FIRST POST
THIRD POST
FOURTH POST
FIFTH POST
On the “righteousness of God” in Romans 1.17 Riddlebarger writes,
There are a number of reasons why the later interpretation–-that the righteousness of God refers strictly to a divine activity and not a righteous status conferred upon sinners-–fails to do justice to Paul’s overall theology.
There are some exegetical considerations which ought to be considered, but I want to first ask what this sort of proposed opposition is supposed to mean. Is Riddlebarger convinced that Paul’s theology had no place for God’s righteousness? I can hardly believe that. Furthermore, the exact same Greek term is used to denote God’s own righteousness (rather than a righteousness from God: “But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say?” (Romans 3.5a).
My worry here is that readers will get the impression that there is a theological conflict at stake. But there is not. There is plenty of evidence that Paul was concerned about the justification of sinners so that they could stand before God and there is also plenty of evidence that Paul was concerned about the vindication of God’s own righteousness, “to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Romans 3.26).
The issue is not over these two theological concerns as if they are in competition with one another, but only which concern Paul happens to be speaking about in Romans 1.17. Indeed, as Romans 3.26 shows, we should not be surprised to see these concerns in close proximity to one another.
But no one is denying that Paul is concerned about how God gives a righteous status to sinners. Paul’s “overall theology” is simply not relevant to this discussion. In other words, neither Dr. Riddlebarger nor Sinclair Ferguson are in error over this point. If Ferguson is wrong, it is not because he is in conflict with “Paul’s overall theology,” and if Dr. Riddlebarger is right, it is not because he is more in line with “Paul’s overal theology.” Deciding on the interpretation of this passage is dependent on other considerations.
More about those considerations later.
Again, here are a series of posts I wrote about the righteousness of God.