Thrust Statement: The theme of the Book of Romans is justification by faith alone.

INTRODUCTION

This exposition of the Book of Romans is not a verse-by-verse commentary, but rather it zeros in on the overall theme of the Book in order to draw attention to God’s plan of salvation for a lost humanity. Before one attempts a detailed study of this Book, one needs a brief overview of the book’s central focus. As one approaches the Book of Romans, one quickly observes that Paul develops the concept of justification through faith in Jesus, not works. Paul begins with the Gospel (1:1—11:36) and concludes with his exhortation to Christian living (12:1—15:22), along with his final words of encouragement and greetings (15:23—16.27). Yet in chapter 16, one discerns that this section is also a hall of fame for women. One cannot read this letter without a consciousness that the major theme of this discourse is about God’s Gospel, that is to say, God’s plan of salvation made available to all humanity “in” and “through” Jesus Christ by faith (1:16-17). This volume is about God’s righteousness and how it is imputed to humanity. God’s wisdom is that He has made His righteousness available to all who will put their trust in Jesus.

After setting forth God’s means of justification, Paul surveys the condition, or standing, of both Gentiles (1:18—2:16) and Jews (2:17-29). Both groups are sinners and stand in need of salvation, that is, God’s righteousness (3:23). He explains the provision of salvation by God as in and through Jesus Christ. One receives God’s righteousness by faith, not by works. One always works from justification, not to it. This righteousness that God imputes begins with faith and ends with faith. God’s righteousness is a righteousness that is outside of humanity. This righteousness can only be credited (logivzomai logizomai, “count, reckon, calculate; credit, place to one’s account”) to one who believes (Chapter 4). God’s righteousness is something that is done to one; it is alien to every individual. Once one is put in a right relationship with God through faith, this person then wants to do whatever it takes to bring honor to God. Those clothed with the righteousness of God do good, not as a condition of being forgiven, but in gratitude of forgiveness. For Paul, salvation is only the beginning of one’s walk with God.

It is only in the Cross of Jesus that one discovers that God has done what must be done to reconcile sinful men and women unto Himself (5:1-11). Paul demonstrates this truth by calling attention to Christ as the mystery hidden from the foundation of the world. For example, when one is “in Christ,” he or she is freed from God’s wrath (Chapter 5), freed from the dominion of sin (Chapter 6), freed from the curse of the Law (Chapter 7), and freed from condemnation (Chapter 8). In the first eight chapters of Romans, Paul develops the theme of justification by faith alone. As one seeks to understand justification, one is conscious that justification is what God does for sinful humanity. In other words, justification is not a change in one’s moral state; it is what God does—credits His righteousness—for both men and women who put their trust in Jesus. This righteousness that belongs to God is a righteousness that is outside both men and women. This righteousness from God is not personal holiness or even correct teaching.

Prior to Paul’s comments in Chapters 5, 6, 7, and 8, he elaborates on the negatives and the positives of justification by using Abraham as the model upon which to base one’s relationship to God. Was Abraham justified by faith or by works? Just a perusal of Chapter 4 reveals that he was not justified by works (4:4-8), that he was not justified by circumcision (4:9-12), that he was not justified by law (4:13-15), but rather he was justified by faith (4:16—25). Paul set forth Abraham’s justification to give credence to his arguments that one can only be justified by faith alone. Before zeroing in on two kinds of righteousness—righteousness as an attribute and righteousness that is vicarious—one needs to pay attention to certain words or phrases that are peppered throughout this Book. In order to grasp the significance of God’s plan of salvation by faith “in” and “through” Christ, it will help to observe the frequency of certain key phrases or key words in order for one to get a brief overall view of this most revealing Book. One’s consciousness of the phrases that Paul employs through his Book helps one to focus more clearly on the place—“in Christ”—that salvation is found.

Throughout the Book of Romans, one discovers that Paul employs the word gospel twelve times (1:1, 2, 9, 15, 16, 17; 2: 16; 11:28; 15:16, 19, 20, 25). Another phrase—“through Him”—also attests to the fact that salvation can only be in Jesus. This unique expression occurs four times in Romans (1:5; 5:9; 8:37; 11:36). Paul also employs another combination with the word through. For example, he writes the following phrase—“through Jesus Christ”—five times in this Book (1:8; 2:16; 5:21; 7:25; 16:27).  Again, Paul utilizes an additional phrase—“in Christ” to capture where salvation is found. He makes use of this phrase five times (Romans 9:1; 12:5; 16:7, 9, 10). “In Christ” also appears with Jesus’ personal name “Jesus” six times (6:11, 23; 8:1, 39; 15:17; 16:3). Once Paul varies his expression to “in Jesus” (3:22) and once to “in Jesus Christ” (3:26). The preposition “in” is used to capture the location of salvation. Listen to Paul, once more, as he seeks to call attention to the place of salvation with the following phrase, “in Him.” This expression occurs five times (4:24; 9:23; 10:11; 15:12, 13).  Paul uses other terms to communicate where salvation is found. For example, he uses the phrase “with Him” six times (6:4, 5 [2x], 8; 8:32). The word faith occurs forty times (1:5, 8, 12, 17 [2x]; 3:3 [2x], 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30 [2x], 4:5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16 [2x], 20; 5:1, 2; 9:30, 32; 10:6, 8, 17; 11:20; 12:3, 6; 14:1, 2 [2x], 23 [2x], and the word justified crops up eight times (3:24, 28; 4:2; 5:1, 9; 8:30 [2x] 10:10).

