Bible Verse of the Day Wednesday April 5th, 2023

Romans 1:17 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."

The word righteousness, written here and in any other place in the New Testament, stems from the Greek word dikaiosune (dik-ah-yos-oo-nay), Strong’s reference number 1343. It indicates the righteousness of which God is the author. In other words, no righteousness can be found from any human source. Righteousness is used in some circles to indicate a loyalty to worldly organizations. However, the only way anyone can ever get close to understanding righteousness is through the power of the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. No human can claim to be righteous; the only righteousness we can ever know is the righteousness of God. Moreover, we can only know that through a close and personal relationship with Christ Jesus.

Paul is speaking in this verse of scripture of the "righteousness of God" revealed by and through the Gospel of Christ Jesus. The righteousness written in this verse is not God's righteousness that convicts and judges those guilty of sin. Instead, this is the God-given righteousness that indwells in the sinner that has accepted Christ Jesus as their Lord and Savior and placed their faith and trust in Him for their salvation and eternal life. Martin Luther said that the happiest day of his life was when he discovered that the righteousness of God used here in Paul's writings to the Church in Rome was God's gift that He bestowed upon all that follow and believe in Christ Jesus.

This righteousness belongs to God and is not some virtue that men or women can somehow attain through worldly methods or qualities. God will always deal with human beings on the foundation or core of his righteousness, not on any perceived goodness that a human might mistakenly believe they earned by or through themselves. The righteousness that belongs to God and him alone steers His decisions. God is the only perfect being in this world, or the entire universe, for that matter. Since we cannot have perfect righteousness in and of ourselves, any righteousness we might experience must come from God. Therefore, God bases His judgment on His righteousness because we have none. In other words, when God judges us, he judges us on the level of His righteousness that we accept when we place our faith and trust in Christ Jesus and surrender our lives to Him.

One last matter is critical that we all understand and comprehend. God does not accept anything but total surrender; there is no such thing as partial righteousness or partial surrender. Christ Jesus gave of himself completely and totally to atone for our sins, and God expects no less from us in giving ourselves to Him.