What is the Righteousness of God?
Q&A With the Apostle Paul
For the past six months I have been writing a book on Romans. At times, I have felt like I was in the house of Gaius listening to Paul dictate his letter.
Imagine what that would have been like. Imagine hearing Romans for the very first time.
I can see Paul pacing the room and preaching like a man on fire. I see Tertius, the scribe, recording Paul’s words as fast. Seated around the room and listening intently are Paul’s Jewish friends, Lucius, Jason, and Sosipater (see Rom. 16:21–23).
And I wonder how they reacted when Paul got to this bit:
Paul (dictating): “For I am not ashamed of the gospel… for in it the righteousness of God is revealed…” (Rom. 1:16–17)
Lucius: “What? I’m sorry to interrupt Paul, but are you saying the gospel reveals God’s righteousness? Like it was a secret? Do I need to remind you that we Jews have been praising God’s righteousness for centuries?”
Jason: “We sing songs about it. (Sings) ‘Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens’” (Ps. 71:19).
Paul: “Let me ask you – how do you know that God is righteous?”
Lucius: “The Law of Moses shows us God’s standard of righteousness and how he expects us to live.”
Paul: “How is that working out for you?”
Lucius: “Not well. We Jews have never been able to keep the law. In truth, the law is better at revealing our unrighteousness.”
Paul: “Uh-huh. The law reveals one kind of righteousness, but it’s not the kind that God has. The law condemns sinners, but God justifies sinners. So let me ask you again: how do you know that God is righteous?”
Jason: “Well… er… we just know.”
Paul: “How do you know that God is good and not bad? How do you know that he is faithful and not unfaithful?”
Sosipater: “Because of the promises God made to Abraham and the patriarchs.”
Jason: “Yes, those!
Paul: “What promises?”
Sosipater: “Oh, there were lots. God promised to bless the world through Abraham’s offspring.”
Jason: “He promised to send a Messiah to deliver us.”
Lucius: “And he promised to forgive our sins and give us new hearts.”
Paul: “So these promises hinted at the righteousness of God?”
Lucius/Jason/Sosipater: “Yes!”
Paul: “Don’t you see? All those wonderful promises have been fulfilled through his Son, Jesus Christ. This is what the gospel of God reveals, and this is news – good news.”
Lucius/Jason/Sosipater: (Looking thoughtful) Hmm.
Paul: “Lucius, you said the law reveals our unrighteousness, and I agree. The law inflames sin and condemns us (Rom. 7:8–13). For this reason, I maintain that ‘the law does not demonstrate the righteousness of God’ (Rom. 3:21).”
Lucius: “Whew.”
Paul: “But here’s the best part: ‘Our unrighteousness demonstrates God’s righteousness’ (Rom. 3:25).
Lucius: “Say, what now?”
Paul: “If we were good and righteous, we would not need a Savior. But we are unrighteous, lost and beyond hope (Rom. 3:23). That’s the bad news. The good news is that God loves us, and he keeps his promises. He has a plan for saving us and restoring creation. You might say that our unrighteousness provides him with an opportunity to reveal his righteousness.”
Jason: “And that’s why the Messiah came.”
Paul: “Yes! ‘The cross demonstrates the righteousness of God’ (Rom. 3:25–26). It displays God’s justice (toward sin) and his mercy (toward sinners). This is why I preach Christ crucified. The cross may be foolishness to the Gentiles and a stumbling block to the Jews, but if you can receive it, it reveals the righteousness of God.”
Lucius/Jason/Sosipater: “Hallelujah!”
Paul: “The Gospel reveals God’s faithfulness, and if you can receive it by faith, you will be enveloped in the righteousness of God, made new, and adopted into his family.”
Sosipater: “You should definitely put this in your letter.”
Paul: “Oh, I plan to.”
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There is a right way and a wrong way to read the Bible (2 Tim. 2:14). The wrong way will leave you confused and condemned over your imperfect performance, while the right way will cause you to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. This is why it is critical to use study Bibles and commentataries that strengthen your faith by revealing Jesus Christ and the life-changing power of God’s grace.
In my free ebook, Which Study Bibles are Grace Based?, I list scriptures you can use to test whether your study Bible or commentary is preaching law, grace, or a mixture of the two.
Escape to Reality 
Beautiful! You set the scene so well I thought you were recounting the event as if you were there as an eyewitness, and in doing so you highlighted the life giving truth about the righteousness of God- he came not to condemn, but to save.
Good morning brother Paul. Will you consider another angle on the definition of the righteousness of God? There are two kinds of righteousness in the Word: 1) Man’s righteousness, where he does the work. Examples are those under law, they do according to the law and they are considered right before God. Another clear one is Cain who brought a sacrifice by his own work vs shed blood like his brother. 2) God’s righteousness is that which is simply imparted or given to us as a gift. It’s establish by the shed blood and redemptive payment of Jesus Christ. It’s the state of being right based on Christ’s work not ours. (There are many verses, especially in Romans, that establish this: 3:24, 4:24-25, 5:1, 5:17, etc.).
Thanks brother for your posts. They definitely encourage and bless me!
Larry Newman
Hi Larry, thanks for your comment. Yes, there are two kinds of righteousness described in scripture – a righteousness based on the law and a righteousness based on faith. But if we define righteousness as “the state of being right with God,” we can see that this is not the kind of righteousness Paul is talking about in Romans 1:17.
The original Greek word is related to a word that means justice. So when Paul says the gospel reveals the righteousness of God he is saying something about the justice of God that was not known prior to the gospel. He is talking about God’s justice towards sin AND his faithfulness towards creation. This is the surprising announcement of the gospel – that God is righteous in making sinners righteous.