The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

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.  Romans 1:16 

Romans 1:8–17 – Romans: The Righteousness of God
Third Sunday after Epiphany    – January 22, 2023 (am)

This morning we’re continuing on with Paul’s Introduction to his letter to the church at Rome. Today’s passage finishes with a statement from the OT prophet, Hab.2:4 … The righteous shall live by faith. That’s the statement we want in our minds as we go, toward exercising the faith that produces righteousness, the obedience of faith. Let’s look at the three remaining sections here. We’ll spent the vast majority of our time on the third.

Paul Gives Thanks for the Roman Church – 8-10

Unfamiliar as Paul may be with this Roman Church, they nevertheless hold a deep place in his heart. He’s thankful to God for them, that [their] faith is so widely known and celebrated (8). And he prays for them regularly—without ceasing (9)—10 … asking that somehow by God’s will [he] may… at last succeed in [visiting them]. He’s often intended to [do so] (13), but something has always hindered him (cf. 15:22).

Paul Desires to Visit the Roman Church – 11-13

So, his thanksgiving and prayers bleed right into his expression of deep desire to come [see them] (10, 13). And his passion for these plans is interwoven with his longing for Christian fellowship with them. 11 For I long to see you, that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to strengthen you—12 that is, that we may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith, both yours and mine. And this longing has an intended outcome: 13 … I have often intended to come to you… in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles. If we said this, it could sound prideful. But Paul knows he’s been called and gifted by God to bring the gospel to the Gentiles, so he knows that the exercise of his apostolic gift will bear evangelistic fruit there in Rome, blessing and strengthening the church in that city. And he wants to be blessed by their spiritual gifts as well (cf. Moo 2018 64).

Paul Affirms the Gospel to the Roman Church – 14-17

Then he explains himself a bit further (14-15) as he begins to set up his statement of this letter’s theme (16-17). 14 I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish. At first pass, that could sound pretty condescending! [Since my] obligation [includes] barbarians and… the foolish, I’m [glad] to [come] preach the gospel to you [Romans as well]! But almost certainly in that first pairing, Paul is talking about the Gentile world distinguished by their language groupings. And in the second (cf. 1Co.1:19-27), he’s distinguishing those who’d consider themselves learned from those who wouldn’t (Moo 2018 65). So, he’s not longing to come to Rome just because it’s a great prize, the capital of the known world. Preaching the gospel to the Gentiles is his calling. 1Co.9:16 … Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! He’s just dispensing his duties, and Rome comes next! 15 So I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who are in Rome.

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. Here we’ve entered into the real thrust of this section as Paul states most directly his central theme in this letter. We’re looking at a succession of four explanatory statements here, the first three beginning with for (16, 16, 17) and the last with as it is written (17). Looking back to see what they’re explaining, our attention is drawn to the lack of a connecting word at the beginning of v.14. Surely there’s a flow of thought from vv.8-13 right on into v.14, but the absence of a connecting word there lends a certain emphasis to what follows (Moo 2018 64). Very subtly Paul has given us an indicator of an independent idea beginning (14) in the midst of a progressing of thought (8-17).

So, what it seems he wants us to hear is that he’s [obliged] to preach the gospel to the whole Gentile world (14), so (15) (an additional connecting word) [he’s] eager to preach [it] in Rome.

Now, into vv.16-17: 16 For (first of the four connecting words) I am not ashamed of the gospel. This is where Paul closes out his reflection on his own ministry and transitions toward his undivided focus on the nature and power of the gospel itself (cf. Moo 2018 67). But he does so with one last personal affirmation. His statement here that he’s not ashamed of the gospel should surely be heard as saying: [I have great confidence in] the gospel. But the fact that’s it’s stated negatively suggests that this may be one of those places where we get a little window into Paul’s ministry there in Rome. We’re aware that there were some questions regarding his ministry, his gospel. We can see that, for instance, in 3:8 … why not do evil that good may come?—as some people slanderously charge us with saying. … So, he’s letting them know right here that his confidence in the gospel is not lacking on any level as he brings it to Rome.

