WESTMINSTER THEOLOGICAL COLLEGE AND SEMINARY- CAMBODIA
WHAT IS MEANT BY RIGHTEOUSNESS REVEALED
“FROM FAITH TO FAITH”
IN ROMANS 1:17
(BIBLICAL VIEW ON THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD)
SUBMITTED
TO DR. CHARLES LEE IRONS
IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
NT
771 THE THEOLOGY OF ROMANS
FOR MASTER OF THEOLOGY (ThM) PROGRAM
BY
LANILANE
OCBINA
2023
Contents
Introduction
Biblical Context of Romans 1:17
Definition of Righteousness and δικαιοσύνη
θεοῦ
Views on “From faith to faith”
Romans 1:17 Under Paul’s Lens
Pitfalls of Interpretations (Conditionalism,
Universalism)
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
In my early
years as a Christian, I encountered several kinds of “believers”. Some are very
passionate while some are seemingly lukewarm but there was one that I will
never forget about. This person was a colleague at work and I will never forget
that little chat we had about faith during breaktime one day. She told me that
she is a Christian and I thought it was amazing to meet her because Christians in
the office then was nominal. As someone new in the faith, I thought her philosophies
were interesting however what I felt confusing was that while she was telling her
views about the Bible, life and so forth, she was also holding a stick of cigarette
in her right hand. While sending words and smoke superficially from her nose
and mouth, I was thinking to myself, is this the kind of Biblical Christian?
Should I even listen to her?” And then finally in the middle of the
conversation, the question that I have been internalizing spewed, asking: “Why
do you smoke? Our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit right?”. She was not
surprised by my question which gave me an idea that this was not the first time
that she was asked of such question. Her response was something that I have
never forgotten since then and that was: “I am already saved so it is ok to do
this. Jesus paid for all my sins then, today, and in the days to come. I can do
whatever I want and I believe He wants me to enjoy life to the fullest.” And so
that marked the first day that I met an antinomian.
Interestingly, that person turned
out to be a pragmatic idealist today. This is quite a sad thing that happens to
many who have come to faith and later drawn away because of the superficial
understanding of the righteousness of God.
In this paper, my goal is to study
and present some significant views about the righteousness of God and some
perspectives on the phrase “from faith to faith”. I strongly believe that many
are put in danger of falling out from faith because of having a low view of the
righteousness of God or not totally discerning its weight and value in our
Biblical Christian life.
Further, this paper aims to present different
views about the righteousness of God revealed “from faith to faith” considering
the different views and interpretations about this phrase. What does Paul mean
about the beginning and end of faith? And what is faith’s major role in revealing
the righteousness of God?
Biblical Context of Romans 1:17
"Friends, Romans, Countrymen.." many centuries[1] before this Mark Antony's famous line in the play Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare, there was a fine and devoted Apostle named Paul of Tarsus who addressed a selected group of people in Rome with a very powerful letter. He sent a long speech or epistle so to speak not for any political reason but for the proclamation of the true Gospel of Christ by teaching doctrine and edify and encourage the believers.[2] This epistle in the Bible is called the Letter to the Romans[3].
Paul did not plant the church in Rome[4],
in fact he wrote the epistle to the Romans while not having been to Rome yet.
But he expressed his excitement about being able to minister in this church
(Romans 1:8-15). Some believe that it was Peter who planted the church in Rome
and became the first bishop of the church[5]
but there are still debates today about who really planted the church in Rome. Many
will agree that Paul or any of his co-workers planted the church in Rome then.
Nonetheless, Paul expressed his excitement
to meet the believers there, reflecting his humility and Christ-centered
compassion for all the brothers and sisters there even though he was not the
founder.
The epistle was written in Corinth just prior to Paul’s trip to
Jerusalem to bring the alms for the poor as sent by the Corinth church. His
intention to go to Rome and Spain (Romans 15:24) were interrupted when he got arrested
in Jerusalem. He eventually reached Rome as a prisoner later in his missionary
journey. It was Phoebe from Cenchrea near Corinth (Romans 16:1) who most likely
carried the letter to Rome for Paul.
The Book of Romans is said to be the most theological writings of Paul as it addresses critical issues and the most dominant topic that he preached about was righteousness which seemed to be resonated in every chapter. Perhaps Paul wanted to make it clear to the Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians, and even the God fearers in the synagogue the true meaning of righteousness and that there should not be any division between all believers because we all belong to one “olive tree” and that we are one body of Christ, Him being the head.
