The Righteousness of God
Introduction
These notes seek to explain the meaning of the phrase "the righteousness of God", a phrase that has prompted endless debate.
Righteousness
The word "righteousness" dikaiosunh takes on different meanings in the scriptures:
A moral sense is often present, of "being right", "uprightness", Fitzmyer/Goodspeed.
A dynamic sense is also at times present, of "doing right", "performing righteously."
A forensic (legal, courtroom) sense is at times present, when used of God's people, expressing "justification", of "being judged right", "approved before God", "counted as righteous", Barrett, "judged in the right with God", Dumbrell.
A covenantal sense is at all times present where being right in the eyes of God entails a person's compliant covenant standing and therefore, by implication, their right to access the covenant blessing of God; "a righteousness defined by the covenant", Dunn
These notes propose that "righteousness" means: "uprightness" = "covenant compliance (a compliance that maintains membership of the covenant)" = "right standing in the sight of God."
The righteousness of God
The phrase, "the righteousness of God", thn tou qeou dikaiosunhn, appears 8 times in Romans: 1:17, 3;5, 21, 25, 26, and twice in 10:3, it appears once in 2Cor.5:21, and once in Philippians 3:9, "the righteousness from God", thn ek qeou dikaiosunhn, and should be considered with Romans 5:17, "the righteousness given by God", hJ dwrea thV dikaiosunhV, along with a number of singular references in Paul's letters.
The phrase, "righteousness of God", is usually resolved in the following terms:
i] The righteousness of God as a "gift of God", which leads to the reformed idea of "an ethical quality transferred from God to mankind" (imputed righteousness). "That status of being right with God which comes as his gift", O'Brien. This approach often leads to "righteousness of God" taken as a technical term for "justification" (forensic).
ii] The righteousness of God as a dynamic attribute, namely, "God's salvation-creating power", Kasemann, "God's loving faithfulness to his people in terms of the covenant", Fee, the dominant new perspective position (relational).
The studies found on this site tend to express the "righteousness of God" in the terms of right-standing in the sight of God (covenant compliance) that is a gift of God, although the sense, God's own covenant fidelity, is often considered a viable alternative.
The function of the genitive "of God"
The genitive in New Testament Greek primarily limits/restricts. It may limit by taking an adjectival sense, describing or defining a substantive (Under Aramaic influence a genitive is often used where an adjective would be more appropriate), it may limit verbally (the objective and subjective genitives), and it may limit by expressing separation (The Latin ablative case. In NT Greek, prepositions were beginning to be used to express seperation, eg., ek + gen. "out of, away from"). What is the function of the genitive, "of God", in "the righteousness of God"?
However we define this genitive "of God", the primary function of the genitive is to limit "righteousness", identifying a particular type/kind of righteousness, namely, the "God" kind of righteousness which is based on faith, as opposed to our own kind which is based on law-obedience. The covenant compliance that God ticks off on is the version which rests on faith and not works of the law (faith was always God's way of maintaining covenant compliance, not law-obedience). Our problem comes when we try to define the workings of God's kind of righteousness. The options are as follows:
i] The genitive "of God" may be ablative/partitive expressing: a) Separation from, a righteousness that comes away from God. This is usually expressed in the terms of a gift; "the righteous status which is given by God", Cranfield; "the right standing which God gives", Morris. b) Origin, a righteousness that originates with God. c) Author, a God-designed and revealed covenant compliance that stands apart from one of our own design (our own = law-obedience for covenant compliance).
ii] The genitive "of God" may be possessive expressing the ownership of the righteousness, identifying a divine quality or attribute, God's own righteousness, the uprightness of God, "God 'e spik em alrite", Pidgin English.
iii] The genitive "of God" may be a subjective genitive where the genitive "of God" is identified as the subject of the verbal noun "righteousness", expressing in dynamic terms, the "righteous activity / the power of God ... ushering in the time of salvation ... restoring the whole creation", Jewett, "God's salvation-creating power", Kasemann; "God's saving righteousness", Schreiner; "the saving activity of God", Talbert; "his fidelity to his pledged intentions for the world", Dumbrell; or in new perspective terms, his "covenant faithfulness", Dunn, "God's dynamic fidelity to his covenant promises", Dumbrell, so also Fitzmyer (the reader will understand how the present debate over The New Perspective on Paul relates to an interpretation of "the righteousness of God" as "God's covenant fidelity").
iv] The genitive "of God" may be an objective genitive where the righteousness, in this case a claim on, or imputation of, Christ's obedience appropriated through faith, is tended before God's judgment seat as full payment for a verdict of innocence (forensic justification). The righteousness of God "is, in a word, the sinners justification of which the apostle is speaking, whereby our trespasses are reckoned to Christ and the absolute and spotless perfection of his righteousness is reckoned to us with the consequence that 'there is now no condemnation'", Hughes.
