Romans 1:16-17 Part 10
“For in it (The Gospel) Righteousness of God is Revealed.”
What comes to mind when we think of the Righteousness of God? Is it not that God is Absolutely Right in His very Essence and therefore absolutely Just in all that He does. Now notice Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress (hold down) the truth in unrighteousness.” Because God is Righteous and Just in all that He is and does, His very nature is seen in all that He has made, even creation itself. But fallen man is just the opposite. He refuses to acknowledge this created revelation of God because he is unrighteous. In other words, man is not in every way that God IS.
In those immortal words, “Houston, we have a problem!” If the Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, then all mankind is under the Wrath of God because all mankind is unrighteous! (Romans 3:10-18)
Psalm 14:2-3 “The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one!!”
Here then is the marvel of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the revelation of the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, not in wrath and judgment, but in the very Power of God as GOOD NEWS, GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY!! The Gospel proclaims God’s Righteous and Just Means by which He can bring sinners into His Eternal Presence.
Isaiah 59:15b-16 “Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His Own Arm brought salvation for Him, and His Own Righteousness, It sustained Him.”
Jeremiah 16:60-63 After proclaiming that He would “establish an everlasting covenant “ with Israel, and they will be ashamed of their deeds, “when I provide you an atonement for all you have done, says the Lord God.”
Romans 3:21-26 Paul here gives us an “expanded” understanding of this Gospel Revelation of the Righteousness of God. May I say that were there no Gospel Revelation of the Righteousness of God, John 3:16 could not exist! The Love of God that saves sinners could not exist unless it was in complete harmony with the Righteousness of God. To deny or ignore either of these Essential elements of the Heart of God is to Un-god God!!! Our text in Romans 3 harmonizes and amplifies them both–they are of One Essence. This unity and harmony of all that is God’s Essence is why He is God, and I might add, and why we are not.
Vs 21 “But now the Righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.” Paul has previously shown that, “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law is a “hanging judge”. It only knows one verdict. “Guilty, you shall surely die!”
“Being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” Refer to our Gospel series, Part 9 for an overview of the Prophetic Gospel. Consider also:
Isaiah 45:22-25 “Look to ME, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I Am God, and there is no other.” “The Word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness” (Vs 23)...”He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.’”(Vs 24)
Isaiah 46:9-11 This passage starts with “I am God, and there is no other” and continues with, “Listen to Me, you stubborn hearted, who are far from righteousness: I bring MY RIGHTEOUSNESS near, it shall not be far off; My Salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel My Glory.” See also Isa. 54:13-17; 56:1; 60:19-21; 61:10-11; (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:16 Notice that the Name of the Branch is “The LORD our Righteousness” in chap. 23, but in chap. 33, the Branch prophecy ends with Jerusalem being called, “the LORD our Righteousness.”)
And of course, we must consider Daniel 9:24! It is all about Messiah bringing in “everlasting Righteousness.”
Vs 22a “Even the Righteousness of God”. Make no mistake, Paul wants us to be sure we are talking about the Righteousness of God, and none of our own, or any attempt to copy His. Only the Pure Righteousness of God will suffice!!! So stop, quit it, whatever you are doing to please God or present some “adequate” offering to Him. Only His Perfection will satisfy Him.
“Which is through FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.” There is only One Source of this Righteousness and only One avenue to receive it. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son of John 3:16, is the only “human” source of this Righteousness of God. And it is only imputed and mediated to us through FAITH IN Jesus Christ. Our next study will “camp on” from “faith to faith”, the living by faith upon the Righteousness of our Lord Christ and that faith’s outworking in and through us.
Vs 22b-24 Paul has concluded all mankind, both Jew and Gentile under sin (Rom 2-3:18). He now makes the crucial point that the Righteousness of God which is through faith in Christ Jesus alone, is “to all and on all who believe!” We are all guilty of sin equally, but by this incredible Grace of God, we are “being justified “FREELY” (Isa 55:10) by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” THERE IS NO “PECKING ORDER” IN GOD’S GRACE!!!
