ROMANS 3:21-31 AT the opening of his discussion, ch. 1:16, 17, Paul had announced that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, because therein is the righteousness of God revealed. He had said that the righteous by faith shall live, intimating that there is no other way of obtaining life. In proof of this, he had declared that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and had shown at large that both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, and that, therefore, by obedience to law no flesh shall be justified. He now proceeds to speak more particularly of the righteousness of God provided for man’s justification, describing the manner in which it is conferred, and the character of those by whom it is received. To this subject, therefore, he here reverts.

Ver. 21. — But now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

Now, — that is to say, under the preaching of the Gospel — in the period of the revelation of the Messiah; for it denotes the time present, in opposition to that time when God appeared not to take notice of the state of the Gentile nations as it is said, Acts 17:30, ‘The times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.’ And also in opposition to the legal economy respecting the Jews, as again it is said, John 1:17, ‘The law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.’ This is what the Scriptures call ‘ the fullness of times,’ Ephesians 1:10; Galatians 4:4. ‘The last days,’ Isaiah 2:2; Hebrews 1:2; Acts 2:17; 1 John 2:18. ‘The acceptable year of the Lord,’ Isaiah 61:2. ‘Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,’ 2 Corinthians 6:2. The day of the Savior that Abraham saw, John 8:56. The righteousness of God. — This is one of the most important expressions in the Scriptures. It frequently occurs both in the Old Testament and the New; it stands connected with the argument of the whole of the first five chapters of this Epistle, and signifies that fulfillment of the law which God has provided, by the imputation of which sinners are saved. Although perfectly clear in itself, its meaning has been involved in much obscurity by the learned labors of some who know not the truth, and by the perversions of others by whom it has been greatly corrupted.

By many it has been misunderstood, and has in general been very slightly noticed even by those whose views on the subject are correct and scriptural. To consider its real signification is the more necessary, as it does not appear always to receive that attention from Christians which its importance demands. When the question is put, why is the Gospel the power of God unto salvation? how few give the clear and unfaltering answer of the Apostle, Because therein is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD revealed. Before attending to the true import of this phrase, it is proper to advert to some of the significations erroneously attached to it. Of these I shall select only a few examples from many that might be furnished.

Origin understood by this righteousness God’s attribute of justice, while Chrysostom explained it as Divine clemency.

According to Dr. Campbell of Aberdeen, the righteousness of God consists in man’s conformity to the declared will of God. In his note on Matthew 6:33, he says, ‘The righteousness of God, in our idiom, can mean only the justice or moral rectitude of the Divine nature, which it were absurd in us to seek, it being, as all God’s attributes are, inseparable from His essence. But in the Hebrew idiom, that righteousness, which consists in a conformity to the declared will of God, is called His righteousness. In this way the phrase is used by Paul, Romans 3:21,22; 10:3, where the righteousness of God is opposed by the Apostle to that of the unconverted Jews; and their own righteousness, which he tells us they went about to establish, does not appear to signify their personal righteousness, any more than the righteousness of God signifies His personal righteousness. The word righteousness, as I conceive, denotes there what we should call a system of morality or righteousness, which he denominates their own, because fabricated by themselves, founded partly on the letter of the law, partly on tradition, and consisting mostly in ceremonies and mere externals. ‘This creature of their own imaginations they had cherished, to the neglect of that purer scheme of morality which was truly of God, which they might have learned even formerly from the law and the Prophets, properly understood, but now more explicitly from the doctrine of Christ.’

Such is the explanation by this learned critic of that leading phrase, ‘the righteousness of God,’ according to which, the reason why the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, is, because therein a pure schemes of morality is revealed. Were this explanation just, so far from being the reason why the Gospel should be the means of salvation to sinners, it would be the cause of their universal and hopeless condemnation.

Dr. Macknight supposes that the righteousness of God signifies a righteousness belonging to faith itself, and not the righteousness conveyed and received by faith. ‘Righteousness by faith,’ he says, on Romans 3:22, ‘is called the righteousness of God, — 1st , Because God hath enjoined faith as the righteousness which He will count to sinners, and hath declared that He will accept and reward it as righteousness; 2nd , Because it stands in opposition to the righteousness of men, which consists in a sinless obedience to the law of God.’ Thus, while Dr. Macknight differs from Dr. Campbell in the meaning of the expression, the righteousness of God, he so far coincides with him in his radical error as to suppose that it does not signify the righteousness which God provides for the salvation of sinners, but the righteousness which He requires them to perform. The explanations of both of these writers are destructive of the Scripture doctrine of justification, opposed to the justice of God, subversive of the plan of salvation, and render the whole train of the Apostle’s reasoning, from Romans 1:16 to the end of the fifth chapter, inconclusive and self contradictory.

