How did God make humankind righteous?
In Romans chapters 3 through 7, Paul presents the very core of the good news, the completed and perfect salvation in Christ Jesus. God made us righteous in Jesus. He did not declare us righteous by covering our sinfulness. He removed our sinfulness from us and thus made us righteous. “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (which is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed – namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. But they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. God publicly displayed him at his death as the mercy seat accessible through faith. This was to demonstrate his righteousness because God in his forbearance had passed over sins previously committed.” Romans 3:21 – 25. Paul wrote Romans 3:21 – 26 as a single sentence. The Bible translators break Paul’s sentence into six sentences because of the complexity of the sentence in the Greek language. The complex sentence above is extremely important for understanding how God made humankind righteous in his eyes.
The “righteousness from God.” reads in Greek as “The righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ” The “righteousness of God” is not our standing before God or a quality that he bestowed on rebellious humankind. The righteousness of God is the person, Jesus Christ. Christ Jesus is our righteousness. God did not make us righteous like Jesus is. God made us righteous in Christ Jesus and him only. The righteousness from God becomes our personal experience by trusting Jesus Christ that he has accomplished everything needed for our justification and salvation. Our righteousness was accomplished in the body of Jesus on the cross at Golgotha. When we deny ourselves and receive Jesus, we have righteousness.
The first-century Christians used the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The Septuagint was the only complete Bible available from the first to the Fourth century. The Greek word “pistis,” in the Septuagint, translates the Hebrew, which speaks of “fidelity, faithfulness” and describes the faithful attitude toward another human being. The Bible translators are beginning to choose “by the faithfulness of Jesus” as an appropriate translation.
Continued in the next blog.