THE GOSPEL OF GOD

As stated above, Paul uses the word gospel (eujaggevlion euaggelion, “good news”) twelve times in the Book of Romans. It is significant that Paul utilizes this word gospel six times in the first chapter. The Gospel is Good News about God’s way of salvation “in Christ” by faith, not works. The Good News is that God has done what is necessary for one’s salvation. In other words, one’s acceptance with God has been established “in” and “through” Jesus. In Jesus, one witnesses the love of God as a gift. The Good News is that God invaded history to free both men and women from the bondage of sin and guilt. It is in Christ that God has revolutionized one’s relationship with Him. The Good News is about forgiveness in and through Jesus. The great mystery of the Christian faith is that when one accepts what Christ has done upon the Cross, one can accept the forgiveness that God offers through His love and mercy. In the Cross of Jesus, one discovers that everything necessary for one’s forgiveness has been done. The Good News is that God Himself has provided the decisive safeguard for salvation—the Cross of Jesus is that event.

THROUGH AND IN CHRIST JESUS

Paul is fond of the words in and through in association with Christ. These two propositions help one to focus on the place of salvation offered by God’s free grace. After Paul’s introduction to the Book of Romans, he develops God’s justification for His wrath against all ungodliness. In the fourth chapter, he explains the Good News of God—salvation by faith alone in the finished work of Christ. In chapters five, six, seven, and eight, Paul lays out four main subjects: God’s wrath, dominion of sin, curse of the Law, and condemnation. In these four chapters, Paul sets forth God’s remedy and escape—Jesus Christ. As one reaches the end of chapter 5 about God’s wrath, one observes Paul’s way of escape: “The law was added so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ (diav dia, “through”) our Lord (5:20-21).

            In the sixth Chapter Paul labors that humanity is under the dominion of Sin. Sin has dominion over both men and women. Yet, Paul answer to this dilemma is Jesus. Once more Paul refers to Jesus as the means of escape: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life ina (evn en, “in”) Christ Jesus our Lord” (6:23).[1] In Chapter seven, Paul paints a rather dismal picture of the Law’s curse. Yet, in this Chapter, Paul lays down the means of escape: “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God—through (diav dia, “through”) Jesus Christ our Lord (7:24-25)! Then, finally, in Chapter eight, he calls attention to condemnation of those outside Christ. Again, Paul paints a picture of Christ as the only means of escaping condemnation: “Neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in (evn en, “in”) Christ Jesus our Lord (8:39). In Chapter five and seven it is “through,” but in Chapters six and eight, it is “in.” For Paul, salvation can only be found “through” and “in” Him.

JUSTIFIED

            The word justified occurs eight times in the Book of Romans. Its first occurrence is found in Romans 3:24. As Paul leads up to this phrase, he calls attention to righteousness from God that is essential for salvation. He brushes away all underbrush and goes right to the very core of justification:

21 But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (3:21-24).

            One word that jumps out is the word freely. This word is from the Greek word dwreaVn dwrean, which means “without cost, as a free gift, for nothing.”  This word takes on great significance when one looks at this same word in John 15:25: “But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: ‘They hated me without reason.’b”” The phrase “without reason” is from the Greek word dwreaVn dwrean, which is the same word translated “freely” in Romans 3:24. Paul is saying, in 3:24, that God justifies the sinner without a cause on his or her behalf; it is all of grace. Then, just after this note about “justified freely by his grace,” he again uses the word justified for a second time in order to reinforce this concept of salvation by grace: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (3:28). To reinforce the means of “justification by faith,” Paul introduces Abraham in order to prove beyond the shadow-of-a-doubt that Abraham was justified by faith alone, not works. Paul introduces the subject of justification by dealing with works: “If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. 3 What does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”a (4:2-3). How was Abraham justified? Paul says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Paul concludes his arguments with this summary:

The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, 24 but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. 25 He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification (3:23-25).

