16For 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. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16–17)
In my previous post I noted that in his revised BECNT commentary on Romans, Tom Schreiner summarizes the theme of Romans 1:16–17 saying, “The gospel is the saving power of God in which the righteousness of God is revealed” (63). Commentators have come to different interpretations as to what God’s righteousness is. Schreiner explains three of the different interpretations in his commentary.
Last time I wrote about those who think that God’s righteousness is his covenant faithfulness. This time I present Schreiner’s arguments for (and against) God’s righteousness being transformative.
Arguments For
1. Revealed
God’s righteousness being revealed refers to God’s eschatological (end-time) activity that has invaded history. It makes sense that God’s righteousness here means his saving activity if we ask the question ‘What is being revealed?’—a new status (forensic) or divine action (transformation)?
In fact, both God’s righteousness (v. 17) and his wrath (v. 18) are revealed.
17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
God’s wrath is actively poured out against human sin, and so it fits the parallel that his righteousness would also refer to a divine activity. Schreiner notes, “Since verses 16–17 are connected with a γὰρ (gar, for), we can conclude that the saving power of God is intertwined with the righteousness of God” (68).
So as Paul writes, the gospel is God’s power for salvation to all who believe for in the gospel God’s righteousness is revealed. The gospel is God’s salvation-bringing power. It is a divine activity, and his righteousness is actively revealed in it.
2. Old Testament Usage
Many of the uses of righteousness in the OT refer to God’s saving action.
Psalm 98:1–3
1 ‘Oh sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things!
His right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made known his salvation;
he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.’
After God brought Israel through the Red Sea and destroyed the Egyptian army, Israel praised Yahweh as a ‘man of war’ (Exod 15:3) whose ‘right hand’ is ‘glorious in power’ and ‘shatters the enemy’ (v. 6). He stretched out his right hand that the earth would swallow up the army (v. 12). He led his people safely through the waters in his ‘steadfast love’ (v. 13; Ps 98:2). God’s salvation is an active salvation that rescues his people from their enemies. See also Isaiah 45:8; Micah 6:5 and 7:9.
3. Made righteous
Later in Romans 6 Paul says, “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, since a person who has died has been freed (δεδικαίωται) from sin” (6:7). Schreiner writes, “The use of the verb ‘to justify’ [translated as ‘freed’]… demonstrates that God’s declaration of righteousness really frees people from sin” (69). In Romans 5:19, many in Adam were made sinners; in Christ, they are made righteous. “God’s forensic declaration is effective because the Lord who was crucified on behalf of sinners was also raised from the dead (Rom. 4:25), and thus sinners now live in a new way (Rom. 6:4)” (69).
Pushback
As Schreiner explains in his commentary, there are a few problems here. I won’t list every rebuttal; you can find that in his commentary. But I will present a few of them.
Problem 1: Revealed
God’s righteousness (1:17) is the grounds for God’s power (1:16). The two terms are not synonymous. Simply because God’s righteousness in Christ is apocalyptic does not mean that his righteousness is transformative. “God’s declaration about sinners is an end-time verdict that has been announced before the end has arrived” (73). Referring to Linebaugh, Schreiner says, “Justification… is the final verdict, which is pronounced now” before the end has come (73).
Believers, in union with Christ, stand in the right before God, but that does not mean they are automatically transformed because of that verdict. Rather, Christians are transformed through the reception of the Holy Spirit, becoming new creations, being sanctified—conformed to the image of Christ—and ultimately by being glorified. At the resurrection we will truly be transformed. It is then that we will be like Christ—righteous and perfect.
Problem 2: Old Testament Usage
Simply because the words righteous and salvation are in parallel (as in Psalm 98:1-3) does not mean they are equivalent. Schreiner says, “Words may overlap in meaning, but it doesn’t follow from this that they have an identical meaning. The righteousness of God, then, denotes the ‘rightness’ and justice of God’s salvation in Psalms and Isaiah” (73).
Problem 3: Made Righteous
“Virtually all scholars agree that in the vast majority of cases the verb ‘to justify’ (δικαιόυν) is forensic” (74). Most English Bibles translate δεδικαίωται as “freed.” Even if δεδικαίωται here held a transformative connotation, it does not mean that every use of ‘justify’ or ‘righteousness’ holds that same connotation.
Schreiner observes, “God’s declaration that sinners are in the right before him is the foundation for a changed life” (74). Because believers are justified, are in union with Christ, and are given the Holy Spirit who works in us to image Christ. We are transformed not because of our ‘not-guilty’ verdict, but because God’s Spirit works within us.
