The Epistle to the Romans, chapter 1, verse
16.
For I am not ashamed with the gospel
of Christ, but it is the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as it is written,
the just shall live by faith.
It might appear to us that the apostle
would have drawn the curtain of concealment over
the sins which he describes in the latter
part of this chapter.
For these sins fall into the category of
which it is said that it is a
shame even to speak of those things which
are done of them in secret.
But what the apostle does is rather to
draw aside the curtain of concealment.
He opens to our view the abominations of
moral and spiritual degeneracy into which the nations
of the world have fallen by their apostasy
from the knowledge and faith of the living
God.
And we must remember that the apostle is
writing by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
When we examine this chapter or this epistle
more carefully, we can readily see that it
is only in the context of that delineation
of gross degeneracy which he gives in the
latter part of this chapter that we can
appreciate the keynote of this epistle, I am
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believeth.
Now we might think that that is a
rather weak way of expressing his confidence.
We might think that he would have expressed
himself in stronger terms of confidence and of
exaltation in view of the triumphs which the
gospel had secured and of which the apostle
speaks in another place when he says God
always causes us to triumph in Christ and
maketh knowledge the savor of his knowledge and
maketh known the savor of his knowledge by
us in every place for we are unto
God a sweet savor of Christ in them
that are saved and in them that perish.
The apostle Paul in another epistle does express
himself in terms of the most exultant glory
when he says God forbid that I should
glory, save in the cross of the Lord
Jesus Christ in whom the world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world.
We might well ask the question why does
the apostle Paul express himself in this particular
epistle in what might appear in first blush
as a very weak understatement.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ.
Why does he express himself in terms of
a contestation to the effect that he was
not ashamed.
Now if we remember how full of reproach
and apparent foolishness the gospel was as it
confronted the worldly glory and pomp of the
Roman political power.
And if we think of the apparent weakness
which characterized the gospel as it confronted that
degenerate stupor into which the sin of the
world had led man.
If we remember these contrasts then I think
we can sense a little better the undertones
of confidence and of exultation in this very
word of the apostle.
I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ for it is the power of God
unto salvation.
In reference to the prestige of the Roman
political power he could say I am ready
to preach the gospel to you that are
at Rome also.
And in reference to the degradation that is
depicted in this particular chapter he could say
the gospel is the power of God unto
salvation.
However degraded may be the condition of man,
however stupefied in iniquity and false imaginations man
may become because of their sin, nevertheless the
gospel is the omnipotence of God operative unto
their salvation.
To lift them out of the quagmire, the
inextricable tangle of iniquity, and free as the
blood-born that is the power of God
unto salvation.
While the gospel we must always remember is
a message, and it is a message proclaimed,
a message proclaimed.
And we might well ask, how can a
proclamation, how can a message be the power
of God unto salvation?
And perhaps we want to tone it down
somewhat, and try to turn it around and
give away from the forthright statement of the
apostle that it is the gospel, the gospel
as a message, the gospel as good news,
the gospel as proclamation that is the power
of God unto salvation.
And if we tone it down, we do
prejudice to the truth which the apostle Paul
is here enunciating.
This message proclaimed is divine omnipotence, active unto
salvation.
And why?
Because after all, it is the word of
God.
It is a divine message.
It is not a human proclamation, but the
proclamation of a divine word.
And we must always remember that the word
of God is living and powerful, sharper than
a two-edged sword, that the word of
God is always invested with efficiency to the
accomplishment of its purpose.
He spoke when it was done.
He commanded when it stood last.
That was true in the grand panorama of
creation, and it is also true and true
with greater glory in the sphere of His
redemption.
He speaks, He commands.
The word of God is living and powerful.
And don't forget, my friends, that when you
are confronted with the message of the gospel,
you are confronted with the voice of the
living God.
Just as truly as Peter, as James and
Peter and John, heard the voice of the
Father speak from heaven when He said, This
is my beloved Son in whom I am
well pleased.
