WWUTT 104 Wearing Righteousness (Romans 1:16-17)

The Power of the Gospel and the Meaning of Righteousness

You know the word righteous can sometimes be used as a slang term, right? Dude, that was righteous! But did you know that the word originates from one of the first English translations of the Bible? It's also the power of God for all who believe when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a five-minute Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Romans 1, 16 and 17 again today. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. Yesterday we looked primarily at verse 16 and talked about justification. Today we want to look at verse 17 and talk about righteousness.

It was necessary to talk about justification first because righteousness is an attribute that implies that a person's actions have been justified. God has determined that a person is leading a life that is pleasing to Him.

Through Christ, our actions are justified as righteous. The word righteous is a Christian word. It was coined by William Tyndale when he was translating the Bible into English. He's credited as being the first to translate the Bible, working directly from Hebrew and Greek texts.

In the Old English prior to the 15th century, righteous wasn't a word. The word was right-wise and Tyndale refashioned the word to be more like bounteous or glorious and he coined the spelling as we have it today, righteous.

Justification and Righteousness Go Hand in Hand

Just as God is the one who justifies, so He is the one that makes righteous. Justification and righteousness go hand in hand. We read in verse 16 that the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.

That's the justification part. Then in verse 17, for in it the righteousness of God is revealed. That's the righteousness part. And again, righteousness is the work of God. It's not our righteous deeds but God who makes righteous.

Hebrews 1321 says that God equips us with everything good so that you may do His will working in us that which is pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ. Through Christ, God is working in us His righteousness.

The Bible says that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin. Romans 14 23. And even our best deeds are as filthy rags before God. Isaiah 64 6. So nothing we do can earn justification. We're not justified because we did anything righteous.

We Are Righteous Because We Are Justified in Christ

We are righteous because we are justified. Christ died for our sins. The debt has been paid and we've been justified. Now all who are in Christ wear His righteousness. When God looks at us, He doesn't see our filthy rags.

He sees the perfection of His Son. We confirm that we are His followers when we obey His commands and do the things that Jesus did. Jesus said in John 14 15, if you love me you will keep my commands. You will keep my commands.

If you love God, you will keep His commands. That's not itself a command as much as it is an assurance that God has justified you. That was John 14 15. Now here's John 15 14. You are my friends if you do what I command you.

Christ Became Sin for Us So We Might Become the Righteousness of God

You know Romans 3 12 tells us that without Jesus we're worthless. But 2 Corinthians 5 21 tells us that with Christ we are the very righteousness of God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

What a profound verse helping us understand the meaning of justification. The one who knew no sin is Jesus Christ. God made Him to be sin meaning that He would be regarded and treated as sin though Christ Himself never sinned.

God did this for our sake. Though the sin belong to us, God regarded it as if the sin belong to Christ and for our sake Christ became our substitute. Jesus died for us in our place. He absorbed the wrath of God and now just as God imputed our sin on Christ He imputes His righteousness on us.

All who believe in Jesus. He became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. And this is the work of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We receive it by faith and it grows our faith. As it is written the righteous shall live by faith.

All the glory to God for His mercy and His righteousness. This is the protection of First Southern Baptist Church in Junction City, Kansas. Find us on the web at www .utt .com.