As for Romans 5:19 and people being made sinners or made righteous, 2 Corinthians 3:9 points to a forensic use of righteousness. There, righteousness is contrasted with condemnation, “a declarative term” (74). When God condemns someone, he doesn’t make them wicked. They don’t turn into wicked people. They already are wicked. Similarly, God’s declaration that someone is righteous doesn’t mean he turns him into a righteous person. “The declaration that Jesus,” vindicated in his resurrection, “stands in the right is granted to all those who belong to him, to all those who are united to him by faith” (75).
Conclusion
One of the major differences between Schreiner’s first and second editions is his move toward God’s righteousness indicating a forensic status instead of both a forensic status and transformative state. Think about this scenario. Harry and Marv rob a bank. They have committed a crime. They are bandits. They are criminals. A judge declares Harry and Marv to be guilty of their crime. The judge’s sentence does not transform them into criminals; they became criminals when they robbed the bank.
We are sinners. Yet those who believe on Jesus Christ are declared to be “in the right” by God. I am still a sinner. I am not a ‘righteous’ person. As I said above, when Christians receive their resurrected bodies, they will be like Christ (1 John 3:2; 1 Cor 15:49, 52-53). They will be righteous, and they will be perfect. God sees what they will be in the future and he declares them to be that now. Christians have the status of righteousness even though they are still presently sinners because we are now in Christ.
In my next and final post I will look at what Schreiner has to say about God’s righteousness being forensic.
Explore Schreiner’s Commentary..
- My Review of Schreiner’s Commentary
. - A Scholar’s Devotion with Tom Schreiner
. - Interview with Tom Schreiner on Romans
. - Three Troubles in Romans 2
- What is the ‘Righteousness of God’?
- God’s Righteousness as his Covenant Faithfulness?
- God’s Righteousness as Transformative?
- God’s Righteousness as Forensic
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spoiledmilks 
Reblogged this on Talmidimblogging.
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Re #3 and: “Even if δεδικαίωται here held a transformative connotation, it does not mean that every use of ‘justify’ or ‘righteousness’ holds that same connotation.”
That’s a red herring. The question at hand is what does δεδικαίωται/freed mean HERE in context, i.e., in Romans 6 (not in every use of the terms ‘justify’). And to deny that it clearly has a transformative aspect in Rom 6 is hardly convincing: the chapter speaks of walking in newness of life, of being slaves to righteousness, of fruit, of holiness, all categories that loudly point to a real change in the believer’s pattern of behavior.
Further, re condemnation vs righteousness in 2 Cor 3, Tom/you conflate these two terms with the MINISTRY of condemnation and the MINISTRY of righteousness. The ministry of condemnation involved the proliferation of sin through the knowledge of the law of Moses. The ministry of righteousness however is the work of the Spirit to foster obedience to God, i.e., the practice of righteousness; just a chapter before, in ch 2, Paul speaks not only of the offender who had defiled the congregation and had been excommunicated but also of his own life, which he describes as being a pleasing arma to God… Not to mention that the greater context of both letters to the Corinthians also majorly involves their disobedience and unrighteous behavior. Thus, to say that 2 Cor 3 therefore is forensic misses it by a mile…
Re: “When God condemns someone, he doesn’t make them wicked. They don’t turn into wicked people. They already are wicked. Similarly, God’s declaration that someone is righteous doesn’t mean he turns him into a righteous person.”
That’s question begging. You are assuming a forensic-only definition of justification. The story of Zaccheus is instructive here: by inviting Himself to the little man’s house, Jesus effectively declared him righteous. What then does Zaccheus do? Thanks to the Holy Spirit he is given a new heart and makes four-fold restitution for what he had stolen. His righteousness is real/transformative, not just forensic.
It’s a shame Schreiner made a U-turn. He had it right the first time… I sure hope he didn’t change his views because of denominational/political pressure.
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Concerning Romans 6:7, Thielman says that because δεδικαίωται is followed by the preposition από, and because of the nature of Paul’s statement, the word should be translated as “released from.” We are declared righteous and are in union with Christ, and so we are released from sin’s power over us. Its power is broken.
I’m not quite sure what you mean concerning 2 Corinthians 3:9. God is righteous. His new covenant ministry is righteous. We are saved and declared righteous. We should act righteously because of Christ’s work. The Spirit does work in us to obey, but that doesn’t mean we have been “made righteous.”
Does Luke say Zaccheus received the Holy Spirit? Pentecost hadn’t happened yet.
Anyway, yeah, Schreiner says in his Pauline theology that by talking to Carson he was convinced of his current position of righteousness. So he’s held this view for a while now. I think he changed his view not too long after his first Romans edition came out.
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