THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF SALVATION

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

What is the righteousness of God?
In the Old Testament, the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate or deliver the oppressed; it is the action of God in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.

"In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me;
incline thy ear to me, and save me!"
(Psa. 71:2 RSV. See also Psa. 31:1 and 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 KJV)

"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 KJV)

"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 KJV)

"Thus saith the Lord, 'Do judgment and righteousness:
for my salvation is about to come,
and my righteousness to be revealed.'" (Isa. 56:1 ERS)
(See also Psa. 71:1-2, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 61:10; 62:1)

Note the parallelism in these passages which clearly show that the Old Testament writers considered the righteousness of God to be synonymous with divine salvation. Parallelism is that literary device characteristic of Hebrew poetry by which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified with other words in a second and following clause.

From these verses, it is clear that righteousness of God is a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God.

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).

The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part and the proper expression of God's love.

"But the steadfast love of the Lord is
from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him,
and His righteousness to children's children."
(Psa. 103:17 RSV)

"¹¹For thy name's sake, O Lord, preserve my life!
In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble!
¹²And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies,
and destroy all my adversaries, for I am thy servant."
(Psa. 143:11-12 RSV. See also Psa. 33:5; 36:5-6; 40:10; 89:14; etc.)

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 it is 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. Thus the righteousness of God saves the ungodly and unrighteous by setting them right with God Himself through faith (Rom. 1:17a).

Now the righteousness of God has been manifested, publicly displayed, in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

"^3:21But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been manifested,
being witnessed by the law and the prophets,
^3:22even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ
unto all those who believe; ..."
(Rom. 3:21-22 ERS)

JUSTIFICATION THROUGH FAITH

The Gospel tells us about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. But also in the preaching of the Gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or made effective and actual.

"^1:16For I am not ashamed of the gospel:
for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes;
to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
^1:17For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed
from faith unto faith; as it is written,
'Now the righteous from faith shall live.'"
(Rom. 1:17 ERS)

The Greek noun dikaiosis, translated "justification" occurs in the New Testament twice only at Romans 4:25 and 5:19. The majority of occurences of the Greek verb dikaioun usually translated "justify" is in Paul's letters to the Romans (fifteen times) and Galations (eight times). Outside the Pauline letters, the Greek verb is found in the New Testament eleven times in all, and most of these occurences are not relevant to the theological issue. James is the only New Testament writer besides Paul who explicitly discusses justification, and James clearly does not mean what Paul meant by it. Thus, the doctrine of justification is peculiar to Paul, although the basic idea which Paul expounded by means of it is fundamental to the whole New Testament and was taught by Jesus Himself. Instead of a doctrine of salvation by one's own works and merits, Jesus Himself taught a doctrine of justification of sinners by the righteousness of God. It is the theme of such parables as the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32;
note that the Pharisaic doctrine of merit upheld by the elder son, vv. 25-39),
the Pharisee and the Publican (Luke 18:9-14;
note the Greek verb dedikaomenos in verse 14),
the Laborers in the Vineyard (Mat. 20:1-16), and
the Great Supper (Luke 14:16-24).
Paul alone of the New Testament writers picked up and developed the Isaianic concept of divine righteousness (Isa. 53:11), which works salvation. Paul conceived of the righteousness of God, after the manner of Isaiah, as an energizing power of God ( Rom. 1:16-17) that sets a man right with God, saving him through faith.

What is justification?
Justification is that act of God whereby He sets or puts man right with God Himself. It is not just a legal pronouncement declaring that man righteous before God but it is the action of God setting or putting man right with God: a bringing him into right personal relationship with God. Thus justification is essentially salvation; to justify is to save. Hence Paul can say that God is He "who justifies the ungodly" (Rom. 4:5), that is, He who saves the ungodly.

"But to him who works not,
but trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
(Rom. 4:5 ERS)

"So faith comes from what is heard,
and what is heard comes by preaching of Christ."
(Rom. 10:17 RSV)

There are three aspects of justification:

1. Justification by faith is salvation from sin to righteousness.

   "For the one who died has been justified from sin." (ERS)
   [ho yar apothanon dedikaiotai apo hamartias] (Rom. 6:7).

   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). To have faith in God is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In general, faith is not just belief that certain statements are true but faith 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,
   and it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Rom. 4:3).

   To believe God is to be righteous.

   "And to the one who does not work but trusts him who justifies the ungodly,
   his faith is reckoned as righteousness."
   (Rom. 4:5).

