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Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:16-17
I. The righteousness of God:
А. Romans 1:17 says, “The righteous shall have life and live by faith.” This is the key word concerning the gospel of God in the book of Romans. According to the divine revelation as presented to us in the book of Romans, the structure of the gospel of God is of the righteousness of God, the life of Christ, and the faith of the believers.
B. The salvation of God in the Gospel of John is of God’s love as its source (3:16) and in Ephesians is by God’s grace as its element (2:5, 8), but in Romans it is by God’s righteousness as its base (1:17).
C. God’s righteousness is the way of His acts (Psa. 103:6-7):
1. It is related to God’s laws, regulations, and principles; hence, it is a judicial matter.
2. It indicates that the gospel of God is judicial according to the way of God’s righteousness.
3. It fulfills the requirements for God to execute His salvation.
4. Hence, it is the key of the gospel of God being powerful (dynamic) — Rom. 1:16-17.
5. Thus, it is revealed in the gospel of God as its foundation, solid and steadfast as the foundation of God’s throne — v. 17; Psa. 89:14.
6. Romans 3:24 says that God’s justification is also by His grace freely:
а. God’s justification by His righteousness in the judicial way is the procedure to fulfill God’s righteous requirement that God could justify the sinners righteously.
b. God’s justification by His grace freely is the means for God to fulfill His purpose that He may give His life to His chosen people to make them like Him in His life and nature. So the book of Romans stresses further that God’s grace is given freely to the New Testament believers unto life in reigning as kings like God (5:17-18, 21). John 1:14-17 says that God’s incarnation is to bring grace to men that men may become Him.
D. The lawkeepers attempt to keep the law for the building up of their own righteousness (Rom. 9:31). But “out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified before Him [God]” — 3:20.
E. Christ is the end of the law by fulfilling all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory, and is made judicially the righteousness from God to the believers — 10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9:
1. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers:
а. The first aspect — to be the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ — Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
b. The second aspect — to be the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively — Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8.
2. These two aspects are typified by the best robe and the fattened calf in Luke 15:22-23:
а. The best robe typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers to cover them outwardly before God as their objective righteousness.
b. The fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers as their life supply for them to live out God in Christ as their subjective righteousness.
3. These two aspects are also typified by the two garments of the queen in Psalm 45:13-14:
а. One corresponds with the objective righteousness, which is for our justification.
b. The other corresponds with the subjective righteousnesses, which are for our victory. This garment is equivalent to the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11-12.
Prayer: O Lord Jesus, You are so dear and precious to us. We surely like to tell You that we love You. We love You to the uttermost. Nothing is so sweet in our heart as You are. Lord, we love You. How we praise You that Your presence has given us this meeting. We are so happy and full of rejoicing. This meeting is a rejoicing to us. We rejoice in it. We are in the heavenlies, in Your resurrection, in the pneumatic Christ, even the pneumatized Christ. We are in the processed and consummated Triune God. We are in the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit. Hallelujah! Lord, we like to listen to You. Speak to us. Speak Your word to us with revelation, with enlightening. Cover us and shame Your enemy, Lord. We accuse him. Rebuke him for us, bind him, and destroy him. Amen.
The crystallization in this chapter is concerning the essence of the righteousness of God.
Now that we have seen the center and the content of God’s gospel, we want to see the structure of the gospel of God. All the parts of this structure are mentioned in Romans 1:17. Actually, Romans 1:17 is a verse that covers the entire book of Romans. It says, “The righteous shall have life and live by faith.” This is the key word concerning the gospel of God in the book of Romans. In this verse there are righteousness, life, and faith. Righteousness is of God, life is of Christ, and faith is of the believers. Faith does not belong to any of us as long as we are unbelieving sinners. Faith belongs to the believers. The gospel of God is built up with these three parts. Romans first shows the righteousness of God judicially. Then it shows the life of Christ organically. Third, it shows the faith of the believers practically. According to the divine revelation as presented to us in the book of Romans, the structure of the gospel of God is of the righteousness of God, the life of Christ, and the faith of the believers.
The salvation of God in the Gospel of John is of God’s love as its source. John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.” In eternity past, no doubt, there was a time when in God’s heart, in God’s love, He considered how to exercise His salvation. Love is the source of His salvation.
