No. 11. >> You mentioned that Romans 1:16 and 17 are the verses where Paul establishes his theme. What specifically is meant by the words: The righteousness of God that we find in Romans 1:17? I notice that the NIV translates this as the righteousness from God. While other translations I've looked at including the English standard version, say the righteousness of God. How should we understand these words? >>PROFESSOR DAVID I. M. LEWIS: David, you've just asked a very important question. The phrase: The righteousness of God, is very key in the thematic verses of Romans. And understanding that phrase, the righteousness of God is an important thing we need to do to get a handle on how to read Romans and how to understand this concept as the epistle progresses. Again, I mentioned that Romans 1:16 through 17 are the verses where Paul establishes his theme. I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes. And then in Verse 17: For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith. As it is written, the righteous shall live by faith. In other words, that for at the beginning of Verse 17 relates Verse 17 to what Paul just said in Verse 16. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed. And that -- what does that tie into in Verse 16? I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. I say that again: The Gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. For in it a righteousness of God is revealed. Okay. And so how is the Gospel the power of God for salvation? Well, it is the power of God for salvation because in it a righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith. So what do we understand about a righteousness of God or the righteousness of God? What we have here is a genitive relationship expressed in the Greek. Now, what is the genitive relationship? Well, a genitive case is where a noun possesses another noun. So if I was to say: The dog's tail, the tail is possessed by the dog. The tail belongs to the dog. And that's a genitive in English. We usually express it by putting on apostrophe S on the end of the noun that's in the genitive case. And then it possesses the noun that's in relationship to it. So in this Greek construction here, righteousness is the word that is being possessed. And God is the genitive that is possessing righteousness. In the Gospel the righteousness of God is being revealed. Now, the key here is to understand what is this genitive relationship doing? What does it mean in the context here? And now in Greek there could be several things going on. I'll mention three options in particular. No. 1, the righteousness of God here could be describing an attribute or quality that actually belongs to God. And so if the English translations instead of translating righteousness of God, they simply translate it God's righteousness, in English that would probably more clearly denote that this is righteousness that actually belongs to God. It's an attribute of God, a quality that God has. You might say that genitive relationship can be explained with the sentence: God is righteousness. Now, certainly on a theological level we would not disagree with that statement, that God is righteousness. But if you understand the meaning of the righteousness of God here to mean that, it's going to determine your reading of Romans from what comes. In other words, is the Gospel of Romans about God being a righteousness God? Now, I mentioned before the new perspective on Paul. Some modern scholars who read Paul in a very anti-Lutheran way. And because this has not been the Lutheran understanding of the meaning of the righteousness of God, some of these new perspective scholars actually argue that this is what righteousness of God means. That righteousness of God is simply describing an attribute of God. That God is righteousness. And then they would argue Romans says that God proves his righteousness by saving people who believe in Jesus. And is there any place in Romans where Paul is ever concerned with God's righteousness, showing that God is right? Well, it is here. If we were to turn to Romans Chapter 3 to the proposition section as I mentioned before. And we were to read in Verse 25 it says: God put Jesus Christ forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness. Because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time so he might be just or be righteous. And the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. So God being right, God being righteous, is an issue that Paul does deal with in the epistle. However, is that what righteousness of God means here? Well, one option is that righteousness of God means that God is righteous. It's a quality and attribute that he possesses of himself. However, the second option, which I think is reflected in the NIV translation would be that the righteousness of God means it's the righteousness from God. And note, that's how the NIV translates these genitive words. Righteousness of God. They translate as righteousness from God. So here it's not so much an attribute or a quality that God possesses. But more it is something that God gives. It comes from God and comes to someone else. And so what would be going on here is that this righteousness of God is righteousness that comes from God. But where does this righteousness go? Well this righteousness goes to the one who believes in Jesus Christ. And now a third option, which is very similar to the second, would look at the word for righteous in Greek. And then ask: Does it have a verb that is related to it? Well, the word for righteousness is the Greek