   "^4:23But the words, 'it was reckoned to him as righteousness,'
   were written not for his [Abraham's] sake,
   ^4:24but for ours also.
   It [righteousness] will be reckoned to us who believe in him
   that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
   ^4:25who was put to death for our trespasses
   and raised for our justification."
   (Rom. 4:23-25).

   And to confess Jesus as Lord is to believe God that He raised Jesus from the dead.

   "^10:9That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord,
   and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead,
   you will be saved;
   ^10:10for with the heart man believes unto righteousness,
   and with the mouth he confesses unto salvation."
   (Rom. 10:9-10 ERS)

   To believe God that He raised from the dead Jesus, who in faith we confess as Lord, is to be righteous. That is, this decision of faith is salvation from sin to righteousness. Thus justification by faith is salvation from sin to righteousness.

2. Justification by faith is salvation from wrath to peace with God.

   "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
   through our Lord Jesus Christ." (Rom. 5:1 KJV)

   "Since, therefore, we are now justified by his blood,
   much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God." (Rom. 5:9)

   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:

   "^3:24Being justified by His grace as a gift,
   through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus,
   ^3:25whom God set forth to be a propitiation,
   through faith in His blood."
   (Rom. 3:24-25 ERS; see also Isa. 32:17)

   Here in these verses, 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 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.

3. Justification by faith is salvation from death to life.

   "^4:24It [righteousness] will be reckoned to us
   who believe in Him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,
   ^4:25who was put to death for our offenses
   and raised for our justification." (Rom. 4:24-25).

   "So therefore as through the offense of one
   to all men unto condemnation,
   so also through the righteous act of one
   to all men unto justification of life." (Rom. 5:18).

   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). 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, and 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 thus the righteousness of faith.

   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 (Rom. 3:21-22). God was active in Jesus Christ, particularly in His death and resurrection, for salvation (Acts 4:12; I Thess. 5:9; I Tim. 2:10; 3:15; Heb. 5:9). Because He is the act of God for our salvation, Jesus Christ is the righteousness of God (I Cor. 1:30). The gospel or good news 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 (I Cor. 15:3-4; Eph. 1:13). God acted in Him to deliver man from death, from sin, and from wrath. But since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin is caused by death ( Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is basically the deliverance from death to life. Man cannot make himself alive. Only God can make alive, for He is the living God and the source of all life. Because God loves man, He did not leave him in death but has provided for him deliverance from death by sending His Son into the world (John 3:16). God in His love for man sent His Son to become a man -- Jesus Christ, the God-man (John 1:14). He was the perfect man; He lived in perfect fellowship with God and perfectly trusted God throughout His entire life (John 1:4; 8:28-29; 12:50; 16:32; 17:25). But He came not just to be what we should have been or just to give us a perfect example. He came to die on our behalf in order that we might have life in Him. Jesus said,

   "^10:10I came that they might have life,
   and have it more abundantly.
   ^10:11I am the good shepherd:
   the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
   (John 10:10-11 KJV)

   The Apostle John wrote,

   "In this was manifested the love of God toward us,
   because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world
   that we might live through him." (I John 4:9)

   He entered not only into our existence as a man, but he entered into our condition of spiritual and physical death. On the cross, He died not only physically but spiritually. For only this once during His whole life was He separated from God, His Father.

   "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46 KJV)

   He was forsaken for us; He died for us.

   "Hereby know we love, because he laid down his life for us"
   (I John 3:16).

   But God raised Him from the dead. He entered into our death in order that as He was raised from the dead we might be made alive with and in Him ( Eph. 2:5). Hence Christ's death was our death, and His resurrection is our resurrection (II Cor. 5:15). He became identified with us in death in order that we might become identified with Him in His resurrection and have life. He became like us that we might become like Him. As Irenaeus (125-202 A.D.), the second century Christian theologian and bishop of Lyon, said,

   "...but following the only true and steadfast teacher,
   the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ,
   who did, through His transcendent love, become what we are,
   that He might bring us to be even what He is Himself."

   Christ Jesus, who became what we are, tasted death for every man.

   "But we see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels,
   crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death,
   so that by the grace of God he might taste death for every one." (Heb. 2:9).

   "^2:14Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood,
   he himself likewise partook of the same nature,
   that through death he might destroy him
   that has the power of death, that is the devil,
   ^2:15and deliver all those who through fear of death
   were subject to lifelong bondage." (Heb. 2:14-15)

   Christ acted as our representative, on our behalf and for our sake.

