Racing Into The Bible

Romans - How Does Righteousness From God Work?

Romans 1:16-17 says that the Gospel, or the Good News about Jesus, as seen in the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John and acted on by many people in the book of Acts, the Gospel is the Power of God for Salvation!  Wow!!  Paul is writing this letter to strengthen and encourage Christians living in Rome and he doesn't waste any time getting to the Power of God. 

Romans teaches us about the Righteousness of God that is revealed to us in the Gospels.  So here are a few questions; What is 'Righteousness'? and Do I really need it?  Paul answers questions about Righteousness in this book of Romans. 

'Righteousness', simply put, means 'Being Right'.  In the Bible, this word means being right with God or having a perfect relationship with Him.  The opposite of being right is spelled out in the rest of Romans 1 and is summed up by saying people have gotten far away from being right with God and are senseless, faithless, heartless & ruthless. Paul says that people (and we will soon see that ALL of us are included in this group) are doing things that they KNOW make them worthy of death; but they keep on doing them (vs. 31-32)

Now back up and read verse 18.  Because we are suppressing the Truth, we are now facing God's Wrath!!!  This is serious!  This is God, that created lightning, tornadoes, hurricanes... and look at the power of the oceans and wild animals... and what about space?  It is so huge and we have no idea the power that God has waiting for us there.  This is the God that we have put ourselves on the opposite side from.  We have made ourselves His enemies.  We don't stand a chance.

You might be thinking right now, "Wait! This is not fair!"  Children say this, when what they mean is, "Wait! This is not what I want!"  We are the same way.  We think we want God to 'be fair', but in reality that is the furthest thing from our minds.  FAIR, according to Romans 2:6, is that you get exactly what you deserve.  I, for one, do NOT want what I deserve.  Romans 3:23 says that we have ALL SINNED.  Sin deserves eternal punishment.  I definitely do NOT want what I deserve!

In summary so far... Righteousness is being Right with God... We are All Not Right with God... If we are not right with God, we Deserve Eternal Punishment!

Christians are in the same boat as everyone else... at first...  Being a Christian does not mean that you are Righteous by yourself. It means you have Righteousness FROM God!  God says that when you are In Christ (i.e. a Christian) that you get Righteousness.

If you want to be Right with God... and we all should want this... then be a Christian! This is a simplified version of what the Gospel message is all about.  But, then again, the Gospel is Simple. 

Right now, if you are not Right with God, it is the most important thing you should be working on.  God has given us His Basic Plan.  Follow it now and God will make you Right!

Click Here to find out how to be a Christian.