There is a tendency to interpret "righteousness of God" in Romans differently to its uses in Second Corinthians and Philippians. Even in the various uses in Romans itself, some commentators see differences, eg. Cranfield, who thinks most references are objective, concedes that Romans 3:5 is subjective. Also, the word "righteousness" is sometimes treated as if it had little relationship with the phrase "righteousness of God". We probably should expect there to be a strong linkage in meaning. So then, what are we left with?
The genitive "of God" at least limits, identifying the "righteousness / uprightness / covenant compliance / right-standing in the sight of God" that is in Paul's mind. God's kind of uprightness relies on his grace (covenant mercy) realized in the faithfulness of Christ appropriated through faith (faith reckoned as obedience - "the obedience that consists of faith"), whereas our kind of uprightness relies on works of the law (obedience to the law of Moses), undermined by sin.
As for how the genitive "of God" limits we are left with two possibilities. Note how Moo blends the two positions below, although we probably do have to choose:
a) The genitive "of God" may carry the idea of separation / origin. The notion of a gift of God seems best to convey this idea, of a righteousness as covenant compliance / right-standing that is "out of/comes from" God, such that it is given, awarded, provided, credited, ...., by God, on the basis of faith, apart from law obedience. "Count/treat as right/righteous", Barrett.
b) The genitive "of God" may carry with it the idea of possession / subjective. Our righteousness, covenant compliance/faithfulness/membership rests on God's own righteousness, his "covenant faithfulness", fidelity to his covenant promises. "The saving activity of God", Talbert).
The righteousness of God as a gift of God seems more likely, although the issue is anything but resolved.
Some key Biblical passages
The following key verses should be considered:
1. 2Corinthians 5:21
"God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God"
Here we have Paul's first use of the phrase "the righteousness of God". It appears within an indipendent theological statement.
gnonta (ginwskw) aor. "[him who] had [no sin]" - [Jesus, not] knowing [sin]. The "knowing " here reflects the Hebrew "have personal experience with." Obviously referring to Jesus sinless life.
epoihsen (poiew) aor. "[God] made" - made. The action is punctiliar, completed. "God caused Christ to be identified in some way ..... with human sin", Harris. "Weighed him down with the curse of human sinfulness", "made him share our sin [on the cross]", TEV.
aJmartian (a) "[to be] sin" - [God made] sin. Possibly "suffered as though he himself was a sinner", or "brought under the judgment of sin on behalf of sinners", Martin, but certainly under the curse of sin, "Christ ...... became a curse for us", Gal.3:13. Possibly, "made him to be a sin offering", "a sacrifice for sin", "sin bearer", Harris. cf. Isaiah 53:10, "an offering for sin." Barnett disputes this sacrificial interpretation.
uJper hJmwn "for us"- on behalf of us. "On our behalf"; "for our sake", Cassirer.
iJna + subj. "so that" - in order that. Expressing purpose or result, or both!
genwmeqa (ginomai) aor. subj. "[we] might become [the righteousness of God]" - The aorist again expresses punctiliar action implying that a believer has already become the righteousness of God. The function of the verb is all important for our understanding of the genitive "of God." All the usual suspect are trundled out by the commentators:
i] Possessive genitive - that we might share God's righteous character, become righteous with a righteousness that is his own. "In order that in union with him we might share the righteousness of God", TEV. "It is the righteousness which characterizes him (God) and which he imparts as a grace to man", Plummer. "So that we in him might be made God's righteousness", Berkeley.
ii] Objective genitive, moral/ethical - doing what is right in the eyes of God. "So that we, linked with him, might do what God considers right", Danker.
iii] Objective genitive, forensic - Justification. Christ "became technically guilty of the sins that we all had committed; so that, at his sacrifice, we might be as righteous as God, himself!" Junkins; "So that we might be justified before him", Fung, "given a righteous status before God", Bruce. These commentators tend to argue that the passage speaks of double imputation, sin to Christ, and Christ's righteousness to the sinner, which righteousness is presented to the judgment seat of God for "the reversal of condemnation", Barnett.
iv] Subjective genitive, dynamic. "God's saving power", Strachan; "the eschatological act of God in power by which the world is set right with the divine purpose", Kasemann; the phrase "is to be associated primarily with the power by which God establishes the covenant and maintains his faithfulness to it", Furnish; "God's covenant loyalty", Ziesler.
v] Ablative/partitive genitive - origin. The righteousness of God as "an individual quality available to faith as a gift", Bultman.
en autw/ "in him" - Is this expressing a local sense, or an instrumental sense? Local means, "by being in him."
The key thought conveyed by this balanced theological statement (an imperfect chiasmus) is that of exchange achieved by the action of the two verbs "[God] made him sin" and "we became the righteousness of God." In this exchange Christ is reckoned with our sin and as a result, our sins are not reckoned against us, v19 = "we become righteousness of God" = we take on the covenant compliance / right-standing which God provides by means of the death of Christ appropriated in union with him. So, in this passage, the genitive "of God" seems to limit righteousness in the terms of an uprightness that is a gift of God, ie., in terms of "being justified by God", Meyer, so Bruce, Barrett.