Definition of Righteousness
“The LORD detests the way of the wicked, but he loves those who
pursue righteousness.”
- Proverbs 15:9
The Scriptures has a lot to say about God’s righteousness and how He
wants us to pursue righteousness as well. Perhaps it is because righteousness was
initially the thing that was lost in the beginning anyway. The question is that,
is it really possible for man to attain righteousness? If so, how can a totally
deprived man be able to turn to God and become righteous? Is it totally God’s
work or man’s work or both?
Some arguments posed have become confusing like the concept that man
cannot turn to God or pursue God and His righteousness since the Scriptures say
that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10). Is there a contradictory or perhaps confusion
about the “righteousness” that the Bible is talking about? This can be answered
by first knowing the real definition of the word righteousness in its Biblical
sense.
The meaning of צדק/צדקה in the Hebrew Old Testament and that of
δικαιοσύνη in the Septuagint both have to be understood whether lexically or contextually.
The phrase δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ or the righteousness of God has been in great
debate whether it is about the activity of God or the status of man resulting
from God’s action. Is the θεοῦ in subjective genitive or genitive of origin
form?
The arguments basically move around some concepts such as Augustine’s
“transformative righteousness” concept and the reformers’ “forensic
righteousness” concept. There are also more basic views as covenantal view and
the relational view, which has been valuable since the early 19th
century.[6]
The covenantal view focuses on the legal status of the believer as per the Law especially
in the Old Testament while the relational view pertains to a more ethical sense
where the believer practices holiness before God, that is in a more active
sense of the word in response to the righteous action of God. Charles Lee Irons
exhaustively studied and tested these and said that:
… my research has turned up strong evidence pointing to a much
closer conceptual relationship between righteousness as a legal status and
righteousness as an ethical or behavioral reality. When “righteousness” is used
as a status term, that is, in reference to someone’s righteousness before God,
it means either that God has taken note of the person’s actual moral/behavioral
righteousness (e.g., Deut 24:13; Ps 18:20-24), or that he has graciously
reckoned righteousness to their account so that they are now treated and
regarded as if they were in fact ethically righteous in his sight. This latter usage
of “righteousness” to refer to a status of righteousness graciously granted to
someone even though they are not actually and personally righteous (following
Paul’s interpretation in Rom 4:3-5) is evident in Gen 15:6: “And he believed the
Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness (צדקה וֹלּ ויּחשׁבה / καὶ ἐλογίσθη
αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην)” (Gen 15:6 ESV). In the former usage – a status of
righteousness before God, grounded in a person’s behavioral righteousness – the
term “righteousness” does not refer so much to the behavioral righteousness per
se, but to the divine recognition and acceptance of that righteousness, resulting
in a person’s being treated as righteous in God’s sight.[7]
In its broadest sense, righteousness can be as the “condition of
being acceptable to God as made possible by God.” God Himself is the definition
of true righteousness and His power enables us to appear righteous before Him
through Christ Jesus. John Harvey asserts that righteousness is God’s righteous
act that results to a righteous life, as he said:
The gospel is the revelation of God’s righteousness (“the righteousness
of God is being revealed”). It is possible to understand the phrase “the
righteousness of God” in three ways: (1) “the righteousness God possesses”
(possessive genitive), (2) “the righteous actions God per forms” (subjective
genitive), or (3) “the righteousness God bestows” (genitive of source). A
combination of the second and third is probably the best option: “God’s
righteous act that results in a righteous life.”[8]
I would agree to Harvey’s statement that the Gospel itself is the
revelation of God’s righteousness[9]
and such revelation leads to the transformation of His people. Nonetheless, during
such transformation process, there is complete dependence on God’s righteousness
and never any portion of the righteousness that the believer has is a result of
any good works at all. It is all God’s because any man-made effort will never result
in righteousness. All righteousness attained to be accepted in the Kingdom of
Heaven is only possible in Christ. And further,
such righteousness has evidences in the life of a believer and these are called
the “fruit of the Holy Spirit” (John 15:1–2; Mark 4:20, Galatians 5:22-23).
