chistory_bdos2
THE BIBLICAL DOCTRINE OF SALVATION
CONTINUED
God’s attitude toward sin is expressed in the Scriptures by the concept of the wrath of God. In both the Old and New Testaments God’s opposition to sin is expressed in terms also used in the description of human emotions of anger, indignation, and wrath. But the wrath of God should not be thought of as an unstable, capricious emotion. It is true that men’s anger is so often such an impulsive passion, usually involving a large element of fickleness together with a lack of self-control. But the wrath of God is not to be so conceived. Neither is it to be thought of as like the anger of the heathen anthropomorphic deities. The writers of the Bible have nothing to do with the pagan concepts of a “capricious and vindictive diety, inflicting arbitrary punishments on offending worshippers, who must then bribe him back to a good mood by the appropriate offerings.” [1]
The Biblical concept of the wrath of God should be thought of as the stern and settled personal reaction of God’s love against sin in man. God’s wrath must be understood in terms of God’s love. Love is that decision of a person loving to act for the good of the person loved. It is not just an emotion, an easy-going, good-natured sentimentalism or good feeling of attraction or fondness for someone. But rather it is a decision of the will. But since the will involves the emotions as well as the intellect, that is, the total person, love is a strong and intensive concern for the well being of the person loved. And it is because of this concern that love may be pictured as a purifying fire, blazing out in fiery wrath against everything evil that hinders the loved one from being the best (Psa. 119:74; Prov. 3:11-12; Heb, 12:5-10; Rev. 3:19). Because of this intense love which is jealous for the good of the loved one, God hates everything that is evil in man (Psa. 5:5; 11:5; Prov. 6:16-19; Jer. 44:4; Heb. 1:13; Zech. 8:16-17). Hence the wrath of God is not opposed to His love. But rather it is the reverse side of His love. God’s wrath is the direct personal opposition of His love to the sin that would destroy man whom He loves.
The wrath of God expresses itself in various ways. With regard to time the wrath of God has two aspects: a present aspect and a future aspect. In the present the wrath of God take various forms depending upon whether it is directed toward idolatrous nations and cultures (Psa. 2:1-6; Hab. 3:12) or idolatrous individuals (Deut. 29:20). With regard to idolatrous nations and cultures, the wrath of God may express itself in the form of famines (Deut. 32:24; Amos 4:10), pestilence (Ex. 9:15; Deut. 29:23; Jer. 9:11; 39:8; Amos 4:11), exile (Deut. 28:36,64; II Kings 17:23; Jer. 16:13; 39:9) and extinction (Deut. 28:48; 32:26). God’s wrath is manifested in the physical world (Nahum 1:36) and will be turned against God’s enemies (Nahum 1:8-10) and their wicked cities like Nineveh (Nahum 3:6-7,15). With regard to idolatrous individuals, the wrath of God may take the form of moral decline (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28), misery (Deut. 28:20, 66-67; Psa. 90:7-10; Rom. 2:9), hardness of heart (Psa. 81:12; Rom. 9:18) and finally physical death (Rom. 1:32). Moral decline is the effect of both idolatry and the wrath of God which is directed against the basic sin (Rom. 1:22-26). According to Rom. 1:18-31 the wrath of God is revealed (Rom. 1:18) in the act of God giving up (Rom. 1:24, 26, 28) those who worship and serve false gods (Rom. 1:25) to the moral consequences and implications of their false gods; that is, the basic sin of idolatry leads to other sins (Rom. 1:28-31). This negative act of God in withholding His grace, which would keep man from moral decline, demonstrates to man the true character of his false gods. It is intended to lead man to repentance and faith in the true God. In the future, the wrath of God will be climactically displayed on the day of wrath and righteous judgment of God against those who refuse to repent and who harden their hearts (Rom. 2:5). This will take place when Jesus Christ shall return again (II Thess. 1:7-9; Rev. 19:15; cf. Rev. 14:19).The wrath of God is directed against sin in any form (Jer. 21:12; Ezek. 8:17-18; 22:29, 31; Rom. 1:18). But it is particularly directed against the sin of idolatry.
“You shall not go after other gods, the gods of peoples who are round about you; for the Lord your God in the midst of you is a jealous God; lest the anger of the Lord your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you off the face of the earth.”
(Deut. 6:14-15) (See also Deut. 4:25-26; 29:25-28; Joshua 23:15-16; Isa. 66:15-17; Jer. 11:11-13; 19:3-4; 44:2-6; Ex. 32:10, 35; Num. 25:3; Lam. 3:42-43; Judges 2:11-15; II Kings 17:9-12; 15-18.)
