righteousness and justification

Study Notes

Righteousness and Justification November 9, 2014

6 And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. (Genesis 15:6) 5 Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 "Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 7 Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD. (Deuteronomy 9:5-7)

1 The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! 2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. 3 Fire goes before him and burns up his adversaries all around. 4 His lightnings light up the world; the earth sees and trembles. 5 The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory. 7 All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols; worship him, all you gods! (Psalm 97:1-7) 9 before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity. (Psalm 98:9) 16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith." 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:16-20) 21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it-- 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance

1 More study helps at www.daretoventure.org

Study Notes

he had passed over former sins. 26 It was 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 3:21-26) 1 What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." 4 Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. 5 And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, 6 just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: 7 "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin." 9 Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. 10 How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. 11 He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, 12 and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. 13 For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. 15 For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. 16 That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring--not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, 17 as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"--in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. 18 In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." (Romans 4:1-18) 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. 11 More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- 13 for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. 14 Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not


Study Notes

like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. 15 But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. 16 And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. 17 For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. 18 Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. 19 For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, 21 so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:9-21) 21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For if a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:21-24) 3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:3-7) RIGHTEOUSNESS (Heb. ṣeḏeq, ṣ eḏāqâ; Gk. LXX and NT, dikaiosynē). The Heb. ṣeḏeq probably derives from an Arab. root meaning ‘straightness’, leading to the notion of an action which conforms to a norm. There is, however, a considerable richness in the biblical understanding of this term and it is difficult to render either the Heb. or Gk. words concerned by a simple Eng. equivalent. One basic ingredient in the OT idea of righteousness is relationship, both between God and man (Ps. 50:6; Je. 9:24) and between man and man (Dt. 24:13; Je. 22:3).

Referred to relations between men, righteous action is action which conforms to the requirements of the relationship and in a more general sense promotes the well-being and


Study Notes

peace of the community (1 Sa. 24:17; Pr. 14:34). It is therefore linked in a forensic sense with *JUSTICE though even then the idea is less that of conformity to some formal legal norm as the strongly ethical notion of action which is to be legally upheld because it is productive of communal well-being (Dt. 1:16; Am. 5:7). In the prophetic period righteousness comes to include the idea of helping the poor and needy (Dn. 4:27; Am. 5:12, 24), and hence almsgiving (Mt. 6:1f.).

When we move from relations between men to those between God and men (though this distinction is arguably somewhat formal since the thought of God was probably never completely absent whenever the Hebrew used the word ṣeḏeq) righteousness implies a correct relationship to the will of God which was particularly expressed and interpreted by Israel’s covenant with God. Righteous action is hence action which flows out of God’s gracious election of Israel and accords with the law of the covenant (Dt. 6:25; Ezk. 18:5–9). God himself is righteous (2 Ch. 12:6; Ps. 7:9), and hence may be relied upon to act in accordance with the terms of his relationship with Israel. God is therefore a righteous judge who acts for his people (Ps. 9:4; Je. 11:20), and upon whose righteousness his people depend for deliverance and vindication (Ps. 31:1; Je. 11:20).

Thus emerges the conflation of the notions of righteousness and salvation. God is ‘a righteous God and (therefore) a Saviour’ (Is. 45:21; cf. Ps. 36:6; Is. 61:10). For the OT God is Creator and therefore he is the ground and guarantor of the moral order. His righteousness is hence intimately related to other more general moral attributes such as his holiness. The Creator, however, is also the Redeemer, and his righteousness is interpreted by his redemptive activity. Further, Israel’s experience of God’s righteous deliverance in the past led her to an expectation of a future act of salvation. The coming Messianic ruler is seen as the special recipient and instrument of the divine righteousness (Ps. 72:1f.; Is. 11:3–5; 32:1–20; Je. 23:5). The ‘Righteous One’ was a Messianic title (Is. 53:11; cf. Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14).

The NT uses righteousness in the sense of conformity to the demands and obligations of the will of God, the so-called ‘righteousness of the law’ (Gal. 3:21; Phil. 3:6, 9; cf. Tit. 3:5). Human attainment of righteousness is at points relatively positively viewed (Lk. 1:6; 2:25; Mt. 5:20), but in the end this attainment in all men falls far short of a true conformity to the divine will (Rom. 3:9–20; Lk. 18:9–14; Jn. 8:7). In contrast to this human unrighteousness stands the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) which in consistency with OT understanding conveys the thought of God’s active succour of man in the miracle of his grace.