Charles Hodge stressed that righteousness is that which was imputed
to us without works[10],
which I would agree to. He says that it is a gift of God and that gift is
Christ Himself, thus Christ is our righteousness. Hence through Jesus Christ,
we have the righteousness that God accepts and approves. This righteousness,
according to Hodge, is not the righteousness that the Pelagian teaching
presents as the result of good works nor the righteousness of the Romanists that
pertains to the inherent righteousness or spiritual excellence made possible by
divine grace.[11]
Pelagian and Romanist views both present self-righteousness instead.
Self-righteousness surely is the opposite of what God desires as it
sets rules and seems to set a stage for a person to boast about his progress or
achievements in his spiritual life. Jesus Himself did not like this amongst the
Pharisees, who were masters of self-righteousness. The pharisees have
constantly received harsh words from Jesus because of hypocrisy:
“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You
are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the
inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same
way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside, you
are full of hypocrisy and wickedness” (Matthew 23:27–28).
Through Jesus’ work done on the cross for us, we are to view His
righteousness revealed in us through an eschatological lens. Every Christian
should be far-sighted because in reality and truth, judgment is to come and
every believer will be found righteous before God through Jesus Christ. C.E.B. Cranfield
asserts that Paul believed that the gospel is the effective power active in the
world so as to deliver every believer from God's wrath in the final judgment
and usher to the reinstatement in that glory that was lost through sin.[12]
To pursue righteousness therefore is to pursue God because only
through Him can righteousness be found. Believers must recognize that it is impossible
to please God in our sinful state (Romans 8:8). There is no hope in justifying
ourselves by our good deeds and instead seek the mercy of God through Christ
Jesus. From the Old Testament to the New Testament, God’s people were declared
righteous when they believed God and acted on it.[13]
Before Pentecost in the book of Acts, the people pursued righteousness by
keeping God’s Law but no one was justified by doing it instead by the faith
that enabled them to obey God.[14]
While setting hope in Jesus and His promise of Parousia, the believer’s mind is
being transformed (Romans 12:2) and conformed to His image (Romans 8:29).
Views on “From faith to faith”
Romans
1:17
For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last,[a] just as it
is written: “The righteous will live by faith. (NIV)
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to
faith; as it is written: 'BUT THE RIGHTEOUS one will live by faith.
(NASB)
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.(KJV)
After establishing our understanding on the word “righteousness” in
its Biblical eschatological sense, it is also important that we understand why
Paul said that the δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ revealed is εκ πίστεως εις πίστιν (from
faith to faith). Does it have to do with the encouragement to really pursue God
and His righteousness even though it has already been given to us through
Christ Jesus? What is the context of such pursuit of the thing that has already
been achieved?
The Righteousness, according to Paul in Romans 1:17, pertains to the
complete and total work of God. This has been presented in many views over the
years such as its relation to the origin of faith thus, Salvation comes from
God’s faith (or faithfulness) then passed on to us so we have faith in Him.
This is not from our own capacity, but through Jesus Christ alone. Karl Barth’s
impression[15],
which I do not agree with, is resounded in that concept but in a more self-righteous
sense. He taught that salvation is accomplished through God’s faithfulness first
and later the believers’ faith comes as a response, which is evident and
highlighting too much in works that happens to appear salvific.[16]
This is why I see Barth’s treatment to be in the danger of falling into the self-righteousness
view of the issue. If Barth is correct, then what is the sense of what Paul was
talking about in his letters when it comes to God doing His work in us, as “for
it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good
purpose..” in Philippians 2:13? God is the one who gives faith, the desire to
have that faith, and to act on that faith.[17]
The believer puts his/her faith in Christ and His work on the cross and become
saved. It is not the work of the person after receiving Christ that makes
him/her saved.
Another popular view on εκ πίστεως εις πίστινas is that Paul was talking
about evangelism when he mentioned it, thus passing on the faith from one
believer to another. Some view faith here as a progressive concept as, growing
development of faith parallel to the “ever-increasing glory” of 2 Corinthians
3:18. On another note, I know a couple of brothers and sisters who interpret Paul’s
εκ πίστεως εις πίστινas as programmatic
statement[18] underscoring the believer’s journey of faith
until the very last day, whether until the believer’s time of physical death or
the second coming of Jesus Christ, thus the believer be found faithful from the
day of salvation through Christ up to the judgment day.
Scholars like Taylor have stressed reformers’ view like Calvin and
Luther as he quoted them:
Calvin says, ‘Righteousness is offered by the gospel and is received
by faith. He adds to faith for as our faith makes progress, and as it advances
in knowledge, so the righteousness of God increases in us at the same time.’