As you are confronted with the gospel, perhaps
in its simplicity, but always in its power,
it is the word of the living God.
It is that word that is able to
lift us up from all this, and from
all the squalid of the sin that is
depicted in the latter part of this chapter.
It is the power of God unto salvation.
It is, therefore, divine omnipotence, divine omnipotence
active to the very end of delivering man
from the corruption and the power of iniquity
and setting their feet on a rock and
living.
Now, Paul tells us why it is the
power of God unto salvation.
You must notice that there is what you
might call a continuous expectation in this particular
verse, I am not ashamed of that.
Why?
I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ.
Why?
Because it is the power of God unto
salvation.
And why is it the power of God
unto salvation?
Because therein, he says in verse 17, because
therein is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith.
We have, therefore, here two attributes of God.
Power, or if you will, omnipotence, and righteousness.
The omnipotence and the righteousness of God.
And it is well for us to take
note of that particular combination.
The gospel is power.
It is divine omnipotence.
But it is not mere divine omnipotence, not
bare.
Of course, it is true that in no
sphere of the divine activity do we have
what we would call bare, abstract omnipotence.
Even in creation, and God's space, and it
was done.
You don't have what you would call just
bare omnipotence.
You have omnipotence exercised in wisdom, and even
in righteousness.
For the heavens declare the glory of God,
and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
The heavens declare his righteousness, the peoples see
his glory.
So that even in creation, it is not
bare or abstract omnipotence, but it is omnipotence
exercised in infinite wisdom and in righteousness.
But the combination of these two attributes in
this particular case is quite unique.
The power of God that was operative in
creation, although it was a power that expressed
his wisdom, and his mercy, and his righteousness,
and his goodness, nevertheless, there is something in
this exercise of divine power that is quite
unique.
God could create the worlds by the fiat
of his will.
He simply spake, and it was done.
He commanded, and it stood fast.
There was the exercise of his omnipotence.
Omnipotence, of course, giving expression to his wisdom,
and his mercy, and his goodness, and his
righteousness.
But, it was simply by the sovereign and
omnipotent fiat of his will, but not so
in connection with that subject with which Paul
is dealing in this particular verse.
Not so in connection with the gospel.
There is something here that could not be
accomplished by the mere fiat of his will,
for there were exigencies involved.
There were claims at stake which could not
be exercised, which could not be met by
omnipotent fiat, and that is what Paul is
enunciating on this particular occasion.
He has in the back of his mind,
and also in the forefront of his expression,
that marvelous combination that there is in the
gospel of the omnipotent efficiency of God, and
that omnipotent efficiency exercised in righteousness.
It is the righteousness of God brought to
bear upon all the wretched squalor of iniquity
that is depicted for us in the latter
part of this chapter.
It is the righteousness of God supervening upon
the wreck and the ruin of sin, the
wreck and ruin of human misery.
Yes, it is the righteousness of God supervening
upon that which is the very contradiction of
itself.
It is the righteousness of God supervening upon
that contradiction in order to the deliverance of
men from the very power of that which
is the contradiction of the divine righteousness.
It is the righteousness of God operated unto
salvation.
Then we have to ask the further question,
what is this righteousness of which the apostle
here speaks?
What is it?
Now, the righteousness of God is an attribute
of God.
It is the justice of God as an
attribute.
It is that of which the apostle speaks
in this very epistle, the third chapter of
the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth verses, whom
God hath set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare his
righteousness for the remission of sins that are
passed through the forbearance of God, to declare,
I say at this time, his righteousness, that
he might be just, and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus.
That is truly the righteousness of God as
a divine attribute, that which we call the
justice, the uprightness, the equity of God himself,
and that of which the psalm speaks when
it says, justice and judgment are the habitation
of his throne.
It is that of which another psalm speaks,
of which we have been singing, mercy and
truth are met together, righteousness and peace have
kissed each other.
Righteousness shall go before him and set us
in the way of his death.