            After citing the Old Testament to prove his thesis—justification by faith—he begins the fifth chapter by stating: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, wea have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And web rejoice in the hope of the glory of God (5:1-2). To help one understand “imputed righteousness,” one needs to begin with Romans 1:17. An understanding of this verse will lay the groundwork for comprehension of this most misunderstood way of God saving humanity.

RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD IMPUTED TO ONE
WHO BELIEVES IN CHRIST
ROMANS 1:17 AND 10:3-4

The very hub of justification by faith begins with Romans 1:17. Christians must distinguish between righteousness as an attribute of godly living (Chapter 12) and the righteousness that is vicarious, that is, a righteousness done for humanity (1:16-17). What is the “righteousness of God” in 1:17 and 10:3-4? Is it the righteousness that justifies the sinner or the righteousness of the Christian life?  The question is: Does Paul employ the word “righteousness” in the sense of that which is imputed to man or in the sense of that which man performs?  Does this righteousness involve one’s keeping the commandments of God?[2]  Or, is this a righteousness that is outside man?  Is the righteousness in 1:17 and 10:3-4 imputed or earned?[3]  Put another way, how is man placed in a right relationship with God?  Is it by imputation or by works?  Even though both kinds of righteousness appear in the Book of Romans, the question still remains concerning the proper exegesis of the above passages.  Since Paul employs the word “righteousness” in both senses, one must exercise discriminating judgment in distinguishing between the various nuances based upon context in which the term is used.  One must distinguish between the “righteousness of faith” and  “the righteousness of holy living” (sanctification).[4]  “Active” righteousness is the fruit of “passive” righteousness.  Sanctification (active) is the fruit of righteousness by faith (passive).[5]

In Romans 1-8, Paul develops the theme of justification by faith alone.  Even though he stresses justification by faith alone, or imputed righteousness, in the first eight chapters, he, nevertheless, addresses the fact that all Christians are servants of righteousness.  God is concerned about holiness in the lives of those to whom He has imputed His righteousness.  But the focus of the first part of Romans is imputed righteousness, that is to say, how a man is placed in a right relationship with God.  Thus, Paul’s emphasis is upon “He who through faith is righteous shall live” (Romans 1:17).  More clearly put, the emphasis is upon the righteousness of God, separate and apart from works of law, imputed to man through faith in Jesus Christ.  Thus, the theme of these eight chapters is: How can a man be justified?  Is it by works or by faith?  After Paul’s emphasis on justification by faith,[6] he demonstrates graphically that holiness is the believer’s spiritual worship.  Thus, Paul begins chapter twelve with emphasis upon holy living, not for justification, but as the means of presenting one’s body as a living sacrifice which is one’s worship.  Once an individual is free from God’s wrath through Jesus Christ, Paul emphasizes the behavior of those who through faith are righteous.  Christians are to be pure in their daily walk with the Lord (Titus 2:12-14).[7] “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness,” said Paul (Romans 6:18). Those in Christ are “servants of God,” and therefore, they are to “have fruit unto holiness” (Romans 6:22).

But the word “righteousness” (dikaiosuvnh, dikaiosuvnh) in Romans 1:17 and 10:3-4 is much more comprehensive than personal holiness or even correct teaching.[8]  This righteousness is the righteousness of the new aeon—the righteousness of God[9] revealed through Jesus Christ.  When Paul articulates the “righteousness of God” in Romans 1:17 and Romans 10:3-4, he is not using the word “righteousness” as an activity on the part of man but as an activity on the part of God.  Perhaps to better clarify, God gives us Christ as “righteousness.”  This “righteousness” is not the “righteousness of law,” but the “righteousness of God.” 

The law of God can never, under any circumstances, be a way of salvation, not even for one “in Christ” (Romans 7:14-25). Paul differentiates between the “righteousness of law” and the “righteousness of faith.”  If one is to have a correct understanding of the “righteousness of God,” without law, it is essential that one distinguish between righteousness as an attribute of godly living and the righteousness that is vicarious, that is to say, a righteousness that is done for us, not in us.[10]  This righteousness begins with faith and ends with faith, not good deeds performed, or works of the law, or a correct understanding of Scripture.

Imputed righteousness is entirely outside the behavior of the believer.[11]  It is the doing and dying of Jesus.[12]  Adding anything to this substitutionary work and calling it our righteousness by faith is blasphemy.  We work from justification, not to it.  Justification is the mother of sanctification.[13]  Before justification, man was the “servant of sin,” but after justification, he is a “servant of righteousness” (Romans 6:16-22).