Vs 25 Christ Jesus is the Righteousness of God on display before an unrighteous world! Jesus is the clear manifestation of the Union of Love and Righteousness necessary for any person to live in the Eternal Presence of God. And it is a bloody display!! Christ Jesus is our Mercy Seat above Whom the Father can and will fellowship with us. But remember, the Mercy Seat was sprinkled with blood seven times each year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:13-14). Therefore, the fulfillment of the Shadow, that is Christ Jesus, must be “sprinkled” with the blood of the atoning sacrifice (that is also, Christ Jesus), that He might be the Perfect Satisfaction required of the Righteousness and Justice of the Most High God! The crucifixion of our Blessed Jesus is our Day of Atonement! (Leviticus 16:16) And because of His “Propitiatory sacrifice”, the perfectly satisfactory payment of the penalty for our sins, we can now come to the Father through Him.
(God’s “passing over the sins that were previously committed” was not God ignoring them. Were it not for God’s “forbearance”, each sin would have been judged immediately by its just penalty, death!)
Vs 26 Again, Paul makes the crucial point, God has put His Beloved Son on display to the world for all mankind to see what a Just and Holy God had to do in order to save condemned sinners!!! This is Love and Righteousness wedded together in Divine 3D and in Technicolor! This is what is required for the Most Holy God to be Just, and to be able to Justify the unrighteous ones, deserving of eternal damnation.
But notice. It is effectual only to “the one who has faith IN Jesus!” This is why John 6:29 says, “this is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has Sent!” There is no other alternative. This is the only way to come to God! May I say further, This is always the only way to come to God. By that I mean, we will for all Eternity only come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Faith will be swallowed up in Eternal Reality, but Christ Jesus will always be our Mercy Seat!
This is the Gospel Revelation!!! The Gospel is not the proclamation of some “get out of hell free” card! It is the Revelation of the display of the Righteous Love of God manifested in His Beloved Son, our propitiatory Sacrifice, our Mercy Seat that we might come to God Through Him.
“For God so loved the world that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whoever believes in Him should no perish but have Everlasting Life.” John 3:16
“For in it (The Gospel) Righteousness of God is Revealed.”
What comes to mind when we think of the Righteousness of God? Is it not that God is Absolutely Right in His very Essence and therefore absolutely Just in all that He does. Now notice Romans 1:18: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress (hold down) the truth in unrighteousness.” Because God is Righteous and Just in all that He is and does, His very nature is seen in all that He has made, even creation itself. But fallen man is just the opposite. He refuses to acknowledge this created revelation of God because he is unrighteous. In other words, man is not in every way that God IS.
In those immortal words, “Houston, we have a problem!” If the Wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness, then all mankind is under the Wrath of God because all mankind is unrighteous! (Romans 3:10-18)
Psalm 14:2-3 “The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God. They have all turned aside, they have together become corrupt; there is none who does good, no, not one!!”
Here then is the marvel of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! It is the revelation of the RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD, not in wrath and judgment, but in the very Power of God as GOOD NEWS, GLAD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY!! The Gospel proclaims God’s Righteous and Just Means by which He can bring sinners into His Eternal Presence.
Isaiah 59:15b-16 “Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His Own Arm brought salvation for Him, and His Own Righteousness, It sustained Him.”
Jeremiah 16:60-63 After proclaiming that He would “establish an everlasting covenant “ with Israel, and they will be ashamed of their deeds, “when I provide you an atonement for all you have done, says the Lord God.”
Romans 3:21-26 Paul here gives us an “expanded” understanding of this Gospel Revelation of the Righteousness of God. May I say that were there no Gospel Revelation of the Righteousness of God, John 3:16 could not exist! The Love of God that saves sinners could not exist unless it was in complete harmony with the Righteousness of God. To deny or ignore either of these Essential elements of the Heart of God is to Un-god God!!! Our text in Romans 3 harmonizes and amplifies them both–they are of One Essence. This unity and harmony of all that is God’s Essence is why He is God, and I might add, and why we are not.
Vs 21 “But now the Righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.” Paul has previously shown that, “by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. The law is a “hanging judge”. It only knows one verdict. “Guilty, you shall surely die!”