For Luther, by analogy to 2 Cor. 3.18, the phrase points to growth and increasing
clarity in faith, so that the justified person grows in righteousness. Fitzmyer
writes: ‘God’s economy of salvation is shared more and more by a person as
faith grows.’ There is merit to this suggestion in that it fits with the idiom
of growth. But Paul is not discussing growth in personal faith in 1.16-17, but the
eschatological event that is the preaching of the gospel…[19]
So, what would be the right view then? Some scholars test the
lexical and grammatical construction of the phrase. The debates move around two
particular views; the objective construction - faith in Jesus Christ; and the subjective
construction, signifying the faith or faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Traditionally,
since the time of Luther, many have held to the former.[20]
On the other hand, many theologians over the years have held to the view that πίστεως
είς πίστιν as from or by God’s (or even Christ ’s) faithfulness, to our faith drawing
the link from the Old Testament as Habakkuk 2:4 says ‘the Righteous One will
live by faith ’or ‘faithfulness’ so to speak then ό δίκαιος turned out to be a
messianic title.[21]
Romans 1:17
Under Paul’s Lens
Paul had the tendency to be playful with words that is why πίσης
can be interpreted in two different senses: faithfulness and faith. The
reference in Romans 1:17 is also another crucial issue that is why it is important
to study the contextual clues. Taylor asserts that,
“Paul
has already indicated his interest in the faith of the Roman church (1.5-6,8,
12), and this alone would make it more likely that the reader would read έκ πίστεως
είς πίστιν as a reference to human faith. Some writers object that this would
make God’s revelation of his righteousness too dependent on human response.”[22]
Stressing
so much on the human faith is very critical because the interpretation can cross
the line of extremity in anthropocentrism rather than just being Christocentric.
It seemed that Paul was about having faith and
faith alone that one receives the righteous status and as an effect of this,
he/she understands God’s saving grace and work of saving sinners. From that
faith that God gives to the believer, regeneration comes in leading to a life
focused on Christ alone and conclude it all with the faith that God requires.
At the end of it all, all believers want to finish faithful, looking forward to
God saying “well done my good and faithful servant”. This is not possible
without the Holy Spirit enabling the believer.
Scholars like Wardlaw and Quarles study many other views and the one
that seem to stand out for the latter was that of Chrysostom’s interpretation
which for him had greater weight than other text-external evidence perhaps because
of better command on the Greek language.[23]
[24]
However Wardlaw may be right when pointing this ground as weak because it does
not matter much if the person is a native speaker or highly articulate in Greek.
The importance can be pointed to the interpretation that is near to accuracy
against the original Greek because native speakers can still make major mistakes.
I would take Wardlaw’s comment as more convincing when he said that perhaps “the
traditional Hebrew texts and their translations into Aramaic and Greek
influenced Paul's thought and language to a greater extent”.[25]
Paul's rabbinic training has a great probability of letting us understand his
letters under his own lens.
On the other note, Quarles would agree with Chrysostom’s
interpretation of πίστεως είς πίστιν which basically means 'from the faith of
the old dispensation to the faith of the new dispensation’.[26]
It probably makes sense in the covenant theology per se where the progression
of God’s work from the creation to crucifixion and later to judgment is on the
highlight.
Paul as an expert in the Scriptures has his words seemingly glued
and coherent to what the Torah, the Psalms and the Prophets said. His views are
coherent with the prophets who anticipated an idealized picture of Zion worship
in the eschaton. He must have been highlighting the perseverance of the saints and
the increasing strength and passion for the Lord from then and his present
period. He must also have looked at the metonymy of God and His Zion and idealizing
the judgment being done to the elect and the reprobate. All these things and
more perhaps were in Paul’s mind when he wrote Romans 1:17.
Wardlaw tested Paul’s linguistic background and came into a
conclusion that this provides a strong foundation in the argument that “the
phrase πίστεως είς πίστιν in Romans 1:17 derives from an underlying Semitic
idiom in Paul's linguistic background and this Semitic idiom is mirrored by classical
Greek usage.”[27] I
would agree to what he further said that “God is the author of righteousness,
and the righteousness of God is also that which is revealed through
repeated acts of faith.”[28]
But then again, such acts of faith are backed up by the work of the Holy Spirit
in the believer and not from his/her own human nature and capacity as Paul would
say that we are regenerated and sanctified by God so that no one amongst us can
boast about what we have done. It is all only through Christ and by Christ.
