In the Greek New Testament, the word translated into English as "righteousness" is "dikiosune." This Greek noun occurs 93 times in the Greek New Testament (Matt. 3:15; 5:6, 10, 20; 6:1, 33; 21:32; Luke 1:75; John 16:8, 10; Acts 10:35; 13:10; 17:31; 24:25; Heb. 1:9; 5:13; 7:2; 11:7, 33; 12:11; James 1:20; 2:23; 3:18; I Pet. 2:24; 3:14; II Pet. 1:1; 2:5, 21; 3:13; I John 2:29; 3:7, 10; Rev. 19:11; 22:11; I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 3:9; 5:21; 6:7, 14; 9:9, 10; 11:15; Gal. 2:21; 3:6, 21; 5:5; Eph. 4:24; 5:9; 6:14; Phil. 1:11; 3:6; 6:9, 9; I Tim. 6:11; II Tim. 2:22; 3:16; 4:8; Titus 3:5; Rom. 1:17; 3:5, 21, 22, 25, 26; 4:3, 5, 6, 9, 11, 11, 13, 22; 5:17, 22; 6:13, 16, 18, 19, 20; 8:10; 9:28, 30, 30, 30, 31; 10:3, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10; 14:17). In Paul's letter to the Romans, this word occurs 35 times (37.6 % of total occurences) and in all of Paul's letters 58 times (62.4 % of total occurences). This Greek noun "dikiosune" is always translated "righteousness" in the King James Version (KJV).
The related Greek adjective "dikaios" occurs 81 times
in the Greek New Testament (GNT) and is translated in the KJV:
"just" 33 times,
"right" 5 times (Matt. 20:4, 7; Luke 12:57; Acts 4:19; Eph. 6:1),
"righteous" 41 times, and
"meet" 2 times (Phil. 1:7; II Pet. 1:13).
The related Greek adverb "dikaios" occurs
5 times in GNT and is translated in the KJV
"justly" 2 times (Luke 23:41; I Thess. 2:10),
"righteously" 2 times (Titus 2:12; I Pet. 2:23), and
"to righteousness" once (I Cor. 15:34).
These Greek words are derived from the Greek verb "dikaioo",
which occurs 36 times in the Greek New Testament.
This verb is translated in the KJV
"justfy" 34 times (Matt. 11:19; 12:37; Luke 7:29, 35; 10:29;
16:15; 18:14; Acts 13:39, 39;
Rom. 2:13; 3:4, 20, 24, 28, 30; 4:2, 5; 5:1, 9; I Cor. 4:4; 6:11;
Gal. 2:16, 16, 17; 3:8, 11, 24; 5:4; I Tim. 3:16; Titus 3:7;
James 2:21, 24, 25),
"free" once (Rom. 6:7), and
"justifier" once (Rom. 3:26).
This Greek verb occurs 23 times Paul's writings,
12 times in Romans,
7 times in Galatians,
and only 4 times outside of Romans and Galations.
There is another Greek noun derived from the Greek verb
"dikaioo";
it is "dikaiosis;"
it occurs twice in the GNT, and is translated in the KJV as
"justification" (Rom. 4:25; 5:18).
This verbal noun designates the act of dikaioo,
the act of justification.
There is one more Greek noun derived from the Greek verb
"dikaioo"; it is "dikaioma."
It occurs 10 times in the GNT, and is translated in the KJV as
"judgment" 2 times (Rom. 1:32; Rev. 15:4),
"justification" once (Rom. 5:16),
"ordinance" 3 times (Luke 1:6; Heb. 9:1, 10),
and "righteousness" 4 times (Rom. 2:26; 5:18; 8:4; Rev. 19:8).
This Greek verbal noun expresses the result of the act of
dikaiosis.
These words are related to the root word "dike."
This noun occurs 4 times in the GNT, and is translated in the KJV as
"judgment" once (Acts 25:15),
"punished" once (II Thes. 1:9),
"vengeance" twice (Acts 28:4; Jude 7).