The wrath of God is directed particularly against the sin of idolatry because it is the basic sin. But more fundamentally it is directed against this sin because of the effect that a false god has upon the one who chooses it as his god. A false god puts its worshippers into bondage by reducing and ultimately destroying their freedom of choice. It reduces his freedom of choice by limiting his options as well as his reasons for his choice. Some false gods totally eliminate some areas of life from its followers consideration. Thus a false god circumscribes and restricts the freedom of choice of the person who chooses it as his god; it acts as a frustrating limitation, a ball and chain upon the exercise of the freedom of its worshipper. But a false god also destroys the freedom of its worshipper by denying his freedom. Since a false god has limited or no freedom (no power of choice or self-determination), such a god implicitly and/or explicitly denies the reality of its follower’s freedom of choice. Thus having used his freedom to give this god his ultimate allegiance, the worshipper finds his freedom denied to the point of extinction and himself bound in a miserable slavery. As long as the false god remains his ultimate criterion of decision, he will not have the grounds for rejecting that god, since that god has not allowed him to have freedom of choice to do so. His power of choice having been effectively taken away from him; he is unable to reject the false god and free himself from its bondage. This is the bondage of sin (John 8:34; Prov. 5:22). Man becomes a slave of sin when he gives his ultimate allegiance and devotion to a false god. In fact, the false god is sin personified as a slavemaster (Rom. 6:16).
The true God, on the other hand, preserves and fulfills the freedom of the one who chooses and worships Him. Since the true God is a living God (Jer. 10:5-15; I Thess. 1:9), that is, a being that has the power of self-determination, with unlimited freedom, He can preserve His worshipper’s freedom. When this Being who has such freedom is made the ultimate criterion of one’s decisions, one’s freedom of choice may be exercised without restriction or frustrating limitation. His freedom is not denied or taken away from him. But more importantly, the true God not only preserves the freedom of the one who chooses and worships Him but also fulfills the freedom of the one who commits and devotes himself to Him. This He does by loving him; that is, by acting toward him for his highest good. Now man’s highest good is the true God; He alone can preserve the freedom of the one who chooses Him. For when a man chooses the true God as his God, he has found his highest good and obtained true happiness (Prov. 16:20; Psa. 40:4; 84:12; 144:15; Jer. 17:7, etc.). Because the true God is love (I John 4:8, 16), He acts toward man in such a way as to bring man to the choice of man’s highest good, that is, the true God, and hence the fulfillment of his freedom. One way He does this is by directly opposing (i.e., the wrath of God) man’s choice of a false god (the sin of idolatry). Since idolatry not only destroys man’s freedom but is an obstacle to God’s love which would fulfill man’s freedom, the wrath of God is directed against this particular sin. But wrath is not the only way that God in His love deals with man’s sin. The wrath of God is not the only nor the last word about what God has said or done concerning man’s sin. God’s wrath is His strange work.
“The Lord will rise up as on Mount Perazim, he will be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon; to do his deed strange is his deed! and to work his work alien is his work!” (Isa. 28:21)
Wrath is that act of His love that is alien to the way God wishes to act. He desires to act toward man in mercy and grace (Psa. 103:9-12; Micah 7:18-19). In mercy He desires to turn away His wrath and forgive man’s sin (Psa. 85:2-3). And in grace He desires to remove the sin which causes His wrath. This is the other way that God in His love deals with man’s sin. Thus, God deals with man’s sin in two ways: in His wrath He opposes the sin, and in His grace He removes it. The grace of God is the love of God in action to bring man salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:4-9). In this second way God fulfills man’s freedom; He removes the idolatry which would destroy man’s freedom. And this He does by removing the cause of sin death through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus God sets him free from the bondage of sin, the slavery to a false god, and brings him into the freedom of righteousness, the righteousness of faith. Faith in the true God is righteousness because it relates us rightly to Him (Rom. 4:3-5). In this right relationship to the true God, man’s freedom is fulfilled and man is truly free. “So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” (John 8:36)
As we have seen, therefore, the wrath of God is not opposed to His love. But rather it is one of the two ways in which God in His love deals with man’s sin. God’s wrath as well as His grace is an expression of His love. There is no eternal principle of divine retribution (justice) in God which causes His wrath. Since God is love, the wrath of God must be understood in terms of His love as the direct personal opposition of His love to sin that would destroy the one whom He loves. Wrath is the reaction of His love to sin. The cause of God’s wrath is not in God; it is external to God and in the sin of man. And as long as man remains in sin, so long does the wrath of God remain upon him (John 3:36).