Yes, there is indeed the righteousness of God
that is his only end.
Now we must remember, of course, that the
righteousness of God, that is the justice of
God, is displayed very uniquely in this salvation.
There is no place where you have such
a magnificent display of the righteousness of God
as you have on Calvary's accursed tree.
The salvation of which the apostle Paul here
speaks would not be a divine salvation.
It would not be a salvation in which
divine omnipotence would be operative unless it comported
with righteousness, the justice, the uprightness, the equity
of God.
Surely the gospel displays the righteousness of God,
and it is that gospel that supervenes upon
all the iniquity and the wretchedness of this
fallen human world.
But there is good reason for thinking that
the apostle Paul here is not speaking of
that righteousness which is a divine attribute.
Not in this place.
And the reasons for saying that are very
clear.
You must remember, first of all, that this
righteousness of which the apostle speaks is a
righteousness that is applied to us, a righteousness
that is applied to believers.
In the third chapter, at the twenty-first
verse, you read, But now the righteousness of
God without the law is manifested, being witnessed
by the law and the prophets, even the
righteousness of God, which is by faith of
Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them
that believe.
A righteousness, you see, that is done to
believers, and therefore a righteousness that is applied
to believers.
Do believers become partakers of the divine attributes?
We do not become partakers of that which
is the divine essence.
Of course not.
If we were to become partakers of the
divine righteousness in the sense of a divine
attribute, then we would cease to be creatures.
And again, it is a righteousness which we
have.
You remember what the apostle says in Philippians
3.9, Not having mine own righteousness, which
is of the law, but the righteousness which
is by faith of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith.
And the clear implication is that Paul has
now the righteousness of God.
It's a possession of his.
He couldn't speak of possessing the attribute, which
is the attribute of God himself and of
God alone.
And then Paul also tells us that it
is a righteousness which believers are made.
Him who knew no sin, he made to
be sin for us that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
Made the righteousness of God?
Surely not made the attribute of God, of
God's righteousness.
Again, it is a righteousness that is mediated
through faith.
Paul tells us that in this very passage.
It is the righteousness of God revealed from
faith to faith.
As it is written, the just shall live
by faith.
And finally, it is the righteousness which is
the grand theme of this episode.
The righteousness which is unto just to be.
And therefore it cannot be the righteousness which
is the divine attribute that is inalienable.
It belongs to God and it belongs to
God alone.
And this must be something else.
Because it is a righteousness that is made
over to us in order to our acceptance
with God, in order to our just to
be.
Now just because it is that.
Because it is not the righteousness of the
divine attribute.
We are very liable to tone down the
significance of what Paul here says.
We must not water it down.
It still is the righteousness of God.
Not the righteousness which is inherent to God
himself.
But nevertheless it is still a righteousness of
God.
It is a divine righteousness.
It is therefore a righteousness which is impregnated,
shall we say, with divine quality.
It is a righteousness which, after all, is
as it were a divine property.
And perhaps the only way whereby we can
express it very emphatically in English is to
say that after all it is a God
-righteousness.
And it is nothing less than that.
A God-righteousness.
And since it is a God-righteousness, it
is contrasted not simply with human unrighteousness, but
with human righteousness.
And that seems to be the main point,
the main emphasis of the apostle, shall I
say it again?
Contrasted not simply with human unrighteousness, human iniquity,
but even contrasted with human righteousness.
And when you think of the situation that
salvation contemplates, there is nothing else that would
meet the exigencies, the claims of this particular
situation except a divine righteousness.
A righteousness which has divine quality.
Now you do think of human righteousness, and
you can think of perhaps the saints when
they will be completely sanctified in glory, will
be possessed in their whole person of a
righteousness which is absolutely perfect.
They will be presented before the presence of
God's glory without spot or wrinkle or any
such thing.
They will be completely conformed to the image
of Christ in their whole passions, inherently, subjectively,
in all of their thoughts and affections and
ways, completely conformed to the image of Christ.
