is not a righteousness of Noah, or a righteousness of Job, or any other! This is a righteousness of God, one which is not earned via human effort, but His own divine characteristic.

This is Paul’s emphasis, going into the evangel. It is the premise on which he shares everything to follow. It is, as I have been saying, the premise, or opening argument from which the rest of the argument will flow. This is especially true of Romans, yet even in Paul’s other letters (1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21, Phil. 3:9, etc.) this first point should not be forgotten. This righteousness in particular has no rival; not one of creation could compare to it, and all therefore partake of its effects, whether in understanding or ignorance.

All of us recognize, to some degree, that the message Paul gives is “in grace.” This will be confirmed for us in Rom. 3:24 (where we will consider “grace” in more detail.) Yet we must first ask: how do we get there? How do we get to grace, in light of sin? The answer is found for us here, just on the other side of the bridge. The righteousness of God takes us there, under an entirely different premise than human action.

Human tradition, even after reading the long diatribe concerning our unabashed unrighteousness, still has the gall to claim that some premise of righteousness could be attained through human action. According to the religious, these verses should be interpreted as a “righteousness from God which is given to those who place their faith in Jesus Christ.” Ellicott’s commentary, Meyer’s, Cambridge Bible, and more, all argue this way. I’ll have more to say on the “faith in Jesus Christ” nonsense when we reach verse 22, but let’s face the “from” God idea first.

Yes… from God? Where is this, to be sure, in this verse? This will be the first of many times, I believe, that I will be asking this question throughout my writings. The word from is nowhere to be found. Of God? Sure! But this tells you whence that righteousness came! Not to where that righteousness is going! What God does with His righteous quality is His prerogative. He is not telling us, here, what He does with it. He is telling us that it is manifest, first and foremost, and this vital fact comes before all else in the letter. Man does not even enter the discussion again until verse 23 (“into all, and on all who are believing.”)

The evangel, then, must be prefaced with this righteousness of God, then move to Christ, its content. Only then does it move to us, its effect. When we view the text this way (that is… how it’s actually written,) the good news of Romans begins on the right foot, and can thus be unfolded properly.

Conveyed Through Faith

What may we say of the righteousness of God? It is, no doubt, the primary concern of Christ’s faith, and, since it is “for all,” it follows that learning of God’s righteousness should be the immediate object of the believer, if such a concept has not been studied through a pattern of sound words (that is, a proper translation.) This is the beginning of God’s solution to lack of righteousness on our end. We have been proven unjust, and need a righteousness which will properly edify, correct, and mature us into true love.

Thus we must see God’s righteousness first. Whether we are righteous or not, we are in far more depressing circumstances if the God Who made us is not righteous! The first thing which must be established on this matter of justification is His just quality. For when He justifies, it means nothing if He Himself is not just.

In an abstract sense, it would be impossible to recognize His righteousness apart from the presentation of Christ’s death, entombment, and rousing. I will explain what I mean by this when we consider “manifest,” but let it be seen, even from a brief excursion into Old Testament passages, that the Israelites had no feasible way to understand what “righteousness” was, since they had no demonstration of the cross. The most they had were feeble illustrations in their lives. In fact, when they received the law on Mount Sinai, their entire agenda became a matter of following this law, even if they failed repeatedly.

And why? Stubborn as they were, if you keep banging your head against the wall, you’re bound to get a headache, right? Well, easy as it may be for us to feel this way, the Hebrews had no other expectation. They had no other divine object which could indicate righteousness. They could, indeed, appreciate what was righteous about the law, so much so that they have somewhat deified their Torah, as the blueprint for the universe. It must not be understated that this was their only lifeline, for a time. They could not afford to stop banging their head, or, to them, they would have relinquished their rights and blessings to the kingdom.

With Christ’s crucifixion, this tension between the Hebrews and the law is released. The righteousness of God is no longer an abstract ideal to be pursued in ignorance, or to accept by faith. An abstract quality is attached to one event – that of the faith of Christ on Golgotha – enabling an understanding. This illustration alone reveals the righteousness of God, far better than the Hebrews of old could have foreseen.

For starters, since this righteousness is impartial (in accord with the discussion of righteousness from our prologue,) it is concerned with all of humanity. No mention of a believer has been given yet. This righteousness still does not overlook or pretend that wrong is nonexistent; yet it can only be seen in light of unrighteous conduct. The faith of Christ, similarly, cannot be appreciated to its fullest extent unless the irreverence of mankind, which led us to place Christ in a place of ultimate need and trust in His Father, is first seen.

This accords with the noteworthy moment of Romans 3:3-4, where God’s righteousness, and even His justification, is related to His faith. What He had promised to Israel, He will bring about in a full realization. This is because He believes in Himself, and His ability to accomplish His own goals and purpose.

This righteousness, then, could not be shown without a comparative unrighteousness, hence answering, broadly, the age-old question: why would a just God place us in an experience of unrighteousness? If we cannot appreciate that this righteousness can set all right, well beyond a mere corrective judgment, then we could never truly trust the message Paul unfolds in subsequent verses. Yet His righteousness demands an impartial good for humanity (a loving conclusion for that which He Himself has made) and glory for Himself (a victory over the death which impels our poor conduct.)

