From these earlier and later allusions, we may now ttirn back to the references in Romans. The conception of righteousness is commonly studied Krst of all in Ro 1-8, where it is discussed for its own sake,§ rather than in Galatians, where the leading thought is the freedom of Christians, and justification comes in to illustrate the main theme. So far, the method is legitimate. But thisconcentrationof interest on Romans has had its drawbacks and dangers. One thing, e.g., which has thrown investigators ofi' the track repeatedly has been the circumstance that the earliest allu- sion to righteousness in the Epistle appears to introduce it in rather an abstract sense. ' I am proud of the gospel ; it is God's saving power (i.e. it is a thoroughly effective plan of ensuring the Messianic aoirripla, which no one -need be ashamed of trusting and serving) for everyone who has faith, for the Jew first and for the Greek as well. God's righteousness is revealed in it by faith and for faith — as it is written. Now by faith shall the righteous live' (Ro I'*'-). Even here, the impres- sion of abstractness is superficial. St. Paul is
* The lack of any reference to the Messianic promise in Jer 2;i6 (Israel's name is to be * The Lord our righteousness ') is aurpris- ing. Zahn explains it (Der Brief des Apoatels Pa^ilus an die Homer, Leipzig, 1910, p. 84) by the fact of the LX.X mistranslation 'IwadStK, but thinks that a writer like St. Paul, who knew the Hebrew original, cannot fail to have been influenced by the striking expression.
t St. Paul belonged to the Luther and Bunyan class — not to those who, like Augustine, broke through to Christ out of a vicious life.
I Cf. Wis 1.53 ; < to know Tliee is complete righteousness, and to know Thy power is the root of immortality.'
$ W. G. K'utherford, in his translation of St. Pavl'^ Epiinle to the Romans. London, 190(1, arranges the entire Kpistle, apart from its preface {1'-17) and epilogue (l.'i'J-ie^'), under the cate- gory of * righteousness" : righteousness created by faith (li-'*-62l)^ righteousness realized in faith (C'-S''?), righteousness triumphant (8l8-.'J9)^ faith the only source of righteousness (91-1136), righteous- ness as affecting conduct (12^-16^3).
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RIGHTEOUSNESS
RIGHTEOUSNESS
»peakin<; of the gospel, and that is God's personal, direct messaj;e and gift to tlie faith of men, inseparable from Jesus Christ. Still, the very absence of any direct reference to Christ lias led some critics at the start to isolate ri);hteousness and consequently to misunderstand it either by treating it as a Divine quality which operates more or less independently of the Person of Christ, or by regarding the entire topic as a religious piece of forensic controversy. liut even the context itself implies that justification, i.e. the process by means of which one becomes right with God, is not a cold ante-chamber through which the Chris- tian is usliered into the warm atmosphere of personal intiTnaoy beyond. It is not a chamber or hall of justice ; it is the household of the living (;o<l. The righteousness which is revealed and conveyed is not simply acquittal, but life in the fullest sense of the term. ' By faith shall the righteous live.' The righteousness which comes by faith is not a preliminary stage, at which a man is pardoned for his sins and let oft' ; it is a living, personal experience of God revealed in Christ. The righteousne.ss revealed in the gospel is not the issuing of a pardon or the proclamation of an amnesty, but a relation of acceptance with God, in fellowship with Jesus Christ, which depends on faith as the personal surrender of a man's entire nature to the Divine will of reconciliation.
This is fundamental to I'aulinism, and one of the simplest ways to grasp the truth of it is to note how the Apo.stle twice over uses 'righteousness' in a personal sense, as applied to Christ. ' This,' he argues in 1 Co 1'", ' is the God to whom you owe your being in Christ Jesus, whom God has made our " Wisdom " (cro0ia), that is, our right- eousness and consecration and redemjition.'* Christ as the Divine Wisdom is further defined as righteousness and consecration and redemption for us. The Christian ' Sophia ' is not a vague, shadowy, speculative idea or jeon ; it is embodied in Christ's personal relation to the sin and need of men, whom He has brought into intimate relation with God. Again, in the more diHicult passage in 2 Co 5-', God is said to have treated Christ as a sinner for our sakes, to have allowed Him to suffer what sinful men suffer, dying the accursed death of the Cross (Gal 3"). ' For our sakes he made him to be sin who knew nothing of sin (i.e. because he knew nothing of sin as a personal experience), so that in him w^e might become the righteousness of God' {i.e. Divinely righteous). St. Paul may personify righteousness in Ko 1" and elsewhere, but it is more important to observe how readily he identifies it with the personal relations of Christ to men and of men to God. Nothing proves more clearly how far he was from regarding it as an abstract, official relationship between the sinner and the Saviour, which led to some further and closer fellowship.