The righteousness of God in the Scriptures is not an attribute of God whereby He must render to each what is he has merited nor a quantity of merit which God gives, but is the act or activity of God whereby He puts or sets right that which is wrong. [1] In the Old Testament, the righteousness of God is the action of God for the vindication and deliverance of His people; it is the activity in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.
"In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge;Thus the righteousness of God is often a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God. In the Old Testament, this is clearly shown by the literary device of parallelism which is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. [2] Parallelism may be defined as that Hebrew literary device in which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified in a second and following clause. This parallelism of Hebrew poetry clearly shows that Hebrew poets and prophets made the righteousness of God synonymous with divine salvation:
let me never be put to shame;
in thy righteousness deliver me!" (Psa. 31:1)"In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!" (Psa. 71:2)"143:11 For thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
143:12 And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies.
and destroy all my adversaries,
for I am thy servant." (Psa. 143:11-12)
"The Lord hath made known His salvation:
His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen."
(Psa. 98:2)"I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off,
and my salvation shall not tarry;
and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory."
(Isa. 46:13)"My righteousness is near,
my salvation is gone forth,
and mine arms shall judge the people;
the isles shall wait upon me,
and on mine arm shall they trust."
(Isa. 51:5)"Thus saith the Lord,
keep ye judgment and do justice [righteousness]:
for my salvation is near to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed."
(Isa. 56:1)
(See also Psa. 71:1-2, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 61:10; 62:1)
Very often in In the Old Testament the Hebrew noun, tsedeq and tsedaqah, is derived from the Hebrew verb, tsadaq. [3] Although it is usually translated "to be righteous" or "to be justified," the verb has the primary meaning "to be in the right" rather than "to be righteous." (Gen. 38:26; Job 11:2; 34:5) [4] The causative form of the verb hitsdiq generally translated "to justify" means not "to make righteous" nor "to declare righteous" but rather "to put in the right" or "to set right." (Ezekiel 16:51-55). Thus it very often has the meaning "to vindicate" or "to give redress to" a person who has suffered wrong. Thus the Hebrew noun tsedeq usually translated "righteousness" means an act of vindication or of giving redress. When applied to God, the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate and deliver the oppressed.
The righteous acts of the Lord, or more literally, the righteousnesses of the Lord, referred to in Judges 5:11; I Sam. 12:7-11; Micah 6:3-5; Psa. 103:6-8; Dan. 9:15-16, means the acts of vindication or deliverance which the Lord has done for His people, giving them victory over their enemies. It is in this sense that God is called "a righteous God and a Savior" (Isa. 45:21 RSV, NAS, NIV) and "the Lord our righteousness" (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16).
A judge or ruler is "righteous" in the Hebrew meaning of the word not because he observes and upholds an abstract standard of Justice, but rather because he comes to the assistance of the injured person and vindicates him. For example, in Psalm 82:2-4:
"82:2 How long will you judge unjustlyFor the judge to act this way is to show righteousness. (See Psa. 72:1-3.)
And show partiality to the wicked?
82:3 Vindicate the weak and fatherless;
Do justice [judgment] to the afflicted and destitute.
82:4 Rescue the weak and needy;
Deliver them out of the hand of the wicked."
(Psa. 82:2-4. NAS.
See also Psa. 72:4; 76:9; 103:6; 146:7; Isa. 1:17.)
A judge in the Old Testament is not one whose business it is to interpret the existing law or to give an impartial verdict in accordance with the established law of the land, but rather he is a deliverer and thus a leader and savior as in the book of Judges (Judges 1:16-17; 3:9-10). His duty and delight is to set things right, to right the wrong; his "judgments" are not words but acts, not legal verdicts but the very active use of God's right arm. The two functions of a judge are given in Psalm 75:7:
"But God is the judge:Since this a statement concerning God as a judge, it could be taken as a general definition of a Biblical judge. In Psa. 72:1-4 these two functions of Biblical judge are given to the king of Israel.
he puts down one and exalts another." (Psa. 75:7 NAS)
"72:1 Give the king thy judgments, O God,These same two functions are ascribed to the future ruler of Israel, the Messiah, according to Isaiah 11:3-5.
and thy righteousness unto the king's son.
