For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
For therein is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD revealed.
Though the sense of this great word, "THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD," will open upon us as we advance in the argument of this Epistle, it may be well to state here at the outset what we understand by it. First, then, it does not mean God's 'rectitude' or 'clemency,' as an attribute of His nature, or a feature of His moral government. (as Origen and Chrysostom among the fathers, and, with a certain modification, Osiander the reformer; and in our own day Hofmann, in his 'Schriftbeweis'). Everything said of this "righteousness" in the progress of the apostle's argument disproves such a notion. It must therefore mean that righteousness which God provides for men, or which He bestows upon men, or which He approves in men. These ideas, though distinct in themselves, do in the present case run into and presuppose one another. The predominant shade of thought, however, is perhaps not so much 'the divinely provided and divinely bestowed righteousness' (as Beza and others take it) as 'the divinely approved and divinely accepted righteousness,' (so Luther, Calvin, Fritzsche, Tholuck, etc.) See, for example, Romans 3:20 ("justified in his sight"); Galatians 3:11 ("justified in the sight of God"); Romans 2:13 ("just before God"); and 2 Corinthians 5:21 ("He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him").
Secondly, It does not mean 'an implanted and inherent righteousness worked in men by divine grace.' This is what the Church of Rome teaches (Canon. et Deoret. Conc. Trid.: Decr. 'De Justificatione,' 6: 7), though Estius expresses a very different doctrine, on Romans 2:12, Tertio; it is what Grotius and the Remonstrant (or Semipelagian) party in the Dutch Church held; and it is what in the present day a party in the Church of England, headed by Dr. Pusey, contend for as Being the doctrine of their own Church as well as that of Rome; while some otherwise sound Protestants, going along with them in this, are thus surrendering the citadel of Protestantism. In direct opposition to all these views is the teaching of this great Epistle throughout-that "the righteousness of God" is a righteousness 'reckoned' or 'imputed to us,' founded on the entire work of Christ in the flesh, or "His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross," in our behalf.
The verse above quoted - "He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God IN HIM" (2 Corinthians 5:21) - can mean nothing else than that it is the sinless One's being made sin for us, that gives us who believe our righteous standing before God. And since the "sin" which Christ was "made" for us, was certainly not any personal sin of His, nor sin infused into Him, but simply sin reckoned to Him, even so "the righteousness of God," which the believer is "made in him," can be neither any personal righteousness of his own, nor any righteousness infused into or worked in him, but a righteousness simply reckoned or imputed to Him. Nay, even as reckoned to us, it is still IN HIM that we are thus constituted righteous. True-and the truth is a fundamental one-the union between the believer and Christ being a real and vital one, constituting them one spirit (1 Corinthians 6:17), it is impossible that the justified believer, from the moment of this union, should be other than personally and inherently righteous, or truly holy. But this does not constitute his justifying righteousness-it is not this that makes him "the righteousness of God," But all this will unfold itself as we proceed with the apostle's argument.
Such, then, is "the righteousness of God" which is to constitute the chief theme of this Epistle. But, next, it is revealed --
From faith to faith, х ek (G1537) pisteoos (G4102) eis (G1519) pistin (G4102)]. Some of the many senses put upon this rather difficult clause (which Estius carefully enumerates) may be dismissed at once as unworthy of notice: such as that it means, 'from the faith of the Law to the faith of the Gospel;' or, 'from the faith of the Old Testament to the faith of the New;' 'from a general faith in the Gospel to an appropriating faith in it to one's self;' 'from the faith of the preacher to the faith of the hearer;' 'from the faith of the promising God to the faith of the believing man.' But there are three other interpretations which claim more attention.
First, 'From one degree of faith to another-from a weaker to a stronger-from a lower to a higher.' (So several of the fathers; and of the moderns, Erasmus, Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Beza, Grotius, Estius, Meyer, etc.) But it is fatal to this view, as we think, that it introduces a foreign element into the apostle's argument-an argument which has nothing to do with progressive stages or degrees of faith, but solely with faith itself, as the appointed way of receiving the righteousness of God. Second, 'As it begins in faith, so in faith it ends-in other words, it is all of faith.' (So OEcumenius of the fathers; and of the moderns, Bengel, Alford, Hodge, Wordsworth.) But this makes one statement of what the apostle seems studiously to make two, and connects the words "righteousness" and "faith," while the apostle appears studiously to disjoin them.
