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the sinner. (Rom. iv. 6, 24.) By righteousness every one admits is meant that which makes a man righteous, that which the law demands. It does not consist in the sinner's own obedience, or moral excellence, for it is said to be " without works ; " and it is declared that no man can be justified on the ground of his own character or conduct. Neither does this righteousness consist in faith ; for it is " of faith," " through faith," "by faith." We are never said to be justified on account of faith. Neither is it a righteousness, or form of moral excellence springing from faith, or of which faith is the source or proximate cause ; because it is declared to be the righteousness of God ; a righteousness which is revealed ; which is offered ; which must be accepted as a gift. (Rom. v. 17.) It is declared to be the righteousness of Christ ; his obedience. (Rom. v. 19.) It is, therefore, the righteousness of Christ, his perfect obedience in doing and suffering the will of God, which is imputed to the believer, and on the ground of which the believer, although in himself ungodly, is pronounced righteous, and therefore free from the curse of the law and entitled to eternal life.
The Apostle's Argument. 2. All the points above stated are not only clearly affirmed by the Apostle but they are also set forth in logical order, and elabor- ately sustained and vindicated in the Epistle to the Romans. The Apostle begins with the declaration that the Gospel " is the power of God unto salvation." It is not thus divinely efficacious because of the purity of its moral precepts ; nor because it brings immortality to light; nor because it sets before us the perfect example of our Lord Jesus Christ ; nor because it assures us of the love of God ; nor because of the elevating, sanctifying, life- giving influence by which it is attended. There is something pre- liminary to all this. The first and indispensable requisite to salvation is that men should be righteous before God. They are under his wrath and curse. Until justice is satisfied, until God is reconciled, there is no possibility of any moral influence being of any avail. Therefore the Apostle says that the power of the Gospel is due to the fact that " therein is the righteousness of God revealed." This cannot mean the goodness of God, for such is not the meaning of the word. It cannot in this connection mean his justice, because it is a righteousness which is "of faith ; " be- cause the justice of God is revealed from heaven and to all men ; because the revelation of justice terrifies and drives away from God ; because what is here called the righteousness of God, is
152 PART III. Ch. XVII. -JUSTIFICATION
elsewhere contrasted with our "own righteousness " (Rom. x. 3 , Phil. iii. 9) ; and because it is declared to be the righteousness of Christ (Rom. v. 18), which is (Rom. v. 19) explained by his "obedience," and in Romans v. 9 and elsewhere declared to be " his blood." This righteousness of Christ is the righteousness of God, because Christ is God ; because God has provided, re- vealed, and offers it ; and because it avails before God as a suf- ficient ground on which He can declare the believing sinner right- eous. Herein lies the saving power of the Gospel. The ques- tion, How shall man be just with God ? had been sounding in the ears of men from the beginning. It never had been answered. Yet it must be answered or there can be no hope of salvation. It is answered in the Gospel, and therefore the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth ; i. e., to every one, whether Jew or Gentile, bond or free, good or bad, who, in- stead of going about to establish his own righteousness, submits himself in joyful confidence to the righteousness which his God and Saviour Jesus Christ has wrought out for sinners, and which is freely offered to them in the Gospel without money and without price.
This is Paul's theme, which he proceeds to unfold and estab- lish, as has been already stated under a previous head. He begins by asserting, as indisputably true from the revelation of God in the constitution of our nature, that God is just, that He will punish sin ; that He cannot pronounce him righteous who is not righteous. He then shows from experience and from Scripture, first as regards the Gentiles, then as regards the Jews, that there is none righteous, no not one ; that the whole world is guilty be- fore God. There is therefore no difference, since all have sinned.
Since the righteousness which the law requires cannot be found in the sinner nor be rendered by him, God has revealed another righteousness (Rom. iii. 21) ; " the righteousness of God," granted to every one who believes. Men are not justified for what they are or for what they do, but for what Christ has done for them. God has set Him forth as a propitiation for sin, in order that He might be just and yet the justifier of them that believe.
The Apostle teaches that such has been the method of justifi- cation from the beginning. It was witnessed by the law and the prophets. There had never, since the fall, been any other way of justification possible for men. As God justified Abraham because he believed in the promise of redemption through the Messiah ; so He justifies those now who believe in the fulfilment