The followers of Christ whether new or seasoned-mature believers, must
trust God “from start to finish” relying on His mighty power, which according
to Paul is the power of the Gospel. Without understanding the Gospel of Christ,
it is impossible to change our lives and the lives of those we encounter.
Pitfalls of Weak Interpretations
As I remember the first antinomian
friend that I met, I cannot help but wonder about what teachings she has ever
encountered to have such low view of the righteousness of God and faith per se.
Some perspectives that came across were conditionalism and universalism. Conditionalism
is a concept that only the righteous are given immortality by God while Universalism
is the concept that all creations will be saved on the day of judgment.
The traditionalist view of hell, most often called the eternal conscious torment (ECT), holds that the soul has “an immortal subsistence”[29], which means that the wicked live forever in a state that is “rightly called death” but they never fully die. This view is by far has the highest view of hell as the “immortal soul” keeps them conscious forever in misery and separation from God.[30]
Conditionalism
Conditionalism or conditional immortality (and sometimes called
annihilationism), holds that humans are inherently mortal and the eternal life
that is given is a gift granted by God only to those who believe in Jesus and
follow him.[31] Further,
the reprobate suffers in hell for a time but later on to be totally annihilated
by fire until it all turn into ashes.[32]
This concept is drawn from the perspective of the consequence of being
separated from God, having God’s sustaining power to stop existing at a certain
time (2 Thes. 1:9; 2 Pet 2:6), thus asserting that hell and torment has an end.
Some proponents stress prophet Isaiah’s prophecy on the eternal
punishment being the second death, since because of original sin, all will die
once; but those who are not restored to goodness will die a second time — never
to rise again.[33] And
both cases are said to be what Paul was asserting as “the wages of sin is death…”
(Rom 6:23). Others on the other hand see Paul teaching the same thing
especially quoting from his epistles as 1 Corinthians 15:47–57 seemingly saying
that those who are perishing remain as "those who are of the dust",
because they will not "bear the image of the man of heaven" (Jesus),
hence they "cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable
inherit the imperishable".[34]
Conditionalism basically points to the universal restoration[35] which can never be reached with the dualistic
eternity of the traditionalist view. This seems to promote hope for restorative
justice: inflexible in judgement but unequaled in compassion.
There are Christians nowadays who like to introduce conditionalism
to people to lessen the tension in teaching hell during evangelism. It seems
easier to explain to people and somehow give lesser worry about hell and
eternal torment. The question is, is the tension really lessened or there is a
major compromise at hand?
The problem with conditionalism is its low view of God’s wrath,
judgment, and hell- in short, low view of God’s righteousness. The contemporary
proponents of this concept preach a doctrine of hell that is centered on hope
which can be considered a false hope and definitely can lead to a distorted
view of God.
Since there is a downplaying of the punishment for the reprobate, I
think that the evangelism will be slowed down because the evil doers will tend
to relax and sin even more since they will be informed that the sufferings in
hell will just be temporary.
If conditionalism is true, then the work of Jesus on the cross is
somehow invalidated. There is no true understanding on the righteousness revealed
through Jesus Christ if so. Jesus explicitly and implicitly told the Israel
that hell is real and it will last for eternity. If hell will just be consumed
totally and turn into ashes eventually, then why would God Himself came to His
incarnational ministry and become brutally murdered just to be the
substitutionary atonement for all sinners?
Hell is real and it is for eternity. On another note, I believe that when we present the gospel to people, we need to also teach about the truth of hell but without too much stressing the details because people will tend to come to Christ out of their self-centered pursuit for security. Some people seem to come to Christ because they simply do not want to go to hell, which is definitely not the priority. What we are to teach is about God’s love through Christ and that we are also to grow in His love – all rooted from His righteousness and holiness.
Universalism
Universalism is the belief that all will be saved. Christian
universalism (if you will) refers to the idea that every human will eventually
receive salvation that is basically called universal reconciliation or more
like the universal restoration of conditionalism. Followers of this concept
believe that all people eventually end up in heaven. They do not believe that a
great God can be monster enough to send people to hell for eternal torment.
There is an over-emphasis on the love and compassion of God in the idea of universalism,
neglecting the righteousness and justice of God.