72:2 He shall judge thy people with righteousness,
and thy poor with judgment.
72:3 The mountains shall bring peace to the people,
and the little hills, by righteousness.
72:4 He shall judge the poor of the people,
he shall save the children of the needy,
and shall break in pieces the oppressor." (Psa. 72:1-4 KJV)
"11:3 And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.His righteousness is shown in the vindication of those who are the victims of evil, the poor and meek of the earth.
He shall not judge by what His eyes see,
or decide by what His ears hear;
11:4 but with righteousness He shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
and He shall smite the earth with a rod of His mouth;
and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.
11:5 Righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist
and faithfulness the girdle of His loins." (Isa. 11:3-5)
The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part of and the proper expression of God's love. It is the activity of God's love to set right the wrong. In the Old Testament, this is shown by the parallelism between love and righteousness.
"But the steadfast love of the Lord isGod expresses His love as righteousness in the activity by which He saves His people from their sins. In His wrath, He opposes the sin that would destroy man whom He loves. In His grace, He removes the sin: the grace of God is the love of God in action to bring salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:8). Thus the grace of God may properly be called the righteousness of God. For in His righteousness, God acts to deliver His people from their sins, setting them right with Himself.
from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him,
and His righteousness to children's children."
(Psa. 103:17; see also Psa. 33:5; 36:5-6; 40:10; 89:14; 143:11-12.)
There is a difference between the righteousness of God in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, the righteousness of God is the vindication of the righteous who are suffering wrong (Ex. 23:7). God vindicates the righteous who are wrongfully oppressed. In the Old Testament, the righteousness of God requires a real righteousness of the people on whose part it is done. In Isa. 51:7, the promise of deliverance is addressed to those "who know righteousness, the people in whose hearts is my law." Similarly, in order to share in the promised vindication, the wicked must forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord (Isa. 55:7). In the New Testament, the righteousness of God is not only a vindication of a righteous people who are being wrongfully oppressed (this view is in Jesus' teaching in Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Luke 18:7), but also a deliverance of the people from their own sins; it is also the salvation of the ungodly who are delivered from their ungodliness (trust in a false god) and unrighteousness. The righteousness of God saves the unrighteous by setting them right with God Himself through faith (Rom. 1:17a).
The righteousness of God is God acting in love for the salvation or deliverance of man. This righteousness of God has been manifested, that is, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
"3:21 But now apart from the LawThe righteousness of God, as we have just seen, is God acting in love to set man right with God Himself and is synonymous with salvation (Ps. 98:2; 71:1-2, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 46:13; 51:5; 56:1; 61:10; 62:1). Now this righteousness of God has been manifested, that is, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God was active in the death and resurrection of Christ for man's salvation. And because He is this act of God for man's salvation, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God (I Cor. 1:30). And since the gospel or good news is about Jesus Christ, who He is and what He did (Rom. 1:3-4; I Cor. 15:3-4), the gospel is about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. The gospel tells us about God's act of salvation in the person and work of Jesus Christ; the gospel is the gospel of our salvation (Eph. 1:13).
the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets;
3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
for all those who believe; for there is no distinction;"
(Rom. 3:21-22 NAS).
But the gospel is not only about the righteousness of God manifested in the past on our behalf, but in the preaching of the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed in the present.
"For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of GodThe revelation that is spoken of in this verse is not just a disclosure of truth to be understood by the mind, but it is a working that makes effective and actual that which is revealed. Hence, the revelation of the righteousness of God is that working of God that makes effective and actual that which is revealed, that is, the righteousness of God. [5] In other words, the revelation of the righteousness of God is the actualization of God's salvation. And the righteousness of God is revealed when the salvation of God is made actual and real, that is, when salvation or deliverance takes place. Thus in the preaching of the gospel there is taking place continually an actualization of the righteousness of God. In other words, salvation or deliverance is taking place as the gospel is preached. This is the reason that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16. Compare Rom. 1:16-17 with Isa. 56:1 which is, no doubt, the source of Paul's concepts and words in these verses.)
is being revealed from faith unto faith" (Rom. 1:17a ERS).
