In his Catholic apologetics work, Patrick Madrid often uses the sentence, “I never said you stole the money” to show how phrases in the Bible can take on multiple meanings, based on word emphasis in the sentence. Does it mean he never accused the person of stealing the money, or was it he who said the phrase in the first place, or that he never uttered the claim to anyone?
The situation is similar with Paul’s phrase, “righteousness of God,” in his letter to the Romans. Does Paul mean God’s own righteousness, or the righteousness that God imparts on humankind, or a quality that God invented for multiple purposes? This short essay, while exploring various interpretations of “righteousness of God,” will show that the meaning is two-fold: it is both rooted in God’s own righteousness because he is just and merciful, and it equally refers to humankind being made righteous through Jesus’ death and resurrection.
To begin, the word ‘of’’ in “righteousness of God” causes the first issue with semantics. Considering that the phrase is a translation from Greek, and that Greek, as well as Latin based languages, often use ‘of’ in a possessive form (for example, the “house of Chris” instead of “Chris’ house”), already the phrase is open to interpretation. In addition, the word ‘righteousness’ itself can take on multiple meanings, depending on context. For example, the word ‘run’ can mean moving one’s legs quickly or to ‘run’ for political office, or other variations as well (Saint Leo 1).
In the Biblical sense, the meaning of God’s righteousness takes root in Hebrew Scripture. God’s righteousness can mean the act of saving or granting mercy to his people (Exodus 12:13; Job 37:23; Psalms 97:2; Isaiah 28:16); yet it can also mean that God himself is a righteous, just being (Psalm 97:6; Isaiah 5:16; Daniel 9:14). Still, when connecting God’s righteousness in Romans (examples: 1:16-17, 3:21-22, 9:30-31, 10:3) to the same or other Old Testament references, ‘righteousness’ fluctuates between God having the quality of being righteous and God giving righteousness to humankind (Saint Leo 1; Soards 105; Sanders 141).
Interestingly, when examining Paul’s use of the term “righteousness of God” more closely, ‘righteousness’ on its own can be split into two categories: Jewish righteousness through the Law, and God’s righteousness by faith. By having the two categories, Paul, who is then able to explain why ritual law must be abrogated while moral law is still be upheld (Soards 63), can also explain that the righteousness of God is now completed by faith and without works of the law (Rom. 3:21-26). Otherwise, Christ’s death and resurrection did not fulfill the eschatological redemption promised to all humankind in Hebrew Scripture, especially in books such as Isaiah. (Olson 287, 288).
In fact, Paul draws on multiple texts from Isaiah to support his use of “righteousness of God” in Romans — for instance, Isa 28:16 / Rom. 9:33 (how salvation is appropriated), Isa 52:7 / Rom. 10:15-16 (God’s desire to redeem his people), and Isaiah 40-55 / Rom. 10:12 (both Jews and Gentiles can be made righteous). Further, these passages help show the two-fold nature of God’s righteousness: God’s saving actions create righteousness, and it is because of God’s own holy being that he is able to grant righteousness to humankind (Olson 286,289).
In effect, and because part of Paul’s message to the Romans was to clarify why God did not become unrighteous in his redemptive handling of Gentiles versus Jews, Paul is not only able to show the error of his opponents’ claims against him, but he also reveals God as one who has always been merciful and just, shown by treating Jews and Gentiles equally, as well as allowing all humankind to be made righteous through God’s own righteousness (Saint Leo 2, 3).
Works Cited
Saint Leo University. Life and Letters of Paul – The “Righteousness of God” in Romans. THY-532. 2024.
Sanders, E.P. Paul: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2001.
Soards, Marion L. The Apostle Paul: An Introduction to his Writings and Teaching. Paulist Press, 1986.
Robert C. Olson. The Gospel As the Revelation of God’s Righteousness: Paul’s Use of Isaiah in Romans 1:1-3:26. Mohr Siebeck GmbH & Co. KG, 2016.