In Christian universalism, it is said that Jesus Christ reveals the
nature and character of God and has become the spiritual leader of humankind,
which He created with an immortal soul that cannot be ended by death.[36]
There are some “Christians” who believe in the idea of a Purgatorial Hell, a temporary
place where purification happens, giving some to have the chance to enter
Heaven.[37]
This concept has again a low view of God’s righteousness and of sin.
The Bible is explicitly teaching that unredeemed men will suffer in
eternity- in the lake of fire. Jesus Himself confirmed that the time spent in
heaven for the redeemed will last as long as that of the unredeemed in hell as
He said in Matthew 25:46, “Then they [the unsaved] will go away to eternal
punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”[38]
It is normal for people to look for solutions to the hard questions
about hell. Nonetheless, the answers formulated lead to the low view of God’s
Justice and righteousness. Some would avoid the unquenchable fire through the
ideology that many will buy just to get rid of the difficulty and tension on
the “demands for heaven entrance”. Some would find relief in Pluralism too,
which is a belief that all roads—all religions and beliefs—will eventually lead
to heaven because God’s love is just too great that He can never send people to
eternal suffering. It is better to worship a loving God rather than an angry
God as many of them would believe.
It is really sad how many people are deceived and see God in a fake
lens. God is certainly full of love and mercy but these same attributes were what
led Him to send His Son, Jesus Christ to the cross for our salvation. The Christ incarnate was the exclusive door
that leads to an eternity in heaven.[39]
If Jesus suffered from that brutal death for our sins, knowing how great is the
love of the Father for the Son, how can some fall into the error of rejecting
the idea of hell? The justice of God resounds in every part of the Gospel. The sinner
has to pay, sins have consequences. And those who believe in Jesus[40]
do not have to pay anymore but those who will not, will have to face the wages
of their own sins in hell eternally.[41]
With the verses mentioned above, it becomes understandable that universalism
or universal salvation is unbiblical. God knows that many will choose to reject
the message because they do not want to face up to their sin and not admitting
the need for the Lord’s salvation. The danger of not understanding the provision
of God - the salvation through His Son Jesus Christ, is to lead the person to
mitigating the holiness, justice and righteousness of God. If a person misses
out the understanding of the righteousness of God, faith will lose its
foundation leading the person to destruction.
Sadly, this has been the track that my friend has taken, leading her
to the belief that God is too good that He will not allow her to be sent to
hell. Further, she believes that Jesus Christ’s love is just too great to cover
all her sins, hence there is no need for her to follow His righteous way.
Nonetheless, no condemnation to my friend and to all brothers and
sisters who hold to the concept of conditionalism and universalism. It just
makes me sad when I see people take these concepts extremely and make them fall
away from the faith. I still believe that there are still great mysteries that
Jesus Christ will reveal to us in His perfect time.
Conclusion
The believer’s faith ultimately leads him/her to Jesus[42].
Subsequent to the decision to follow Jesus and remain in Him, the Holy Spirit
empowers the believer to pursue righteousness for his/her own sake (Acts 2:38[43]).
Such empowerment makes the believer to obey God’s commands to be the light of
the world and to “walk in the Spirit” (Galatians 5:16, 25) which is evidenced
by a lifestyle of total surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Day by day, a believer make every effort to cultivate the ability to
hear God and develop the habit of obeying His voice no matter what. This is the
way of pursuing the righteousness of God and pursuing the character of Christ. This
I think is what Paul meant when he said that δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ revealed is
εκ πίστεως εις πίστιν. It is from the faith that He has provided from the time
we were justified, regenerated and initially sanctified, taken along the faith during
our progressive sanctification, and finally the faith leading us to the glorification.
The righteousness of God is like the boat that we need to cross the
lake from shore to shore, from faith to faith. And in that journey, God teaches
us to desire holiness more than fleshly indulgence. God gives us the strength
and wisdom to keep us from falling into temptation to become self-righteous as
we understand more about the weight of His righteousness.
True righteousness starts with godly humility (Psalm 25:9[44]).
We cannot journey from faith to faith if there is no humility or complete
surrender to the Lord. We can never accomplish anything at all if we get
detached from Jesus Christ and deny dependence with Him. Jesus said, “Apart
from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).