The gospel not only tells us about this manifestation of the righteousness of God, but also in the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or made effective and actual (Rom. 1:17a). When the gospel is preached, God is acting to set man right with Himself. The result of God's activity of righteousness is the righteousness of faith, the righteousness from God, since it has been received from God by faith. God in His righteousness sets man right with Himself and through faith man is set right with God; faith rightly relates man to God. The righteousness of God is what God does and the righteousness of faith is what man does in response to God's activity. The righteousness of faith is the righteousness from God because faith, which is man's response to the word of God, comes from God (Rom. 10:6-8, 17); that is, in a sense, faith is "caused" by the Word of God, even though it is man who does the believing and trusting.
Faith is the actualization of the righteousness of God or the salvation of God. This is expressed by Paul in Romans 1:17a in a twofold way: "from faith unto faith". These prepositional phrases modify the verb "being revealed", not the words "the righteousness of God." The revelation is "from faith unto faith."
Faith is not the means nor the condition of salvation but is the actualization of salvation. Salvation is not a thing which is received by faith but is God's activity of deliverance which produces faith and is accomplished in that faith. In salvation, God does not give us something but gives us Himself, and faith is not receiving of something but is the receiving of Him. In salvation, God does not just reveal something about Himself but reveals Himself. Apart from this personal revelation, faith is impossible, but when this revelation take place, faith is possible. Since "faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ" (Rom. 10:17), faith is the product of God's activity of the revelation of Himself. This revelation takes place in the preaching of the gospel. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is not only about salvation (Eph. 1:13), but it is the power of God unto salvation. When the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are saved. This act of God's power through the preaching of the gospel takes the form of the personal revelation of God Himself and His love. For He is love (I John 4:8, 16). Those who believe in response to this revelation are through this decision of faith realizing the power of God unto salvation, and in this decision of faith they are saved. To believe is to be saved, and to be saved is to believe.
In this decision of faith, believers are saved from death to life. To have faith in God is to believe in Jesus Christ, His Son (John 14:1; 6:29; 8:42; 5:38). And to believe in Jesus Christ is to receive spiritual life. For Jesus is the life (John 5:26; 6:33-35, 38-40, 57-58). For to believe in Jesus is to receive Him and to have received Jesus is to have the Son of God and to have the Son is to have life.
"5:11 And this is the testimony,To have life is to have passed from death to life.
that God gave us eternal life,
and this life is in His Son.
5:12 He who has the Son has life;
he who has not the Son of God has not life." (I John 5:11-12)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my wordThe one who believes has passed from death to life because he has in the decision of faith also identified himself with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ identified Himself with us in death; He entered into our spiritual death on the cross and died physically for us. His death was our death. In faith, we accept His death as our death. In faith, we identify ourselves with Him in His death. But since God has raised Jesus from the dead, so also are we made alive with Christ. His resurrection was our resurrection. In faith, we identify ourselves with Him and His resurrection. To receive life in Christ is to be raised from the dead with Him. To pass from death to life is to have died and been raised with Jesus from the dead. We are now spiritually alive in Him. We have entered into fellowship with God and are now reconciled to God. As the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are made alive, raised from the dead. Jesus said,
and believes Him who sent me has eternal life;
he does not come into judgment,
but has passed from death to life." (John 5:24)
"Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is,When the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us is proclaimed, God speaks to men, revealing Himself in Jesus Christ. Those who hear and believe in Jesus are made alive in Him, being raised from the dead. They are reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20). They are saved from death to life.