16 … for (next connecting word) [the gospel] is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. We can appreciate here that the power of God is made evident in the gospel—through the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of His eternal Son. Through this work of Jesus, we can appreciate that everyone who believes can be reconciled to God. And by understanding salvation history, we can appreciate how this message goes to the Jew first and also to the Greek, emphasizing not just that the Jews are the ones through whom this salvation was delivered and made available, but also that it doesn’t just reconcile believing Jews to the God of their salvation, but Gentiles as well—everyone from everywhere who believes, receives this salvation. I believe all this together makes salvation the primary quality of the gospel that’s spotlighted in v.16, reconciliation to God by faith in Christ that provides all who believe with the assurance of deliverance from final judgment together with their future resurrection to eternal life with God, inhabiting the new heaven and new earth in their sinless, glorified bodies! This is salvation!

17 For (next connecting word) in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith…. The righteousness of God is not at all an easy description to grasp. Is it talking about God being righteous in His nature? Or is it His conferring of righteous standing on us—judicial righteousness, meaning not guilty before Him? Or is it His working in us such that we’re enabled to live and act righteously, like He is righteous?

And what do we make of the fact that the righteousness of God here, whatever it means, is revealed, uncovered (ἀποκαλύπτω)? Yet it’s in present tense, continuing action (in contrast to 3:21 where it’s used in the perfect tense, a past action [the cross] with results that continue into the present), and with a distinct insinuation of end-times fullness (cf. Moo 2018 73).

To cut to the chase, I believe the thought is that the righteousness of God here in 1:17 has a rich fullness to it, referring at once to God’s righteous nature being made known such that everyone, Jew and Gentile alike, who believes in Him is declared righteous by faith. God acts on their behalf not so much to enable righteous living in all situations but to declare them not guilty before Him. And this righteous standing is from faith for faith, by faith from first to last (niv). Or, it is revealed “on the basis of [Jewish] faith leading to [Gentile] faith” (Moo 2018 77). Or, clearer, we receive it by faith then act on it by faith…

17 … as it is written (last connecting word), “The righteous shall live by faith” (Hab.2:4). In this OT text, human status is clearly in the crosshairs—God’s people living righteously by faith as they await His promised salvation, which includes God’s judgment of Babylon, their oppressor—and there, sent as His instrument of discipline in their lives (cf. Seifrid 610).

So, the expression of the righteousness of God that His people were awaiting by faith in Habakkuk’s day (as both salvation for them and judgment on their enemy) has now been revealed in the gospel through the saving work of Christ such that, by faith, everyone who believes is declared righteous—not guilty before God—as they await the full and final delivery of His promised salvation which will include the final judgment of all His enemies, all their oppressors!

So, the Romans’ righteousness—indeed, our righteousness—is still an expression of faith, even on this side of the cross. Although we’ve been declared righteous judicially through the revelation of the righteousness of God in the gospel, received by faith, our hope of full, experiential righteousness is still future, awaiting the final delivery of our salvation. So, until that Day, it remains the case that only those who are righteous by faith shall live. We live longing for that Day!

Conclusion

And that’s our takeaway thought to ponder. If we stated this as a lesson, it would be: those who are righteous by faith will live, stressing two things at once. (1) Our efforts to live righteously day by day are an exercise of faith, trusting in the enabling of the Spirit to obey the Word in anticipation of the Day of Christ’s return, of our salvation. And no other righteousness will suffice—for instance, doing what seems right but only in order to be well-thought-of by others; or, doing what seems right based on a fear of being wrong; or surely, doing what seems right believing God will be impressed at how much better we do it than others. (2) In the end, it’s only those who are righteous by faith (not works) who [will] live.

I’ve been doing the devotionals at our basketball league this season. We’re walking through the beatitudes at the start of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount toward an understanding of what it means to be blessed in the way He talked about there. (I’m praying that by season-end we’ll have a gym full of guys who are so blessed.) What we’ve noted in the first two weeks is that this blessing begins with an understanding that there’s nothing in us worthy of God’s blessing (approval). Next, recognizing that fact should matter to us—it should bother us.

What we’re cultivating there is the very idea we’re talking about here: it is only the righteousness of God that we receive by faith that sets us right with Him, that sets us up to receive the blessings of His revealed salvation.

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Resources

Arnold, Clinton E., gen. ed. 2002. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary. Vol. 3, Romans-Philemon. Romans, by Douglas J. Moo, 2-95. Grand Rapids: Zondervan.

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Sproul, R. C. 2005. The Gospel of God: An Exposition of Romans. Ross-shire, Great Britain: Christian Focus.

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NEXT SUNDAY: Without Excuse, Romans 1:18–23