Third, and this we without hesitation adopt: Let it be observed that the words here rendered "from faith" х ek (G1537) pisteoos (G4102)], wherever else they occur in this Epistle, mean 'by,' or 'through faith;' and they are so rendered by our translators themselves even in the sequel of this same verse - "as it is written. The just shall live by faith," Precisely so in Romans 3:30; Romans 4:16 ("of" or "by faith"); 5:1; 9:30,32 ("of faith" - "by faith"); 10:16. This is to us decisive in favour of rendering the clause thus: 'The righteousness of God is revealed [to be] of' or 'by faith, unto faith.' But what does 'unto faith' mean? It may mean either 'unto those who believe' [= eis (G1519) tous (G3588) pisteuontas (G4100)], as Tholuck, Conybeare, Philippi; or (which we much prefer) 'in order to faith' х eis (G1519) to (G3588) pisteutheenai (G4100), or pisteusai (G4100) heemas (G2248)], as the same preposition is rendered in Romans 1:5 of this chapter, and in Romans 6:16; Romans 6:19; Romans 8:15; Romans 10:10; Romans 13:14. So DeWette, Olshausen, Fritzsche (whose remarks are worthy of special notice), Stuart, Scholefield, Bloomfield, Jowett. If this have less point (says the last-named critic, it is more in accordance with the style of Paul than the preceding explanations, and may be defended by the quotation from Habakkuk, which shows that the real stress of the passage is not on "to faith," but "from," or "by faith."
As it is written (in Habakkuk 2:4 ), The just shall live by faith. This is precisely as in the Hebrew, except that there it is, 'by his faith' х wªtsadiyq (H6662) be'emuwnaatow (H530) yihyeh (H1961)]. The Septuagint translate, 'shall live by my faith'-meaning, probably, by 'faith in Me' - [reading, no doubt, y (yodh) for w (waw)]. The prophet's words mean either, 'The just (or the justified) by faith shall live;' or 'The just shall live (or 'have life') by faith.' This latter seems clearly what both the prophet and the apostle, in quoting him, mean to say. Indeed, according to the argument and the phraseology of this Epistle, to say that 'the justified by faith shall live,' is rather a truism: since to "be justified," and to "live," are not, in the apostle's sense, cause and effect, but just two aspects of one and the same 'life of justification.' It may be added, that this golden maxim of Old Testament theology is thrice quoted in the New Testament, namely, here; in Galatians 3:11; and in Hebrews 10:38) - showing that the Gospel way of 'LIVE BY FAITH,' so far from subverting or disturbing, only takes up and develops the ancient method.
Remarks:
(1) What manner of persons ought the ministers of Christ to be, according to the pattern here set up: absolutely subject and officially dedicated to the Lord Jesus; separated unto that Gospel of God which contemplates the subjugation of all nations to the faith of Christ; debtors to all classes-the refined and the rude-to bring the Gospel to them all alike, all shame in the presence of the one, as well as pride before the other, sinking before the glory which they feel to be in their message; yearning over all faithful churches, not lording it over them, but rejoicing in their prosperity, and finding refreshment and strength in their fellowship!
(2) The special features of the Gospel, here brought prominently forward, should be the devout study of all who preach it, and guide the views and the taste of all who are privileged statedly to hear it: namely, that it is "the Gospel of God," as a message from heaven, yet not absolutely new, but, on the contrary, only the fulfillment of Old Testament promise; that not only is Christ the great theme of it, but Christ in the very nature of God, as His own Son, and in the nature of men, as partaker of their flesh-Christ, whose resurrection from the dead not only wiped away the reproach of the cross, but gloriously vindicated His claim to be the Son of God, even in His veiled condition, Christ, as now the Dispenser of all grace to men and of all gifts for the establishment and edification of the Church, Christ the Righteousness provided of God for the justification of all that believe in His name; in a word, that in this glorious Gospel, when thus preached, there resides he very power of God to save Jew and Gentile like who embrace it.
(3) While Christ is to be regarded as the ordained Channel of all grace from God to men, let none imagine that His proper divinity is in any respect compromised by this arrangement, since He is here expressly associated with "God the Father," in the prayer that is offered for "grace and peace" - which include all spiritual blessings-to rest upon this Roman church.
(4) While this Epistle teaches, in conformity with the teaching of our Lord Himself, that all salvation is suspended upon faith, this is but half a truth, and will certainly minister to self-righteousness, if dissociated from another feature of the same truth, here explicitly taught, that this faith is God's own gift-for which accordingly, in the case of the Roman believers, he "thanks his God through Jesus Christ."
(5) Christian fellowship, as indeed all real fellowship, is a mutual benefit; and as it is not possible or the most eminent saints and servants of Christ to impart any refreshment and profit to the meanest of their brethren without experiencing a rich return into their own bosoms, so just in proportion to their humility and love will they feel their need of it and rejoice in it.
Great General Proposition: The Wrath of God is Revealed against all Iniquity (Romans 1:18)