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who hear will live." (John 5:25)
But in the decision of faith men are not only saved from death to life but also from sin to righteousness. To have faith in God is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In general, faith is not just belief that certain statements are true but is the commitment of oneself and allegiance to something or someone as one's own personal ultimate criterion of all decisions, intellectual and moral. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ as one's own personal ultimate criterion ("My Lord and my God," John 20:28). The living person, the resurrected Jesus Christ, not just what He taught, becomes in the decision of faith our ultimate criterion. This decision of faith is a turning from false gods (idols) to the living and true God (I Thess. 1:10). Faith in the true God is righteousness.
"Abraham believed God, andTo believe God is to be righteous.
it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness." (Rom. 4:3)
"But to the one who does not work,To acknowledge Jesus as Lord is to believe God that He raised Him from the dead.
but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness." (Rom. 4:5)
(See also Rom. 4:22-24).
"10:9 That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,To believe God that He raised from the dead Jesus, who in faith we confess as Lord, is to be righteous. Thus, this decision of faith is salvation from sin to righteousness.
and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
you will be saved;
10:10 For with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
and with the mouth he confesses unto salvation."
(Rom. 10:9-10; ERS).
But in this decision of faith, men are not only saved from death to life and from sin to righteousness but also from wrath to peace. Since the wrath of God - God's "no" or opposition to sin - is caused by sin (trust in a false god) (Rom.1:18), the removal of this sin brings with it also the removal of the wrath of God - no sin, no wrath. Now faith in Christ is also faith in the death of Christ for us; his death is our death. Since Christ's death was the means that God has provided for turning away His wrath, His death is a propitiation for our sins; faith in Christ's death turns away God's wrath.
"3:24 Being set right freely by his graceFaith in Christ's death (His blood) turns away God's wrath, since God has appointed his sacrificial death as the means to turn away His wrath. The result is peace with God; God is no longer opposed to man's sin, since the sin has been removed by Christ's death and resurrection. By faith in His death and resurrection we are set right with God.
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
3:25 whom God set forth as a propitiation
through faith in his blood....
(Rom. 3:24-25; ERS).
"Being therefore set right by faith,Thus, this decision of faith is also salvation from wrath to peace with God.
we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
(Rom. 5:1 ERS)"Much more then, being set right by his blood,
we shall be saved from wrath through him."
(Rom. 5:9 ERS)
These Three Aspects of Salvation are accomplished through the
death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Propitiation is the sacrifical aspect of His work,
redemption is the liberation aspect of His work, and
reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work of
salvation.
God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation
of man from death, sin and wrath. Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18)
and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is basically from death to life
and then from sin to righteousness and then from wrath to peace with God.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life;
Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and
Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace with God.
This threefold act of God for the salvation of man is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God (salvation) has been manifested (publicily displayed) in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26). The gospel tells us about this act of God, about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. And in the preaching of the gospel, the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or actualized (Rom. 1:17). That is, God is exerting His power for the salvation of man in the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 1:16); in this activity man is being delivered from something bad, from wrath, sin and death, to something good, to peace, righteousness and life.
The revelation of the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) is also called justification (Rom. 3:24). As we have seen, the righteousness of God is the act or activity of God whereby God sets man right with God Himself. Hence, the revelation of the righteousness of God is this act of setting right, and this act of setting right is called justification. Justification is not just a pronouncement about something but is an act that brings about something; it is not just a declaration that a man is righteous before God but is a setting of a man right with God: a bringing him into a right personal relationship with God. Justification is then essentially salvation: to justify is to save (Isa. 45:25; 53:11; see Rom. 6:7 where dikaioo is translated "freed" in RSV). This close relationship between these two concepts is more obvious in the Greek because the words translated "justification" and "righteousness" have the same roots, not two different roots as do the two English words.
