"For I am not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone 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.” Rom1:16-17
The
second type of righteousness that we see in the New Testament is the
righteousness of God which is sometimes referred to as the righteousness of
faith or faith righteousness. This righteousness is totally different from
self-righteousness which we looked at previously. This righteousness does not
belong to us. It belongs to God. It doesn't come from us. It comes from God.
'For therein is the righteousness of God revealed...' The
righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Being skilled
and well acquainted with the gospel of Jesus Christ will lead to being skilled
in the word (doctrine) of righteousness.
The gospel is like a gift box in
which God has placed the gift of righteousness. When we want to enjoy this
gift, we have to open the box. In this case when we want to experience the
righteousness of God, we will have to hear and believe the gospel.
“In righteousness you shall be established; You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; And from terror, for it shall not come near you.”Isa54:14
God promises that this righteousness is what will establish us. His righteousness that will come through His servant the messiah. This Messiah has come. This righteousness has come
If you
want to be established, well balanced and rooted in the foundation of Christ you
have to start with faith righteousness because it is what establishes us upon
a sure foundation.
Everything
we believe must be held together by the doctrine of faith righteousness. Faith
righteousness is the cornerstone that holds the whole foundation together and
consequently the whole building is able to stand. In it we shall be established.
Romans 3:20-28 is a classic
expose on the righteousness of God. Let us look at it.
"But now the righteousness of God
without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets" Rom3:21
Note1: There is such a righteousness
that proceeds from God and is entirely based on His work. It is called the
righteousness of God. This righteousness is not based on any obedience to any
law. As a result it can’t be earned since there is no law you can obey to
obtain it. This righteousness is the very nature of God. It is the holiness and perfection of God. This is the righteousness that the gospel of Jesus Christ reveals and it is the only one God wants. No other righteousness is acceptable to Him.
Note2: The righteousness of God is
manifested (shown clearly, revealed) unto us. God has revealed it to us by the gospel. When we hear the gospel, we are shown and exposed to this righteousness.
The righteousness of God
is freely given to those who believe and receive it by faith. It
cannot be earned, it can only be received. God’s righteousness is revealed and received by faith. Not worked for and earned by
works.
Note 3: This righteousness was
prophesied in the old covenant. God promised to give us His righteousness.
“Surely, shall one say, in the
LORD have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all
that are incensed against him shall be ashamed. In the LORD shall all the seed
of Israel be justified, and shall glory.” Isa45:24-25
“No weapon that is formed against
thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment
thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their
righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.” Isa54:17
We see
God in the Old Testament promising to bring a new righteousness that belongs to
Him and that He would freely give to those who had faith in Him. This is the
righteousness of God. It is the righteousness we see represented by the animal
sacrifices under the law. One life given for another. A righteous life being
exchanged for that of the sinners. A perfect lamb being exchanged for the
imperfect sinners. It was all a picture of the righteousness of God that would
come through the sacrifice of Jesus the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
“Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for
there is no difference; For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God”
Rom3:22-23
Note1: The righteousness of God is by
the faith of Jesus Christ.
This
verse does not say that the righteousness of God is by faith in Christ.
It says that it is by faith of Christ. In other words, God did not even
wait for us to believe before He declared us righteous. He gave His
righteousness to the whole world according to the faith of Christ.
Now this is
where many of us begin to stumble upon the stumbling stone. We are not willing
to believe that God has declared everybody righteous including those who don’t
believe. But we shall look at a number of scriptures that make this point. But first, what is the faith of Jesus?
The faith of Jesus Christ is the trust that Jesus
had in the Father that if and when He went to the Cross God would make all men
righteous. In this way Jesus accomplished justification for all men. His
righteousness was given to everybody. To the whole world.
Jesus had faith that if He went to the Cross and died for all mankind, God would declare all men righteous! He would justify all men. The prophet Isaiah saw this and spoke about it;
"...By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities." Isa53:11
Jesus the Lamb of God died for the sins of the whole world, not only for the sins of the Christians. As a
result God gave His righteousness (the purity of the lamb) to the whole world,
not only to the Christians.
Because
God knew that it is impossible for mankind to perform perfectly according to
His high standards, He has provided for us a righteousness that belongs to Him,
He has fulfilled His high standards in Christ and at the Cross provided for
mankind the finished results through Jesus. All of mankind have been given this
finished righteousness and are forever pleasing and acceptable to God.
“My little children, these things
write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: And he is the propitiation for our
sins: and not for ours only, but also
for the sins of the whole world.” 1Jn2:1-2
This
verse makes it very clear. Jesus is the propitiation (atoning sacrifice) for
our sins and not for ours only but also for the whole world. When He died on
the Cross He died for the whole world, not for Christians only.