THE GOSPEL OF JESUS AND THE LIFE OF HOLINESS
ROMANS 6

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is concerned about right conduct,[14] even as the law is.[15]  This is self-evident from Paul’s arguments in Romans, chapter 6, about “free from sin.”  No Christian has the right to set himself above the law.  It is not in that sense that a Christian is “free from the law.”  But it is only “in Christ”[16] that the law is fulfilled in us (Romans 8:4). This fulfillment is not something accomplished by man, but by God in Christ.   Even though man is “free from sin,” nevertheless, he is exhorted to “yield” his “members servants to righteousness unto holiness (Romans 6:19b).” Since man cannot keep the law perfectly, Christ’s right conduct is credited to man through faith.[17]  The Gospel is insistent upon man’s holiness in the presence of God.  The Gospel does not do away with law as an expression of God’s will.[18] 

Paul, in essence, says this very thing in Romans 3:31: “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith?  Not at all!  Rather, we uphold the law.”  We do not dismiss the law, the gospel establishes it.  “To Paul there can be no thought of the law dying.  It is not a case of the Christian's decision to regard the law as repealed and nonexistent . . . .  Nor can it be said that, with the coming of Christ, the law was outdated and abolished,” says Nygren.[19]   There is a distinction between the “law dying” and the believer “dying to the law.”

In Romans 7, Paul specifically states that the believer is “dead to the law” and is “delivered from the law” (Romans 7:4, 6).[20]  This death to the law is the only way one can escape the “wrath of God.”  Even though the Christian is “Not under law”; nevertheless, he or she delights in God’s law.  Paul sets forth the question: “Is the law sin?” (Romans 7:7). No, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). The Christian delights in the law of God after the inward man (Romans 7:22). Paul not only delighted in God’s law, but he also served the law of God.  For example, he writes: “with the mind I myself serve the law of God” (Romans 7:25). Even though Paul served the law of God, he did not serve the law of God for justification.  Christians work not TO justification, but FROM justification.[21]  Paul stresses that God’s grace teaches believers to live holy lives:

For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself [His] own special people, zealous for good works (Titus 2:11-14).

PURPOSE OF GOD’S GOSPEL

What is the Gospel of Jesus Christ meant to do?  What is it supposed to achieve?  Is the Gospel merely to forgive sinners and deliver them from hell?  No!  The end of the gospel is to reveal an answer to Job’s question: “How shall a man be just with God?” (Job 9:2). The business of the gospel is to make persons righteous in His sight, to make people acceptable to God, to enable individuals to stand in the presence of one’s Holy God.  How does God accomplish this feat?  It is only by the fact that one is in Christ that one can stand in the presence of a Holy God.  Christ has become for everyone all that God requires of one.

Justification is the central purpose of the Gospel of God.  In the Gospel, God reveals righteousness apart from law.  The “righteousness apart from law” is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  The righteousness from God does not make void the just requirements of the law; rather it establishes the law’s goal.[22]  It is this righteousness apart from the law that Paul calls the “righteousness of God.”  Thus, the status of righteousness that the law sought to bring about is now realized in anyone who accepts Jesus as God’s appointed means of salvation. To restate this truth concisely, “the righteousness of God” comes to one through faith in Jesus.

Can a one be just with God through law keeping? No! If one is “under law,” any law, Old Testament or New Testament, then, before one can be placed in a right relationship with God, the law of God must be kept perfectly in every respect.   James, brother of Jesus, explains this thought in this way: “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). The law condemns.  Under law one is under God’s Wrath (Romans 5), under the dominion of Sin (Romans 6), under the curse of the Law (Romans 7), and under Condemnation (Romans 8). How can man escape the wrath of God, the dominion of sin, the curse of the law, and God’s condemnation?[23]  There is only one way; namely, “in and through Jesus Christ.”[24]   This is what the Gospel is all about.  This is the whole glory of the gospel.  Why did Paul rejoice in the Gospel?  He gives us his answer: “For in the gospel (ejn aujtw'/ ejn aujtw, “in it”) a righteousness from God is revealed” (Romans 1:17).

In one’s confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and belief in His resurrection, one receives the “righteousness of God,” apart from law.  God does not loose the just requirements of His moral law,[25] but He upholds his demands through Jesus.  In one’s acknowledgment and acceptance of Jesus as God’s way of salvation, God imputes,[26] that is to say, credits, to that individual the righteousness of his Son.  Where justification is exalted, the law of God is elevated.  Justification by faith makes the law and the sinner friends: “For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man” (Romans 7:22).

