The Faithfulness of God

The righteousness of God refers to His faithfulness. He fulfills His promises, and this is demonstrated by the salvation He has provided in Jesus.

Paul stresses the “righteousness of God” in his Letter to the Romans, the righteousness that is revealed whenever the Gospel is proclaimed. This message is the “power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” including “Jews and Greeks” alike. Salvation is available to all men through the “faith of Jesus Christ,” God’s “Righteous One” (“From faith for faith… My Righteous One will live from faith”).

By the “righteousness of God,” the Apostle means God’s “righteousness” – His faithfulness in providing salvation for His wayward children. The genitive construction of the Greek clause translated as “righteousness of God” must be given its full weight. Like the “goodness of God” and the “mercy of God,” it refers to something that belongs to Him, a characteristic that defines Who and What God is. He is righteous and faithful.

[Photo by David Siglin on Unsplash]

This same “righteousness” is found in and demonstrated by what God has accomplished on behalf of humanity through His “Righteous One,” Jesus of Nazareth.

The second and third chapters of Romans present the Gospel as the Great Equalizer. Both Jews and Gentiles have fallen short of the Law’s requirements. Therefore, both groups stand convicted under the Law’s “just sentence.” Without divine intervention, both Jews and Gentiles are destined to suffer God’s “wrath” on the “Day of Wrath.”

Every man is “without excuse” because all men have sinned. No one is in a proper state to judge others. Regardless of ethnicity or nationality, whether “within the law” or “apart from the law,” all men are doomed to experience His “wrath” unless God intervenes to redeem them - (Romans 2:5-11).

In Chapter 2, Paul declares that “God will render to each one according to his works.” Here, the emphasis is on the future aspect of this “wrath.” It will be unleashed on “the day when God judges the secrets of men… through Christ Jesus.”

Elsewhere in his letters, Paul links the “Day of Wrath” to the moment when Jesus arrives from heaven - the “Day of the Lord.” At that time, all men will be judged by Him - (1 Thessalonians 1:10, 3:13, 5:1-3, 2 Thessalonians 1:5-10).

Next, using a series of scriptural proof texts, Paul demonstrates conclusively that “both Jews and Greeks are under sin” - “All have sinned and lack the glory of God” - therefore, men and women are not reconciled with God “from the works of the Law.” Instead, the Law serves to “expose sin” for what it is – the transgression of God’s clear commandments and righteous requirements - (Romans 3:9-18, 3:23).

The “righteousness of God” is being revealed through the proclamation of the Gospel - “through the faith of Jesus Christ for all who believe.” In Christ, God declares all who believe “righteous by His grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus.” All this is provided apart from the works required by the Torah - (Romans 3:22-24).

This has been done “with a view to the showing forth of His righteousness in the present season.” The stress is on the present reality of the “righteousness of God,” and this is demonstrated in the proclamation of the Gospel - clear evidence of His faithfulness to redeem men who respond in faith to Him.

In His Son, God has provided the means to justify any man before Him and offers it freely to all men and women - (Romans 1:16-18, 3:19-30).

The faithfulness of God is unveiled in the present whenever He declares men to be in right standing through the “faith of Jesus Christ” in response to their faith in him. The salvation articulated in the Gospel message demonstrates God’s righteousness. An unrighteous and faithless deity would not go to such extremes to provide a way of salvation and escape for mankind.

Paul speaks of God’s “righteousness” from an Old Testament perspective, of “righteousness” as the faithfulness of God to His promises. Thus, He demonstrates His “righteousness” for all men to see, in the present tense, and in a most personal way, by providing redemption and the forgiveness of sins through the “faith of Jesus.”

God’s faithfulness will also result in the redemption of men and women and the creation itself from death because of the obedient Death and bodily Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

• “If the Spirit of Him that raised Jesus from among the dead dwells in you, He that raised from among the dead Christ Jesus will make alive your death-doomed bodies, through means of his indwelling Spirit within you” – (Romans 8:11).

Even now, the creation is waiting for the revelation of “the sons of God.” The original creation of God, including the Heavens and the Earth, was subjected to decay and death due to Adam’s sin. However, the faithful God who made all things will liberate His creation “from the bondage of the decay into the freedom of the glory of the sons of God.” We have the gift of the Spirit, which is the “first fruits,” the guarantee of the coming redemption of our bodies and the deliverance of the creation from corruption and death, that is, the resurrection of our “death-doomed bodies” – (Romans 8:19-23).

The God who keeps His promises did not spare His own Son, “but delivered him for us.” If that same God is for us, “who will be against us?” Nothing will be able to separate us from this kind of love, “neither tribulation nor persecution nor hunger nor nakedness nor the sword,” and God’s love and faithfulness to even His most wayward children are found “in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

[PDF Copy]

SEE ALSO:

• According to Holy Scriptures - (Paul introduces his ministry to the church in Rome and begins his exposition of the Gospel by identifying Christ’s qualifications to be the Messiah)

• The Gospel of God - (Paul presents his Gospel in Romans from humanity's plight due to sin to the resurrection of the dead and the New Creation)

• Jews and Gentiles - (The equality of Jews and Gentiles before an impartial and just God is pivotal to Paul’s Gospel. They stand or fall before Him on the same basis)

• La Justice de Dieu - (La justice de Dieu se réfère à Sa fidélité. Il accomplit Ses promesses, et cela est démontré par le salut qu'Il a fourni en Jésus)