“For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a righteousness that is by faith from first to last just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.””
Romans 1:17 (NIV)
In the epistles of Paul we must always note the linking word for. It is more than just a link word to keep a sentence moving, it is a link word that communicates dependence of the first statement upon the following statement.
Paul is eager to preach the gospel FOR he isn’t ashamed because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes FOR in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed.
Do you see the dependency?
The reason Paul is eager to preach is because the gospel is power to save.
The reason the gospel is the power to save is because the gospel reveals the righteousness of God.
This echoes what Psalm 22:30,31 prophesied - that we would proclaim his righteousness.
The righteousness of God is the core of the good news or the gospel message.
There seems to be 2 perspectives of this righteousness:
in Psalm 22 it is speaking of God’s righteous act of suffering and dying on our behalf, that is - His righteousness is revealed in Him going to the cross. We could say He did right by us- or wow that was righteous of Him! Or we could say He did right by God, by obeying unto death.
This Romans passage is speaking of the righteousness that is available to us through belief and faith in the message of the righteousness of Christ Jesus. We might think that this is a different righteousness than what is described in Psalm 22, but the truth is that it really is the same righteousness, for we receive the righteousness of Christ through faith.
When we share the gospel - is the righteousness of Christ at the core?
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