Romans 1:17 - "For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Message: The constant revelation of the righteousness of God, not the righteousness derived from the obedience to the Law.
Time: Written sometime in AD 57-58, probably from Corinth, at the end of Paul's third missionary journey, with a quote here from Habakkuk at the end of the 7th Century BC.
What the Lord is Saying:
"For in it" means "For in the gospel." In the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
Philippians 3:9 contrasts righteousness of men and righteousness of God. "and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith."
The righteousness that we are looking for then in life is righteousness from God. We try to make ourselves righteous through obedience to the Law or obedience to the commands of God. We have a conscience and so we seek in life to be obedient to that conscience. However, striving to do better than before and simply improving oneself in the hope that this will bring about God's approval is a righteous obedience to the Law and is not the righteousness of God. How could a person ever know whether they are good enough? This is why Satan has brought about different religions so that those religions can define what is good enough. Through obedience to commands those religions believe they are the sole communicators or ambassadors on earth of the true church and they decide the steps needed to merit God's acceptance.
However, God wants to impart His righteousness through faith. People who think they are good enough to go to heaven don't realize how bad they really are. God makes us righteous through the forgiveness of sins. He justifies us before God.
"The righteousness of God is revealed." -- is revealed is in the present tense which means righteousness of God is constantly being revealed. It wasn't a done deal on a cross 2000 years ago. But, it is still being revealed.
When going
through the 10 commandments with people and asking them if God judged
them according to the 10 commandments would God find them innocent or
guilty, the response is often that people recognize they have sinned,
but know that Jesus forgives sins. Is this it? Is it simply seeing that I
sin and then knowing Jesus forgives sins?
"The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith." Saving faith is trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins. People often simply state Jesus forgives sins, but what precedes this is trust in Jesus Christ. We are to trust in Christ, not simply believe in facts about Him, namely that He forgives sins. As Ray Comfort states, we don't believe the parachute will work until we really put it on and jump out of a plane.
as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”
Habakkuk 2:4, "Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith."
The message of righteousness by faith is not new news, but good news. It is news that has been around.
"Shall Live" is the idea of shall be saved. "Salvation past (justification), present (sanctification) and future (glorification) are all the result of faith." - preceptaustin.org.
Promise: This verse sums up the theme of the book of Romans, namely, the righteousness of God, by faith.
No comments:
Post a Comment