For Salvation

This righteousness is presented in contrast to the actions, disposition, and emotions which have enabled our failure. It may be safely posited, then, that the contrast must extend to the effects of a righteous action, disposition, and emotion: that of God’s success. We can further understand this principle by observing a few of the Old Testament types of God’s righteousness, which had to be illustrated prior to the crucifixion scene.

When I wrote on Romans 1:17, I made, in chapter 18, an “Appreciation” chapter, citing Psalm 98 as a similar writing, both structurally and topically. Let me recite the first four verses again for you now:

Sing to Yahweh a new song,
For He has done marvelous works;
His right hand and His holy arm have brought His salvation.
To the eyes of the nations, He has revealed His righteousness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel;
All the limits of the earth have seen the salvation of our Elohim.
Raise a joyful shout to Yahweh, all the earth;
Burst forth and be jubilant and make melody.

Briefly setting aside the immediate context of the psalmist, there should be no doubt in any reader’s mind that these prophetic “salvation” verses point forward to the cross of Christ, most of all. If the cross were not the powerful demonstration that it was, the weight of this passage would be lost, since it wouldn’t connect to the central event of the text, specially the central event also revolving around righteousness and salvation of Elohim. While the psalmist certainly intended the salvation of Israel into the promised kingdom, this salvation is itself impossible apart from Jesus’ redemption of His chosen people via the cross. It is only through Israel’s assumption of the kingdom that all the earth could raise a joyful shout to Yahweh, since they were to be blessed through Israel’s supremacy (Gen. 12:1-3.)

Therefore (if we are taking this as another “according as it is written” example,) we have a physical type of the salvation of one nation for the ultimate blessing of all nations. This is the blueprint for God’s idea of success. It is not as exact as the cross, since it is dealing broadly with a broad group of people, but it is a strong parallel.

The only way we can understand that God’s righteous success extends to all is if He expressly imparts the evangel to the sinner on an individual basis. Of course, this was already confirmed for us in Rom. 1:16’s “for everyone.” Whether you immediately accept this evidence or not, it is indeed an affirmation of the evangel’s individual approach. Since the function of the message is to reveal righteousness as a reason and lesson for saving the sinner, the recipient will always fit the bill for the evangel’s declaration! The prerequisite – that one must, by definition, be a sinner if they are to be brought into salvation – is fulfilled by all of us. This type in Ps. 98, then, is fulfilled by its only rational antitype: the manifestation of God’s righteousness as revealed through the faith of Jesus Christ, “for all, and on all who are believing.”

Another parallel may be drawn in a passage such as Is. 59:16–

His own arm shall save for Him, And His own righteousness, it will support Him.

In the final stretch of Isaiah, a lengthy exposition is given concerning Christ’s mission and success for Israel (Is. 49-66.) While this itself is a necessary, complementary salvation to the cross, it certainly does not reach the heights of the cross, and is only able to happen at all because the cross is so great. As such, it does not reveal the extent of the righteousness of God, but itself is an effect of its bountiful riches. This form of salvation, and its excessive presentation in the Hebrew texts is itself primarily meant to deepen our understanding of our salvation (there are other reasons, especially in relation to the kingdom of God, but we’ll discuss that another time.)

This is to say, the pattern remains the same under separate contexts – whether it is Psalms, Isaiah, or Romans. Regardless of the kind of salvation in view, righteousness is always seen in salvation’s accomplishment. We are not saying that this justifies any claim that these speak of the same salvation, since this would be a forced assumption. We argue that these demonstrations of salvation escalate in the text; they do not blindly repeat. If the OT salvation were the same as the NT salvation, then the message of the NT is itself superfluous, and not truly worth our time.

To stifle God’s salvation, then, would be to limit God’s righteousness. The irony here is that doctrines such as annihilation or eternal torment often operate under the guise that “God is love, but He is also just.” Yet since righteousness is most clearly seen via salvation, and not brute force or penal measures, eternal torment ironically erodes the very concept it purports to defend! Yet when we let go of such unfounded claims, and begin to relate righteousness with saving as the text compares, Paul’s evangel finds even more sure footing as the proper follow-up to Christ’s sacrifice. This message of justification through Christ’s faith finds more solid footing.

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Of course, all spoken of concerning the righteousness of God in this section would indicate, above all else, that all must inevitably be saved in order for the successful effects of God’s righteousness to become a reality. As of now, we have not considered the other four characteristics of this righteousness, and thus we have yet to understand exactly how this success comes to be. We cannot yet know how righteousness and salvation relate because we have not begun our journey from the bridge, “yet now,” to the end of Romans 4.

Yet, since the evangel itself is imparted out of and into faith, we may “see,” through the eyes of our heart, in spirit, that this success is the most probable outcome in light of our juxtaposed unrighteousness. In faith, we have an assurance that God will be seeing to the how. It is indeed a blessing to know this “how,” but “how” deepens the trust; it does not establish it. Hence we will read, as an excerpt from a later verse, that “As it was through one offense [of Adam,] into all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award [of Christ,] into all mankind for life’s justifying” (Rom. 5:18.)

This is, indeed, spiritual grace to the highest order. God’s revelation of righteousness being primarily given through Christ’s faith on the cross, and His justification of sinners through that same faith, provides for us the confidence to press on, with a proper foundation on which we may build. Indeed, praise Yah for revealing such an intimate characteristic so simply for us!

- GerudoKing