Therefore God
has forgiven and justified the whole world, all of mankind. Not the Christians
only. God has given His righteousness unto all mankind.
Note2: This righteousness is unto all!
In other
words it has been given to everybody, to all mankind. Whether Christian or not.
As far as God is concerned He has provided His righteousness to everybody. This
is why this scripture ends by saying that ‘for
there is no difference’.
When
Jesus died on the Cross and rose again, God declared every man righteous. Every
man. This is the stumbling stone. That God has made everybody righteous. That
there is no difference! This is what got Paul into a lot of trouble. Does
this mean that everybody is going to heaven?
Note3: This righteousness is upon all who believe.
Much as
God has provided His righteousness and justification unto all mankind through
the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross, only those who have believed on
Jesus have received it. It has come upon them. God has availed it unto
everybody, but only those who have believed have received it upon themselves. It is unto all people but only upon all who believe.
In other
words, God has done His part and given His righteousness to everybody. But not
everybody has received it. The heathen, the unbelieving and the religious have
refused to receive it. But God has given it unto all.
Therefore not everybody
will go to heaven. Those who have refused to believe on Jesus even when God has
given them everything will not make it. And they will have no excuse. Because
God gave His righteousness and justification unto all. Jesus died for all. His
faith was for all.
Paul
makes this point very well in Ephesians 2:8-9
“For by grace are ye saved
through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works,
lest any man should boast.”
God by
His grace made Jesus the sacrificial offering for the whole world’s sins but
grace alone doesn't save. There has to be faith in this grace. We have to put faith in what God has already provided
for us by grace.
Therefore, although the price has been paid for the sins of
the whole world, and God has given justification and righteousness to the whole
world, only those who receive it by faith will benefit from this salvation that
Jesus offers. We are saved by grace through faith. There has got to be faith.
Note4: From God’s point of view, we
are all the same. We have all sinned. It is us who create distinctions basing
on race (Jew and Gentile), or the moral and immoral, or men and women. As far
as God knows there is no difference. All have sinned and come short of the
glory of God.
But this
is not the revelation Paul is communicating here, this is just a stepping stone
if you may to a marvelous truth that is he is going to discuss in the following
verses.
The
whole world was guilty before God, He therefore provided one solution for the
whole world. That solution was Jesus Christ. Just as everyone was guilty, in the same way everyone has already been justified freely by God through the Cross of Christ.
It is finished already.
Note5: ‘…and come short of the glory of God’.
The
Greek word that was translated 'glory' here is the word doxa.
This is an interesting word which can have several meanings depending
on the context within which it is used. Let us look at some of these meanings.
W.E.
Vine in his Lexicon (dictionary) explains it thus ‘the manifested perfection of His character, especially His righteousness
of which all men fall short.’
Thayer
in his Lexicon uses several definitions. Here are some of them. ‘in the NT
always a good opinion concerning one, resulting in praise, honour, and glory, splendour,
brightness, magnificence, excellence, preeminence, dignity and grace.
A thing
belonging to God, the kingly majesty which belongs to him as supreme ruler,
majesty in the sense of the absolute perfection of the deity. A thing belonging to Christ, the kingly
majesty of the Messiah, the absolutely perfect inward or personal Excellency of
Christ; A most glorious condition, most exalted state, of that
condition with God the Father in heaven to which Christ was raised after he had
achieved his work on earth
In
summary this is all speaking of Jesus Christ and His righteousness. All men fall short of Jesus.
Jesus Christ is the glory of the Father. There are several scriptures that say the
same thing.
“And the Word was made flesh, and
dwelt among us, (and we beheld his
glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace
and truth.” Jn1:14
“For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
face of Jesus Christ.” 2Cor4:6
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his
person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had
by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”
Heb1:3
“And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it,
and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
Rev21:23
God
doesn’t compare us to other people. He compares us to Jesus His glory. And
compared to Jesus all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But
there is good news in the next verse;
“Being justified freely by his grace through
the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” Rom3:24
Because
all of us have sinned and come short of the glory of God which is Jesus Christ,
God has justified all of us the same way through the redemption which is in
Christ Jesus. He put all of us in the same category as sinners and provided a
sacrificial offering for all of us in this category. The sacrifice was for all
of us corporately and for each one of us individually.
Justified freely;
The word
justified means to
declare or pronounce one to be just, righteous, or such as he ought to be to
be. In other words it simply means to be made righteous and perfectly
acceptable to God.
We have
freely (without earning it) been justified (made righteous, declared righteous,
pronounced righteous and made perfectly acceptable to God).
We are not offensive to God
anymore. We are well pleasing to Him and fully accepted, loved, adored and
cherished. We are the beloved of God.
And this justification is not something to be earned, but a gift to be
received. It is a gift from God. It is through Jesus Christ. Have you received the gift? Have you opened the box?
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