Man is under the wrath of God because of his sin of idolatry (Rom. 1:18-25); that is, the wrath of God is caused by sin; it is a direct consequence of each man’s own sin. But since man is a sinner as a consequence of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:19a), then the wrath of God is also a result of Adam’s sin (Rom. 5:18a; note that condemnation is the same as wrath). But it is only indirectly, not directly, a result of Adam’s sin. For all men are sinners only indirectly as a consequence of Adam’s sin. They are sinners directly because of the spiritual death (Rom. 5:12d ERS; Gal.4:8), which they have received from Adam (Rom. 5:12c; I Cor. 15:22). Sin is the direct consequence of spiritual death and hence only an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin (only the spiritual and physical death came directly from Adam). And since man is a sinner as an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin, then the wrath of God (condemnation) is also an indirect consequence of Adam’s sin. Condemnation is not the direct result of Adam’s sin; that is, man is not condemned because of Adam’s sin but because of his own personal sin, his own choice of a false god. The cause of the wrath of God is the sin of each individual man (Ezek. 18:1-4, 14-20).
The activity of the wrath of God is not an impersonal law of retribution or the inevitable moral effect of sin, as advocated by C. H. Dodd. [2] The wrath of God is God’s personal reaction to man’s sin. This is seen in the Old Testament writers’ use of strong personal terms when speaking of the wrath of God.
“O God, Thou has rejected us. Thou hast broken us; Thou has been angry; … Thou hast made the land quake; Thou hast made Thy people experience hardship; Thou hast given us wine to drink that make us stagger.” (Psa. 60:13)
“Behold, the name of the Lord comes from a remote place; Burning is His anger, and dense is His smoke; His lips are filled with indignation, and His tongue is like a consuming fire; And His breath is like an overflowing torrent, Which reaches to the neck, To shake the nations back and forth in a sieve, And to put in the jaws of the peoples the bridle which leads to ruin … And the Lord will cause His voice of authority to be heard. And the descending of His arm to be seen, And in the flame of a consuming fire,
In a cloudburst, downpour, and hailstones, For at the voice of the Lord Assyria will be terrified, When He strikes with the rod.”
(Isa. 30:27-28, 30-31)“The anger of the Lord will not turn back Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; …” (Jer. 23:20)
“Now I will shortly pour out My wrath on you, and send My anger against you, judge you according to your ways, and bring on you all your abominations. And My eye will show no pity, nor will I spare. I will repay you according to your ways, while your abominations are in your midst; then you will know that I, the Lord, do the smiting.” (Ezek. 7:8-9).
The psalmist and prophets could hardly have expressed more strongly the personal aspect of God’s wrath. The wrath of God in these passages is definitely not an impersonal, inexorable law of moral retribution. God personally wills His deeds of wrath against man’s sin. And because God is so personally active in His deeds of wrath, He can exercise His mercy, allowing His wrath to be turned away.
“He will not always chide, nor will He keep His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sin, nor requite us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.” (Psa. 103:912)
“Thou didst forgive the iniquity of Thy people; Thou didst cover all their sin. Thou didst withdraw all Thy fury; Thou didst turn away from Thy burning anger.” (Psa. 85:23)
“Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His inheritance? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in lovingkindness. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot. Yes, Thou wilt cast all our sins into the depth of the sea.” (Micah 7:18-20)
(See also Exodus 34:67; Numbers 14:18; Neh. 9:17; Psa. 30:5; 86:15; 145:8; Isa. 57:16; Lam. 3:22-23; Joel 2:12-13; Jonah 4:2; Nahum 1:23.)
That God will have mercy, turning away His wrath, is not contradicted by the statement that “the anger of the Lord will not turn back” (Jer. 23:10), for this does not mean that He is implacable, only that He is not diverted from His purposes by puny man. “The anger of the Lord will not be turned back until He has performed and carried out the purpose of His heart…” (Jer. 23:20). This statement is just a denial of the pagan idea that God will accept a bribe to appease His anger. [3]
The means by which God’s wrath may be turned aside involves the purging of the sin. This may be done, for example, by completely destroying the offending city (Deut. 13:15-17), slaying those who had sinned as at Baal-Peor (Num. 25:4), releasing captives (II Chron. 28:11-13), putting away heathen wives (Ezra 10:14). The putting away of sin involves a change of heart attitude, repentance (Jonah 3:7, 10), humbling oneself (II Chron. 12:7), circumcising the heart (Jer. 4:4) and doing judgment (Jer. 21:12). It is the absence of this inward change of heart and attitude and the corresponding outward change in actions that brought about the rejection and condemnation by the psalmists and prophets of the divinely appointed system of offerings and sacrifices. And Samuel said, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.” (I Sam. 15:22)
“For Thou dost not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; A broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” (Psa. 51:16-17)
“For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6) (See also Psa. 4:5; 40:6-8; 50:7-23; 69:30-31; Prov. 15:8; 21:3; Isa. 1:11-17; Jer. 7:21-26; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 6:6-8.)