There is a difference between justification in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament. In the Old Testament justification is the vindication of the righteous who are suffering wrong (Ex. 23:7). God justifies, that is, vindicates the righteous who are wrongfully oppressed. Justification requires a real righteousness of the people on whose part it is done. In Isa. 51:7, the promise of deliverance is addressed to those "who know righteousness, the people in whose hearts is my law." Similarly, in order to share in the promised vindication, the wicked must forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord (Isa. 55:7). However, in the New Testament, justification is not only a vindication of a righteous people who are being wrongfully oppressed but also a deliverance of the people from their own sins. Thus, Paul says that God is He "that justifies the ungodly" ( Rom. 4:5). In the New Testament, justification is not just a vindication of the righteous who has been wronged (this view is in Jesus' teaching in Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Luke 18:7), but it is also the salvation of the ungodly who are delivered from their ungodliness and unrighteousness. But justification not only saves the ungodly from their sins, it also brings them into the righteousness of faith. To be set right with God is to have faith in God.
"Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned unto him for righteousness"Justification as God's act of setting man right with Himself brings man into faith, which is to be set right with God. Thus justification is through faith (dia pisteos, Rom. 3:30; Gal. 2:16) and out of or from faith (ek pisteos, Rom. 3:26,30; Gal. 2:16; 3:8, 24).
(Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3, 9; cf. Rom. 10:9; Phil. 3:9).
But justification as salvation is not only the deliverance from sin to righteousness but also the deliverance from wrath to peace and from death to life. Justification as deliverance from wrath to peace is set forth by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:24-25:
"3:24 Being justified by His grace as a gift,Here, Paul connects justification with redemption, the liberation aspect of salvation, and with propitiation, the sacrifical aspect of salvation. Redemption is the deliverance from sin by the payment of a price called a ransom which is the death of Jesus Christ. And propitiation is the deliverance from the wrath by the sacrifical death of Jesus ("His blood") which turns away or averts the wrath of God through faith in that sacrifice ("through faith in His blood"). Christ's death as a propitiation turns away God's wrath from the one who has faith in that sacrifice. The wrath is turned away because the sin has been taken away ("forgiveness") by the death of Christ as a ransom, by which a man is redeemed or set free, delivered from sin. When sin has been removed, there is no cause for God's wrath. No sin, no wrath. Man is saved from wrath because he is saved from sin.
through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
3:25 whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
through faith in His blood."
(Rom. 3:24-25 ERS; see also Isa. 32:17)
"Being justified freely by faith we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1)"Much more then, being justified by His blood,
we shall be saved through Him from the wrath of God." (Rom. 5:9)
Justification is also deliverance from death to life. Man is delivered from sin to the righteousness of faith because he is delivered from death to life. As sinners, we were enemies of God, but through the death of God's Son we have been reconciled to God and are now no longer enemies. To be reconciled to God means we have passed from death to life and we are saved in His resurrected life ("having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Rom. 5:10; see also II Cor. 5:17-21). We are delivered from death by being "made alive together with Him" in His resurrection (Eph. 2:5). He was "raised for our justification" (Rom. 4:25). Thus justification is "justification of life" (Rom. 5:18 KJV). To be set right with God is to enter into fellowship with God. And this right relationship to God is life. Justification puts us into right relationship to God and hence is a justification of life. Fellowship with God is established when God reveals Himself to man and man responds to that revelation in faith. Life is a personal relationship between God and man that results from this revelation and the faith-response to it. Apart from this revelation the response of faith is not possible, but this revelation is the offer of life and the possibility of faith. But life is not actual unless man responds in faith to the revelation of God Himself. Life is received in the act of faith. Since God's act of revelation is first, and man's response in faith is second and depends upon God's revelation, life results in the righteousness of faith and man becomes righteous because of life. Justification as the revelation of the righteousness of God brings about life and the righteousness of faith.
Justification is the free act of God's grace (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7). The source of justification is the love of God. And the love of God in action to bring man salvation is the grace of God (Titus 2:11). Hence justification is the true expression of the grace of God and the act of the love of God. Because justification is a gift (Rom. 3:24; 5:15-17), justification is free and is not something that can be earned (Rom. 4:4; 11:6). Being a free act of God's grace, justification has nothing to do with the works of the law (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:11; see also Eph. 2:2-9; Phil. 3:9; II Tim. 1:9; Titus 3:5).