   "For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge,
   that one died for (on the behalf, huper) all,
   therefore all died," (II Cor. 5:14)

   that is, in Christ who represents all. Adam acting as a representative brought the old creation under the reign of death. But Christ acting as our representative brought a new creation in which those "who have received the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life" (Rom. 5:17).

   "^15:21For since by man came death,
   by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
   ^15:22For as in Adam all die,
   even so in Christ shall all be made alive."
   (I Cor. 15:21-22)

   "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature:
   the old things are passed away;
   behold, they are become new." (II Cor. 5:17)

   (Jesus said) "Because I live ye shall live also."
   (John 14:19 KJV)

   Acting through our representative, God has reconciled us to Himself through Christ, that is, God has brought us into fellowship with Himself.

   "^5:18But all things are of God,
   who reconciled us to himself through Christ...
   ^5:19to wit, that God was in Christ
   reconciling the world unto himself."
   (II Cor. 5:18-19;
   see also Rom. 5:10-11; I Cor. 1:9; I John 1:2-3).

   This representative work of Christ should not be understood as a vicarious act, instead of another, but as a participation, a sharing in the act of another. Christ took part or shared our situation. He entered not only into our existence as a man, but also into our condition of spiritual and physical death. On the cross, He died not only physically but also spiritually.
   "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46)
   He shared in our spiritual death as well as in our physical death.
   His death is our death.
   And we were reconciled to God through the death of Christ because He shared in our death (Rom. 5:10; Heb. 2:9). But He was raised from the dead, and that on behalf of all men (II Cor. 5:15). He was raised from the dead so that we might participate in His resurrection and be made alive with Him ( Eph. 2:5).
   His resurrection is our resurrection.
   He was raised from dead for us so that we might participate in His resurrection and life, both spiritually and physically, in Him. Since spiritual death is no fellowship with God, being made alive with Christ we are brought into fellowship with God. Hence, we are reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:17-19). Reconciliation can therefore be defined as that aspect of salvation whereby man is delivered from death to life.

   The source of this act of reconciliation is the love of God. It is a legalistic misunderstanding of reconciliation which says that God was reconciled to man. The Scriptures never say that God is reconciled to man but that man is reconciled to God (Rom. 5:10; II Cor. 5:18-19). The problem is not in God but in man. Man is the enemy of God; God is not the enemy of man. God loves man, and out of His great love He has acted to reconcile man to Himself through the death and resurrection of Christ. It is true that God in His wrath opposes man's sin but in His grace He has provided a means by which His wrath may be turned away. But this aspect of salvation is propitiation, not reconciliation. Reconciliation should not be confused with propitiation. God in reconciling man to Himself has saved man from death, the cause of sin ( Rom. 5:12d ERS), and hence He has removed sin, the cause of His wrath -- no sin, no wrath.
   Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace with God,
   and propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace with God because of
   redemption which is salvation from sin to righteousness.
   And redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness because of
   reconciliation which is salvation from death to life,

CONCLUSION

The Gospel is the good news of what God has done for our salvation. God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath to life, righteousness, and peace.
Reconciliation is salvation from death to life.
Redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness.
Propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace.
These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

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 the wrath of God 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 (publicly 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. But also 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) to set men right with God (to justify them) through faith.

Justification is the free act of God's grace.

"^3:24 Being justified freely by his grace
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).

"^3:4But when the kindness of God our Savior
and His love for man appeared,
^3:5He saved us, not on the basis of works
which we have done in righteousness,
but according to His mercy,
by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,
^3:6whom He poured out upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior,
^3:7that being justified by His grace
we might be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life."
(Titus 3:4-7 ERS).

"^2:4But God, being rich in mercy,
because of His great love with which He loved us,
^2:5even when we were dead in our trespasses,
made us alive together with Christ
(by grace are you saved)." (Eph. 2:4-5 NAS)

"^4:4 Now to the one who works his wages is not reckoned according to grace [as a gift]
but according to debt [something owed since it was earned]
^4:5 But to the one who does not work,
but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly,
his faith is reckoned for righteousness." (Rom. 4:4-5 ERS).

"^2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith;
and that [salvation] is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
^2:9 not as the result of works, that no one should boast."
(Eph. 2:8-9 ERS)

"But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works;
otherwise grace would no longer be grace." (Rom. 11:6)

"^3:8b For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things,
in order that I may gain Christ
^3:9and be found in him,
not having a righteousness of my own, based on law,
but that which is through faith,
the righteousness from [ek] God that depends upon [epi] faith,..."
(Phil. 3:8b-9);

Titus 3:5).

This salvation is the gift of God and you can have it, if you will accept this invitation.