Even though Paul expresses his delight in the law of God, he does not delight in the law of God for justification.  Why?  In Romans 3:19-20, Paul sets forth the terrifying aspects of the law.  He says that the law of God shuts every man’s mouth, no man can boast.  But the apostle does not leave man in despair; he gives hope to sinful man. Paul reveals how a man can be righteous before a holy God.  Immediately, he develops this righteousness from God, apart from law.  Paul’s assessment of man’s situation is full of hope, he writes:

But now a righteousness from God apart from law, has been made known to which the Law and the Prophets testify.  This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:21-24).

“BUT NOW”—THE HEART OF THE GOSPEL
ROMANS 3:21-24

“But now” (NuniV dev Nuni de) is the heart of the Gospel of Christ.[27]  This “but now” is how faith answers the indictment of the law, the accusations of the conscience, and everything else that would doom and demoralize us.  There are no more wonderful words in the whole of Scripture than these two words—“but now.”   No man ever has provided or ever will provide a righteousness that will satisfy God and the demands of his holy law.  Well, is there hope for humankind?  Can nothing be done for humanity?  Is everyone irretrievably doomed?  The Apostle answers these questions. How? “But now!”  Yes, God’s grace provides the righteousness his law demands. The Gospel is about God’s activity of redemption for man in Christ Jesus.  “But now” is man’s defense against the curse of law.  This is the heart of the Gospel.

The Gospel tells us of a righteousness from God, a righteousness provided by God, in and through our Lord Jesus Christ (3:24).  Jesus has satisfied the law of God on man’s behalf.  He fulfilled the law of God perfectly.  When Paul speaks of this saving, justifying righteousness, he means a righteousness that is external to man, a righteousness that is alien to man, a righteousness that is passive to man, a righteousness that is imputed to man.[28]  This righteousness is so infinite, so incomprehensible that it is even beyond the ability of the angels to comprehend it.[29]  But God unfolds it and presents it on display in the Gospel of his crucified Son; Christ’s crucifixion for guilty sinners is the Gospel.  In this act of crucifixion, God reveals his way of redeeming sinners and upholding his holiness.  Paul poignantly captures this truth when he pens:

God presented him a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.  He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—he did it to demonstrate his justice presently, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:25-26).

IMPUTATION AND SUBSTITUTIONARY
ATONEMENT OF CHRIST
ROMANS 3:25-26

Justification by faith is a legal transaction[30] related to God’s law and to divine jurisprudence.  The idea of imputation (righteousness that is credited to man) is tied to the biblical doctrine of a substitutionary atonement (Christ died as a substitute for man).[31]  Imputation and substitutionary atonement of Christ stand together.  The ultimate act of salvation is in the Christ event.  Thus, it is fitting to call God’s redemptive act in Christ “the righteousness of God.”  This righteousness is furnished by God, devised by God, made obtainable by God.  It is God’s salvation from beginning to end.  The prophets testify to this event.  Jeremiah says: “This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).” Isaiah, through the Holy Spirit, writes:

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light [of life] and be satisfied;  by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,  and he will bear their iniquities.   Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong, because he poured out his life unto death,  and was numbered with the transgressors.  For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors (Isaiah 53:5, 11-12).

Not only is the “righteousness of God” that which belongs to His Son Jesus that comes to every individual through faith, but Jesus is the “righteousness of God.”  Paul, in Romans 1:17 and 10:3-4, is not talking about acts of righteousness, or the doing of good deeds, but rather the issue of  “imputed righteousness”—a righteousness bestowed upon man through faith in His Son Jesus.  If one is to understand “imputed righteousness,” he or she, first of all, must understand how one becomes a sinner before God.  Sensitivity to this question will shed great light on how one becomes righteous before God. 

Paul speaks of this righteousness as coming from God, not man; he describes it as “God’s righteousness.”  Very succinctly, he writes about “a righteousness from God, apart from law” (Romans 3:21).  This “righteousness from God” is Christ’s faithfulness, truthfulness, and obedience to God’s law.  These attributes of Christ are credited to the believer as his own.  Paul uses credited (logivzomai logizomai) eleven times in Chapter four of Romans. 

The central thought in justification is that, although man clearly and totally deserves to be declared guilty (4:9-19), God declares him righteous through the doing and dying of Jesus Christ.  Jesus is our righteousness.  Paul aptly stresses the centrality of the gospel:  “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.  Therefore, as it is written: Let him who boasts boast in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).   Jesus is our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption.  This is the only means by which sinful man can stand before his God.  One can only boast in the Lord, not his works of righteousness.  Jesus is “our everything.”

