“16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, just as it is written: The righteous will live by faith.”
Verse 17 reveals that the way to be righteous and to be saved from sin is NOT by doing good works or by being a good person. Want to know how you can be made righteous? It is through faith in Christ Jesus that one is able to stand before God as righteous.
“But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been revealed, attested by the Law and the Prophets. The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe, since there is no distinction.” — Romans 3:21-22
Righteousness before God cannot be attained by one’s keeping of the law or performance of good works. Rather, completely apart from these, the way to righteousness has been revealed, and it’s nothing new! This way to righteousness is just what we have been talking about through the last several devotions, it is something to which the Old Testament prophets attested. It is the gospel of Jesus Christ! The gospel tells us that in our fallen human condition, there is nothing that we can do to save ourselves from God’s just wrath for our transgressions against Him. It is not by any good works that we are made righteous before God, but it is through faith in what Jesus Christ has already accomplished for all those who will repent of their sin, confess Him as Lord, and believe in His resurrection. Paul says, by God’s grace, that the Gentiles are the ones who got it right, righteousness that comes by faith. The Israelites stumbled over this critical doctrine when they rejected Jesus as the Messiah, and instead, trusted in their own works-based righteousness to save them.
“What should we say then? Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness — namely the righteousness that comes from faith. But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not achieved the righteousness of the law. Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.” — Romans 9:30-32
Paul will spend chapters 2-5 describing in detail how various Christian patriarchs lived by faith and were saved by it. No man can keep the law perfectly (See Romans 3:23) and even if they did, they are still born into Adam’s sin and are in need of salvation. Christians must be a people of faith. A people of true faith will be obedient to God, and through our faith, we will do what the law requires.