This righteousness is proclaimed by Jesus as a gift to those who are granted the kingdom of God (Mt. 5:6). By faith in Jesus Christ and his work of atonement man, unrighteous sinner though he is, receives God’s righteousness, i.e. he is given a true relationship with God which involves the forgiveness of all sin and a new moral standing with God in union with Christ ‘the Righteous One’ (Rom. 3:21–31; 4:1–25; 10:3; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). By dealing with all the consequences of man’s sin and unrighteousness (both Godward and manward) in the cross, God at once maintains the moral order in which alone he can have fellowship with man and in grace delivers the


Study Notes

needy (Rom. 3:26). The gift of God’s righteousness involves entry into the new realm of divine salvation,

the gift of eternal life under the reign of God (Rom. 6:12–23; 2 Cor. 6:7, 14; Phil. 1:11; Eph. 4:24). Hence the extrinsic righteousness imputed through the cross finds inevitable expression in the intrinsic righteousness of a life which in a new way conforms to the will of God, even though the ultimate realization of this conformity must await the consummation of the kingdom (1 Jn. 3:2; Phil. 3:12–14; 1 Cor. 13:12f.; 2 Pet. 3:11–13). (*JUSTIFICATION.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY. G. Schrenk, in TDNT 2, pp. 192–210; N. Snaith, Distinctive Ideas of the Old Testament, 1944; J. Denney, Romans in EGT, 1; idem, The Death of Christ, reprinted 1951; A. Nygren, Commentary on Romans, E.T. 1952; G. Rupp, The Righteousness of God, 1953; H. Seebass, C. Brown, in NIDNTT 3, pp. 352–377.

B. A. MILNE. 1

JUSTIFICATION

I. Meaning of the word

‘Justify’ (Heb. ṣāḏaq; Gk. [LXX and NT], dikaioō) is a forensic term meaning ‘acquit’, ‘declare righteous’, the opposite of ‘condemn’ (cf. Dt. 25:1; Pr. 17:15; Rom. 8:33). Justifying is the judge’s act. From the litigant’s standpoint, therefore, ‘be justified’ means ‘get the verdict’ (Is. 43:9, 26).

In Scripture, God is ‘the Judge of all the earth’ (Gn. 18:25), and his dealings with men are constantly described in forensic terms. God’s Law is a complex of moral goals and standards by which his rational creatures should live. Righteousness, i.e. conformity with his law, is what he requires of his human creatures, and he shows his own righteousness as Judge in taking vengeance, i.e. inflicting punitive retribution (‘wrath’) on those who fall short of it (cf. Ps. 7:11, RV; Is. 5:16; 10:22; Acts 17:31; Rom. 2:5; 3:5f.). There is no hope for anyone if God’s verdict goes against him.

1 Milne, B. A. (1996). Righteousness. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer & D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (1020–1021). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.


Study Notes

Because God is King, the thought of him as justifying may have an executive as well as a judicial aspect. Like the ideal royal judge in Israel, he will not only pass a verdict in favour of the accused, but actively implement it by showing favour towards him and publicly reinstating him. The verb ‘justify’ may focus on either aspect of God’s action. For instance, the justifying of Israel and the Servant, envisaged in Is. 45:25; 50:8, is a public vindication through a change in their fortunes. The justification of sinners that Jesus illustrates by his shock-ending story of the Pharisee and the publican (Lk. 18:9–14) and that Paul expounds in Rom. 3–5, Gal. 2–4 and 2 Cor. 5:14–21 is, however, simply the passing and sustaining of a favourable verdict. Jesus and Paul certainly believe that God shows favour to those whom he has acquitted, but they use other terms to describe this (chiefly, the family language of adoption, inheritance, and paternal care).

‘Justify’ is also used for ascriptions of righteousness in non-forensic contexts. Men are said to justify God by confessing him just (Lk. 7:29; cf. Rom. 3:4, quoting Ps. 51:4), and themselves by claiming to be just (Jb. 32:2; Lk. 10:29; 16:15). Jerusalem is ironically said to have ‘justified’ Sodom and Samaria by outdoing them in sin! (Ezk. 16:51). The passive can denote being vindicated by events against suspicion, criticism and mistrust (Mt. 11:19; Lk. 7:35; 1 Tim. 3:16; cf. Jas. 2:21, 24f., for which see below).

Lexical support is wanting for the view of Chrysostom, Augustine and the Council of Trent that when Paul and James speak of present justification they refer to God’s work of making righteous by inner renewal, as well as of counting righteous through remission of sins. James seems to mean neither, Paul only the latter. His synonyms for ‘justify’ are ‘reckon righteousness’, ‘remit sins’, ‘not reckon sin’ (see Rom. 4:5–8, NV)—phrases expressing the idea, not of inner transformation, but of conferring a legal status and cancelling a legal liability. Justification, to Paul, is a judgment passed on man, not a work wrought within man. The two things go together, no doubt, but they are distinct.