word dikaisoyne. And dikaisoyne could be translated as righteousness or sometimes it could be translated as justification since righteousness and justification both come from this word. They are actually synonyms in English. Well, that's the noun. The verb that underlies that noun is the verb dikaios, which means to make right or to declare righteous or to justify. What does it mean to justify someone? Well, it means to declare that they are right, that they are righteous. So the verb that underlies the noun dikaisoyne is this verb dikaios. So it could very well be is what we've got her is what the grammarians would call a subjective genitive relationship. And what that means is the noun that's in the genitive, here the word God, is the subject of the verb underlying the noun that is being possessed. So because dikaisoyne, righteousness, is related to a verb dikaios, to make right, justify, understanding the genitive this way would be it to make the sentence God declares righteous someone else. in other words, in the context here, God declares righteous those who believe in Jesus Christ. And so these are three main options that I will mention as far as understanding the righteousness of God. One, it's an a attribute of God, a quality that God possesses. So there we might understand that with a sentence: God is righteous. Is that what Paul is saying? Well, the second option would be it's a righteousness that comes from God. And that's how the NIV translates this: The righteousness from God. And a third way of understanding this, which relates very closely to that second option, is that this is the justifying act of God. In other words, the sentence to explain that would be: God makes right or God declares right or God justifies. God is doing something. That's how some people understand the righteousness of God. Now, the Lutheran understanding has always been the third understanding. That righteousness of God signifies that God does something. He does an act. It's a righteousnessing act. A justifying act. In other words, he declares people to be righteous. So it's not a statement about his own righteousness. It's a statement about what he does to someone else to make them righteous. Well, now let's just look at the verses in context and see in the context which of these three seems to make the most sense. Well, Paul says in Verse 16: For I am not ashamed of the Gospel. Why is Paul 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. And so the Gospel is the power of God for salvation. Now, notice, who is God saving? He's not saving himself. Right? The power in the Gospel of God to save is something that goes to people. It goes to the Jew first and then to the Greek. But notice, God is not saving himself. He doesn't need to save himself. He needs to save sinners. So the Gospel is God's power for saving those who believe. First the Jew, then the Greek. Then Verse 17 connects to Verse 16. For in it, namely, in the Gospel, which is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes, the righteousness of God is revealed. Okay. So what is revealed in the Gospel that Paul has been talking about? Is it revealed that God is righteous in and of himself? Well, we know that from the law of God that God is right. So the Gospel wouldn't be telling us anything new by pointing us to the fact that God is a righteous God. We know that already. What is unique about the Gospel is that we find that in the Gospel is revealed a righteousness that comes from God, the NIV translation. And what is really revealed is the act of God by which he gives to sinners who believe in Jesus justification. In other words, the act is that God declares righteous those who believe in Jesus Christ. And so that's why this is the power of God for the salvation to everyone who believes. That it's a righteousness of God that is revealed from faith to faith. So in other words, God is not justifying himself. God is justifying someone else. He's justifying the sinner who believes in Jesus. Well, then I think you can tell from my answer I don't hold with No. 1 being the meaning of righteousness of God here. I don't think this is talking about an attribute of God. Yes, indeed, God is righteous. But that's not what Paul is talking about in Romans 1 Verse 1. What Paul is talking about in Romans 1 Verse 17 is the act of God by which he declares righteous those who believe in Jesus Christ. Now, when you consider the various translations, David, the NIV is actually more of a dynamic translation. Most translations and simply take these words and very literally translate them the righteousness of God. And I guess in doing that they really don't need to make a decision about which of these three interpretations they are going to take. They leave it open for the interpreter to reason through these options. What the NIV has done is actually taken a stand in their translation. They've actually interpreted righteousness from God and reading it contra to the idea that this is an attribute of God, they show very clearly in their translation that this is not a righteousness that God possesses but this is a righteousness that God gives. And so actually this is one place where I prefer the NIV translation. Because I think they very dynamically bring out how these words should be interpreted. We're not speaking about God and who he is here. God is righteous. That's true. But Paul is speaking about here is what God does. The power of God revealed in the Gospel is that he declares righteous those who believe in Jesus Christ. And that is how I understand these words.