02.08. Second Main Division: The Righteousness of God

Second Main Division: The Righteousness of God
(Rom 3:21-31, Rom 4:1-25, Rom 5:1-21, Rom 6:1-23, Rom 7:1-25, Rom 8:1-39) In the foregoing studies it has been shown that by sin man had been ruined, and rendered utterly unable to help himself. He was guilty—every man, without a solitary exception—and could do nothing to make himself acceptable to God. Judged by his own works—surely a righteous judgment—he was condemned. The Gentiles were guilty, because when they knew God they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; and as a result of this they had fallen into gross idolatry and indescribable immorality. The terrible picture of the state of things in the Gentile world, drawn by the Spirit of Truth in Romans 1, is reflected even in the writings of the heathen philosophers. We must say of ourselves, said Seneca, that we are evil, have been evil, and—unhappily, I must add— shall be also in the future. I am tossed, said the same writer, upon a sea of pure infirmity. The human mind is by nature perverse, and strives after what is forbidden and perilous. And he uttered a word almost prophetic when he wrote, Nobody can deliver himself; someone must stretch out a hand, to lift him up. As for the Jew, he was at least equally guilty with the Gentiles, for, with a fuller revelation of God, he failed miserably to walk in the light vouchsafed to him. The law had only emphasized his sorry plight, for through the law is the knowledge of sin. Tested by the law every Jew must ultimately find himself in the evil case of Saul of Tarsus—Judaism’s finest specimen— and cry out, O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me? The situation in Jewry had become worse instead of better since the days of the prophets, who had declared that judgment was turned away backward, and justice stood afar off; for truth was fallen in the street, and equity could not enter. Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey! (Isa 59:14-15).

Thus the whole problem was thrust back upon God Himself. And, blessed be His name! He found a way out. Jehovah saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no judgment. And He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore His arm BROUGHT SALVATION UNTO HIM; AND HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS it sustained Him (Isa 59:15-16). He it was that was gracious to man, and delivered him from going down to the pit; He it was that found a ransom (Job 33:24). Without sacrificing His own righteousness—which would have been, of course, impossible—He yet found a way to bestow righteousness upon unrighteous man. And that is the theme of the second main division of the epistle to the Romans: righteousness, gospel-righteousness, the gift of God.