In Ephesians the salvation of God is by God’s grace as its element (2:5, 8). Love and grace are not two separate things. They are two ends of one thing. The end in God’s heart is love. The end that reaches us is grace. When love comes out to us, it is grace. When grace goes back to God, it is love. The source of God’s salvation is love, but this salvation should be substantial, with some substance, and this substance is the element. Everything that exists has an element. A wooden stand is made of wood, so the element of the stand is wood. The element of God’s salvation is grace. The highest definition of grace is that God becomes our enjoyment. Grace is God given to us for our enjoyment. Grace is strongly stressed in Ephesians, but in Romans God’s salvation is by God’s righteousness as its base (1:17).
God’s righteousness is the way of His acts (Psa. 103:6-7). Love is God’s heart; grace is God’s element; and righteousness is God’s way to act, to do things.
The righteousness of God is related to God’s laws, regulations, and principles; hence, it is a judicial matter. The job of the law courts is to decide who is righteous and who is unrighteous, who is right and who is wrong. Their job is to make things right. This is a judicial matter.
The righteousness of God being the base of God’s salvation indicates that the gospel of God is judicial according to the way of God’s righteousness. Recently, a brother among us visited a scholar and theologian who said that his view of salvation is more organic than judicial. The words organic and judicial are very meaningful, and I have been enlightened by them. The book of Romans is on God’s salvation by righteousness. This is something judicial. But the structure of God’s gospel is also of the life of Christ. This is organic. Redemption by the blood of Christ is judicial. Salvation by the life of Christ is organic. Organic salvation by life is much higher and much more profound than judicial redemption by the blood. First, the book of Romans touches the judicial part of God’s gospel by the blood of Christ. Then it goes on to present the organic part of His gospel by the life of Christ.
The righteousness of God fulfills the requirement for God to execute His salvation. God is so righteous, so right; He never makes a mistake. But all the sinners are unrighteous, unjust, always making mistakes, and wrong in everything. You are wrong with your mother. You are wrong with your father. You are wrong with your brothers and sisters. You are wrong with your cousins. You are wrong with your in-laws. You are wrong with your professors. You are wrong with your classmates and roommates. Your hair, your shoes, and your necktie are all wrong in some way. With us, everything is wrong. God is absolutely right, and we are absolutely not right.
God and we are two extremes because He is righteous and we are unrighteous. God is on the “North Pole,” and we are on the “South Pole.” How can the North Pole contact the South Pole? How can the righteous God do something for the unrighteous sinners? The only thing this righteous God can do for the unrighteous sinners according to His law is to condemn them and put them into the lake of fire. Whatever He does must be done lawfully. Then how can God execute His salvation for us? He does it by the way of righteousness. In God’s salvation He fulfills all the requirements for Himself so that He can pass on His salvation to us. He made this matter absolutely lawful. This was judicial according to His righteous requirements. Hence, it is the key of the gospel of God being powerful, dynamic (1:16-17). The gospel of God is powerful to save everyone who believes, because it is based upon God’s righteousness.
Thus, righteousness is revealed in the gospel of God as its foundation, solid and steadfast as the foundation of God’s throne (v. 17; Psa. 89:14). This can be compared to the strong foundation of a great building. A solid foundation makes the building very stable. Righteousness is the strong, solid, and steadfast foundation of God’s gospel. God may neglect other things, but He cannot neglect His righteousness. If He did, He would become a God who is not lawful. Psalm 89:14 says that God’s righteousness is the foundation of His throne. Thus, the foundation of the gospel of God is as solid and steadfast as the foundation of God’s throne. No one can overthrow God’s throne, not even God Himself.
Romans 3:24 says that God’s justification is by His grace freely. We have seen that according to Romans 1:17 God’s justification is by His righteousness, but why does Romans 3:24 say that God’s justification is also by His grace? How can we reconcile these two verses? On the one hand, God’s justification by His righteousness in the judicial way is the procedure to fulfill His righteous requirement so that He can justify the sinners righteously. On the other hand, God’s justification by His grace freely is the means for God to fulfill His purpose.
God justified us according to His righteousness. This is judicial. Suppose God would not do this. A man may say, “God, I need Your salvation. You have to save me according to Your righteousness.” God could say, “Dear man, who are you? I don’t want to do that. I would not do it.” But with God it is not like this. God willingly carried out His salvation by His righteousness. This is grace. Grace is out of love. So the Bible says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. This giving of His only begotten Son to us is grace. But the source is God’s love. The motivation is God’s love. When God gives His Son, that is God’s grace, and when God does it, He must do it righteously. This is the procedure.
Thus, God’s justifying us, on the one hand, is according to His righteousness and, on the other hand, is by His free grace. The preparing of Christ as our propitiation is God’s grace. If God said, “I will not do it,” no grace would be given, so nothing would happen. But God is willing to do it, and this willingness to do it is God’s grace. Also, when God comes to do it, He does it righteously.