These divinely appointed offerings and sacrifices were intended to be a means of turning away God’s wrath, but the absence of a correct inward heart attitude and the corresponding correct outward actions made them into an empty ritual and an abomination to God. Without repentance and faith they ceased to be an atonement or means of propitiation. [4] The Old Testament sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11). On the contrary, there is in those sacrifices a continual remembrance of sin year by year (Heb. 10:3). That is, the worshippers, not having been cleansed of their sins, still have a consciousness of sin (Heb. 10:2). Therefore, those that draw near could never be made perfect by those sacrifices (Heb. 10:1).
But Christ has put away sin once for all by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 9:26; 10:12), and has made perfect them that are being sanctified or set apart to God (Heb. 10:14). Now there is no more remembrance of sins (Heb. 10:17), since those drawing near having been cleansed from their sins have no more consciousness of sins (Heb. 10:22). It was to accomplish our cleansing from sin that Christ “gave Himself for our sins” (Gal. 1:4) and “died for our sins” (I Cor. 15:3). God has acted in Jesus Christ to redeem us from sin.Now that God has redeemed us from sin, we also are delivered from the wrath of God. Salvation is not only deliverance from sin but also deliverance from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9). God put forth Jesus Christ as a propitiation through faith in His blood (Rom. 3:25). The death of Jesus Christ is a propitiation because it is the means that God has appointed for turning away His wrath from man. While God in His love could have mercy on man and turn away His wrath from man (Psa. 78:38; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:19-20), He has appointed means whereby His wrath will be turned away. In the Old Testament God’s appointed means for turning away His wrath were the sacrifices and offerings. When these sacrifices were offered in true repentance and faith, they were an atonement or propitiation. But these sacrifices could never take away sin (Heb. 10:4, 11); that is, they could not bring about repentance and faith because they could not make alive (Gal. 3:21). The Old Testament sacrifices could not reconcile man to God. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ man is reconciled to God and his sins are taken away. And since then there are no sins to cause wrath, the wrath of God is turned away. Thus Christ’s death is the perfect sacrifice for turning away God’s wrath because by it man is redeemed from sin. Christ’s death is a propitiation because it is a redemption; it is both a propitiation and a redemption. Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of Christ’s work of salvation and redemption is the liberation aspect of His work of salvation. And it is a propitiation and a redemption because it is a reconciliation to God. Being made alive to God, the cause of sin and wrath has been removed.
Because God loves us, He has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath. Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is basically from death to life and then from sin to righteousness and then from wrath to peace with God. Reconcilation is salvation from death to life; redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace. These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Propitiation is the sacrificial aspect of His work, redemption is the liberation aspect, and reconciliation is the representative aspect of His work of salvation. The Gospel tells us about this act of God in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And in the preaching of the Gospel God exerts His power for the salvation of men by bringing them to faith in Jesus Christ (Rom. 1:16).
ENDNOTES FOR “SALVATION FROM WRATH TO PEACE”
[1] Leon Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1956), p. 181.
[2] C. H. Dodd, The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
(London: Fontana Books, 1960), pp. 49-50.
[3] Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 135.
[4] Morris, The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 160.
The righteousness of God in the Scriptures is not an attribute of God whereby He must render to each what is he has merited nor a quantity of merit which God gives, but is act or activity of God whereby He puts or sets right that which is wrong. [1] Very often in the Old Testament the Hebrew noun, tsedeq and tsedaqah, is derived from the Hebrew verb, tsadaq. [2] Although it is usually translated “to be righteous” or “to be justified,” the verb has the primary meaning “to be in the right” rather than “to be righteous.” (Gen. 38:26; Job 11:2; 34:5) [3] The causative form of the verb (hitsdiq) generally translated “to justify” means not “to make righteous” nor “to declare righteous” but rather “to put in the right” or “to set right.” (Ezekiel 16:51-55). Thus it very often has the meaning “to vindicate” or “to give redress to” a person who has suffered wrong. Thus the Hebrew noun (tsedeq) usually translated “righteousness” means an act of vindication or of giving redress. When applied to God, the righteousness of God is God acting to put right the wrong, hence to vindicate and to deliver the oppressed. Thus in the Old Testament the righteousness of God is the action of God for the vindication and deliverance of His people; it is the activity in which God saves His people by rescuing them from their oppressors.