ABRAHAM AND IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS
ROMANS 4

Brinsmead captures the essence of imputation and the substitutionary atonement of Christ when he writes:

The whole concept of imputation is tied to the biblical doctrine of a substitutionary atonement.  Imputation and the substitutionary atonement of Christ stand together.  An attack on one is an attack on the other. . . . God laid our sins on Jesus Christ by imputation.  He “was numbered with the transgressors (Isa. 53:12).  This is how He was made. . . to be sin for us.”  There was nothing in Him worthy of death.  But He was condemned by the righteous judgment of God, for He had been made to be sin by imputation.  In this sense it was right that Christ should suffer the wrath of God.  He had to be treated as if He were a sinner.[32]

Paul expounds upon the principle of justification by faith by using Abraham to prove that the “righteousness of God” is credited to man “through faith.”  Since the Scripture is its best interpreter, one should look to “it is written” for one’s understanding of that which God reveals to His people through the Holy Spirit.  Note the following Scriptures:

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation (Romans 4:4).

His faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4:5).

David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works (Romans 4:6).

Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him (Romans 4:8).

It was not through law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith (Romans 4:13).

The words “it was credited to him” were not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead (Romans 4:24).

Again, one should reflect upon Paul's letter to the Corinthians as he contemplates the “righteousness of God.”  For example, “Christ Jesus . . . has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). This “righteousness of God” is JESUS CHRIST.  Remember, “the Scriptures foresaw,” says Paul, “that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: All nations will be blessed through you” (Galatians 2:8). Paul very vividly describes the “righteousness that is by faith”:

Moses describes in this way the righteousness that is by the law:  The man who does these things will live by them.  But the righteousness that is by faith says:

The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord,  and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved (Romans 10:5, 6, 8, 10).

One must be careful that he or she does not fall into the same error of the Jews, that is to say, seeking to establish one’s own righteousness through law keeping.  It is not uncommon for believers today to seek justification through “absolute perfection” in knowledge and obedience (sanctification) to God.  One may be mistaken about many things taught in the Scriptures, but one’s salvation is NOT contingent upon absolute freedom from error in knowledge nor is one’s salvation conditional upon perfect obedience to law.  One’s salvation is dependent upon one’s acceptance of Jesus, who is God’s righteousness, the savior of the world.  If the head is righteous, then the body is righteous.  

To state more fully, this righteousness is unattainable by obedience to any law, old or new, or by merit of one’s own initiative, or any other condition than that of faith “in Christ.”  It begins with faith and ends with faith (Romans 1:17b). Nygren pinpoints this truth: “Faith is the beginning and the culmination.”[33] The man or woman who trusts in Christ becomes “the righteousness of God in Him.”[34]   One becomes “in Christ” all that God requires a man or woman to be, all that he or she could never be in-and-of themselves.  Thus, everyone must conclude that a person is justified  “freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).  Freedom from wrath, sin, law, and condemnation is in and through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 5:21b; 6:23b; 7:25b; 8:39b). Is it any wonder that Paul writes “Therefore having been justified by faith, peace we have with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). “Faith alone”[35] means that the righteousness of God’s provisions is everything necessary for one’s salvation.  It is “from faith to faith,” said Paul (Romans 1:17). Paul stresses, as stated above, forcefully this truth with double prepositions: it begins with faith and it ends with faith.  Robert Brinsmead correctly states:

Imputation.  The words impute, reckon, account, credit all come from the Greek word logizomai, which is used eleven times in Romans 4.  The believer has righteousness imputed or credited to him (Rom. 4:6).  This is “the righteousness of One,” even Christ (Rom. 5:18, KJV).  Paul is not talking about the believer’s experience but about his status in the judgment of God.  Imputation of our sins to Christ (Rom. 5:19-21) and of His righteousness to us deals with legal realities.  Neither the imputation of sin nor of righteousness means a change of character of the object.  But it does change the way the object is regarded.  Surely Calvary is the proof of this.[36]

SINNERS THROUGH ADAM
ROMANS 5:15-19

To appreciate more fully the subject of righteousness through imputation, one must reflect upon Paul’s analogy between the first Adam and the second Adam (Romans 5:15-19). One does not become a sinner because of something that happens within; but one is a sinner because of something that took place outside man in another person, namely, Adam.  “For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:15-19). Adam was the first father.  He stood as the federal head.  The whole human race is constituted in him.  When Adam fell, it was the same as if every man had fallen.[37]  Paul maintains that through one man (Adam), death reigned, and through one man (Jesus), the gift of righteousness reigns:

But the gift is not like the trespass.  For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God’s grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!  Again, the gift of God is not like the result of one man’s sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification.  For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.  Consequently, just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.  For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous (Romans 5:15-19).