Archbishop Newcombe, whose translations are so much eulogized by Socinians, together with many who have followed him, translates this phrase, ‘God’s method of justification.’ What the Apostle has declared in precise terms, is thus converted into a general and indefinite annunciation, pointing to a different sense. In the Socinian version, as might be anticipated, it is also translated, ‘God’s method of justification.’ ‘The righteousness of God’ cannot mean God’s method of justification nor the justification which God bestows, because the word translated righteousness does not signify justification. Righteousness and justification are two things quite different. God’s righteousness is revealed in the Gospel, just as God Himself is said to be revealed. To reveal God is not to reveal a method of God’s acting, and to reveal God’s righteousness is not to reveal a method of God’s making sinners righteous, but to reveal the righteousness itself. This righteousness is also said to be of God by faith, that is, sinners become partakers of it by faith. The righteousness of God, then, is not a method of justification, but the thing itself which God has provided, and which He confers through faith. Nor can the expression, ‘the righteousness of God,’ in the tenth chapter, signify God’s method of justification. It is true the Jews were ignorant of God’s method of justification, but that is not the thing which is there asserted. They were ignorant of the righteousness which God had provided for the guilty, and, in consequence, went about to establish their own righteousness. What is there meant by God’s righteousness, is seen by the contrast. It is opposed to their own righteousness. Now, it was not a method of justification that the Jews went about to establish, but it was their own righteousness which they endeavored to establish — a righteousness in which they trusted, of their own working. If so, the righteousness of God contrasted with this must be, not a method of justification, but the righteousness which God confers on His people through faith. To establish a man’s righteousness is not to establish a method with respect to this, but to establish the thing itself.

To say that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because that in it is revealed a divine method of justification, or the justification which God bestows, leaves the great question which immediately presents itself utterly without an answer. It gives no light to the reader as to what the Gospel reveals. It is only in general a Divine scheme of justification. But the language itself, Romans 1:17, leaves no such uncertainty. It shows that the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation, because it reveals God’s righteousness, — that righteousness which fulfills the demands of His law, which His justice will accept, and which is upon all them that believe.

Mr. Tholuck explains the phrase, the righteousness of God, thus: — ’The Gospel makes known a way to that perfect fulfillment of the law which is required by God.’ What is the meaning of this exposition? It does not give the true meaning, and may have a most erroneous import. The best that can be said for it is, that it is so dark, and vague, and equivocal, that it may elude condemnation on the principle of its not having any one definite meaning. It is more ambiguous than the answer of an oracle that has only two meanings, for it may have several. Does it mean that the Gospel reveals a way by which man may himself fulfill the law, so as to be perfectly righteous? If Mr. Tholuck does not mean this, the expression might mean it. Does it mean that the law is not yet fulfilled, but that the Gospel reveals a way in which it may be fulfilled? This is the most obvious sense. Does it mean that the Gospel reveals a way in which men perfectly fulfill the law by faith? This is evidently false, even according to Mr. Tholuck’s sentiments; for though faith were, as held forth by him, ‘the most excellent of virtues,’ he could not admit that it fulfills the law.

After this dark and vague account of the term righteousness we need not wonder at that most erroneous meaning which he affixes to it in chapter 4:3. f16 Mr. Stuart, in his translation of the Epistle, renders this phrase, in Romans 1:17, and 3:21, ‘The justification which is of God,’ and in His explanation of it, the justification which God bestows, or the justification of which God is the author.’ He observes that this ‘is a phrase among the most important which the New Testament contains, and fundamental in the right interpretation of the Epistle before us.’ This is true; and the effect of his misunderstanding the proper signification of the original word in these passages, and rendering it justification instead of righteousness , appears most prominently in several of his subsequent interpretations especially as shall afterwards be pointed out in the beginning of the fourth chapter, where, like Mr. Tholuck, he entirely misrepresents the doctrine of justification. His translation he endeavors to defend at some length; but none of his allegations support his conclusion.

The proper meaning of the original word in ch. 1:17, and 3:21, which he makes justification, is righteousness; and this meaning will apply in the other passages where it is found. In the New Testament it occurs ninety-two times, and, in the common version, is uniformly rendered righteousness. It occurs thirty-six times in the Epistle to the Romans, in which Mr. Stuart has sixteen times translated it righteousness. But he appears to have been led to adopt the translation he has given in the above verses from the supposed necessity of the case; and, indeed, this was necessary for Mr. Stuart, who not only denies expressly the imputation of Adam’s sin to his posterity, but also the imputation of Christ’s righteousness to believers. This should put Christians on their guard against a translation founded on the denial that Christ’s righteousness is placed to their account for salvation, a doctrine which Dr. Macknight most ignorantly maintains is not to be found in the Bible.