II. Justification in Paul

Out of the 39 occurrences of the verb ‘justify’ in the NT, 29 come in the Epistles or recorded words of Paul; so do the two occurrences of the corresponding noun, dikaiōsis (Rom. 4:25; 5:18). This reflects the fact that Paul alone of NT writers left us letters (Romans and Galatians in particular) that make the reality of justification by grace, bringing freedom from the dominion of sin and death, the focus for his exposition of salvation in and through Christ.

Justification means to Paul God’s act of remitting the sins of guilty men, and accounting them righteous, freely, by his grace, through faith in Christ, on the ground, not of their own works, but of the representative law-keeping and redemptive blood-shedding of the Lord Jesus Christ on their behalf. (For the parts of this definition, see Rom. 3:23–26; 4:5–8; 5:18f.) Paul’s doctrine of justification is his characteristic way of formulating the central gospel truth, that God forgives believing sinners. Theologically, it is the most highly developed expression of this truth in the NT.


Study Notes

In Romans, Paul introduces the gospel as disclosing ‘the righteousness of God’ (1:17). The most natural of the many views canvassed is that this phrase expresses the single, complex, dynamic idea of God’s morally glorious and eternally worship-worthy display of mercy and justice in bestowing on guilty transgressors the status of perfect lawkeepers. Within this frame, the phrase has two points of reference. 1. It refers to this status, which God through Christ freely confers upon believing sinners (‘the gift of righteousness’ as opposed to condemnation and death, Rom. 5:17; cf. 3:21f; 9:30; 10:3–10; 2 Cor. 5:21; Phil. 3:9). It has been argued that the essence of this gift is covenant status in the new Israel that is constituted by faith-union with the risen Christ, and certainly the justified are henceforth in covenant with God in just this way. But justification, as such, for Paul is pardon and acceptance, not covenant involvement, and the hinge-question throughout Romans is not who is in covenant with God, but how may sinners find eternal life. 2. Also, and indeed primarily, the phrase refers to the way in which the gospel reveals God as doing what is right—not only judging transgressors as they deserve (2:5; 3:5f.) but also keeping his promise to send salvation to Israel (3:4f.), and justifying sinners in such a way that his own judicial claims upon them are met (3:25f). ‘The righteousness of God’ is thus a predominantly forensic concept, denoting God’s gracious work of bestowing upon guilty sinners a justified justification, acquitting them in the court of heaven without prejudice to his justice as their Judge.

Many scholars today find the background of this phrase in a few passages from Is. 40ff. and the psalms in which God’s ‘righteousness’ and ‘salvation’ appear as equivalents (Is. 45:8, cf. vv. 19–25; 46:13; 51:3–6; Ps. 98:2; etc). This may be right, but since Paul nowhere quotes these verses, it cannot be proved. It must also be remembered that the reason why these texts call God’s vindication of his oppressed people his ‘righteousness’ is that it is an act of faithfulness to his covenant promise to them; whereas Romans deals principally with God’s justifying of Gentiles, who previously were not his people and to whom he had promised nothing (cf. 9:24f.; 10:19f.)—quite a different situation.

E. Käsemann and others construe God’s righteousness in Paul as a gracious exertion of power whereby God keeps faith with both his covenant people (by fulfilling his promise to save them) and his captive creation (by restoring his dominion over it). Both thoughts are Pauline, but it is doubtful whether (as is argued) ‘righteousness’ in Rom. 3:25–26 and ‘just’ in v. 26 point only to gracious faithfulness saving the needy and not to judicial retribution (cf. 2:5; 3:5) saving the guilty by being diverted upon the One set forth to be a *PROPITIATION. The latter exegesis fits the flow of thought better; the former cannot explain why ‘and’ appears in the phrase ‘just and the justifier’ (AV), for it finds in these words only one thought, not two.

It has been questioned whether Paul’s doctrine of justification by faith without works is any more than a controversial device, developed simply as a weapon against the Judaizers. But the following facts indicate that it was more than this.

1. The Epistle to the *ROMANS is evidently to be read as a full-dress statement of Paul’s gospel, and the doctrine of justification is its backbone.


Study Notes

2. In three places Paul writes in personal terms of the convictions that had made him the man and the missionary that he was, and all three are couched in terms of justification (Gal. 2:15–21; 2 Cor. 5:16–21; Phil. 3:4–14). In Rom. 7:7ff. Paul describes his personal need of Christ in terms of the law’s condemnation—a need which only God’s justifying sentence in Christ could relieve (cf. Rom. 8:1f.; Gal. 3:19–4:7). Paul’s personal religion was evidently rooted in the knowledge of his justification.