In Romans 5, Paul develops imputation from Adam as well as imputation from Christ. God reverses the fall of Adam by giving the human race another Father, as it is written:

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.  And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).[38]

Just as the whole race is comprehended in Adam, so God comprehends all faithful humanity in His Son.  Jesus became the new Head, the Representative, the Father of the fallen race.  Robert Brinsmead captures the essence of the righteousness of God, when he says, “Jesus was the total outlay of heaven’s treasure, the accumulated love and wealth of eternity, the totality of God’s righteousness.”[39]  Paul burst forth in rapturous language when he writes: “It is because of Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). In Paul’s second letter to Corinth, he captures the very essence of the Gospel:

That God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. . . . God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Corinthians 5:19a, 21).

JESUS: THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
ROMANS 10:1-17

Again, one must ask the question: What is this righteousness?  IT IS JESUS!  God’s righteousness is revealed historically and transacted in the Christ event.[40]  Paul makes abundantly clear that God’s righteousness did something in the Christ event.  The believer is credited with Christ’s righteousness because Christ obeyed, even unto death.  In the time of Christ and the apostles, the Jews, as a whole, did not comprehend this external righteousness that is credited, or imputed, to man.  They went about to establish their own righteousness rather than submit to God’s righteousness, which is Jesus.[41]

When one speaks of the righteousness of God, he or she is addressing the subject of justification by faith.  In analyzing justification by faith, Paul discusses the relationship of the law to the believer.  The believer is dead to the law.  The believer is free from law.  Paul argues that “Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). But the Jews were pursuing righteousness by works, instead of righteousness by faith.  Thus, Paul deals with this illegal use of the law, namely, a pursuance of righteousness by works, instead of righteousness by faith.  Paul further elaborates this issue in his epistle to the Galatians. He asserts that:

A man is not justified by observing the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ.  So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by observing the law, because by observing the law no one will be justified (Galatians 2:16).

Paul’s concern for the Jews lies in the fact that they were going about to establish their relationship to God upon their works rather than upon the work of Christ.  He does not reject obedience to the law,[42] but rejects righteousness by works, that is, the attempt to use the law to put God in one’s debt.  Paul writes: “No one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin” (Romans 3:20). From the negative viewpoint, God declares the person not guilty.  From the positive viewpoint, he declares him righteous.  Again, Paul exclaims: This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus (Romans 3:2-24).

Although all are sinners, God declares everyone who puts his or her trust in Jesus not guilty, but righteous.  This legal declaration is valid because Christ lived a perfect life and died to pay the penalty for our sins; thus, His righteousness is credited to man.  This imputed righteousness is the central theme of Romans, as Paul expresses this truth in 1:17: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’”

CONCLUSION

As stated earlier, the primary objective of this overview is to unfold God’s plan of salvation in and through Jesus. This essay is not intended to be a verse-by-verse exegesis of the Book of Romans, but rather the primary objective has been to set forth the central theme of the Book—justification by faith in Jesus. This analysis of Romans also focuses on holiness in the life of the believer. In other words, every believer is called to become in his or her daily living what he or she already is “in Christ.” God demands actions as well as believing. Faith expresses itself in obedience. In Romans 12:1—16:27, Paul turns to the practical application of justification by faith. This does not mean, as pointed out earlier, that he had not already pointed out the necessity of Christian living (Chapters 6—8), but, beginning with Chapter 12, he goes into detail to show that Jesus Christ is to be Lord of every area of one’s life. Paul stresses in Romans 3:31 that being set free in Jesus does not liberate one from obedience to the Law. Paul writes: “Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law” (3:31). Even though Christians delight in God’s law, nevertheless, one can never earn his or her salvation through Law keeping. Listen once more to Paul as he explains: “Where, then, is boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On that of observing the law? No, but on that of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law” (3:27-28). Again, the words of Paul ring out loud and clear: “Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin” (3:20).

If one cannot be justified through the Law, How does God justify the ungodly?  Brinsmead, once more, goes right to the heart of the matter when he says,

How can a Judge who is supremely just justify the ungodly?  Paul’s answer is the doctrine of imputed righteousness.  It is true that the believer is wholly a sinner in himself and will in this life continue to fall short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23).  But God imputes to him the righteousness of Jesus.  And on this basis God can declare him righteous and treat him as if he were righteous.[43]

For one to be justified, one must be obedient to the faith (Romans 1:5; 10:3; 10:16). But what does it mean to be “obedient to the faith”?  What does it mean to “submit to the righteousness of God”?  What does it mean to “obey the gospel”?  All three phrases are synonymous.  It means to submit yourselves to the “righteousness” made available through the redemption that is “in Christ Jesus.”  The Jews sought a salvation through law keeping, that is, “righteousness by law,” rather than salvation through faith in the Christ event, that is, “righteousness through faith.”  The Jews, as a whole, did not “obey the gospel.”  To state more forcefully, they did not submit to God’s way of salvation—Jesus.  

