Slide 1

What is the righteousness of God ( )

in Romans 3.21-3.26?
Subtitle
How does an apocalyptic, Christological and
contextual reading of Romans 1-3 affect the
interpretation of the righteousness of God in 3.21-
26 as compared to the traditional
Protestant interpretation that the righteousness of
God in 3.21-26 is a status that is
conferred to the believer on the condition of faith?
John A G Southwick



Slide 2

Contextual
Any study of Romans should proceed on the
initial assumption that this letter was written by
Paul to deal with a concrete situation in Rome.
The support for such an assumption is the fact
that every other authentic Pauline writing,
without exception, is addressed to specific
situations of the churches or persons involved
(Donfried, The Romans Debate 1991:103).




Slide 3

Not a doctrinal thesis!
N-401
Justification by faith
Subtitle
My letter to the Romans
Paul of Tarsus
Supervisor: John Dennis


Slide 4

Apocalyptic
:Eschatological
revelation - an eschatological
event that has invaded history
God's eschatological vindication
of Israel
Romans 10.4 teleos ()




Slide 5

Christological
Romans 1.16-17 Theme of letter
Habakuk 2:4; the righteous one
shall live by faithfulness.
Messianic
Ultimately linked to eschatologically


Slide 6

Pauls gospel as the revelation of Gods
righteousness
N T Wright states, It is not difficult to discover the
main theme of the letter. Gods Gospel unveils
Gods righteousness. (Wright 2002:397)
What is this righteousness?
What is the traditional interpretation?
How does the contextual, apocalyptic and
Christological reading affect this interpretation?




Slide 7

Traditional interpretation of the
righteousness of God in Romans
the gift of an alien righteousness, i.e. not ours
a moral perfection that is bestowed upon the
believer as a result of the believers faith
declarative legal status of the believer in
relation to God
means by which the believer is justified or
made right with God.



Slide 8

Justification by faith
hence the doctrine of justification by
faith
Justified or made right by the gift of the
alien righteousness
over-riding interpretative framework for
the term.
Romans seen as the thesis for this
doctrine




Slide 9

The English translations of as

righteousness or justice confer a similar
meaning as the Greek word in its secular use
actions corresponding to an objective moral
normmoral
distributive justice, giving to someone what is
their due


Slide 10

Justice/ righteousness
A man is [just] righteous when he meets
certain claims which another has on him in
virtue of relationship. Even the righteousness
of God is primarily His covenantal rule in
fellowship with His people. (Schrenk, ET
1964:195)




Slide 11

as a term
In OT writings the righteousness of Yahweh is
Yahwehs conduct with respect to the
covenant. In the covenant Israel experiences
the righteousness of Yahweh as a condition of
its existence, as Yahwehs initiative in giving
himself to his people, whom he continually
confirms through his demonstration of his
righteousness (Kertelge, ET 1990:328).



Slide 12

: activity and
covenant
Gods action and activity with respect to his
covenant and his actual relationships to his
people within it.
In Paul, becomes an
expression for the unity of the eschatological
judging and redeeming acts of God in
accordance with his covenant
Not a distributive justice nor a moral
perfection




Slide 13

Covenant and creation
Gods saving plan for the world in order to
deal with sin
Enacted with Abraham to be a blessing and
light to the nations
Israel had failed its calling - unfaithful



Slide 14

Theme of Romans 1.16-17
Gospel is for all: both Jew and
Gentile
Remember context
Roman church was going through
ethnic strife




Slide 15

Theme of Romans: gospel as
revelation of Gods righteousness
Saving action in accordance to his covenant
This action is now centred around Christ
the righteous one by faithfulness shall live.



Slide 16

Messianic interpretation of Habakkuk
2.4
Not usually interpreted this way
More often than not it is seen as merely a
Pauline proof text for the doctrine of
justification by faith
Interpretation of the righteous one is the
believer who is righteous because of his faith




Slide 17

Habakkuk context
Waiting on Gods eschatological salvation
according to his covenant faithfulness (sound
familiar?)
Paul quotes LXX the righteous one shall live by
my faithfulness (Gods)
Scriptural context is one of theodicy and Gods
action/faithfulness
Not an individual soteriological concern



Slide 18

Doctrinal presuppositions?
It is apparent that both the original theodicy
context of Habakkuk and the onus of the
faithfulness of God in the LXX text which Paul
is quoting are circumvented to fit the
presupposition that the text is a corroboration
of the Pauline doctrine of justification by faith.




Slide 19

Habakkuk as prophecy
The righteous one spoken of here is plainly
Christ, and this prophetic text, read in this
fashion, suggests that by means of his
faithfulness to the point of death he will live in
the sense of being vindicated and resurrected.
So Habbakuk 2:4 now neatly predicts the
passion of Jesus - his death and resurrection.
It is a prophetic attestation to Paul's gospel,
and to the disclosure of the
it presupposes (Campbell, 2009:613).


Slide 20

the righteous one
generalised arthrous construction to denote
Christ is used by Paul and elsewhere in NT
meets Messianic expectations set out
programmatically in 1.2-4
'the LXX translators produced a text that is
readily susceptible to Messianic
interpretation.' (Hays, 2002:135-136)
Christs faithfulness then is his obedience to
death ( and vindication upon resurrection)




Slide 21

The link between Pauls gospel as the
revelation of the righteousness of God
and Christ
A clear link between the theme of the letter: the
Gospel as the eschatological revelation of Gods
righteousness and Christ
The emphasis on faithfulness (faithfulness which
is obedience to death) is also on Christ
Therefore the righteousness of God and the
death and resurrection of Christ are intrinsically
linked
Gods saving activity and covenant faithfulness
are centred on him and not the believer


Slide 22

Double nature: some (R)Wright
Jesus' death and resurrection is the
eschatological revelation of
which is both God's eschatological saving activity
as well as his means to be faithful to his
covenant. This saving plan and purpose of God to
deal with sin and redeem creation and
humankind was originally through Israel but one
in which the nation as a whole failed. Christ as
the recapitulation of Israel, as the faithful Israelite
has accomplished Gods plan by fulfilling Israels
covenant obligations also (Wright, 1999:33).




Slide 23

This Christological translation and interpretation
is key for understanding the pericope in
question
3.22 Traditional
that is, the righteousness of God through the
faith in Jesus for the believing ones
3.22 Christological
that is, the righteousness of God through the
faithfulness of Jesus for the believing ones



Slide 24

Faithfulness as obedience to death as
the means of right wising
3.26
the culmination of the pericope and a
sustained argument from 1.18
Here it is spelled out; it is by means of Jesus
(life of) faithfulness, that is, obedience to
death, that God is able to justify or make right
the believer
Focus is on Christ not the believer, the
believers faith does not justify him! #boom




Slide 25

Summary
Hebrew term justice/righteousness
Righteousness of God as a term - saving activity in
relation to his covenant
Righteous one as Christ prophecy and context
Faithfulness as obedience to death
The gospel as the revelation of Gods righteousness is
linked to Christs death and resurrection
Justification is through the death and resurrection of
Christ not faith of believer
Links to 3.21-26 and Christological key