3. Justification is to Paul God’s fundamental act of blessing, for it both saves from the past and secures for the future. On the one hand, it means pardon, and the end of hostility between God and ourselves (Acts 13:39; Rom. 4:6f; 5:9f). On the other hand, it means acceptance and a title to all blessings promised to the just, a thought which Paul develops by linking justification with adoption and heirship (Gal. 4:4ff.; Rom. 8:14ff.). Both aspects appear in Rom. 5:1–2, where Paul says that justification brings both peace with God (because sins are remitted) and hope of God’s glory (because the sinner is accepted as righteous). This hope is a certainty; for justification has an eschatological significance. It is the judgment of the last day brought into the present, a final, irreversible verdict. The justified person can accordingly be sure that nothing will ever separate him from the love of his God (Rom. 8:33–39; cf. 5:9). His glorification is certain (Rom. 8:30). The coming inquisition before Christ’s judgment-seat (Rom. 14:10ff.; 2 Cor. 5:10) may deprive him of particular rewards (1 Cor. 3:15), but not of his justified status.

4. Paul’s doctrine of salvation has justification as its basic reference-point. His belief about justification is the source from which flows his view of Christianity as a world-religion of grace and faith, in which Gentiles and Jews stand on an equal footing (Rom. 1:16; 3:29ff.; Gal. 3:8–14, 28f., etc.). It is in terms of justification that he explains grace (Rom. 3:24; 4:4f., 16), the saving significance of Christ’s obedience and death (Rom. 3:24f; 5:16ff.), the revelation of God’s love at the cross (Rom. 5:5–9), the meaning of redemption (Rom. 3:24; Gal. 3:13; Eph. 1:7) and reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18f), the covenant relationship (Gal. 3:15f), faith (Rom. 4:23ff.; 10:8ff.), union with Christ (Rom. 8:1; Gal. 2:17, RV), adoption and the gift of the Spirit (Gal. 4:6–8; Rom. 8:10, cf. v. 15), and Christian assurance (Rom. 5:1–11; 8:33ff.). It is in terms of justification that Paul explains all hints, prophecies and instances of salvation in the OT (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11, quoting Hab. 2:4; Rom. 3:21; 4:3–8, quoting Gn. 15:6; Ps. 32:1f; Rom. 9:22–10:21, quoting Ho. 2:23; 1:10; Is. 8:14; Joel 2:32; Is. 65:1, etc.; Rom. 11:26f, quoting Is. 59:20f; Gal. 3:8, quoting Gn. 12:3; Gal. 4:21ff., quoting Gn. 21:10; etc.).

5. Justification is the key to Paul’s philosophy of history. He holds that God’s central overarching purpose in his ordering of world-history since the Fall has been to lead sinners to justifying faith.

God deals with mankind, Paul tells us, through two representative men: ‘the first man Adam’, and ‘the second man’, who is ‘the last Adam’, Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 15:45ff.; Rom. 5:12ff.). The first man, by disobeying, brought condemnation and death upon the whole race; the second man, by his obedience, has become the author of justification and life for all who have faith (Rom. 5:16ff.).


Study Notes

From the time of Adam’s fall, death reigned universally, though sin was not yet clearly known (Rom. 5:12ff.). But God took Abraham and his family into covenant, justifying Abraham through his faith, and promising that in Abraham’s seed (i.e. through one of his descendants) all nations should be blessed (i.e. justified) (Gal. 3:6–9, 16; Rom. 4:3, 9–22). Then through Moses God revealed his law to Abraham’s family. The law was meant to give, not salvation, but knowledge of sin. By detecting and provoking transgressions, it was to teach Israelites their need of justification, thus acting as a paidagōgos (the household slave who took children to school) to lead them to Christ (Gal. 3:19–24; Rom. 3:20; 5:20; 7:5, 7–13). This epoch of divine preparatory education lasted till the coming of Christ (Gal. 3:23–25; 4:1–5).