Paul’s argument is that man’s righteousness cannot be built from below, but from above.  God’s imputed righteousness is revealed through His Son Jesus Christ.  The only righteousness is the righteousness of faith.  “A righteousness of God IN IT [Gospel] is revealed from faith to faith” (Romans 1:17). Paul employs, as mentioned above, two prepositions to emphasize the faith principle:  ejk pivstew" eij" pivstin (ejk pivstew" eij" pivstin, “from faith to faith”). Paul drives home the point of one’s justification—this  righteousness begins with faith and ends with faith.  It is God’s righteousness, not man’s righteousness through compliance with the teachings of God.  The following passage is worth quoting in full, showing as it does the proper definition of faith:

We must be careful, however, about our definition of faith, and what faith does, and where faith comes in.  Faith is nothing but the instrument of our salvation.  Nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified because of our faith; nowhere in Scripture will you find that we are justified on account of our faith.  That is where that teaching I have just been denouncing goes wrong; it says that we are justified on account of our faith.  The Scripture never says that.   The Scripture says that we are justified by faith or through faith.  Faith is nothing but the instrument or the channel by which the righteousness of God in Christ becomes ours.  It is not faith that saves us.  What saves us is the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect work.  It is the death of Christ upon Calvary’s Cross that saves us.  It is His perfect life that saves us.  It is His appearing on our behalf in the presence of God that saves us.  It is God putting Christ’s righteousness to our account that saves us.  This is the righteousness that saves; faith is but the channel and the instrument by which His righteousness becomes mine.  The righteousness is entirely Christ’s.  My faith is not my righteousness and I must never define or think of faith as righteousness.  Faith is nothing but that which links us to the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness.[44]

The righteousness of God, in Romans 1:17 and 10:3, is the righteousness prepared by God, made available by God, and imparted by God to man through faith.  In these Scriptures Paul is writing about the righteousness that God declares to man, not man’s holiness through holy deeds.  The paramount thought is the state of being “in the right,” not by works, but by Jesus.  The only way man can be in union with God is through God’s anointed One.  No amount of good deeds can put a man right with God—only Jesus can accomplish this performance.  How does God’s righteousness come to man?  The Scripture says “through faith.”[45]  Faith always points away from itself, it rests for salvation on Christ’s union with God. Faith is the channel or instrument through which God’s righteousness is imputed to the believer.

The law is not the answer to the problem of sin, but Jesus is.  The law of God is not life, but Jesus is.  Grace bestows mercy, but law demands death.  Yes, the written code demands death, but the Spirit gives life.  It is Christ or law, not Christ and law.  The Christian is not under law, but under grace. The Christian still delights in the law of God.  The believer still serves the law of God, but not for justification. Remember, Paul argues the ethical implications of the law in Romans:

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.  Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.  For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!   Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey‑‑whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?  But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.  You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness (Romans 6:12-18).

As stated above, every believer is called to become what he or she already is in Christ. One cannot have Christian morality without having faith in Jesus, the Savior of the world. Are you really living in the love of God so that you reflect the rays of His light in your life? One cannot read the Book of Romans without awareness that Paul desires that in the inner life of every Christians that Christ comes to birth in a real and meaningful way. This life, according to Romans 12, is not intended to be merely inward, but to manifest itself outwardly. Christ has been given in order that a transformation may also come about in the lives of men and women.

The life of every believer is meant to be a life that mirrors the image of Jesus. Just a casual reading of Romans 14—16 reveals that God desires that Christians live in love and in fellowship with one another, not in isolation from each other. Christians are to receive one another in the same way that Christ receives each individual—warts and all (Romans 15:1-7). Paul lays down the principles of Christian living in unity and love in Romans 14—16.  In Romans 6, Paul discusses the ethical implications of one’s dying with Christ. One must ask the question: How can anyone appropriate the gift of redemption and live a life in defiance of God’s rich grace?

Humanity is fast stuck in the mire of sin so that men and women cannot deliver themselves from God’s wrath, from the dominion of sin, from the curse of the law, and from God’s condemnation. It is God’s act in Christ that gives humanity a new standing. The Cross of Christ flashes like neon lights with the following picture: In Christ, God’s love meets sinful humanity. God’s love is not just an attitude; God’s love is not just an act; God’s love is the very essence of God. In the words of Paul: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were sinners, Christ died for us” (5:8). The Book of Romans is about how God comes to humanity “in” and “through” Jesus Christ. The Gospel of Jesus Christ annihilates boasting on the part of men and women (3:19-20). Paul drives home the point that men and women do not find a way to God, but rather God comes to men and women in and through Jesus (3:21-31).