Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Three
RIGHTEOUSNESS
Scripture Reading: verses 21-24
Since we are listening to deliberations before a court of law, the highest court in the universe, we can hardly be surprised that the word righteousness should be used so much. It is well for us to analyze just what this word means. It is a large word with a simple meaning. “Righteousness” means “what is right.” The requirements of the word will vary as to the circumstances, but that is its precise meaning. Therefore, the righteousness under law was what was right according to the requirements set forth in the Law of Moses. The ten words of that law gave a concise outline of the conduct which was befitting those who were under Divine guidance.
Because sin is so prevalent one might have a mistaken idea that there is merit in keeping the law. But there is nothing meritorious about it. For those who were under law it was correct, or “right,” to keep that law, but having kept it, they could expect no reward, merit, recognition or distinction because they had just done “what was right.” They had simply paid their debt of righteousness. Of course, all were debtors because no one kept it. Thus, we can see the reason for the Scriptural insistence that if one keeps the whole law but offends in one point, he is guilty of all. The Law of Moses sets forth exact requirements and it is incumbent on men to obey that law; but there is no merit, no reason for expecting special favor from the Lord for having kept it. On the other hand, sin, which is the transgression of law, merits the punishment of Almighty God because sinners have failed to do that which is right. We should keep that in view as we witness this courtroom scene before God, otherwise we will have a perverted idea of both the righteousness of the law and the righteousness of God in Christ.
In the first two chapters of Romans, Paul has set forth that the person who was expressly under the Law of Moses is guilty because he has broken that law. He has set forth the truth that the Gentile, who was never under law yet had the testimony of God from the visible creation concerning the power and Godhead of the Creator, is under obligation to walk in the path of righteousness. Let us not confine the thought of law only to the Ten Commandments. Law is a universal principle of God's creation. We have physical laws such as the law of gravity, the law of magnetic force, and other definite, fixed principles we call “laws of nature.” These are principles God has placed in His creation for its proper operation according to His requirements of righteousness.
Then there is the vast realm of moral or spiritual laws instituted by God. The law of the heavens rules the earth. In other words, God spiritually regulates the affairs of men from on high – the laws of principalities and powers regulate the affairs of men politically, socially, and economically. For instance, we have laws of the home, i.e., the husband the head of the household, the wife his companion and helpmeet, the children regulated by the principles of obedience and affection. In its abstract meaning, law involves a tremendously intricate set of principles – physical, moral, spiritual – which God Himself has instituted for the orderly operation of the universe He has created.
Man has his unique place within the realm of these laws. In the Law of Moses they were gathered together in a kind of summary fashion, but Moses' ten words were merely the high lights of these principles. Therefore, we should not compliment ourselves by feeling we have fulfilled God’s laws when we select some item in the Law of Moses and meticulously attempt to keep and abide by that item. This is one of the dangers of modern religious systems and organizations. As an example, some seek to worship on the seventh-day Sabbath, Saturday, simply because that arrangement was stated in the Law of Moses. However, because of the Lord’s resurrection day, we celebrate Sunday, the first day of the week. Our Lord’s resurrection day has brought new light, new hope, new joy to those who were once condemned under the law and who now are justified. Praise God, we now live in the Christian age.
All these things are implicated in the word “righteousness” as found in Romans 3:21-24. In the previous verses the righteousness set forth in the law, i.e., the Law of Moses, is no longer available to us because we have all sinned and come short of God’s glory. Whether Jew or Gentile we have broken God’s laws; we are transgressors and “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” To one who questions being a sinner, there is a simple way to answer the question, “Am I a sinner?” – Read the laws set forth on tables of stone by Moses. Such will surely bring condemnation.
Having arrived at the conclusion that we are all sinners, have we come to an impasse? No, indeed. A new righteousness is set forth for us:
But now the righteousness of God without the law [or, apart from the law] is manifested1. . . . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ2 unto all and upon all them that believe.
But now the righteousness of God without the law [or, apart from the law] is manifested1. . . . Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ2 unto all and upon all them that believe.
It is this new righteousness, the righteousness of God in Christ, which is set forth for us without the law, that is, making no demand on us, but offering us imputed righteousness on the principle of faith. Paul says this righteousness is unto all, but it is upon all them that believe and obey the Gospel. Here is an important truth. If a person dies in sin, and is eternally lost, that person will never be able to say that God did not offer His righteousness. This righteousness is unto all and is primarily based on the principle of faith – obedient faith; faith that obeys the Gospel of Jesus Christ. God offers it to all freely by His grace, but all must accept it by faith.
This verse says it is upon all them that believe.3 This carries us back in thought to the coats of skins at the beginning of Genesis. When Adam and Eve found themselves naked, God made them coats of skins, and, arrayed in God’s righteous provision, they could enter into communion with the Lord. So it is with us. We have no covering of righteousness of our own, for our own righteousnesses are “as filthy rags” before God, but God has provided a new covering, the righteousness of God in Christ. He puts that robe on us so that we may be arrayed in His presence. With this in mind, we pray that many will soon begin wearing that robe of righteousness – it is unto all and upon all them that believe. May each of us believe God, take Him at His Word, obey His Gospel (Mark 16:16), and accept this robe of righteousness by daily faithing – making Christ our personal Savior and Lord; saved by God’s grace.