God’s justification by His grace freely is the means for God to fulfill His purpose that He may give His life to His chosen people to make them like Him in His life and nature. So the book of Romans stresses further that God’s grace is given freely to the New Testament believers for their reigning in life as kings like God (5:17-18, 21). In Romans 1 Paul’s tone concerns God’s righteousness. Then after the first four chapters, in chapter 5 Paul’s tone changes, going forth from God’s righteousness to God’s grace. Romans 5:17 says, “If, by the offense of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” Verse 21 says, “In order that just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Grace through righteousness reigns unto eternal life. So grace is the means, the element, and righteousness is the procedure.
John 1:14-17 says that God was incarnated to bring grace to men so that men may become Him, and this grace brought by God to us is God Himself for our enjoyment. Hymns, #497 speaks of the highest definition of grace:
Grace is God Himself given to us. God gives Himself to us according to His righteousness, by His righteousness. Without God’s righteousness, even if God is willing to give Himself to us as grace, He cannot do it, because that is illegal, unlawful. But God has done everything to fulfill His righteous requirements by His righteousness. Now He is free to give Himself to us as our grace, as our enjoyment.
The lawkeepers attempt to keep the law for the building up of their own righteousness (Rom. 9:31). But “out of the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” before God (3:20). To keep the law does not avail.
Christ came to be the end of the law unto righteousness to us. It is by fulfilling all the requirements of God’s righteousness, holiness, and glory that He may be made judicially the righteousness from God to the believers (10:4; 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9). Christ’s completing work ended the law, so He is the end of the law.
There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers. The first aspect is that He is the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27). The first stanza of Hymns, #295 says, “God’s Christ, who is my righteousness, / My beauty is, my glorious dress.” Christ is our beauty given by God to us to be put on us as our clothing, our glorious dress. This is outward, objective.
The second aspect is that Christ is the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively (Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8). We were sinners who repented to God and believed into the Lord Jesus. Right away God gave Christ to us as a glorious dress to cover us, so we are acceptable to God righteously, outwardly. This is objective righteousness. Also, when Christ was given to us to be put on us, He entered into us to be our life and life supply to live Himself out of us. This living out is the manifestation of God in Christ. This is pleasant in the eyes of God. Surely, God would justify us subjectively, not just objectively. Now we can see the two aspects — outward and inward. Christ is put on us, and Christ enters into us to live God out of us to be our subjective righteousness.
These two aspects are typified by the best robe and the fattened calf in Luke 15:22-23. The best robe typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers to cover them outwardly before God as their objective righteousness. The fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to the believers as their life supply for them to live out God in Christ as their subjective righteousness.
In Luke 15 when the prodigal son came back to the father, the father told his slaves to bring out the best robe and put it on his son. This robe replaced the rags (cf. Isa. 64:6) of the returned prodigal. Surely the rags would not be pleasant to the father. But the father told the slaves to take the best robe and put it on his son as a new dress to cover him. Thus, he became a new man, but just outwardly.
Immediately following this, the father said, “Bring the fattened calf; slaughter it, and let us eat and be merry” (Luke 15:23). Even though the robe was put upon the prodigal son, he was still hungry. He could have said, “Father, I need something to eat. I was eating the pigs’ food. I am starved to death. Father, I don’t need this robe; I need something to eat.” But the father could say, “Son, if you are so poor, in rags, I cannot serve you anything. I must beautify you first by dressing you up. Then you match me. Then I can serve you with a pleasant meal, the fattened calf.”
The fattened calf is also a type of Christ, just like the best robe. The best robe is a type of Christ being righteousness to us outwardly. The fattened calf typifies the subjective Christ entering into us to be enjoyed, digested, and assimilated by us to become our tissue, to become us. By eating the fattened calf, the prodigal son’s face would be transformed. He came back with a pale face. But after eating the fattened calf, his face would become shining, bright, and colorful. This is Christ given by God to us as righteousness in two aspects: as the outward righteousness to beautify us and as the inward righteousness to supply us to live Himself out of us to be God’s pleasure.
These two aspects of Christ as righteousness are also typified by the two garments of the queen in Psalm 45:13-14. Solomon had a queen, and that queen had two garments. The first one corresponds with the objective righteousness, which is for our justification. The other garment corresponds with the subjective righteousnesses (Rev. 19:8), which are for our victory. This garment is equivalent to the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11-12.