The effect of Christ’s work was to abolish the barrier of exclusivism which Israel’s possession of the law and promise had erected between Jew and Gentile (Eph. 2:14ff.). Through Christ, justification by faith could now be preached to Jew and Gentile without distinction, for in Christ all believers were made Abraham’s seed, and became sons of God and heirs of the covenant (Gal. 3:26–29). Unhappily, in this situation most Jews proved to be legalists; they sought to establish a righteousness of their own by works of law, and would not believe that faith in Christ was the God-given way to righteousness (Rom. 9:30–10:21). So many ‘natural branches’ had been cut off from the olive-tree of the historic covenant community (Rom. 11:16ff.), and the church was for the present predominantly Gentile; but there was hope that an elect remnant from fallen Israel, provoked by the mercy shown to undeserving Gentiles, would itself come to faith and find remission of sins in the end (Rom. 11:23–32). Thus both Jew and Gentile would be saved, not through their own works and effort, but through the free grace of God justifying the disobedient and ungodly; and all the glory of salvation will be God’s alone (Rom. 11:30–36).

These considerations point to the fundamental place of justification in Paul’s apprehension and analysis of what was always his central theme, namely salvation in and through Jesus Christ.

III. The ground of justification

As stated by Paul in Romans, the doctrine of justification seems to raise a problem of theodicy. Its background, set out in 1:18–3:20, is the solidarity of humankind in sin, and the inevitability of judgment. In 2:5–16 Paul states his doctrine of the judgment day. The principle of judgment, he says, will be ‘to every man according to his works’ (v. 6, RSV). The standard of judgment will be God’s law, in the highest form in which men know it (if not the Mosaic law, then the law of conscience, vv. 12–15). The evidence will be ‘the secrets of men’ (v. 16). Only law-keepers can hope to be justified (vv. 7, 10, 12f). And there are no law-keepers. None is righteous; all have sinned (3:9ff.). So the prospect is of universal condemnation, for Jew as well as Gentile, for a law-breaking Jew is no more acceptable to God than anyone else (2:17–27). All, it seems, are doomed. ‘No human being will be justified in his sight by works of the law’ (3:20, echoing Ps. 143:2).


Study Notes

But now Paul proclaims the present justification of believing sinners (3:21ff.). God reckons righteousness to the unrighteous and justifies the ungodly (3:23f; 4:5f). The (deliberately?) paradoxical quality of the last phrase is heightened by the fact that these very Greek words are used in the LXX of Ex. 23:7 (‘I will not justify the wicked’) and Is. 5:22f. (‘Woe unto them…which justify the wicked…’). The question arises: on what grounds can God justify the ungodly without compromising his own justice as the Judge?

Paul maintains that God justifies sinners on a just ground: namely, that Jesus Christ, acting on their behalf, has satisfied the claims of God’s law upon them. He was ‘born under the law’ (Gal. 4:4) in order to fulfil the precept and bear the penalty of the law in their stead. By his *‘BLOOD’ (i.e. his death) he put away their sins (Rom. 3:25; 5:9). By his obedience to God he won for all his people the status of law-keepers (Rom. 5:19). He became ‘obedient unto death’ (Phil. 2:8); his life of righteousness culminated in his dying the death of the unrighteous, bearing the law’s penal curse (Gal. 3:13; cf. Is. 53:4–12). In his person on the cross, the sins of his people were judged and expiated. Through this ‘one act of righteousness’—his sinless life and death—‘the free gift came unto all men to justification of life’ (Rom. 5:18, RV). Thus believers become ‘the righteousness of God’ in and through him who ‘knew no sin’ personally, but was representatively ‘made sin’ (treated as a sinner, and judged) in their place (2 Cor. 5:21). Thus Paul speaks of ‘Christ Jesus, whom God made … our righteousness’ (1 Cor. 1:30). This was the thought expressed in older Protestant theology by the phrase ‘the imputation of Christ’s righteousness’. The phrase is not in Paul, but its meaning is. The point that it makes is that believers are made righteous before God (Rom. 5:19) through his admitting them to share Christ’s status of acceptance. In other words, God treats them according to Christ’s desert. There is nothing arbitrary or artificial in this, for God recognizes the existence of a real union of covenantal solidarity between them and Christ. For Paul, union with Christ is not fiction, but fact—the basic fact, indeed, of Christianity; and his doctrine of justification is simply his first step in analysing its meaning. So it is ‘in Christ’ (Gal. 2:17; 2 Cor. 5:21) that sinners are justified. God accounts them righteous, not because he accounts them to have kept his law personally (which would be a false judgment), but because he accounts them to be ‘in’ the One who kept God’s law representatively (which is a true judgment).

So, when God justifies sinners on the ground of Christ’s obedience and death, he acts justly. So far from compromising his judicial righteousness, this method of justification actually exhibits it. It is designed ‘to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins [i.e. in OT times]; it was to prove at the present time that he himself is righteous and that he justifies him who has faith in Jesus’ (Rom. 3:25f). The key words are repeated for emphasis, for the point is crucial. The gospel which proclaims God’s apparent violation of his justice really reveals his justice. By his method of justifying sinners, God (in another sense) justified himself; for by setting forth Christ as a propitiation for sins, in whom human sin was actually judged and punished as it deserved, he revealed the just ground on which he was able to pardon and accept believing sinners in OT times (as in fact he did: cf. Ps. 130:3f), no less than in the Christian era.