Footnotes:
1 Paul had concluded all people under sin, under the judgment of God; but at this point he would announce the means by which Paradise lost may be recovered; he was about to announce the revelation of the mystery hidden before times eternal, the mystery of “how” God would provide forgiveness of fallen man. In this connection, it should be remembered that in all previous history there was never any such thing as the forgiveness of sins, except conditionally and typically, and that the justification and forgiveness to be made available through Jesus Christ constituted an utterly new thing. Good news indeed it was, the Gospel. This Gospel (which means good news) was, and still is, provided for all races and conditions of people, without regard to prior privilege, not upon the basis of merit, but upon the basis of God’s gracious favor to mankind, and provided actually by and through the righteousness of Christ. The four great Old Testament witnesses to Jesus Christ and the new institution He came to establish are: (1) the verbal prophecies; (2) typical persons; (3) the tabernacle in its plan of construction and in various devices within it; and (4) the grand ceremonial functions of Jewish religion, such as the Day of Atonement, the Passover, etc. The verbal prophecies, numbering some 333, foretold the coming of the Messiah in such detail and clarity that hardly any phase of our Lord’s life and character was omitted. The time and exact place of His birth, the particular tribe of Israel through whom He would be born, the fact of His betrayal by a friend, even the very amount of the betrayal price, the details of His crucifixion, that He should be buried but not see corruption, that He would speak in parables, that He would be despised and rejected by human beings, and that not a bone of Him should be broken – and on and on, literally hundreds of such facts as these were faithfully predicted in the Old Testament prophecies. Great typical men in the extensive history of Israel were laid under the burden of setting forth the nature, character, attitude, mission, and even the name of Christ. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, David, Jonah, Aaron, and Melchizedek, to name only a few, were all typical, in one way or another, of Jesus Christ, and all reflected in one degree or another the coming glory of Messiah. To take, as an example, one of the very least of those men, Jonah, will show the wealth of particulars by which each one of them bore witness to Christ. Both Jonah and Jesus were asleep in a ship at sea in a storm, and both were awakened. Both were involved in the safety of the vessel, though in opposite ways, Jesus being responsible for the safety of His, and Jonah for the danger to his. Both produced a great calm, Jesus by fiat, Jonah by being thrown overboard. Both willingly consented to die for the salvation of others. Both came from approximately the same spot on earth, Gath-hepher, the home of Jonah, being less than three miles from Nazareth. Repentance of the Gentiles resulted from the mission of both. Likewise, the tabernacle, and later the temple patterned after it, typified the ultimate scheme of redemption as it would be revealed in Christ. The candlestick typified the Word of God; the table of showbread the providence of God; the veil the flesh of Christ; the mercy seat the supremacy of Gods’ mercy, etc. The design and Construction of the three courts represented various aspects of the world, the church, and heaven. Such things as the great bronze altar, the bronze laver, the golden altar of incense, and even the checkered squares of the floor of the sanctuary, symbolizing life’s joys and sorrows – all of these things, and many others, bore a mighty weight of symbolism looking to the new institution, so great a weight, in fact, that volumes would be required to give full treatment to so vast a subject. The fourth Old Testament witness of Christ and the New Testament was that of the religious services themselves, things like the thank offering, the sin offering, the Passover, the Day of Atonement, etc. Thus, Christ is the true atonement; He is our Passover, having been slain at the very hour the paschal lambs were being slain; and the exact correspondence between type and antitype is so extensive as to be utterly amazing. In fact, all four of these witnesses being taken together provide the most overwhelming proof that can be imagined of the true identity and authenticity of Christ. The God-inspired preparation for Christ’s entry into the world was so abundantly adequate that it seems almost incredible that Israel should not have recognized the King when He came. The pre-Christian Jew could not look in any direction without beholding some eloquent symbol of Jesus Christ. He could not heed any major voice of Jewish prophecy without hearing (or reading) some majestic prophecy of the coming Redeemer. There was hardly any truly significant man in the whole history of the Hebrews who was not typical of Christ; nor was there any honored institution among them that did not share the burden of enlightenment looking to the revelation of the Son of God; and, added to all this, there was the extravagant symbolism of their most sacred religious services and ceremonials. This combined testimony of men and institutions, in the aggregate, embracing practically all that was of any significance in Jewish history – this total testimony was designed for one thing only, and that was to reveal the Christ when He came. The entire national life of the Jews was so totally permeated, pervaded, and infused with pre-knowledge of the coming Savior, and with such an intensity and profusion as to approach a surcharge. No wonder, then, that Paul who was about to announce to all people the salvation that Christ had made available would have paused at this point to recall that it was all witnessed by the law and the prophets.