Mr. Stuart observes that there are three expressions, viz., dikaiosu>nh, dikai>wma , and dikai>wsiv , all employed occasionally in the very same sense, viz., that of justification, i.e., acquittal, pardon, freeing from condemnation, accepting and treating as righteous.’ There may be situations in which the one might supply the place of the other, but they have a clear characteristic difference. ‘The difference appears to be this: dikaiosu>nh , the original word in the verse before us, is not justification; it signifies justice or righteousness in the abstract; that is, the quality of righteousness. It signifies also complete conformity or obedience to the law; for if there be any breach of the law, there is no righteousness.

Dikai>wma , as distinguished from this, signifies an act of righteousness, or some righteous deed. It is accordingly used for the ordinances of God, because they are His righteous appointments, and perhaps because they typically refer to the true ‘righteousness of God.’ In a few places it may be an equivalent to dikaiosu>nh. Dikai>wsiv, is neither the one nor the other of the above. It is the act of being justified by this righteousness when on trial. Obedience to law is a different thing from being cleared, or acquitted, or justified, when tried by law. A man is justified on the ground of righteousness. There is the same difference between dikaiosu>n , and dikai>wsiv, that there is in English between righteousness and justification.

In support of his explanation of the phrase, ‘the righteousness of God,’ namely, that it is the justification which God bestows, Mr. Stuart, in the following observations, shows a wonderful misapprehension of the doctrine of those who oppose the view of it which he adopts. On verse he says, ‘What that dikaiosu>nh de< qeou~ (righteousness of God) is, which is cwri>v no>mou (without law), the Apostle next proceeds explicitly to develop. Dikaiosu>nh de... jIhsou~ Cristou~ , the justification which is of God by faith in Jesus Christ. This explanation makes it clear as the noonday sun that dikaiosu>nh qeou~ (righteousness of God), in this connection, does not mean righteousness, or the love of justice, as an attribute of God. For in what possible sense can it be said that God’s righteousness or justice (as an essential attribute) is by faith in Christ?

Does He possess or exercise this attribute, or reveal it, by faith in Christ?

The answer is so plain; that it cannot be mistaken,’ p. 157. Why does Mr.

Stuart labor to prove that the phrase in question cannot here mean the justice of God, or a Divine attribute? Does any man suppose that it has here such a sense? We do not understand it of a Divine attribute, but of conformity to law by a Divine work. This righteousness is God’s righteousness, not because it is an attribute of His nature, but because it is the righteousness which God has provided and effected for His people, through the obedience unto death of His own Son. The word dikaiosu>nh , indeed, always signifies righteousness; but it may mean either a personal attribute, or conformity to law. Does not Mr. Stuart himself afterwards explain the phrase in this latter sense? Why, then, does he take it for granted that if it does not signify justification, as he makes it here, it must signify a personal attribute of God? In ch. 4:3, 6, and elsewhere, he admits that the word dikaiosu>nh (righteousness) cannot signify justification, but must be understood as denoting righteousness. ‘To say,’ he observes (p. 177), ‘was counted for justification would make no tolerable sense.’ But nothing can be more obvious than that the Apostle is in the fourth chapter treating of the same thing of which he is treating in this chapter, from the 21st verse. In all this connection he is still speaking of this dikaiosu>nh (righteousness) in the same view. Having here spoken of God’s righteousness, he goes on to show that it was through this very righteousness that Abraham was justified The justification of Abraham, instead of being an exception to what he had been teaching, as if it had been on the ground of Abraham’s own obedience to law, is appealed to by the Apostle as a proof, as well as an illustration and example, of justification by God’s righteousness received by faith.

It makes nothing in favor of Mr. Stuart that there may be instances in which the word dikaiosu>nh (righteousness) may be interpreted by the word justification, so as to make sense. There is no signification that may not be ascribed to any word upon this principle. A word may make sense in a passage, when it is explained in a meaning directly the opposite of its true meaning. This principle the reader may see fully established in the writings of Dr. Carson. Several instances have been alleged from the Septuagint, in which it is asserted that dikaiosu>nh (has the meaning of goodness, etc.; but there is no instance there in which the word may not have its true meaning, and it is only ignorance of the import of the phrase, ‘righteousness of God,’ that has induced writers to give the term a different meaning. For instance, nothing at first sight appears more to countenance the idea that dikaiosu>nh (righteousness) expresses mercy than Psalm 51:14. How could David speak of righteousness, if God would deliver him from blood-guiltiness? He might well speak of goodness or compassion, but would not righteousness in God prevent him from being acquitted? Not so. The righteousness of God was what David looked to, — the same righteousness that is more clearly revealed by Paul in this Epistle. And well might David speak of that righteousness, when by it he was cleared from all the guilt of his enormous wickedness.

