Righteousness Revealed

The gospel, Paul declares, reveals the righteousness of God (Rom 1:17). We don’t often think of it that way. We tend to say, “It’s good news I don’t have to pay for my sin,” or “It’s good news He provided a way for me to be forgiven.” But “It’s good news because I get to see the righteousness of God in it” rarely comes to mind. Yet that is Paul’s theme throughout his letter to the church at Rome.

Paul begins with the righteousness of God in His wrath against sin (Rom 1:18–3:20). Humanity knows His “righteous decree” that sin deserves death (Rom 1:32). We know that the judgment of God “rightly falls on those who practice such things” (Rom 2:2). Our unrighteousness, Paul says, displays God’s righteousness (Rom 3:5), and God is righteous in judging us for sin (Rom 3:5–8). The bad news is truly bad—but it boldly declares that God is right to judge sin harshly.

Against this backdrop of our sin and God’s just wrath, Paul turns to the gospel—the good news. “The righteousness of God is manifested” (Rom 3:21) “through faith in Jesus Christ” (Rom 3:22), so that we may be “justified as a gift by His grace” (Rom 3:24). God accomplishes this astounding work of righteousness and justice—dealing with our sin while still showing grace and mercy—through the “propitiation in His blood through faith” (Rom 3:25). Propitiation means the satisfaction of God’s righteous wrath and the removal of sin’s barrier. Christ’s blood is that propitiation. And this propitiation, this spilling of His Son’s blood on our behalf, demonstrates God’s righteousness (Rom 3:25), making Him both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26). It is amazingly good news—and it is fundamentally about revealing His righteousness. We cannot save ourselves (Rom 3:19–20), but He justifies us as a gift (Rom 3:21–31). That is astonishingly good news and a profound demonstration of His rightness.

When Paul speaks of the righteousness of God being revealed, he is not only referring to the righteousness that belongs to God. He also means the righteousness that God credits to those who believe. He credited righteousness to Abraham (Rom 4:3–6). He grants righteousness to all who believe (Rom 5:17–21). We are declared righteous not on our own merit, but on the righteousness applied to us. In fact, this righteousness was the point—“so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4).

We lack righteousness by nature. Born in sin, we act according to our nature and sin. We rightly earn God’s wrath. Thanks be to God that He delays judgment (Rom 2:4), giving space for repentance and faith so that we may believe and be declared righteous by the blood of the Lamb. It is gloriously good news—and far bigger than we often realize.