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“A righteousness from God is being revealed” is a literal translation. It should not be the righteousness of God, because that would be His attribute, and God is not sharing His attribute with anyone. It is a righteousness, and it is from God; it is not man’s righteousness. God has already said that He will not accept the righteousness of man, for the righteousness of man is as filthy rags in His sight according to Isaiah 64:6. Paul is talking about the imputed righteousness of Christ. God places a lost sinner in Christ, and He sees him in Christ. The believer is absolutely accepted because of what Christ has done for him. The only method of procuring this righteousness is by faith. It is a by-faith righteousness. You can’t work for it; you can’t make a deposit on it; you can’t buy it. You can do nothing but accept it by faith. “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).

The word for “righteousness” is dikaiosune. This word occurs ninety-two times in the New Testament, thirty-six times in Romans. The phrase “a righteousness from God” occurs eight times in this epistle. The root word dike means simply “right.” Justice and justify come from the same word. “To be right” is the primary meaning, which is the antonym of sin. Dr. Cremer gives this apt definition: “It is the state commanded by God and standing the test of His judgment; the character and acts of a man approved of Him, in virtue of which the man corresponds with Him and His will as His ideal and standard.” The righteousness he is talking about is what God demands, and it is what God provides—it is a righteousness that is from God.

“From faith to faith” simply means out of faith into faith. God saves you by faith, you live by faith, you die by faith, and you’ll be in heaven by faith. Let me use a homely illustration. Quite a few years ago I was born deep in the heart of Texas. When I was born, my mother said the doctor lifted me up by my heels, gave me a whack, and I let out a cry that could be heard on all four borders of that great state. I was born into a world of atmosphere and that whack started me breathing. From that day to this I have been breathing atmosphere. From air to air, from oxygen to oxygen. Much later, in the state of Oklahoma, I was born again. I was saved by faith, and from that time on it has been by faith—from faith to faith.

“As it is written” refers to Habakkuk 2:4, where the statement is made, “… the just shall live by his faith.” This is quoted in three great epistles of the New Testament: Romans, Galatians, and Hebrews.

“The just shall live by faith”—justification by faith means that a sinner who trusts Christ is not only pardoned because Christ died, but he also stands before God complete in Christ. It means not only subtraction of sin, but addition of righteousness. He “was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification” (Rom. 4:25)—that we might stand before God complete in Christ.

The act of God in justification by faith is not an arbitrary decision on His part. He does not disregard His holiness and His justice. Since God saves us by grace, this means that there is no merit in us. He saves us on no other ground than that we trust Jesus. God is in danger of impugning His own justice if the penalty is not paid. He is not going to open the back door to heaven and slip sinners in under cover of darkness. But because He loves you, Christ died for you to make a way. The Lord Jesus Christ is the way to heaven. Since Christ paid the penalty for our sin, salvation is ours “through faith in his blood” (Rom. 3:25). The hymn writer is correct—

This concludes Paul’s introduction. Now he begins a new section in which he reveals the sin of man. My friend, this is “sinnerama.” The universal fact is that man is a sinner. The ecumenical movement is always away from God. We can put down the axiom that the world is guilty before God; all need righteousness. In this section Paul is not attempting to prove that man is a sinner. If you attempt to read it that way, you will miss the point. All Paul is doing is stating the fact that man is a sinner. He not only shows that there is a revelation of the righteousness of God, but that there is also the revelation of the wrath of God against the sin of man.

McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997, c1981, S. 4:651-652