And that will be a perfect righteousness, but
after all, it will be a human righteousness.
A righteousness indeed which they have by the
grace of God, yes.
A righteousness which is bought in them entirely
by the grace of God, by the Holy
Spirit of God, when they are made completely
conformable to Christ's glorious image.
But remember, it will be a human righteousness,
it will be a righteousness which will be
in them.
But this is not that righteousness.
And even that righteousness to which believers will
be one day completely conformed, wouldn't meet the
sins that Paul has imbued.
No, it is a divine righteousness, and a
divine righteousness alone that will meet the situation
of our sin, of our condemnation.
It is a righteousness impregnated with divine property,
with divine quality alone that will...
The Roman Catholic teaches that justification
consists, first of all, in the infusion of
righteousness in us.
The infusion of grace, and that just really
amounts to what we call regeneration.
And then second justification, which is a process,
and which will not be complete until the
saint is relieved from purgatory.
The second justification is a justification that is
based upon human works.
That by faith that is informed with love,
the believer is enabled to bring forth good
works, which are acceptable to God, and which
have merit in them, and on the basis
of these good works, they receive progressive justification
until they will finally be fully justified, after
they have made complete satisfaction for their sin
in purgatory.
Now you see what the Roman Catholic Church
teaches in reference to justification, is that first
of all, in the first, what they call
first justification, it's just a human righteousness.
It's the infusion of righteousness, which is an
inherent righteousness after all.
And then the second justification is on the
basis of human works, and human works are
after all human righteousness.
And perhaps there's nothing in the Roman Catholic
doctrine that exposes its complete rottenness.
Then the whole conception by which it is
governed, the whole doctrine of justification of the
Roman Catholic Church, is a doctrine of justification
which is after all human, human in its
quality, human in its property.
And it is just against that that the
Apostle Paul is enunciating the gospel here, when
he says that it is the righteousness of
God.
It's a God-righteousness, contrasted not simply with
human unrighteousness, but with human righteousness.
And how is it a God?
Well, it is the righteousness of our Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ.
That is how it is a God-righteousness.
It is the righteousness and obedience of Him
who did this indeed in human nature, but
who in doing it was without any abbreviation
whatsoever a divine person.
Oh, get the distinction.
It was in human nature that He wrought
this obedience.
It was in human nature that He accomplished
this righteousness.
Otherwise it would not be available for us.
But nevertheless, in giving that obedience, in accomplishing
that righteousness, He was without any abbreviation whatsoever,
without any curtailment, the eternal Son of God,
God manifest in the flesh.
And that is why it is a God
-righteousness.
Now we might well ask the question, how
does this righteousness, which after all is not
a righteousness, it is not a righteousness even
wrought in us by the grace of God,
how does that righteousness come to be upon
our sinful?
How?
Well, the apostle tells us in this particular
chapter, and it is in a word that
we are very liable to glide over.
It is the righteousness of God revealed.
The righteousness of God revealed.
Now when we read that word revealed, we
are thinking very likely of its being disclosed
to us for our information, disclosed to us
for our, and of course that is perfect,
that it is made known unto us, so
that we may intelligently understand what it is.
But in the usage of scripture, this word
revealed is often used in a very much
stronger sense than that.
And if you go back to the prophecy
of Isaiah, from about the fortieth chapter on,
you'll find again and again that emphasis of
the inspired prophet.
And it is particularly enunciated in the fifty
-sixth chapter, when the prophet says, My salvation
is near to come, and my righteousness to
be revealed.
You see how pervasively in that part of
the prophecy of Isaiah, you would have this
salvation and righteousness.
My salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness
shall not be abolished.
For Zion's sake will I not hold my
peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not
rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as
brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp
that burneth.
And it is revelation, not simply in the
sense of making known for our information and
for our knowledge, but it is revelation in
the sense of being dynamically active.
You see the parallelism?
My salvation is near to come, and my
righteousness to be revealed.