The word rendered ‘righteousness,’ Romans 1:17, and in the verse before us, signifies both justice and righteousness; that is to say, conformity to the law. But while both of these expressions denote this conformity, there is an essential difference between them. Justice imports conformity to the law in executing its sentence; righteousness, conformity in obeying its precepts, and this is the meaning of the word here. If these ideas be interchanged or confounded, as they often are, the whole scope of the Apostle’s reasoning will be misunderstood.

In various parts of Scripture this phrase, ‘the righteousness of God,’ signifies either that holiness and rectitude of character which is the attribute of God, or that distributive justice by which He maintains the authority of His law; but where it refers to man’s salvation, and is not merely a personal attribute of Deity, it signifies, as in the passage before us, ver. 21, that fulfillment of the law, or perfect conformity to it in all its demands, which, consistently with His justice, God has appointed and provided for the salvation of sinners. This implies that the infinite justice of His character requires what is provided, and also that it is approved and accepted; for if it be God’s righteousness, it must be required, and must be accepted by the justice of God. The righteousness of God, which is received by faith, denotes something that becomes the property of the believer. It cannot, then, be here the Divine attribute of justice, but the Divine work which God has wrought through His Son. This, therefore, determines the phrase in this place as referring immediately not to the Divine attribute, but to the Divine work. The former never can become ours. This also is decisive against explaining the phrase as signifying a Divine method of justification. The righteousness of God is contrasted with the righteousness of man; and as Israel’s own righteousness, which they went about to establish, was the righteousness of their works, not their method of justification, so God’s righteousness, as opposed to this, Romans 10:3, must be a righteousness wrought by Jehovah. As in Corinthians 5:21, the imputation of sin to Christ is contrasted with our becoming the righteousness of God in Him, the latter cannot be a method of justification, but must intimate our becoming perfectly righteous by possessing Christ’s righteousness, which is provided by God for us, and is perfectly commensurate with the Divine justice.

No explanation of the expression, ‘the righteousness of God,’ will at once suit the phrase and the situation in which it is found in the passage before us, but that which makes it that righteousness, or obedience to the law, both in its penalty and requirements, which has been yielded to it by our Lord Jesus Christ. This is indeed the righteousness of God, for it has been provided by God, and from first to last has been effected by His Son Jesus Christ, who is the mighty God and the Father of eternity. Everything that draws it off from this signification tends to darken the Scriptures, to cloud the apprehension of the truth in the children of God, and to corrupt the simplicity that is in Christ. To that righteousness is the eye of the believer ever to be directed; on that righteousness must he rest; on that righteousness must he live; on that righteousness must he die; in that righteousness must he appear before the judgment-seat; in that righteousness must he stand for ever in the presence of a righteous God. ‘I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God: for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,’ Isaiah 61:10.

The righteousness of God provided for the salvation of sinners, like that salvation itself, differs essentially from all other righteousness that ever was or can ever be performed. It differs entirely from the righteousness of men and angels in itsAUTHOR, for it is the righteousness not of creatures but of the Creator. ‘I the Lord have created it, ’ Isaiah 45:8. It is a Divine and infinitely perfect righteousness, wrought out by Jehovah Himself, which in the salvation of man preserves all His attributes inviolate. It is the righteousness of God, as of the Godhead, without respect to distinction of personality, and strictly so in that sense in which the world is the work of God. The Father created it by the Son, in the same way as by the Son He created the world: and if the Father effected this righteousness because His Son effected it, then His Son must be one with Himself. Peter, in his Second Epistle, ch. <600101> 1:1, according to the literal rendering of the passage, calls this righteousness the righteousness of Jesus Christ. ‘Simon Peter, a servant and an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us, in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.’ Most of the places in which the righteousness of God is spoken of, refer to it as the righteousness of the Fatherly as in 2 Corinthians 5:21, where the Father is distinguished from the Son; but in this passage of Peter it is explicitly declared to be the righteousness of the Son, where He is expressly called God. As it would be a palpable contradiction to assert that the work of creation could be executed by any creature, for He that built all things must be God, so the righteousness of God could not be ascribed to Jesus Christ unless He had been in the beginning, ‘God,’ ‘with God,’ and ‘over all, God blessed for ever.’

It was dueling His incarnation that the Son of God wrought out this righteousness. Before He came into the world, He was not a member or subject of the kingdom of heaven, — He was its Head. He then acted in the form of God, — that is to say, as the Creator and Sovereign of the world, — but afterwards in the form of a servant. Before that period He was perfectly holy, but that holiness could not be called obedience. It might rather be said that the law was conformed to Him, than that He was conformed to the law. His holiness was exercised in making the law, and by it governing the world. But in His latter condition it was that law by which He Himself was governed. His righteousness or obedience, then, was that of infinitely the most glorious person that could be subjected to the law. It was the righteousness of Emmanuel, God with us; and this obedience of the Son of God in our nature conferred more honor on the law than the obedience of all intelligent creatures. He gave to every commandment of the law, and to every duty it enjoined, more honor that it had received of dishonor from all the transgressors that have been in the world. When others obey the law, they derive from that obedience honor to themselves; but on the occasion now referred to, it was the law that was honored by the obedience of its Sovereign. ‘The Lord,’ says the Prophet, ‘is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable,’ Isaiah 42:21.