Study Notes

IV. The means of justification

Faith in Christ, says Paul, is the means whereby righteousness is received and justification bestowed. Sinners are justified ‘by’ or ‘through’ faith (Gk. pistei, dia or ek pisteōs). Paul does not regard faith as the ground of justification. If it were, it would be a meritorious work, and Paul would not be able to term the believer, as such, ‘one who does not work’ (Rom. 4:5); nor could he go on to say that salvation by faith rests on grace (v. 16), for grace absolutely excludes works (Rom. 11:6). Paul quotes the case of Abraham, who ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness’, to prove that a person is justified through faith without works (Rom. 4:3ff.; Gal. 3:6; quoting Gn. 15:6). In Rom. 4:5, 9 (cf. vv. 22, 24) Paul refers to the Genesis text as teaching that Abraham’s faith was ‘reckoned… as righteousness’. All he means, however, as the context shows, is that Abraham’s faith—whole-hearted reliance on God’s promise (vv. 18ff.)—was the occasion and means of his being justified. The phrase ‘reckoned eis righteousness’ could either mean ‘as’ (by real equivalence, or some arbitrary method of calculation), or else ‘with a view to’, ‘leading to’, ‘issuing in’. The latter alternative is clearly right. Paul is not suggesting that faith, viewed either as righteousness, actual or inchoate, or as a substitute for righteousness, is the ground of justification; Rom. 4 does not deal with the ground of justification at all, only with the means of securing it.

V. Paul and James

On the assumption that Jas. 2:14–26 teaches that God accepts men on the double ground of faith and works, some have thought that James deliberately contradicts Paul’s teaching of justification by faith without works, supposing it to be anti-nomian (cf. Rom. 3:8). But this seems to misconceive James’ point. It must be remembered that Paul is the only NT writer to use ‘justify’ as a technical term for God’s act of accepting sinners when they believe. When James speaks of ‘being justified’, he appears to be using the word in its more general sense of being vindicated, or proved genuine and right before God and men, in face of possible doubt as to whether one was all that one professed, or was said, to be (cf. the usage in Mt. 11:19). For someone to be justified in this sense is for him to be shown a genuine believer, one who will demonstrate his faith by action. This justification is, in effect, a manifesting of the justification that concerns Paul. James quotes Gn. 15:6 for the same purpose as Paul does—to show that it was faith that secured Abraham’s acceptance. But now, he argues, this statement was ‘fulfilled’ (confirmed, shown to be true, and brought to its appointed completion by events) 30 years later, when ‘Abraham (was) justified by works, when he offered his son Isaac upon the altar’ (v. 21). By this his faith was ‘made perfect’, i.e. brought to due expression in appropriate actions; thus he was shown to be a true believer. The case of Rahab is parallel (v. 25). James’ point in this paragraph is simply that ‘faith’, i.e. a bare orthodoxy, such as the devils have (v. 19), unaccompanied by good


Study Notes

works, provides no sufficient grounds for inferring that a man is saved. Paul would have agreed heartily (cf. 1 Cor. 6:9; Eph. 5:5f.; Tit. 1:16).

BIBLIOGRAPHY. BAGD; G. Quell and G. Schrenk in TDNT 2, pp. 174–225; Klein in IDBS, pp. 750–752; commentaries on Romans: especially C. Hodge2, 1864; C. E. B. Cranfield, ICC, 1, 1976; A. Nygren, E.T. 1952; and on Galatians: especially J. B. Lightfoot10, 1890; E. D. Burton, ICC, 1921; J, Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification, 1867; C. Hodge, Systematic Theology, 1874, 3, pp. 114–212; V. Taylor, Forgiveness and Reconciliation, 1946; L. Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 1955; K. Barth, Church Dogmatics, 4. 1, E.T. 1956, pp. 514–642; A. Richardson, Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament, 1958, pp. 232ff.; J. Murray, Romans 1–8, 1959, pp. 336–362; J. A. Ziesler, The Meaning of Righteousness in Paul, 1972; H. Seebass, C. Brown, NIDNTT 3, pp. 352–377; E. Ka¬semann, Perspectives on Paul, 1971, pp. 60–78; N. T. Wright, The Climax of the Covenant, 1991.