There's a parallelism there.
And the revealed, in the second clause, must
be as dynamic and active as the salvation
is in the first.
Again, my salvation, salvation surely in action, is
near to come, and my righteousness to be
revealed.
And that surely is what Paul has in
view in this particular text, when he says,
for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
It's not simply revealed for our information, for
our knowledge, but it is revealed as dynamically
active.
That's it.
As operative.
And that is the glory of the gospel.
Because Paul's righteousness, after all, is not a
human righteousness, and will never be a human
righteousness, except by way of human possession.
It is, as Paul tells us in other
passages, it is a righteousness that is made
of.
It is a righteousness which we come to
possess.
It is a righteousness, therefore, which is imputed
to us, and therefore becomes operative to our
account.
It's a righteousness that is dynamically active on
our account, because it is ours by possession,
by application, by imputation.
And that is the glory of the gospel,
which the apostle Paul is enunciating in this
particular text.
My friends, if you are appalled at the
iniquity that resides in your own bosom, if
you are overcome by the sense of your
complete helplessness before the enormity of your guilt,
and how you cannot even raise up your
head to heaven but smite upon your own
breath, I say, if you are overwhelmed by
the sense of your own guilt, by the
awfulness that belongs to you on account of
sin, my friends, the glory of the gospel
of God's grace is this, that a divine
righteousness will supervene upon you in all your
hopelessness, a righteousness which meets with the divine
approval, and a righteousness which even elicits the
divine approbation of that.
And it is not simply a righteousness that
is a way off in the far distant
abstract, but it is a righteousness which is
brought to bear upon your situation.
Now, finally, why is this righteousness of God,
and this salvation, which is the omnipotent power
of God, why is it not operated in
everyone?
Oh, because the gospel is the omnipotent power
of God, and the omnipotent power of God's
active righteousness, which is divine, why doesn't it
sweep the whole human race within the sphere
of its operation?
Why?
Is there anything that can resist the omnipotent
righteousness of God?
Well, the apostle Paul tells us here that,
after all, it is not the righteousness of
God dynamically operated in all.
It is not dynamically operated in all of
the human race.
There's a limitation, and that is the specific
limitation which the apostle makes in this particular
text, and in every other part of his
inspired writings, as also throughout the whole Scripture.
The gospel is the power of God unto
salvation to everyone that believeth.
To everyone that believeth, remember you!
And then when he comes to verse 17,
he says, it is the righteousness of God,
the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to
faith, as it is written, the just shall
live by faith.
And just because there isn't a universality of
faith, this gospel is not indiscriminate and universally
operated to the accomplishment.
That is the divine order.
There is a necessity, a necessity arising from
the very character of this salvation, and a
necessity arising from the very character of this
righteousness, that it becomes operated unto salvation and
unto justification, only where, and that is where
it comes right to our responsibility.
There is the point of discrimination.
This expression, from faith to faith, which Paul
uses here in verse 17, has been oftentimes
greatly perplexed, I think.
At least there has been a great deal
of discussion of the meaning of that brief
expression, from faith to faith, and it is
not my purpose now to go into the
various interpretations that have been given of that
particular passage.
But simply to say, with confidence, but yet
somewhat dogmatically, there are just two thoughts expressed
in that very brief expression, and the first
is this, that this is operated only in
belief, that the righteousness of God, which is
the divine provision for the dismal hopelessness of
our sinful situation, is operated only for those
who believe.
Paul tells us that very explicitly in the
third chapter.
May I quote again?
Even the righteousness of God, which is by
faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon
all them that believe.
After all, this is a faith righteousness, not
a righteousness which consists in faith, oh no.
It's not a righteousness which consists in any
human doing, or in any human exercise, in
any human movement whatsoever.
It's a divine righteousness, and therefore the scope
of its operation is only within the sphere
of the divine, and it does not consist
in any human activity, or movement, or exercise.
It is a faith righteousness, because it only
becomes.