The obedience of Jesus Christ magnified the law, because it was rendered by Divine appointment. He was chosen of God, and anointed for this end.

He was Jehovah, whom Jehovah sent. ‘Lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent Me unto thee,’ Zechariah 2:10,11. And when it is considered that the most astonishing work of God which can be conceived is the incarnation of His Son, and His sojourning in the world, and that these wonders were performed in order to magnify the law, it necessarily follows that it is impossible to entertain too exalted an idea of the regard which God has for the character of His holy law. In itsAUTHOR, then, this righteousness is immeasurably distinguished from any other righteousness.

And not Only does it differ in itsAUTHOR it differs also in itsNATURE, in itsEXTENT, in itsDURATION, and in itsINFLUENCE, from all other righteousness that ever was or ever can be performed.

In itsNATURE this righteousness is twofold, fulfilling both the precept of the law and its penalty. This, by any creature the most exalted, is absolutely impossible. The fulfillment of the law, in its precepts, is all that could be required of creatures in their original sinless condition. Such was at the beginning the state of all the angels, and of the first man. But the state of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, when He came into the world, was essentially different. Christ was made under the law, but it was aBROKEN LAW; and consequently He was made under its curse. This is not only implied when it is said, He was ‘made of a woman,’ who was a transgressor, but it is also expressly asserted that He was ‘made a curse for us,’ Galatians 3:13. Justice therefore required that He should fulfill not only the precept, but also the penalty of the law, — all that it threatens, as well as all that it commands.

A mere creature may obey the precept of the law, or suffer the penalty it denounces, but he cannot do both. If he be a transgressor, he may be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord; and God, whose vengeance he is suffering, being to him an object of unmingled hatred and abhorrence, there can be no place for his repentance, his love, or obedience. But Jesus Christ was capable at the same moment of suffering at the hand of God and of obeying the precept to love God. This was made manifest during the whole period of His incarnation, as well as by the memorable words which He uttered on the cross, ‘My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ We are here taught that the prediction by the Prophet, ‘Awake, O sword, against the man that is My fellow,’ was at that moment receiving its accomplishment. The sword of Divine justice, according to the prophetic declarations contained in the 22nd Psalm, was then piercing His in most soul, but still He addressed God as His God.

From this it is evident that, while suffering under the full weight of His Father’s wrath against the sins of His people, which He had taken upon Him, all the feedings both of love and confidence also expressed in the same Psalm were at that moment in full exercise. His righteousness, therefore, or conformity to the law, was at once a conformity in two respects, which could not have been exemplified but by Himself throughout the whole universe.

By the sufferings of Jesus Christ, the execution of the law was complete; while no punishment which creatures could suffer can be thus designated.

The law was fully executed when all the threatenings it contained were carried into effect. Those who are consigned to everlasting punishment will never be able to say, as our blessed Lord said on the cross, ‘It is finished.’

It is He only who could put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself By enduring the threatened punishment, He fully satisfied justice. In token of having received a full discharge, He came forth from the grave; and when He shall appear the second time, it shall be without sin, — the sin which He had taken upon Him, and all its effects, being for ever done away.

This fulfillment of the law, in its penalty, by the Son of God, is an end which cannot otherwise than through eternity be attained by the punishment of mere creatures. Sin, as committed against God, is an infinite evil, and request an infinite punishment, which cannot be borne in any limited time by those who are not capable of suffering punishment in an infinite degree. But the sufferings, as well as the obedience, in time, of Him who is infinite, are equivalent to the eternal obedience and sufferings of those who are finite.

The doctrine that sin is an infinite evil, and requires an infinite punishment, is objected to by the Socinians. They say that if each sin we commit merits eternal death — in other words, an infinite punishment — and since there are almost an infinite number of sins committed by men, then it must be said that they merit an almost infinite number of punishments, and consequently that they cannot be expiated but by a like number of infinite satisfactions. It is replied, that the infinite value of the death of the Redeemer equals an infinite number of infinite punishments.

For such is the nature of infinitude, that it admits of no degrees; it knows nothing of more or less; it cannot be measured; it cannot be augmented; so that ten thousand infinities are still only one infinite. And if Jesus Christ had suffered death as many times as the number of the sins of the redeemed, His satisfaction would not have been greater or more complete than by the one death which He suffered.