J.I.P. 2

RIGHTEOUS, RIGHTEOUSNESS (Heb. ṣāḏaq, ṣaddîq, ṣeḏeq, ṣeḏāqâ Gk. díkaios, dikaiosýnē, dikaíōma).†

I. Old Testament

“Righteousness” is not simply an abstraction, but possesses a relational aspect set within the context of God’s covenant with his people. Biblical usage thus differs from customary modern association of the word with absolute standards, indicating instead that some person, action, or thing meets or fulfills the requirements of a given relationship (e.g., weights, Lev. 19:36; RSV “just”; speech, Prov. 8:8; social and family relationships, Gen. 38:26). Righteousness is also the responsibility of the king and the judges, who are charged with preserving the covenant community (Deut. 16:18–19; 1 Kgs. 10:9; cf. 2 Sam. 8:15). In a dispute within the community judges are to decide in favor of the righteous, i.e., the “innocent” (RSV, Deut. 25:1; Heb. ṣaddîq and uphold the cause of the defenseless (Ps. 72:1–2; Jer. 22:3; cf. Ps. 82:1–4). See JUST, JUSTICE.

God is, above all others, the righteous one (Isa. 24:16), the one who preserves the covenant relationship by delivering his people with righteous deeds (Judg. 5:11; RSV “triumphs” 1 Sam. 12:7; RSV “saving deeds” Mic. 6:5; RSV “saving acts”). God also upholds the cause of the oppressed (cf. Ps. 9:7–12 MT 8–13]; 103:6; Prov. 22:22–23), gives justice to the innocent (1 Kgs. 8:32; cf. Isa. 50:8–9), and hears the suit of those in need (Ps. 7:9–11 MT

2 Packer, J. I. (1996). Justification. In D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard & D. J. Wiseman (Eds.), New Bible dictionary (D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard & D. J. Wiseman, Ed.) (3rd ed.) (636–640). Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.


Study Notes

10–12]; 35:23–24; Jer. 11:20; 12:1). He presses the case against rebellious Israel (cf. Isa. 3:13–15; Jer. 2:9; Hos. 4:1), and calls creation as his witness (Ps. 50:6; 98:7–9; cf. Mic. 6:1–2). Yet for the repentant God’s righteousness takes the form of deliverance (Isa. 45:8; 61:10; cf. 51:4–5). The righteous God calls on his people to make the righteous response of keeping his law (Deut. 6:25; cf. Gen. 6:9) and doing justice (Deut. 24:10–13; Job 29:14–17). To do this is to gain life (Ezek. 18:5–9; Hab. 2:4).

II. New Testament

Part of Jesus’ polemic against some of his contemporaries was to point out the distinction between outward righteousness or belief in one’s own righteousness on the one hand and true righteousness on the other (Matt. 23:28; Luke 18:9). Within the new eschatological focus “righteousness” in the New Testament can stand for the salvation that God brings in the new age (Matt. 21:32; 2 Pet. 2:21), the ethical possibilities brought by this salvation (Heb. 12:11; Jas. 3:17–18), and the life of God’s kingdom, now revealed (Matt. 6:33; 1 Pet. 3:14).

According to Paul, Christ is “our righteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30). God’s eschatological revelation of his own righteousness takes place in the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16–17) and is received as a gift (5:17). This righteousness of God, which is distinguished from human righteousness (10:3; cf. Phil. 3:6, 9), is God’s action for the salvation of mankind. Christ’s cross is the “act of righteousness” that saves (Rom. 5:18). Through the sacrifice of Christ believers “become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). See JUSTIFICATION.

The Christian’s righteousness has both forensic and ethical meanings. In the “legal” sense, it is participation in Christ’s righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30; cf. 2 Pet. 1:1), an imputed standing possessed through faith (Rom. 9:30). Righteousness also may be the practical fruit that comes from this justification (Phil. 1:11), i.e., holiness that summons for God’s use every element of life (Rom. 6:13, 19; Eph. 4:24). Both forensically and ethically righteousness remains a hope, awaiting its consummation in glory (Gal. 5:5; 2 Pet. 3:13).

Bibliography. J. Reumann, J. A. Fitzmyer, and J. Quinn, Righteousness in the New Testament (Phil adelphia and New York: 1982); H. Seebass and C. Brown, “Righteousness, Justification,” DNTT 3 (1978): 352–377.

3

JUSTIFICATION (Gk. dikaíōma). † The presentation of justification by faith in Christ in the letters of Paul is slightly obscured in English versions by the dual terminology “just, justice, justify, justification” and “righteous, righteouness.” Both sets of terms represent the one reality which is presented with the related Greek words dikaióō “justify, set right”; dikaíōma “justification, judgment, righteous deed”; dikaíōsis “justification, acquittal.” See

3 Myers, A. C. (1987). The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (888). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.