“In thee, O Lord, do I seek refuge; let me never be put to shame; in thy righteousness deliver me!” (Psa. 31:1)
“In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me; incline thy ear to me, and save me!” (Psa. 71:2)
“For thy name’s sake, O Lord, preserve my life! In thy righteousness bring me out of trouble! And in thy steadfast love cut off my enemies, and destroy all my adversaries, for I am thy servant.” (Psa. 143:1112)
Thus the righteousness of God is often a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God. In the Old Testament this is clearly shown by the literary device of parallelism which is a characteristic of Hebrew poetry. [4] Parallelism may be defined as that Hebrew literary device in which the thought and idea in one clause is repeated and amplified in a second and following clause. This parallelism of Hebrew poetry clearly shows that Hebrew poets and prophets made the righteousness of God synonymous with divine salvation:
“The Lord hath made known His salvation: His righteousness hath he openly showed in the sight of the heathen.”
(Psa. 98:2 KJV)“I bring near my righteousness, it shall not be far off, and my salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel my glory.” (Isa. 46:13 KJV)
“My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.” (Isa. 51:5 KJV)
“Thus saith the Lord, keep ye judgment and do justice [righteousness]: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.” (Isa. 56:1 KJV) (See also Psa. 71:12, 15; 119:123; Isa. 45:8; 61:10; 62:1)
From these verses it is clear that righteousness of God is a synonym for the salvation or deliverance of God. The righteous acts of the Lord, or more literally, the righteousnesses of the Lord, referred to in Judges 5:11; I Sam. 12:7-11; Micah 6:3-5; Psa. 103:6-8; Dan. 9:15-16 means the acts of vindication or deliverance which the Lord has done for His people, giving them victory over their enemies. It is in this sense that God is called “a just [righteous] God and a Savior” (Isa. 45:21) and “the Lord our righteousness” (Jer. 23:5-6; 33:15-16).A judge or ruler is “righteous” in the Hebrew meaning of the word not because he observes and upholds an abstract standard of Justice, but rather because he comes to the assistance of the injured person and vindicates him. For example, in Psalm 82:24:
“How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Vindicate the weak and fatherless; do justice [judgment] to the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and needy; deliver them out of the hand of the wicked.”
(See also Psa. 72:4; 76:9; 103:6; 146:7; Isa. 1:17.)
For the judge to act this way is to show righteousness. A judge in the Old Testament is not one whose business it is to interpret the existing law or to give an impartial verdict in accordance with the established law of the land, but rather he is a deliverer and thus a leader and savior as in the book of Judges (Judges 1:16-17; 3:9-10). His duty and delight is to set things right, to right the wrong; his “judgments” are not words but acts, not legal verdicts but the very active use of God’s right arm. The two functions of a judge are given in Psalm 75:7:
“But God is the judge: he puts down one and exalts another.”
Since this a statement concerning God as a judge, it could be taken as a general definition of a Biblical judge. In Psa. 72:1-4 these two functions of Biblical judge are given to the king of Israel.
“Give the king thy justice [judgment], O God, and thy righteousness to the royal son! May he judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with justice [judgment]! Let the mountains bear prosperity for the people, and the hills, in righteousness! May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, and give deiverance to the needy, and crush the oppressor!”
These same two functions are ascribed to the future ruler of Israel, the Messiah, according to Isaiah 11:35.
“And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what His eyes see, or decide by what His ears hear; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with a rod of His mouth; and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist
and faithfulness the girdle of His loins.”
His righteousness is shown in the vindication of those who are the victims of evil, the poor and meek of the earth. The righteousness of God is not opposed to the love of God nor does it condition it. On the contrary, it is a part of and the proper expression of God’s love. It is the activity of God’s love to set right the wrong. In the Old Testament this is shown by the parallelism between love and righteousness.
“But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him, and His righteousness to children’s children.” (Psa. 103:17). (See also Psa. 33:5; 36:56; 40:10; 89:14.)
God expresses His love as righteousness in the activity by which He saves His people from their sins. In His wrath, He opposes the sin that would destroy man whom He loves. In His grace, He removes the sin: the grace of God is the love of God in action to bring salvation (Titus 2:11; Eph. 2:8). Thus the grace of God may properly be called the righteousness of God. For in His love, God acts to deliver His people from their sins, setting them right with Himself.
The righteousness of God is God acting in love for the salvation or deliverance of man. God has acted in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the salvation of man from death, sin and wrath. Since wrath is caused by sin (Rom. 1:18) and sin by death (Rom. 5:12d ERS), salvation is basically from death to life and then from sin to righteousness and then from wrath to peace with God. Reconciliation is salvation from death to life; redemption is salvation from sin to righteousness; and propitiation is salvation from wrath to peace. These three aspects of salvation are accomplished through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This threefold act of God for the salvation of man is the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God (salvation) has been manifested (publicly displayed) in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:21-26). The gospel tells us about this act of God, about this manifestation of the righteousness of God. In the preaching of the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed or actualized (Rom. 1:17). That is, God is exerting His power for the salvation of man in the preaching of the gospel (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is not only about the righteousness of God manifested in the past on our behalf, but in the gospel the righteousness of God is being continually revealed in the present.