The death of the Son of God serves to magnify the law, by demonstrating the certainty of that eternal punishment, which, if broken, it denounces as its penalty. There are no limits to eternity; but when the Son of God bore what was equivalent to the eternal punishment of those who had sinned, He furnished a visible demonstration of the eternal punishment of sin.

But if nothing beyond the suffering of the penalty of the law had taken place, men would only have been released from the punishment due to sin.

If they were to obtain the reward of obedience, its precepts must also be obeyed; and this was accomplished to the utmost by Jesus Christ. Every command it enjoins, as well as every prohibition it contains, were in all respects fully honored by Him. In this manner, and by His sufferings, He fulfilled all righteousness The righteousness, therefore, of our God and Savior Jesus Christ is infinitely glorious. It is the righteousness of the Lawgiver; and, being in its character twofold, it differs entirely in its\parNATURE from all other righteousness, and is of an order infinitely higher than ever was or can be exemplified by any or all of the orders of intelligent creatures.

This righteousness differs also from all other righteousness in itsEXTENT.

Every creature is bound for himself to all that obedience to his Creator of which he is capable. He is under the obligation to love God with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his strength, and beyond this he cannot advance. It is evident, therefore, that he can have no superabounding righteousness to be placed in the way of merit to the account of another.

And, besides this, if he has sinned, he is bound to suffer for himself the whole penalty annexed to disobedience, no part of which, consequently, can be borne by him to satisfy for the transgression of others. He is not in possession of a life at his own disposal to lay down for them; and if he had laid it down, it being in that case forfeited for ever, he could not take it again. But the obedience of Jesus Christ, who is Himself infinite, as well as the punishment He suffered, being in themselves of infinite value, are capable of being transferred in their effects without any diminution in their respective values. His life, too, was His own; and as He suffered voluntarily, His obedience and sufferings, which were infinitely meritorious, might, with the most perfect regard to justice, be imputed to as many of those of whose nature He partook, as to the Supreme Ruler shall seem good.

This righteousness likewise differs from all other righteousness in its\parDURATION. The righteousness of Adam or of angels could only be available while it continued to be performed. The law was binding on them in every instant of their existence. The moment, therefore, in which they transgressed, the advantages derived from all their previous obedience ceased. But the righteousness of God, brought in by His Son, is an ‘everlasting righteousness,’ Daniel 9:24. It was performed within a limited period of time, but in its effects it can never terminate. ‘Lift up your eyes to heaven, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished — My righteousness shall before ever,’ Isaiah 51:6,8. ‘Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,’ <19B9142> Psalm 119:142. ‘By one offering He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified,’ Hebrews 10:14. ‘By His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption,’ Hebrews 9:12. In respect to its duration, then, this righteousness reaches back to the period of man’s fall, and forward through the endless ages of eternity.

The paramountINFLUENCE of this righteousness is also gloriously conspicuous. It is the sole ground of the reconciliation of sinners with God, and their justification before Him, and also of intercession with Him before the throne. ‘If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, ’ 1 John 2:1. It is the price paid for those new heavens and that new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness; for that kingdom prepared for those who are clothed with righteousness — a kingdom commensurate with the dignity of Him for whom it was provided. The paradise in which Adam was placed at his creation was a paradise on earth. It might be corrupted, it might be defiled, and it might fade away, all of which accordingly took place. But the paradise which, in virtue of the righteousness of God, is provided, and to the hope of which, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, His people are begotten, is an inheritance which is incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven. This righteousness, then, is the ransom by which men are delivered from going down to the pit of everlasting destruction, and the price of heavenly and eternal glory. It is the fine linen, clean and white, in which the bride, the Lamb’s wife, shall be arrayed, ‘for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.’ Man was made lower than the angels, but this righteousness exalts him above them. The redeemed people of God stand nearest to the throne, while the angels stand ‘round about’ them. They enter heaven clothed with a righteousness infinitely better than that which angels possess, or in which Adam was created.

The idea which some entertain, that the loss incurred by the fall is only compensated by what is obtained through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, is so far from being just, that the super abounding of the gain is unspeakable and immense. By the disobedience of the first Adam, the righteousness with which he was originally invested was lost for himself and all his posterity, and the sin which he had committed was laid to their charge. By the obedience of the second Adam, not only the guilt of that one offense is removed, but pardon also is procured for all the personal transgressions of the children of God; while the righteousness, infinitely glorious, which He wrought, is placed to their account. By the entrance of sin and death, the inheritance on earth was forfeited. By the gift of the everlasting righteousness, their title to eternal glory in heaven is secured. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification.

For if by one man’s offense 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, ch. v. 16, 17.

The evidence of the truth of Christianity might be rested on this one point —THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD provided for the salvation of sinners.