The whole legalistic theology is a misunderstanding of the righteousness of God and justification by faith, and is therefore unbiblical and false. The Scripture nowhere speaks of the righteousness or merits of Christ and of justification as an imputation of the merits of Christ to our account. The introduction of such a legalistic righteousness, even if it means the merits of Christ, into the discussion of the righteousness of God and of justification by faith obscures the grace of God and misunderstands the law as well as the gospel of the grace of God. In principle, the grace of God has nothing to do with legal righteousness and merits.
"But if it is by grace, it is no more on basis of works;God does not give man His grace so that he can earn merits by works to gain eternal life nor to declare that he is legally righteous before God. Eternal life is the gift of His grace and it is received by faith. Neither was eternal life earned by the active obedience of Jesus Christ nor did Jesus Christ satisfy the demands of the law, either in precept or penalty, in our place. Christ fulfilled the law (Matt. 5:17), but not for us. Nowhere in the Scripture does it say that Christ fulfilled the law for us. Neither did he fulfill it legalistically. Not because Christ was not able to do it but because God does not in His love and grace operate on the basis of law or legal righteousness. Christ fulfilled it by love, for "love is the fulfilling of the law" (Rom. 13:8, 10).
otherwise grace would no longer be grace." (Rom. 11:6)
This Biblical concept of the righteousness of God must be carefully distinguished from the Greek-Roman concept of justice. The righteousness of God in the Scriptures is not an attribute of God whereby He must render to each what he has merited nor a quantity of merit which God gives, but God acting to set right man with God Himself. Luther's apparent identification of the righteousness of God with the righteousness from God lead eventually to the equating of the righteousness from God with Christ's righteousness, that is, the merits of Christ, which Christ earned by His active obedience before He died on the cross and is imputed to the believer's account. Righteousness is misunderstood as merits and the righteousness of God as the justice of God. The idea that the righteousness of God is the justice of God, that is, that attribute of God which requires that God punish all sin and reward all meritorious works, is a legalistic misunderstanding of the Biblical concept of the righteousness of God. This legalistic misunderstanding reduces and equates the righteousness of God to justice, that is, the giving to each that which is his due to them with a strict and impartial regard to merit (as in Plato, Aristotle, and the Stoics). It is this concept of righteousness that gave Luther so much trouble.
In the English language, the use of "justify" to translate the Greek verb dikaioo and the use of "justification" to translate the Greek verbal noun dikaiosis seems to imply that the righteousness of God is the Greek-Roman concept of justice. The English language has no verbal noun or verb of the same root as the English word "righteousness" to translate the Greek verbal noun or verb. This deficiency of the English language does not mean that the righteousness of God is the Greek-Roman concept of justice.
But not only has the Biblical concept of the righteousness of God been misunderstood by legalism but, correspondingly, the Biblical concept of righteousness of faith as a right relationship with God through faith in God ( Rom. 4:5) has also been misunderstood as a keeping of the rules, a conformity to the law in thought, word and deed, a living up to the divine standard. Righteousness is misunderstood as moral perfection, that is, a conformity to the divine standard without exception, sinless perfection. Since man is created, according to legalism, under the law and for the law, man's highest good and final goal is this moral perfection, this legal righteousness. To stand spotless and without blame before the law is thought to be man's ultimate hope. This righteousness is often conceived in terms of merit; each good deed has a certain quantity of righteousness or merit associated with it. During the course of his life, a man acquires merit by his good works or demerit by his sins, transgressions of the law. At the final judgment these will be weighed in the double-pan balance of justice (dike). And justice will render to each impartially that which is due to him (he has earned it). If the merits outweigh the demerits, the man is legally declared righteous and legally entitled to eternal life and blessedness (he has earned it). On the other hand, if the demerits predominate, he justly deserves and receives eternal death, punishment, pain and suffering. In order for man to be saved, he must have this righteousness, this moral perfection. Thus man needs to be saved, not only because he is a guilty sinner, but also because he does not have this legal righteousness.