“For in it [the gospel] the righteousness of God is being revealed from faith unto faith” (Rom. 1:17a ERS).
Revelation in this verse is not just a disclosure of truth to be understood by the mind, but it is a working that makes effective and actual that which is revealed. [5] Hence, the revelation of the righteousness of God is that working of God that makes effective and actual that which is revealed, the righteousness of God. In other words, this revelation of the righteousness of God is the actualization of God’s salvation. And the righteousness of God is revealed when the salvation of God is made actual and real, that is, when salvation or deliverance takes place. In the preaching of the gospel there is taking place continually an actualization of the righteousness of God. That is, salvation or deliverance is taking place as the gospel is preached. This is the reason that the gospel is the power of God unto salvation. (Rom. 1:16. Compare Rom. 1:16-17 with Isa. 56:1 which is no doubt the source of Paul’s concepts and words in these verses.)
ENDNOTES FOR “THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD”
[1] Alan Richardson,
An Introduction to the Theology of the New Testament
(New York: Harper & Brothers, 1958), pp. 79-83, 232-233.
[2] C. H. Dodd,
The Epistle of Paul to the Romans
(London and Glasgow: Fontana Books, 1959), p. 38.
[3] C. H. Dodd, The Bible and the Greeks
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1964), p. 46.
[4] Edward J. Young, An Introduction to the Old Testament
(Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1950), pp. 281-282.
See also Gleason L. Archer, Jr.,
A Survey of Old Testament Introduction
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1964), pp. 418-420.
[5] Burton on Galations in the ICC in contrasting phaneroo and apokalupto points out that
“for some reason apokalupto has evidently come to be used especially of a subjective revelation, which either takes place wholly within the mind of the individual receiving it, or is subjective in the sense that it is accompanied by actual perception and results in knowledge on his part: Rom. 8:18; I Cor. 2:10; 14:30; Eph. 3:5.”
Ernest deWitt Burton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galations, in The International Critical Commentary
(New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1896), p. 433.
He goes on to say that “phaneroo throws emphasis on the fact that that which is manifested is objectively clear, open to perception. It is thus suitably used of an open and public announcement, disclosure or exhibition: I Cor. 4:15; II Cor. 2:14; 4:10 11; Eph. 5:13.” Ibid.
The use of the word apokalupto by Paul in Rom. 1:17 thus seems to place an emphasis on something happening to the individual receiving the revelation. The word “subjective” is probably not the right word to use to describe this event because it suggests that the source of revelation is from within the individual, the subject. Clearly the revelation that Paul is speaking of is from without the individual, from God. But it does make a difference, a change; a response does take place in the person receiving the revelation. It does bring about that which is revealed, salvation.
Faith is the actualization of the salvation of God. Faith is not the means nor the condition of salvation but is the actualization of salvation. Salvation is not a thing which is received by faith but is God’s activity of deliverance which produces faith and is accomplished in that faith. This is expressed by Paul in Romans 1:17 in a twofold way: “from faith unto faith”.
1. Faith is the source of the revelation of the righteousness of God: “from faith”. The revelation of the righteousness of God arises out of or comes out of faith. The righteousness of God does not come from faith; it comes from God. God is the source of the righteousness of God; it is what He does. But the revelation is from faith. That is, faith is the actualization or revelation of the deliverance of God. The righteousness of God is revealed only when the one to whom the revelation comes has faith. Without faith there is no revelation, and only when there is faith has the revelation taken place. In this sense, faith is the source of the revelation of the righteousness of God.
2. Faith is the goal of the revelation of the righteousness of God: “unto faith”. The revelation of the righteousness of God moves toward and is accomplished in faith. When a man has faith, the deliverance of God has reached its goal. Faith then is the goal of the revelation of the righteousness of God.
In salvation God does not give us something but gives us Himself, and faith is not the receiving of something but is the receiving of Him. In salvation God does not just reveal something about Himself but reveals Himself. Apart from this personal revelation faith is impossible, but when this revelation take place, faith is possible. Since “faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom. 10:17) and is not of ourselves but is the gift of God (Eph. 2:8), faith is the product of God’s activity of the revelation of Himself. This revelation takes place in the preaching of the gospel. For the gospel is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). The gospel is not only about salvation (Eph. 1:13), but it is the power of God unto salvation. When the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are saved. This act of God’s power through the preaching of the gospel takes the form of the personal revelation of God Himself and His love. For He is love (I John 4:8, 16). Those who believe in response to this revelation are through this decision of faith realizing the power of God unto salvation, and in this decision of faith they are saved. To believe is to be saved, and to be saved is to believe.
