Bible Study, Romans: "The Righteous Will Live by Faith"

In this one verse, Romans 1:17, the whole theme of the letter that Paul writes to Roman church stands. This is the foundation on which he develops his whole theme, the theme being, there is a righteousness that comes by faith and not by deeds.

In the previous verse, Paul mentions that the Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone, both Jews and the Gentiles. And in this Gospel, he goes on to explain, a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness by faith. To support his point Paul quotes Old Testament (OT) book Habakkuk, chapter 2 verse 4, “but the righteous will live by his faith.”

The keywords in this most important verse are ‘righteousness,’ and ‘faith.’ Let’s spend some time meditating on these two words.

Paul says ‘in the Gospel, a righteousness from God is revealed.’ What is this ‘righteousness from God’? Righteousness is one of the most prominent attributes of our God, mentioned in many scriptural verses from the OT.

One will observe that the righteousness of God is always associated with His justice. “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne,” says Psalm 97:2. Further the Psalmist mentions that “He will judge the world in righteousness.” Ps. 9:8. It is a moral attribute as well as a divine activity.

The Hebrew word from which this word righteousness is derived, tsadhaq, a verb, primarily means ‘to be in the right,’ or ‘give redressal to’ a person who has suffered wrong. It is closely linked with the sense of justice, where by a ruler or a judge is considered righteous, if he vindicates the cause of the wronged person. He vindicates the right.

God is righteous in this respect. He upholds justice and acts rightly to set right, the wrong suffered by a person, who cries to Him. God saves His people and thus in essence, He is a Saviour who brings salvation to His people. ‘Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes.’ Rom.1:16

God is righteous and delivers His people, who come to Him in faith, delivering them from the clutches of sin and its hold on the people. Thus, it is not only an attribute of God, but also His saving act, whereby He brings in deliverance to His people from the power of sin. Isaiah prophecies that the Lord is “a righteous God and a Saviour,” Isaiah 45:21

In Paul’s words, this righteousness of God, the saving act of God, to vindicate the right from the hold of sin, is being revealed in the Gospel. God is putting His people in right relationship before Him, justifying them. This has been done by God through the life and death of His Son Jesus Christ, His resurrection, and the creation of His Church through the power of the Holy Spirit. That is the righteousness from God revealed in the Gospel.

Now to the second word, ‘faith.’ This righteousness of God that has been revealed to the world in the Gospel, has to be obtained by faith, faith in Jesus Christ, ‘a righteousness that is by faith.’ Rom.1:17

As Paul would elaborate further in the subsequent portion of his letter, we are put right before God, that is, we become righteous before God, only by faith and nothing else. We have to acknowledge that in us there is no sufficiency to make us right before God and then depend entirely upon His sufficiency to make us righteous. That is ‘faith,’ faith in God’s sufficiency and His goodness and His trustworthiness.

Paul quotes Habakkuk  here to support his claim, that ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ Hab.2:4. For Habakkuk ‘faith’ meant faithfulness to God, by living a life of honesty, integrity and trustworthiness. But Paul uses the same term faith to mean dependence on God’s promises and His sufficiency.

In the New Testament, this aspect of faith is developed fully, that is ‘faith’ in the God and His promises and His sufficiency. Jesus insists on such a firm faith in God many times. Jesus said to the father of a sick boy, in Mark 9:23, “Everything is possible for him who believes.” In Mark 11:24, Jesus further elaborates this concept by saying, “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”

The faith is that God, through His Servant, the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is able to do what He had promised through the prophets in the Scripture. If God is trustworthy, then our response has to be faith in Him.

It is not the faith of the Jewish people, a loyal obedience to the Law, the religion of Israel, but a faith in the trustworthiness of God and His promise of salvation in Christ. This leaves no room for our own sufficiency or merit whereby we can earn our salvation. It is by ‘faith’ alone that we are saved.

It is a faith in the righteousness of God, revealed in the Gospel as Jesus Christ, who is the Good News for the world, who is able to save us from our sins, because of what He did on the cross. That faith alone will save us and nothing else, definitely not our merits or our efforts or our goodness.   

This is the foundation on which Paul builds his letter to Romans and this he establishes through various arguments strewn throughout his Epistle. These we will see in due course in the subsequent blogs.

God bless you all.