How could such an idea as that of a vicarious everlasting righteousness, to meet all the demands of aBROKEN LAW, have ever entered into the conception of men and angels? If it could have suggested itself to the highest created intelligence, and had the question been asked of all the host of heaven standing around the throne of God, ‘on His right hand and His left,’ Who shall work this righteousness? what answer could have been given? what expedient for its accomplishment could have been proposed by one or all of them together? All must have stood silent before their Maker. As no one in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book with the seven seals, neither to look thereon, — which was a subject of such bitter lamentation to the beloved disciple, — so no one, neither man nor angel, nor all the elect angels together, could have wrought the righteousness necessary for the justification of a sinner.

He alone who is Emmanuel, God with us, who alone could open that book and loose the seals thereof, could ‘bring in this everlasting righteousness,’ of which it may be truly said that eye had not seen it, nor ear heard it, neither had it entered into the heart of man, till God revealed it by His Spirit. Without law. — This righteousness is ‘the righteousness of God,’ and altogether independent of any obedience of man to law, more or less. As the righteousness of God is the perfect fulfillment which the law demands, it is evidently impossible that any other righteousness or obedience can be added to it or mixed with it. On the cross, Jesus Christ said, It is finished, — that is, it is perfected. To exhibit thisPERFECTION, this fulfillment of the law, this grand consummation, is the great object of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Hebrews, ch. <580601> 6:1. And Christ, it is said, Romans 10:4, is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. In each of these passages the word used for ‘perfection,’ or ‘end,’ is, in the original, the same as the word ‘finished,’ used on the cross. And those persons are described as ignorant of God’s righteousness who go about to establish their own righteousness, and have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. ‘Without law,’ then, signifies, not without perfect obedience, but without any regard whatever to the obedience of man to the law. The obedience which the believer is enabled to render to the law has no part in his justification, nor could it justify, being always imperfect. The Apostle had, in the foregoing verse, affirmed that by his obedience to the law no man could be justified. He establishes the same truth in the 28th verse of this chapter, and in the fifth verse of the fourth chapter, in a manner so explicit, as to place his meaning beyond all question. In the same sense he declares, Galatians 3:21, that ‘if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.’ And again, he affirms, Galatians 2:21, ‘If righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.’ It is needless here to dispute, as many do, about what law the Apostle alludes to, whether moral or ceremonial. It is to the law of God, whether written or unwritten, — whatever is sanctioned by His authority, whether ceremonial or moral, — all of which have been fulfilled by the righteousness of God, Matthew 3:15.

The righteousness of God is now manifested, — that is, clearly discovered, or made fully evident. It was darkly revealed in the shadows of the law, and more clearly in the writings of the Prophets; but now it is revealed in its accomplishment. It was manifested in the life and death of Jesus Christ, and was, by His resurrection from the dead, openly declared on the part of God. By Him, who was God manifest in the flesh, it was wrought out while He was on earth. He fulfilled all righteousness; not one jot of the law, either in its precepts or threatenings, passed from it; but all was accomplished; and of this righteousness the Holy Spirit, when He came, was to convince the world, John 16:8.

This righteousness is manifested in the doctrine of the Apostles. Besides being introduced so frequently in this Epistle to the Romans, it is often referred to and exhibited in the other apostolical Epistles. To the Apostles was committed the ministration of the new dispensation characterized as the ‘ministration of righteousness,’ 2 Corinthians 3:9. By that dispensation, and not by the law, righteousness is come, Galatians 2:21.

In writing to the Philippians, Paul calls it ‘the righteousness which is of God by faith, ’ and contrasts it with his own righteousness, which is of the law, Philippians 3:9. Peter addresses his Second Epistle to those who had obtained precious faith in the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ, 2 Peter 1:1. In one word, besides expressly naming it in many places under the designation of righteousness, the grand theme of the writings of the Apostles, as well as of their preaching, was the obedience and sufferings even unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. Him they declared to be ‘the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth; ‘while they exposed the error of such as went about to establish their own righteousness, and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God.

Being witnessed by the law. — In the first part of this verse, ‘without law,’ where the article is wanting, signifies law indefinitely, — whatever has been delivered to man by God as His law, and in whatever way; but here, with the article, it refers to the five books of Moses, thus distinguished from the writings of the Prophets, according to the usual division of the Old Testament Scriptures, and adopted by our Lord, Luke 24:44. This righteousness was obscurely testified in the first promise respecting the bruising of the serpent’s head. It was expressly named in the declaration of the manner of Abraham’s justification, where it is recorded that he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness, Genesis 15:6; as also in the covenant which God made with him, of which the sign — that is, circumcision — was a seal or pledge of the righteousness which is by faith; and when it was promised that the blessing of Abraham, which is this righteousness, was to come on all nations; Genesis 12:3. It was intimated in the writings of Moses, in every declaration of the forgiveness of sin, and every call to repentance.