In this decision of faith those who believe are saved from death to life. To have faith in God is to believe in Jesus Christ, His Son (John 14:1; 6:29; 8:42; 5:38). And to believe in Jesus Christ is to receive spiritual life. For Jesus is the life (John 5:26; 6:33-35, 38-40, 57-58). “And this is the testimony that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who has not the Son of God has not life” (I John 5:11-12). To have life is to have passed from death to life. Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life” (John 5:24). The one who believes has passed from death to life because he has in the decision of faith also identified himself with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christ identified Himself with us in death; He entered into our spiritual death on the cross and died physically for us. His death was our death. In faith we accept His death as our death and identify ourselves with His death. But since God has raised Jesus from the dead, so also are we made alive with Christ. His resurrection was our resurrection. In faith we identify ourselves with Him and His resurrection.
To receive life in Christ is to be raised from the dead with Him. To pass from death to life is to have died and been raised with Jesus from the dead. We are now spiritually alive in Him. We have entered into fellowship with God and are now reconciled to God. As the gospel is preached, God exerts His power and men are made alive, raised from the dead. “Truly, truly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (John 5:25). When the good news of the death and resurrection of Jesus for us is proclaimed, God speaks to men, revealing Himself in Jesus Christ. Those who hear and believe in Jesus are made alive in Him, being raised from the dead. They are reconciled to God (II Cor. 5:20). They are saved from death to life.But in the decision of faith men are not only saved from death to life but also from sin to righteousness. To have faith in God is to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. In general, faith is not just belief that certain statements are true but is one’s commitment and allegiance to something or someone as one’s own personal ultimate criterion of all decisions, intellectual and moral. Saving faith in Jesus Christ is the commitment of oneself to Jesus Christ as one’s own personal ultimate criterion (“My Lord and my God,” John 20:28). The living person, the resurrected Jesus Christ, not just what He taught, in the decision of faith becomes our ultimate criterion. This is what it means to acknowledge Jesus as Lord. This decision of faith is a turning from false gods (idols) to the living and true God (I Thess. 1:10). As faith in a false god is sin, so faith in the true God is righteousness.”… ‘Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned to him as righteousness.’… But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is reckoned as righteousness.” (Rom. 4:3,5; NAS). To believe God that He raised Jesus from the dead is to be righteous.
“Now not for his sake only was it written, that is was reckoned to him, but for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.” (Rom. 4:23-24; NAS).
To acknowledge and confess Jesus as Lord is to believe God that He raised Him from the dead.
“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation”
(Rom. 10:9-10; NAS).
To believe God that He raised from the dead Jesus who in faith we confess as Lord is to be righteous. Thus, this decision of faith is salvation from sin to righteousness. But in this decision of faith men are not only saved from death to life and from sin to righteousness but also from wrath to peace. Since the wrath of God God’s “no” or opposition to sin is caused by sin (trust in a false god) (Rom.1:18), the removal of this sin brings with it also the removal of the wrath of God; no sin, no wrath. Now faith in Christ is also faith in the death of Christ for us; his death is our death. Since Christ’s death was the means that God has provided for turning away His wrath his death is a propitiation for our sins, faith in Christ’s death turns away God’s wrath.
“Being set right freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood ….” (Rom. 3:24-25; ERS).
Faith in Christ’s death (his blood) turns away God’s wrath, since God has appointed his sacrificial death as the means to turn away His wrath. The result is peace with God; God is no longer opposed to man’s sin, since the sin has been removed by Christ’s death and resurrection.
“Being therefore set right by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Rom. 5:1; ERS).
“Much more then, being set right by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Rom. 5:9; ERS).
Thus, this decision of faith is also salvation from wrath to peace with God.
The revelation of the righteousness of God (Rom. 1:17) is also called justification (Rom. 3:24). As we have seen the righteousness of God is the act or activity of God whereby God sets man right with God Himself. Hence the revelation of the righteousness of God is this act of setting right, and this act of setting right is called justification. Justification is not just a pronouncement about something but is an act that brings about something; it is not just a declaration that a man is righteous before God but is a setting of a man right with God: a bringing him into a right relationship with God. Justification is then essentially salvation: to justify is to save (Isa. 45:25; 53:11; see Rom. 6:7 where dikaioo is translated “freed” in RSV). [1] This close relationship between these two concepts is more obvious in the Greek because the words translated “justification” and “righteousness” have the same roots, not two different roots as do the two English words.