2. Philippians 3:9
"That I may gain Christ, and be found in him, not having my own righteousness which comes from the law, but that righteousness which comes from God through the faithfulness of Christ and which is based on faith"
In Philippians 3:9 Paul nicely qualifies the idea of right-standing in the sight of God in terms of either God's kind and one's own kind of right-standing. There is one's own kind of covenant compliance which relies on law obedience and there is God's kind of covenant compliance which relies on faith. Paul wants to be found in (in union with) Christ with the second, not the first, because the first doesn't work. In Philippians these two types of uprightness are identified by their qualifications:
eureqw en autw/ "found in him (Christ)" - "To be found in him and to be justified are the same", Bonnard, here taking the "eschatological meaning of vindication at the divine court by possessing an acceptable righteousness", Martin.
dikaiosunhn (h) "[not having] a righteousness" - righteousness. Probably not "old covenant righteousness", Fee, but just "uprightness" = "covenant compliance" = "right-standing before God", qualified by "of my own making" (self-righteousness)" and "that comes from the law". The problem with covenant compliance based on law is that it requires perfect obedience.
emhn "of my own" - Expressing the origin of the righteousness that Paul does not want to have.
thn ek nomou "comes from the law" - out of / comes from law. "Law" = "the law of Moses", "the Torah." Probably not expressing origin/source, although many commentators argue for "that comes from law", NRSV, so NIV, imaging "from God." It is not impossible for the same preposition to be used differently in one sentence. So here, most likely "based on observance of the law", NAB.
alla "but" - Adversative.
thn dikaiosunhn (h) "[having] the righteousness" - righteousness. Not "new covenant righteousness", Fee, just "uprightness".
dia pistewV Cristou "through faith in Christ" - through the faithfulness of Christ (subjective genitive) OR that which is through faith in Christ (objective genitive). Subjective seems best, expressing the faithful obedience of Christ to the Father's will which serves as the basis of our justification. "Mediated through the faithfulness of Christ."
ek qeou "from God" - out of / comes from God - The presence of the preposition indicates an ablative/partitive sense, "away from",expressing the origin/source, possibly author, of the righteousness Paul wants to have, as opposed to "my own" source. This certainly supports the idea of "gift". "Which has God as its source", Cassirer.
epi th/ pistei "based on faith" - on the basis of / which is based on faith.
So, there is a covenant compliance of our own devising based on observance of the law, and there is a covenant compliance / right standing given by God on the grounds of Christ's faithfulness (the cross) appropriated through faith. Contra to new perspective commentators, it seems likely that this situation has always applied to God's people. Covenant standing is secured, as it was for Abraham, by a faith reliant on the covenant mercy/grace of God, now realized in Christ, and not on works of the law (the keeping of the law of Moses), either for the maintenance of our standing before God, or the advancing of that standing (sanctification).
3. Romans 9:30-10:7
Romans 9:30-10:7 (See studies 9:30-10:4 and 10:4-13) develops a very similar argument to that of Philippians 3:9, using many of the same Greek words. Of most importance, Paul uses the crucial phrase thn tou qeou dikaiosunhn "the righteousness of God", 10:3. Most commentators treat Paul's use of "righteousness" in the phrase "righteousness of God" quite differently to his other uses of "righteousness" in this passage. Yet, would Paul take such a highly charged word and give it different meanings within a unified short passage? A possessive/subjective sense which expresses "the saving righteousness of God / God's covenant fidelity" certainly works, yet, more so does a partitive sense, of uprightness as something "out of" God, a gift of God, "the righteousness that comes from God", NIV, NRSV. This best reflects the idea of the Gentiles "attaining righteousness" without "pursuing" it, 9:30. The covenant compliance that God recognizes, the one he obviously provides, and which works to salvation, is the one that is ek pistewV "based on faith", 9:30, rather than law, 10:5, which is of course our own ("one's own") ineffective kind of covenant compliance, 10:3.
4. Romans 5:17
"If death reigned through the one man because of the transgression of one man, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ"
Finally, Romans 5:17 speaks of thV dwreaV thV dikaiosunhV "the gift of righteousness". Presumably the genitive "of righteousness" is epexegetic, explaining what gift is intended, the gift that is a consequence of God's "grace", namely "uprightness". It is a stretch to argue that the gift is "the gift that comes from God's righteousness." On the face of it we are simply being told that righteousness is a gift, in this case, a particular gift (the genitive is performing its usual limiting task). God's kind of covenant compliance is properly being described as a gift, for it flows from his grace / covenant mercy, unlike our kind of covenant compliance which is all about works.
Conclusion
Leaving aside interpretations such as the pietistic idea that the "righteousness of God" is a divine morality to be lived out by faith, we must choose between (blend? cf., Moo):
i] "a status of man resulting from God's action, righteousness as a gift from God", Cranfield;
ii] "God's dynamic fidelity to his covenant promises", Dumbrell.
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