We cannot underestimate, or in any way escape
the emphasis of the apostle in that text
which is probably about as well known as
any text in the New Testament, not having
my whole righteousness, which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith.
And my friends, it is never a divine
righteousness operated on your account, or in your
situation, except as it is a faith righteousness,
a righteousness which you yourself commit.
And the second emphasis which I think there
is in that very brief expression, from faith
to faith, is this, that it is not
only operated on behalf of the believer alone,
but it is operated by faith alone.
You get the distinction.
It's very simple.
It's a righteousness that is made over to
the believer alone, but it is made over
to the believer by faith alone.
Now, there are other graces that are besides
faith, and faith without works is dead.
There is repentance, there is love, there is
new obedience, and a faith that does not
work is not a faith that unites to
this righteousness.
It is never a faith that is alone,
because a faith that is alone is dead,
and a dead faith cannot unite to the
righteousness of God.
But nevertheless, although it is a faith that
is never alone, it is by faith alone
that we become the possessors of this righteousness.
And that, my friends, is in this particular
sphere of the very essence of the gospel.
There is a perfect congruity between these two
things, that it is the righteousness, righteousness of
divine making, of divine quality, of divine property,
a righteousness that exists within the sphere of
the divine, but it is of the very
same, it is in entire congruity with that
very emphasis of this righteousness, not
by love, not even by new obedience, and
it extracts something that belongs to the very
essence of the simplicity of the gospel, as
well as the power of the gospel of
Christ, that we possess this righteousness by faith
alone.
And why, I think, the Lord, just for
the specific quality of faith, is to rest
his divine, the specific quality of faith, you
see, is to rest upon another, it is
self-commitment, it is self-abandonment, it doesn't
look to itself, it looks to something else.
Oh, take note of it.
This belongs to the very essence of your
destiny, and mine.
What is the character of our faith?
Is it a faith by which we look
within, or is it a faith by which
we look back?
It is the essence of faith, that it
goes out of itself, it goes beyond itself,
and it is entirely preoccupied, it is outside,
entirely preoccupied with the righteousness of God, and
the righteousness as it is embodied in him,
of this faith.
Oh, the gospel, it is simple because, in
order that the righteousness of God may supervene
from the wretchedness of our sinful situation, that
which puts us in connection with, in possession
of the righteousness of God, is that which
is a going out of ourselves to the
excellence and to the divinity of that which
God has provided.
That is of the very essence of the
gospel, it is the simplicity of the gospel
of God's grace.
But after all, it is just because it
is the simplicity of the gospel, that it
is so frequently a stumbling block.
That is what constitutes it a stumbling block.
That's what constitutes the gospel and of faith.
But it is by faith, and by faith
alone, of the righteousness of God, because after
the human heart is given to preoccupation with
itself and with its own righteousness, and that
which makes us willing to be entirely devout
to the free grace of God, to the
righteousness which is divine, is that which requires
the miracle.
The simplicity, after all, is the stumbling block
of the gospel, my friends.
Don't be consumed by the devil.
Don't be caught in that entanglement, which is
the devil's masterpiece.
Let us appreciate the simplicity that is in
Christ, and let us be confident, let us
be content to abandon all self, to consider
all things but loss for the excellency of
the knowledge of Christ Jesus, and thus to
be in that righteousness which is undefiled and
undefilable, because it is the righteousness.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord.
My soul shall be joyful in my God,
for He has clothed me with the garments
of salvation.
He has colored me with the robe of
righteousness as a bridegroom decketh himself, adorneth
herself.
That is the testimony, and that is the
testimony of the apostle.
Righteousness, say, O Lord our
God, do Thou grant unto us that we
may know the blessedness of the man whose
sins are forgiven, whose iniquities are pardoned, who
has been accepted in that righteousness which is
undefiled and undefilable, and may we know, O
Lord, the power of that gospel, that it
may be all our salvation, and all our
salvation for Jesus' sake.