Jesus Himself demonstrated His righteousness many times during His
ministry.[45]
One was when He went to the mountain to pray and fast and then confronted by
temptations along the way. He never fell into these temptations and retained
His holy, pure, and righteous status pleasing the Father with His faithfulness.
On the Cross, Jesus persevered and kept His integrity, not
abolishing the law but fulfilling the Law that He gave to the people of Israel.
He did this by offering His own blood so that when He resurrects, we resurrect
with Him in glory as well. The blood of the Lamb has finally cleansed the sins of
the world once and for all. The elect died with Him and rose with Him.
Today we have this Gospel and as the world tries to shut her ears to
it, we are encouraged to not be ashamed of it. But rather, as the apostle Paul
said, we are to believe that the Gospel is God’s power for everyone who
believes whether Jew or Greek.[46]
And the righteousness of God is revealed in this Gospel, from faith to faith.
As we persevere, we need to keep the Lord Jesus’ commission to His
Church from Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. From the
Great commission to the completion of His work, all His people should be found
faithful even to the ends of the age.
Let us always remember that today, over three billion people have still not heard about Jesus Christ. There are still corners on the earth where souls are crying and hungry for salvation. Our journey from faith to faith is not just about our own growth from justification, sanctification to glorification. It is also about joining God in His work on earth until the final consummation. And again, it is not possible to do this without a humble heart that is fully surrendered and committed to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let us then ask the Lord to continue to cultivate His faith that has been given to us so that we finish the race and hear Him tell us that we have kept the faith until the end.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Burer, Michael H. “Review of The
Righteousness of God: A Lexical Examination of the . Covenant-Faithfulness
Interpretation by Charles Lee Irons.” Bibliotheca Sacra 174 . . 2017.
Cranfield, C. E. B. A Critical and
Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans. . . International Critical Commentary. 2
Volumes. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1975, 1979.
Harvey, John D. A Commentary on Romans.
Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2019.
Hodge, Charles. Commentary on the Epistle
to the Romans. Revised Edition. Edinburgh: Elliot . . and Thin, 1864.
Irons, Charles Lee. The Righteousness of
God: A Lexical Examination of the Covenant-.
.
. .
Faithfulness
Interpretation. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament . . II/386. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.
Quarles, Charles. From Faith to Faith: A
Fresh Examination of the Prepositional Series in . . . Romans 1:17. Koninklijke Brill NV,
Leiden, 2003.
Scott, Miriam Van. "Purgatorial
Hell". The Encyclopedia of Hell: A Comprehensive Survey of . . . the Underworld. St. Martin's Press:
2015.
Taylor, John. From Faith to Faith: Romans
1.17 in the Light of Greek Idiom. Cambridge . . . . . . University Press England United
Kingdom, 2004.
Wardlaw, Terry. A Reappraisal of 'From
Faith to Faith' (Romans 1:17).
Online sources
https://www.sdmorrison.org/karl-barths-doctrine-faith-cd-iv-1/
The Westminster Confession of Faith
[1] The epistle to the Romans
was written in about A.D. 56-58.
[2] Those in Rome who were “loved by God and called to be saints, Romans
1:7.
[3] Romans 1:1 identifies Paul as the author of the Book of Romans and
in Romans 16:22, it indicates that Paul had Tertius to transcribe his words.
[4] The church in Rome was
not found by Paul nor Peter nor they both preached together there. Charles Hodge, Romans, rev. ed. (Edinburgh: Elliot and Thin,
1864), 6.
[5] As a lot of Roman Catholics
believe.
[6] Michael H. Burer, “Review of The Righteousness of God: A Lexical
Examination of the Covenant-Faithfulness Interpretation by Charles Lee Irons,”
BibSac 174 (2017). 383.
[7] Charles Lee Irons, The Righteousness of God: A Lexical
Examination of the Covenant-Faithfulness Interpretation, WUNT II/386 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015) 118-119.
[8] John D. Harvey, Romans (Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2019)
44.
[9] As Paul has also said
in Romans 1:16.
[10] Hodge, 30-32.
[11] Ibid.
[12] C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans, ICC (Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
1975), 1.87–102.
[13] For example in Genesis 15:6; Galatians 3:6; and James 2:2
[14] As per Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16
[15] Online source, https://www.sdmorrison.org/karl-barths-doctrine-faith-cd-iv-1/
Barth says that humans as object of God’s faith/faithfulness and upon receiving
such faith (which is a required response), such faith is translated into works,
which makes the person righteous.