“Being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets.” Refer to our Gospel series, Part 9 for an overview of the Prophetic Gospel. Consider also:
Isaiah 45:22-25 “Look to ME, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I Am God, and there is no other.” “The Word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness” (Vs 23)...”He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.’”(Vs 24)
Isaiah 46:9-11 This passage starts with “I am God, and there is no other” and continues with, “Listen to Me, you stubborn hearted, who are far from righteousness: I bring MY RIGHTEOUSNESS near, it shall not be far off; My Salvation shall not linger. And I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel My Glory.” See also Isa. 54:13-17; 56:1; 60:19-21; 61:10-11; (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:16 Notice that the Name of the Branch is “The LORD our Righteousness” in chap. 23, but in chap. 33, the Branch prophecy ends with Jerusalem being called, “the LORD our Righteousness.”)
And of course, we must consider Daniel 9:24! It is all about Messiah bringing in “everlasting Righteousness.”
Vs 22a “Even the Righteousness of God”. Make no mistake, Paul wants us to be sure we are talking about the Righteousness of God, and none of our own, or any attempt to copy His. Only the Pure Righteousness of God will suffice!!! So stop, quit it, whatever you are doing to please God or present some “adequate” offering to Him. Only His Perfection will satisfy Him.
“Which is through FAITH IN JESUS CHRIST.” There is only One Source of this Righteousness and only One avenue to receive it. Jesus Christ, God’s only Son of John 3:16, is the only “human” source of this Righteousness of God. And it is only imputed and mediated to us through FAITH IN Jesus Christ. Our next study will “camp on” from “faith to faith”, the living by faith upon the Righteousness of our Lord Christ and that faith’s outworking in and through us.
Vs 22b-24 Paul has concluded all mankind, both Jew and Gentile under sin (Rom 2-3:18). He now makes the crucial point that the Righteousness of God which is through faith in Christ Jesus alone, is “to all and on all who believe!” We are all guilty of sin equally, but by this incredible Grace of God, we are “being justified “FREELY” (Isa 55:10) by His Grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” THERE IS NO “PECKING ORDER” IN GOD’S GRACE!!!
Vs 25 Christ Jesus is the Righteousness of God on display before an unrighteous world! Jesus is the clear manifestation of the Union of Love and Righteousness necessary for any person to live in the Eternal Presence of God. And it is a bloody display!! Christ Jesus is our Mercy Seat above Whom the Father can and will fellowship with us. But remember, the Mercy Seat was sprinkled with blood seven times each year on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:13-14). Therefore, the fulfillment of the Shadow, that is Christ Jesus, must be “sprinkled” with the blood of the atoning sacrifice (that is also, Christ Jesus), that He might be the Perfect Satisfaction required of the Righteousness and Justice of the Most High God! The crucifixion of our Blessed Jesus is our Day of Atonement! (Leviticus 16:16) And because of His “Propitiatory sacrifice”, the perfectly satisfactory payment of the penalty for our sins, we can now come to the Father through Him.
(God’s “passing over the sins that were previously committed” was not God ignoring them. Were it not for God’s “forbearance”, each sin would have been judged immediately by its just penalty, death!)
Vs 26 Again, Paul makes the crucial point, God has put His Beloved Son on display to the world for all mankind to see what a Just and Holy God had to do in order to save condemned sinners!!! This is Love and Righteousness wedded together in Divine 3D and in Technicolor! This is what is required for the Most Holy God to be Just, and to be able to Justify the unrighteous ones, deserving of eternal damnation.
But notice. It is effectual only to “the one who has faith IN Jesus!” This is why John 6:29 says, “this is the work of God, that you believe in Him Whom He has Sent!” There is no other alternative. This is the only way to come to God! May I say further, This is always the only way to come to God. By that I mean, we will for all Eternity only come to the Father through Jesus Christ. Faith will be swallowed up in Eternal Reality, but Christ Jesus will always be our Mercy Seat!
This is the Gospel Revelation!!! The Gospel is not the proclamation of some “get out of hell free” card! It is the Revelation of the display of the Righteous Love of God manifested in His Beloved Son, our propitiatory Sacrifice, our Mercy Seat that we might come to God Through Him.
“For God so loved the world that HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON, that whoever believes in Him should no perish but have Everlasting Life.” John 3:16