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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.”
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But if our unrighteousness brings out God’s righteousness more clearly, what shall we say? That God is unjust in bringing his wrath on us? (I am using a human argument.)
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Righteousness Through Faith
But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.
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This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,
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God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—
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he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
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What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
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However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.
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David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the one to whom God credits righteousness apart from works:
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Is this blessedness only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We have been saying that Abraham’s faith was credited to him as righteousness.
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And he received circumcision as a sign, a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. So then, he is the father of all who believe but have not been circumcised, in order that righteousness might be credited to them.
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It was not through the law that Abraham and his offspring received the promise that he would be heir of the world, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.
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This is why “it was credited to him as righteousness.”
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but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead.
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For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!
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so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
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Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.
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Slaves to Righteousness
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? By no means!
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Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
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You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
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I am using an example from everyday life because of your human limitations. Just as you used to offer yourselves as slaves to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer yourselves as slaves to righteousness leading to holiness.
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When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.
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But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.
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Israel’s Unbelief
What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
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but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.