This legalistic concept of righteousness is a misunderstanding of the Biblical concept of righteousness. The Biblical concept of righteousness is revealed in the story of Abraham. After God revealed His promises to Abraham, the Scripture says, "then he believed in the Lord; and He [God] reckoned it [his faith] to him as righteousness" (Gen. 15:6; see also Rom. 4:3 and Gal. 3:6). Abraham believed the promises of God and his faith was reckoned to him as righteousness.
"4:3For what does the scriptures say?And Abraham's faith was reckoned to him as righteousness because faith in God is righteousness, the righteousness of faith (Rom. 4:16-22). Righteousness is not a quality that we possess, neither merit that we have earned or have imputed to our account, but a right relationship to God. Faith in God relates us rightly to God. A man is righteous when he is in right relationship to God. And faith in God, believing the promises of God, trusting in God is being in right relationship to God. The righteousness of faith is the opposite of sin; sin is trusting in a false god and righteousness is trusting in the true God. Just as man's basic sin is idolatry, so man's basic righteousness is faith in, allegiance to and worship of the true God from the heart; this is righteousness of faith. It has nothing to do with merit just as sin has nothing to do with demerit.
'Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.'"
(Rom. 4:3)"4:9 ... We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness."
(Rom. 4:9)
Martin Luther recovered the Biblical concept of the righteousness of God and of the justification by faith. But his followers obscured this understanding of these concepts by the legalism of their theology and their legalistic understanding of righteousness and justification. And this legalism not only affected theology but the whole life of the church. The result of this legalism was dead orthodoxy and a cold, unloving Christianity. To correct these effects there arose in the church various movements such as pietism, the evangelical awakening, revivalism, etc. None of these movements went to the source of the deadness, coldness and unlovableness but just reinforced the cause -- legalism.
The great outpouring of the Spirit starting at the beginning of the twentieth century has been hindered and limited by the constant relapses into the same legalism. And the source of this legalism in practice is the legalism of the theology. The theological legalism produces the practical legalism. The answer to the legalism of the theology is not no theology, but a non-legaistic theology, a Biblical theology. With the present move of the Spirit, the time has come to clear the legalism out of our theology and again recover the Biblical understanding of the righteousness of God and justification by faith. This paper is an attempt to make a beginning at this theological renewal.
[1] Alan Richardson,
An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament,
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 79-83, 232-233.
[2] Edward J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950), pp. 281-282.
See also Gleason L. Archer, Jr.,
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), pp. 418-420.
[3] C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
(London and Glasgow: Fontana Books, 1959), p. 38.
[4] C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964), p. 46.
[5] Burton on Galations in the ICC in contrasting phaneroo
and apokalupto points out that
"for some reason apokalupto has evidently come to be used especially
of a subjective revelation, which either takes place wholly within the mind
of the individual receiving it,
or is subjective in the sense that it is accompanied by actual perception
and results in knowledge on his part:
Rom. 8:18; I Cor. 2:10; 14:30; Eph. 3:5."
Ernest deWitt Burton,
A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on
the Epistle to the Galations, in
The International Critical Commentary
(New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1896), p. 433.
He goes on to say that
"phaneroo throws emphasis on the fact that that
which is manifested is objectively clear, open to perception.
It is thus suitably used of an open and public announcement,
disclosure or exhibition:
I Cor. 4:5; II Cor. 2:14; 4:10-11; Eph. 5:13." Ibid.
The use of the word apokalupto by Paul in Rom. 1:17
thus seems to place an emphasis on something happening to the individual
receiving the revelation. The word "subjective" is probably not the right
word to use to describe this event because it suggests that
the source of revelation is from within the individual, the
subject. Clearly the revelation that Paul is speaking of is
from without the individual, and from God. But it does make a
difference, a change; a response does take place in the
person receiving the revelation. It does bring about that
which is revealed, salvation.