All the declarations of mercy that are to be found in the law of Moses belong to the Gospel. They are all founded on the Messiah and His righteousness, and are made in consequence of God’s purpose to send His Son in the fullness of time into the world, and of the first promise respecting the seed of the woman.

The righteousness of God was witnessed not only in all the declarations of mercy and calls to repentance, but also by the whole economy of the law of which Moses was the mediator. Abraham was chosen, his posterity collected into a nation, and a country appropriated to them, that from the midst of them, according to His promise, God might raise up a Prophet, who, like unto Moses, was to be a Lawgiver and Mediator, to whom, turning from Moses, they should listen so soon as He appeared, Deuteronomy 18:15,19. The law of everlasting obligation was given to that nation, and renewed after it had been broken by them, and then solemnly deposited in the ark of the testimony, in token that it should be preserved entire, and in due time fulfilled by him of whom the ark was a type.

The sacrifices offered by the patriarchs, and the whole of the ceremonial law in all its typical ordinances and observances, bear their direct though shadowy testimony to the righteousness of God, of which Noah was alike a preacher and an heir, 2 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 11:7.

The righteousness of God was witnessed by the Prophets. Of their testimonies to it the following are a few examples from the Psalms: — ’Deliver me from blood-guiltiness, O God, Thou God of my salvation; and my tongue shall sing aloud of Thy righteousness.’ Psalm 51:14. ‘My mouth shall show 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. Thy righteousness, also, O God, is very high. My tongue also shall talk of Thy righteousness all the day long,’ Psalm 71:15,16,19,24. ‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Righteousness shall go before Him, and shall set us in the way of His steps,’ Psalm 85:10,13. ‘In Thy name shall they rejoice all the day; and in Thy righteousness shall they be exalted,’ Psalm 89:16. ‘Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness,’ <19B901> Psalm 119, 142. ‘They shall abundantly utter the memory of Thy great goodness, and shall sing of Thy righteousness,’ <19E507> Psalm 145:7.

The righteousness of the Messiah, as connected with salvation, is the constant theme of the Prophets, especially of Isaiah. ‘The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake; He will magnify the law, and make it honorable,’ Isaiah 42:21. ‘Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness; let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it,’ Isaiah 45:8. The heavens were to drop down this righteousness, and the skies were to pour it down, while men’s hearts, barren like the earth without rain, were to be opened to receive it by faith, having no part in doing anything to procure the gift. ‘Surely, shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory,’ Isaiah 45:24,25. ‘I bring near My righteousness; it shall not be far off, and My salvation shall not tarry; and I will place salvation in Zion for Israel My glory,’ Isaiah 46:13. ‘My righteousness is near; My salvation is gone forth — My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, ’ Isaiah 51:5,7. ‘By His knowledge shall My righteous servant justify many,’ Isaiah 61:11. ‘This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of Me, saith the Lord,’ Isaiah 54:17. ‘Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed,’ Isaiah 56:1. ‘For as the earth bringeth forth her bud, and as the garden causeth the things that are sown in it to spring forth; so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations,’ Isaiah 61:11. ‘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 the Gentiles shall see Thy righteousness, and all kings Thy glory,’ Isaiah 62:1,2. ‘Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is His name whereby He shall be called, JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,’ Jeremiah 23:5. ‘Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteous, ’ Daniel 9:24. ‘It is time to seek the Lord, till He come and rain righteousness upon you,’ Hosea 10:12. ‘But unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings,’ Malachi 4:2. To Balaam, who beheld the Savior at a distance, He appeared as a star; ‘ There shall come a Star out of Jacob,’ Numbers 24:17; while to Malachi, the last of the Prophets, on His nearer approach, He appeared as the sun.

Ver. 22. — When the righteousness of and, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all their that believe.

This righteousness of God, to which the law and the Prophets render their testimony, and which is now manifested in the Gospel, whereby man is justified, is not imputed to him on account of any work of his own in obedience to the law, but is received, as the Apostle had already declared in the 17th verse of chapter first, by faith alone. Faith is no part of that righteousness; but it is through faith that it is received, and becomes available for salvation. Faith is the belief of the Divine testimony concerning that righteousness, and trust in Him who is its Author. Faith perceives and acknowledges the excellency and suitableness of God’s righteousness, and cordially embraces it. ‘Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;’ because, though we do not yet possess what God has promised, and do not yet see it accomplished in ourselves, we see it accomplished in Jesus Christ, in whom what we hope for really exists. In respect to the promises not yet fulfilled, believers are now in the same situation as the fathers were of old respecting the unaccomplished promises in their day. Like them, they see these promises afar off, are persuaded of them, and embrace them. Believers thus flee to Christ and His