Study Notes

RIGHTEOUSNESS. Paul taught that the gospel is God’s offer of righteousness to all who have faith in Jesus

Christ and who give up reliance on human effort and “works of the law” in order to attain righteousness. Sin as a universal objective condition of humanity is the problem; God’s justifying activity in Christ is the solution. Faith is the subjective human reception of God’s objective offer of righteousness in Christ. “The righteousness of God” addressed in Romans is, therefore, not a quality of God, but God’s activity of deliverance, of justification, of making right the relationship of human beings to himself. This righteousness and the ethical righteousness of humans are not entirely distinct from each other; they can, indeed, be spoken of in the same breath and with the same word (dikaiosýnē; Rom. 9:30; cf. 5:18–21). The basis of this relationship as it is known in Christian experience is seen at 8:3–4; Gal. 5:13–14 (cf. Rom. 13:8–10): God’s objective is, as always, the fulfillment of the law, which is brought about by his justification of the sinner and by the life of the Spirit in the justified.

Paul’s teaching, although of course dependent on the Christ event, sought its foundations in the Old Testament. The picture of Abraham as the man of faith, justified by that faith, is inspired mainly by Gen. 15:6 (Rom. 4; Gal. 3:6–9). The basic text of justification by faith is Hab. 2:4 (Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11). While the idea in Habakkuk is of faithful allegiance to God as constituting a person’s righteousness, rather than of faith in justifying grace, the change is not as great as it might seem. Both in the Old Testament and in Christ the initiative is from God and the human part is the response of allegiance to the acting God. Paul also has in mind the thought repeated in the Psalms that God is the one who brings about righteousness by giving just verdicts as the bringing of justice for the oppressed (e.g., Ps. 9:4, 7–8 [MT 5, 8–9]; 17:1–15; 18:20, 24 [MT 21, 25]; 35:22–25). Despite the frequent claims to human righteousness in these Psalms, the thought has an important point of contact with Paul: God is still the one active to establish righteousness for and in his people. (The same can be said about the relationship between the teaching on justification in the Dead Sea Scrolls and that in Paul, although in the Scrolls it is the teachings of the “Teacher of Righteousness” by which righteousness is brought.) However, Ps. 143:2, in which the psalmist refuses to make such a claim before the divine judge, is also a significant part of the background of Paul’s teaching, echoed at Rom. 3:20; Gal. 2:16. Another significant element in the background of Paul’s teaching is the late prophetic expectation of the day when God would himself become the provider and guarantor of the righteousness of his people (Isa. 46:12–13; Jer. 31:31–34).

Paul’s teaching on justification by faith in Christ became in the hands of Luther, Calvin, and others (following Augustine) the theological basis of the Protestant Reformation. It was especially underlined by Luther’s insistence on “by faith alone” and “by grace alone,” and by the Reformers’ teaching on election. Some scholars have insisted against the prevailing tendency of Protestantism inherited from the Reformers that justification by faith should not be considered the center of Paul’s theology (often with the added comment that it should not thereby be considered an unessential doctrine). Justification by faith appears


Study Notes

fully only in connection with some controversy concerning the law and only where Paul bases an argument on the priority of Abraham’s righteousness to his circumcision (i.e., in Galatians and Romans). Justification is brought into the argument in both letters because of what it is able to say about the situation of the law in the eschatological community, the church. The law’s function is not to justify the sinner, but to bring about “knowledge of sin” God’s justification does not follow ethnic lines; Jew and Gentile are equal in justification by faith (Rom. 3:29–30). The setting of this teaching on the law is not an argument with Judaism, but rather with Jewish Christians who sought to give the law a role in eschatological salvation that Paul refused to give it.

The teaching of Paul appears to be contradicted by Jas. 2:18–26, which, like Paul, argues from the experience of Abraham and emphasizes Gen. 15:6. James asserts that faith lacking works is dead (Jas. 2:17); “faith,” here meaning a mere intellectual assent to religion, is not sufficient (v. 19). True living faith manifests itself in acts of love to the needy (vv. 14–16). Justification “by works and not by faith alone” (v. 24) means that faith is “completed by works” in this way (v. 22). The contradiction is only apparent; Paul and James address different issues. Jas. 2:18–26 was apparently written to counteract a misunderstanding of Paul’s teaching which separated “faith” from any moral obligation.

See GRACE; LAW. 4

4 Myers, A. C. (1987). The Eerdmans Bible dictionary (614). Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans.


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