It is not necessary for our present purpose to follow this series of saj'ings further. It illustrates, better than isolated u.ses of the words ' righteous ' and ' righteousness' could do, the real content of Jesus' doctrine of righteousness as the Synoptic tradition has preserved it. It does not, indeed, yield us any formal definition of righteousness, but it shows us what righteousness is by exhibiting its characteristics and by showing how it expresses itself in human conduct. It leaves no doubt that the righteousness of the kingdom is essentially liodlike character. If it is not precisely identical with love, it is, at any rate, absolutely inseparable from it. Love is the completeness (rtXfiorjjs) of God, and the completeness of character in men con.sists in love. Righteousness appears to be con- ceived of as the dill'erent kinds of right action which have their spring in love. IJightcousness is never presented in our sources as a mere juilicial jirin- ciple in contrast to mercy or grace. It is right conduct and right character, both of which are RTounded in love. Nor does the word bear the semi-formal sense in which we shall find it em- ployed by St. Paul. It is not thought of under the form of a status or relation ; it is used rather in the sini]ile ethical sense, to inclmle the qualities of a character which is accei)table to God.
Hi) UlCJHTKOUSNESS IN THE WitlTINOS OF ST. Paul. — In several instances the phrase SiKaioji'i'r) 0(ou is used to denote an attribute of God. In Ro 3' St. Paul asks the rhetorical (juestion : ' But if our unrighteousness commendeth the righteousness of God, what shall we say '! ' The context shows that the ' righteousness of God ' here means essentially the same as the faithfulness or truthfulness of God (cf. vv.»- *). His righteousness is His faithful- ness to His own nature and promises. If men are antrue to Him, their falseness will but set His righteousness in the stronger relief. Again, in 3"- " St. Paul speaks of the IrSeiiit TJjt dmcuoaunis
auTov wliich God has made in the death of Christ, and which should prevent men from supposing that because God treated leniently the sins of men in past times. He is indillerent to sin or lightly regards it. Here, then, SiKaiocuyri 6eoO must denote that self-respecting quality of holiness in God, that reaction of His nature against sin, which must find expression in condemnation of it. Righteousness in this sense is the reaction of God's holy nature against sin which expresses itself in the Divine wrath (dpyij d(oO).
In the prevailing use of the word by St. Paul, however, righteousness means the state of accept- ance witli God into wliich one enters by faith. Tliis is its meaning in Ro 1" ' For therein (in the gospel) is revealed a righteousness of God by faith unto faith ; as it is WTitten, But the rigliteous shall live by faith ' ; also in Ro 3-'- ~ ' But now apart from the law a righteousness of God hath been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the pro- phets ; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe.' We cannot accept the view of some, that in these pas- sages also ' the righteousness of God ' refers to the cliaracter of God, although we grant that between the idea of righteousness as an attribute of God and righteousness as a gift of God, a state of acceptance with God into wliicli God introduces one, there is an essential connexion (cf. Sanday-Headlam on Ro 1"). The righteousness which God confers has its ground in the righteousness of God. The state of acceptance into which the believer is represented as inducted is a state of fellowship and hannony with God. The conditions of being accounted righteous are such as God's perfect character pre- scribes. These conditions may be summed up in the woTd/aith. Now faith is, in St. Pauls view, a personal relation with God mediated tlirough Christ. It involves by its very nature sjiiritual union with God, obedience to His will, and increas- ing likeness of character to Him. There is thus a close connexion between the righteous character of God and the righteous statii>,' \i hich He reckons as belonging to believers on condition of faith. But, formally considered, they are quite difl'erent.
The meaning of SiKaioavprj now under considera- tion explains the meaning of justification (Siraiwiris), and of the reckoning of faitli for rigiiteousness (Ro 4). To J list if 1/ means in Pauline phraseology, to regard and treat one as righteous j to confer the gift of righteousness : in other words, to declare one accepted with God. Tliis judgment of justifica- tion God pronounces upon condition of faith. The phrase 'to reckon faith for righteousness' is a periplirasis for 'to justify.' To declare righteous upon condition of faitli, means the same as to reckon faith for righteousness. In both cases the meaning, expressed in a somewhat formal and legal way, is simply this : that faith is the necessary con- dition of a gracious salvation. Salvation is a free gift; faith is its humble and thankful acceptance. §t. Paul is fond of conceiving this process of salvation in forensic forms of thought, and of intcrpretinjr it by judicial analogies. This tendency is due to Ids OT and Rabbinic training. None the less does he lay stress upon its ethical and spiritual signilicance. If justification is a ' forensic act,' there corresponds to it and is involved in it a spiritual renewal. If righteousness is a gift or a state, it is also a character. It is an inward state as well as an outward one. It would be a great mistake to repre- sent St. Paul's doctrine of salvation as luedomi- nantly legal or forensic. He has indeed brought over from his Jewish training the legal conception of righteousness as an acquittal before God and of justification as the decree of acquittal, but his intenselv ethical principles of grace and faith put quite a diU'erent content into tuese thought-forme