2
By understanding Paul’s long sentence in Romans 3:21-26, we understand the Gospel, all of Romans and the Bible. The 1885 English Revised Version changed “the faith of Christ” to “faith in Christ” in Romans 3:22; Galatians 2:16, 2:20, 3:22; Ephesians 3:12; and Philippians 3:9. In his Bible Study Library on the Old and New Testaments, James Burton Coffman concludes that the KJV is a correct translation of all these verses, a fact confirmed by the total agreement of the Emphatic Diaglott in each case. James Macknight, Adam Clarke, as well as other older commentators, also agree with the KJV translation of these verses – “the faith of Christ,” like the “faith of Abraham” in Romans 4:16. We asked a full-time minister serving a large church, about whether he believed that to be saved one had to believe in the “faith of Jesus Christ.” In answer, he wrote: “God provides righteousness to those who believe. If through the faith of Jesus then everybody would be saved.” We asked the same question to a university Bible professor. He expressed a view expressed by several modern translations, and held by many today. He wrote: “Both ideas . . . are biblical . . .” However, we also presented the question to an elder of the church, who wrote: “The believer’s faith causes him to respond to that perfect justification which is and was brought by Christ in His obedience to God’s will of offering His son as the perfect atonement for all mankind (sins).” We concur with the elder, older commentators and the King James Version, as well as Coffman, whose commentary on this verse is a scathing rebuke of many modern-day professors and preachers. He points out that we should stay with the KJV in this verse, because changing it represents the same tampering with the Word of God which resulted in the monstrosity of changing “the righteousness of God” to “a righteousness” (Rom. 3:21; 1:17). He writes: “The true Scriptural justification by faith has absolutely no reference to the faith of stinking sinners, but to the faith of the Son of God. The only end served by this change was to bolster the faith only theory of justification.” Coffman further writes: “The true grounds of justification cannot ever be in a million years the faith of fallible, sinful people, would appear to be axiomatic. How could it be? The very notion that God could impute justification to an evil man, merely upon the basis of anything that such a foul soul might either believe or do, is a delusion. Justification in any true sense requires that the justified be accounted as righteous and undeserving of any penalty whatever; and no man’s faith is sufficient grounds for such an imputation. On the other hand, the faith of Jesus Christ is a legitimate ground of justification, because Christ's faith was perfect.” In the absolute sense, only Christ is faithful – “Faithful is he that calleth you” (1 Thess. 5:24). Only He is called “the faithful and true witness” (Rev. 3:14). The faith of Christ was also obedient; a perfect and complete obedience, lacking nothing. Therefore, we conclude that the sinless, holy, obedient faith of the Son of God is the only ground of justification of a human being – Christ only is righteously justified in God’s sight. How then are we saved? We are saved “in Christ,” having been incorporated into Him – justified as a part of Him. Our study prompts agreement with Coffman’s conclusion that faith is not the ground of our justification; it is not the righteousness which makes us righteous before God. The “faith of the Son of God” is the only basis for our justification, and that faith is definitely included in the “righteousness of God” mentioned in this verse. Even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ shows the principal constituent of God’s righteousness. In conclusion, God’s righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ – His absolute, intrinsic, unalloyed righteousness – implicit in His perfect faith (mentioned here) and His perfect obedience (implied). The contrary notion that God’s righteousness is some imputation accomplished by the sinner’s faith is unfounded. Any righteousness that could commend itself to the Father and become the ground of anything truly worthwhile would, by definition, have to be a true and genuine righteousness. That righteousness was provided by the sinless life of the Christ, summarized in Romans 3:21-26 as “through faith of Jesus Christ,” the idea being much clearer in the KJV, “The righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ.” These are the basic reasons why we concur with Coffman on this subject, including his final conclusion, The word believe in this verse refers to sinners’ faith (believer’s faith) which is no part of God’s righteousness at all, but, like baptism, is but a mere condition of salvation – being neither more nor less important than baptism.
3 Regarding Unto all and upon all them that believe ... That believer’s faith is not in the first clause of this verse is proved by its being introduced in the final phrase, “believe” here having reference to sinners' faith, which is no part of God’s righteousness at all, but a mere condition of his salvation, like baptism, being neither any more important nor any less important than baptism. Its being affirmed here that the true righteousness of God is “unto all them that believe” is primarily a part of Paul’s argument for the intrinsic righteousness of God, the supporting fact in view being that God’s righteousness had been made available unto all, not being restricted, as formerly, to Israel. The sole condition mentioned in this place as prerequisite to procurement of that righteousness is believing, and it must be understood as a synecdoche, a form of metaphor, where a part stands for the whole, such as “sail” for ship. In the employment of this figure, the part mentioned must be outstanding and conspicuous. Thus, a ship could not be called merely “a rudder.” Faith, being an outstanding and conspicuous condition of redemption, is here used as a synecdoche for all the conditions God has imposed and made to be prerequisites of salvation. The most conspicuous theological error of Biblical interpretation in the past five hundred years is that of interpreting this synecdoche as a denial of the other conditions of salvation.
