Let’s read our text emphasizing our subject and its relationships – “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of GOD’S righteousness, and going about to establish their OWN righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of GOD. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. For Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the LAW, That the man which doeth those things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of FAITH speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:) Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.) But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Without pretending to be very thorough, let’s think about the phrase “the righteousness of….. I thought about making this a chronological survey, but that might tend to minimize one important point. Righteousness has meaning only as it relates to the Lord.
I also said last week that since we are fallen creatures and completely without personal righteousness, it is impossible for us to fully understand the Lord’s righteousness. And yet, we are responsible for that knowledge – or maybe I should say our lack of knowledge. Turn to Micah 6:1-5 – “Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD’S controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.” The fact that Paul says that Israel was ignorant of God’s righteous in the establishment of their own, indicates that they were responsible for their ignorance. They should have known the righteousness of God. Although I didn’t count them, there are hundreds of verses making reference to the righteousness of God. In Psalm 71, we read, “I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more. My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.”
This divine righteousness, puts all other righteousnesses into perspective. The other day we got a snow storm, which evidently set all kinds of records for the amount of snow dropped in a 24 hour period – 35.6 inches in our area. Whereas some of you used to talk about the snows of 1990 or some other year, now all the future comparisons will be to the storm of late 2008. “I remember back to December in the year ’08 which was the grandmother of all storms.” As this storm might become the standard by which to measure future storms, the righteousness of the Lord is the standard of all righteousness.
As you know this entire Psalm 119 is a long hymn of praise to God for His Word. In essence David says that God’s Word is righteous, just like the Lord Himself. This statement declares that the character of the Word is as perfect and holy as its divine author, which is what we should expect considering its divine Source. But some commentators draw additional conclusions – The Word of God is the means of publishing the righteousness of God – our source of knowledge. And these are righteous testimonies because they declare what is required of us – righteousness.
If God requires righteousness in us, and we can’t learn of righteousness by any other means, how important does that make the Word of God?
On the other hand, turn to Romans 8:1 – “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” Please notice that Paul doesn’t dismiss or completely condemn the righteousness of the law. Remember that the source of the law is Jehovah – the righteous God. He says elsewhere that the law is holy, just and good. The problem with the righteousness of the Law is not some sort of unrighteousness in itself. Its problem is its inability to save people who are already unrighteous and condemned to eternal death. There is a sense in which the righteousness of the Law is actually a blessing given to the saints of God.
Is there anyone over the age of ten in this room at this moment, who believes that I am perfect? Those who know me best would be the quickest say that David Oldfield is slightly less than a perfect man. I am not a perfect father, a perfect husband, a perfect pastor, a perfect provider or a perfect model. I am a perfect grandfather, but both Nikolai and Sahalie is under the age of ten. As quickly as this might be said of me, it could said of you as well, depending on the standards by which we measure. Despite this problem, Proverbs 11:5 says that there ARE perfect people and righteousness directs them. How do we explain that?
We explain it with Isaiah 5:23 and the doctrine of justification. Isaiah referred to “the righteousness of the righteous.” He seems to be saying that there is a righteousness which flows out of righteous people. But how can anyone become righteous? Through the imputation of righteousness to them by God. As we have seen, Romans 5 is a thorough study of justification. Justification is the imputation of God’s righteousness to the account of, and to soul of, specific sinners. Romans 5:17 – “For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.” The One, whose obedience makes righteousness possible is the Lord Jesus Christ – the Saviour.
And this brings up another small, but important point. II Peter begins with these words: “Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Peter was writing his letter to Christian people – to people who had received the same precious faith as the Apostles themselves. And he says that faith was coupled to the righteousness of God. But it wasn’t just the righteousness of God, but of our Saviour as well. Indirectly, we have another small testimony to the deity of Christ Jesus and His unity with God the Father. The righteousness of God is also the righteousness of Christ, not by gift or delegation, but by eternal union.
This phrase “the righteousness of faith” is common enough in the Bible that there should be no confusion about its meaning. This isn’t saying that faith in itself is a righteous thing. Nor is it saying that when people put their faith in the Lord, they are becoming righteous in themselves. The righteousness of faith refers to the righteousness which God grants to those who repent of their sins and who put their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As I said earlier, the Jews love Abraham, and just about everything about him. And they note that Abraham had been given the obligation of circumcision, so they practice circumcision. They even think that this circumcision is the way that they inherit the eternal blessings of Abraham. This forced Paul to reply in Romans 4:9 – “we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.”
What is the righteousness which is of faith? It is righteousness which belongs to Christ – which is intrinsic to Him – which is a part of His being, His nature. It is also the righteousness of God the Father, because Christ and the Father are one. God’s saints also are said to be righteous, because the Lord gracious makes and declares them to be righteous. And it is the righteousness of faith, because that is in a sense the means by which sinners receive the righteousness of God.