There is a difference between justification in the Old Testament and that in the New Testament. In the Old Testament, justification is the vindication of the righteous who are suffering wrong (Ex. 23:7). God justifies, that is, vindicates the righteous who are wrongfully oppressed. This justification requires a real righteousness of the people on whose part it is done. In Isa. 51:7, the promise of deliverance is addressed to those “who know righteousness, the people in whose hearts is my law.” Similarly, in order to share in the promised vindication, the wicked must forsake his ways and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and return unto the Lord (Isa. 55:7). However, in the New Testament, justification is not only a vindication of a righteous people who are being wrongfully oppressed but it is also a deliverance of the people from their own sins. Thus, Paul says that God is He “that justifies the ungodly” (Rom. 4:5). In the New Testament, justification is not just a vindication of the righteous who has been wronged (this view is in Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 5:6; 6:33; Luke 18:7), but it is also the salvation of the ungodly who is delivered from his ungodliness and unrighteousness. [2] But justification not only saves the ungodly from their sins, it also brings them into the righteousness of faith. To be set right with God is to have faith in God.
“Abraham believed God, and it [his faith] was reckoned unto him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:3, 9; cf. Rom. 10:9; Phil. 3:9).
Justification as God’s act of setting man right with Himself brings man into faith, which is to be set right with God. Thus justification is
through faith (dia pisteos, Rom. 3:30; Gal. 2:16) and out of or from faith (ek pisteos, Rom. 3:26, 30; Gal. 2:16; 3:8, 24). But justification as salvation is not only the deliverance from sin to righteousness but also the deliverance from wrath to peace and from death to life. Justification as deliverance from wrath to peace is set forth by the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:24-25:
“24 Being justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth to be a propitiation, through faith in His blood ….” (Rom. 3:24-25 ERS; see also Isa. 32:17)
Here Paul connects justification with the liberation aspect of salvation, redemption, and the sacrificial aspect of salvation, propitiation. Redemption is the deliverance from sin by the payment of a price called a ransom which is the death of Jesus Christ. And propitiation is the deliverance from the wrath by the sacrificial death of Jesus (“His blood”) which turns away or averts the wrath of God through faith in that sacrifice (“through faith in His blood”). Christ’s death as a propitiation turns away God’s wrath from the one who has faith in that sacrifice. The wrath is turned away because the sin has been taken away (“forgiveness”) by the death of Christ as a ransom, by which a man is redeemed or set free, delivered from sin. When sin has been removed, there is no cause for God’s wrath. No sin, no wrath. Man is saved from wrath because he is saved from sin. Being justified freely by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:1) Much more then, being justified by His blood, we shall be saved through Him from the wrath of God (Rom. 5:9).
Justification is also deliverance from death to life. Man is delivered from sin to the righteousness of faith because he is delivered from death to life. As sinners, we were enemies of God, but through the death of God’s Son we have been reconciled to God and are now no longer enemies. To be reconciled to God means we have passed from death to life and we are saved in His resurrected life (Rom. 5:10; see II Cor. 5:17-21). We are delivered from death by being “made alive together with Him” in His resurrection (Eph. 2:5). He was “raised for our justification” (Rom. 4:25). Thus justification is justification of life (Rom. 5:18 KJV). To be set right with God is to enter into fellowship with God. And this right relationship to God is life. Justification puts us into right relationship to God and hence is a justification of life. Fellowship with God is established when God reveals Himself to man and man responds to that revelation in faith. Life is a relationship between God and man that results from this revelation and the faith response to it. Apart from this revelation the response of faith is not possible, and this revelation is the offer of life and the possibility of faith. But life is not actual unless man responds in faith to this revelation of God Himself. Life is received in the act of faith. Since God’s act of revelation is first, and man’s response in faith is second and depends upon God’s revelation, life results in the righteousness of faith and man is righteous because of life. Justification as the revelation of the righteousness of God brings about life and the righteousness of faith.
Justification is the free act of God’s grace (Rom. 3:24; Titus 3:7). The source of justification is the love of God. And the love of God in action to bring man salvation is the grace of God (Titus 2:11). Hence, justification is the true expression of the grace of God and the act of the love of God. Because justification is a gift (Rom. 3:24; 5:15-17), justification is free and is not something that can be earned (Rom. 4:4; 11:6). Being a free act of God’s grace, justification has nothing to do with the works of the law (Rom. 3:20, 28; 4:6; Gal. 2:16; 3:11; see also Eph. 2:2-9; Phil. 3:9; 2 Tim. 1:9; Tit. 3:5).