Romans 1:17 - Righteousness of God

This, together with the previous verse, are the linchpins of the whole book. The gospel is the power of God for salvation, as we saw yesterday. The reason it is the power for salvation is that in the gospel the "righteousness of God is revealed".

What does it mean to when it talks about the "righteousness of God"? Well, there are two ways in which this phrase can be taken. The first is that it reveals how God is righteous. God had made promises to Abraham, but an honest appraisal of how things were going prior to the birth of Christ would have to be"not very well". All nations were definitely not being blessed, even Israel was not receiving much in the way of blessing. Were God's plans failing? Why was sin being allowed to go unpunished and to reign in the world? Today, people still make a charge against God. Just listen to arguments from atheists. 

The gospel is the way that God's plans come to fruition, and His righteousness is revealed through it.

The second way is that the gospel reveals how individuals can become righteous, how they can be in right standing with God. We do not have to chose between these two alternatives, for both are relevant, and Romans deals with both of them. It shows how God's plans work out, and how we get right with God.

Righteousness is a "forensic" term, a term applying to the courtroom, rather than a moral term. It refers to be declared in the right with God. 

So why does Paul say "for in the gospel..."? It is because sin was the barrier to God's power working in our lives. The problem was not with any lack of power on God's part. Rather it was with our sin which had made us enemies of God. Our sin meant we were under judgement. Something had to be done about this if His saving power was to work in our lives. 

This righteousness is obtained by faith. "From first to last", it is all about faith. Faith is the primary means of communicating with God. Paul quotes from Habbakuk 2:4, "the righteous will live by faith". 

So the scene is set for the magnificent exposition that Paul is about to embark on. He will tell us how God's plan will work out, how the problem of sin is dealt with, and how the power of salvation comes into our lives and works in it.