One of the ways in which Biblical literacy is discouraged for the sake of soteriological safety is in the way people are taught to think that Paul actually says in Romans 1.17: in the Gospel “the righteousness of God is revealed.”
Paul’s statement means that God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel. You would think that would be uncontroversial. After all, consider the OT allusions:
Psalm 98.2:
Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
Isaiah 62.2:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet,
until her righteousness goes forth as brightness,
and her salvation as a burning torch.
The nations shall see your righteousness,
and all the kings your glory,
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.
You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
Isaiah 60.2-3:
Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.
For behold, darkness shall cover the earth,
and thick darkness the peoples;
but the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will be seen upon you.
And nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your rising.
Lift up your eyes all around, and see;
they all gather together, they come to you;
your sons shall come from afar,
and your daughters shall be carried on the hip.
Then you shall see and be radiant;
your heart shall thrill and exult,
because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you,
the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,
the young camels of Midian and Ephah;
all those from Sheba shall come.
They shall bring gold and frankincense,
and shall bring good news, the praises of the Lord.
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered to you;
the rams of Nebaioth shall minister to you;
they shall come up with acceptance on my altar,
and I will beautify my beautiful house.
Now Paul has said already in his letter to the Romans that the Gospel is the story of the Jesus living, dying, and rising again. The message is “the gospel of God… concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 1.1-4).
Later, Paul states that the saving response of faith to the Gospel message (or literally “Good News”) is a confession that “Jesus is Lord.” This is not only a reference to deity, but a reference to his exalted status as one raised from the dead. In case anyone misses this fact, Paul elaborates that one must, with the confession by his mouth, “believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead.”
The point here is that, just as in a preliminary way God demonstrated his righteousness by saving and glorifying Israel, so ultimately he has revealed his righteousness in saving and glorifying Jesus by raising him from the dead.
And this all gets lost when you ignore all of this and preach the text as if the Paul actually says here that God’s righteousness is imputed. Or worse, consider the NIV: “For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed.” That is not what Paul says, as is demonstrated, among other places, by the first verses in Romans 3 which use the same exact Greek expression:
Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? Much in every way. To begin with, the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. What if some were unfaithful? Does their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? By no means! Let God be true though every one were a liar, as it is written,
“That you may be justified in your words,
and prevail when you are judged.”
But if our unrighteousness serves to show the righteousness of God, what shall we say? That God is unrighteous to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) By no means! For then how could God judge the world? But if through my lie God’s truth abounds to his glory, why am I still being condemned as a sinner? And why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. Their condemnation is just.
The “righteousness of God” here is the same as his faithfulness. This is also true in Romans 1.17 where Paul makes a wordplay:
“For in it [i.e. the Gospel or “good news”] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith[fulness–God’s] for [or “to”] faith [i.e. our belief], as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” The quotation is Habakkuk 2 is especially apropos because it not only speaks of living by trusting in God, but the whole book emphasizes that God is trustworthy because he is righteous.
If one wants to teach on the imputation of Christ’s righteousness or (what is the same thing) the subsitutionary atonement, there are places to do that. Paul’s terminology about God’s righteousness in Romans 1.16-17 is not such a prooftext.
Further reading: see my blog post series on The Righteousness of God.
Speaking of Habakuk 2, it’s strange most people don’t interpret Rom 1:17 in light of Hebrews 10:
” 35So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded. 36You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised. 37For in just a very little while,
“He who is coming will come and will not delay.
38But my righteous one will live by faith.
And if he shrinks back,
I will not be pleased with him.””
Clearly, “righteous will live by faith” means the righteous man lives by persevering in faith, aka faithfulness.
And the “righteousness of God” issue leads me to a share an awesome passage from Jeremiah 33:
“15 ” ‘In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.
16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.’ ”
So the “righteousness of God” is His role as ‘deliverer’ and not a legal category that can be imputed. I’m really glad you mentioned Rom 3:1-8 when discussing this, because it shows us how R of God is to be interpreted…and yet this is often ignored by people racing to get to Rom 3:21-26!
Since God requires faith, of course he requires continuing in faith. That is Protestant orthodoxy.
Just for comparison’s sake, here is 1:16-17 in the New Jerusalem Bible:
For I see no reason to be ashamed of the gospel; it is God’s power for the salvation of everyone who has faith–Jews first, but Greeks as well–for in it is revealed the saving justice of God: a justice based on faith and addressed to faith. As it says in scripture: Anyone who is upright through faith will live.