[16] Ibid.
[17] Some would raise this
issue along with freewill, where man chooses God and to have faith in Jesus.
However, it is only through the grace and power of God that free will truly
becomes “free” as God enables a believer to choose salvation (John 15:16). The
Holy Spirit working in and through a believer’s will so as to cause regeneration
(John 1:12-13) dawning to a new nature, restoring him/her in true righteousness
and holiness (Ephesians 4:24). Salvation is God’s work and along with that, our
motives, desires, and actions are voluntary. We are rightly held responsible
for the choices we make.
[18] Quarles summed up some
of the popular early theologians’ interpretation of as “Tertullian
appears to have interpreted Rom. 1:17 as referring to a revelation of the
righteousness of God that moves individuals from confidence in the law to faith
in the gospel. Theodoret interpreted "from faith to faith" as
expressing that the believer's justification depends upon first believing the
prophets and then the gospel. Origen affirmed a similar interpretation
in hiscommentary on Romans. In his second homily on the Epistle to the Romans, John
Chrysostom suggested that "from faith to faith" meant from the
faith of the Old Testament saints to the faith of New Testament believers.
While the interpretations of the early church fathers are different, they share
one important similarity. These early interpreters tended to view "from
faith to faith" as somehow referring to the two great dispensations of
Christian history. Augustine's comments on the passage in The Spirit and
the Letter in A.D. 412 show that he thought "from faith to faith"
meant "from the faith of those who preach the gospel to the faith of those
who obey it.” Charles Quarles. From Faith to Faith: A Fresh Examination of the
Prepositional Series in Romans 1:17 (Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003), 2.
[19] John Taylor. From
Faith to Faith: Romans 1.17 in the Light of Greek Idiom (Cambridge University Press England United Kingdom, 2004). 344.
[20] Taylor, 338.
[21] Ibid. Taylor quotes
Richard Hayes and Douglas Campbell: “According to Richard Hays, this
interpretation of Rom 1.17 is ‘a crucial one for our purposes ’, presumably
because it strengthens the significance of God’s faithfulness in this key
programmatic verse. Douglas Campbell called it the ‘crux interpretum’ of the
whole debate. If it were shown that this reading of Rom 1.17 is faulty, then
the terms of the debate would shift.”
[22] Ibid. 341.
[23] Terry Wardlaw. A Reappraisal of 'From Faith to Faith' (Romans 1:17) 109.
[24] Taylor, 344.
[25] Ibid.
[26] Quarles, 2-3.
[27] Wardlaw, 115.
[28] Ibid.
[29] The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 32:1.
[30] The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 32:2.
[31] Scholars who believe
conditionalism use Biblical verses as 1 Timothy 6:16; Gen 3:19; Gen 6:3; Ps
103:14–18; Ps 90:3–8; Ps 89:48; and Ps 92:7–9.
[32] God’s wrath (Jude 1:7;
2 Pet 2:6) consuming both body and soul (Matt 10:28; James 5:20).
[33] Isa 26:13–14
[34] 1 Cor 15:46–57, “46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but
the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made
of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too
are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are
heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us
also bear the image of the man of heaven.” NET
.
[35] Universal restoration
in a sense that when hell and the reprobate punished are totally annihilated,
what will be left are all good, just like how it all started in the book of
Genesis.
[36] Said that the mortal soul shall be resurrected and preserved by God,
not totally destroyed in hell. Online source: "The Bible Hell".
www.tentmaker.org.
[37] Miriam Van Scott. "Purgatorial Hell". The Encyclopedia of
Hell: A Comprehensive Survey of the Underworld. (St. Martin's Press: 2015) 240.
[38] Other verses confirming
this are Matthew 25:41 and Mark 9:44 where hell was described as “eternal fire”
and “unquenchable fire.”
[39] John 14:6, “Jesus
answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me.”
[40] John 3:16, 18, 36
[41] Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no
other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” And 1 Timothy
2:5 days, “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man
Christ Jesus”. In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” And John 3:16, “For God so
loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.”
[42] Romans 3:28; 5:1; 10:10
[43] Acts 2:38, “ Peter replied, 'Each of you must repent of your sins
and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the
forgiveness of your sins.”
[44] Psalm 25:9, “He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the
humble his way.”
[45] Matthew 4.
[46] Romans 1:16, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s
power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the
Greek.”
