. . . the gospel reveals the righteousness of God. This expression appears eight times in
the New Testament, once in 2 Corinthians 5:21, and seven times in Romans (3:5,
21–22 [twice], 25, 26; 10:3 [twice]). One may understand the expression righteousness of God in a broad sense as
referring both to His judicial acceptance, granted “to all and on all who
believe” (3:22), and His delivering activity, given in resurrection-power
(6:1–14) through the Spirit that enables the believer to live righteously
(8:1–17). Perhaps Paul may be thinking of God’s righteousness, connected in
numerous Old Testament deliverance texts, whereby God delivers His people on the basis of His righteousness (Pss 40:10–13; 71:1–3, 16, 19, 24; 98:2; 119:123; Isa
46:13; 51:5–6, 8; cf. Lopez, OT
Salvation—From What? 49–64). Unlike the Old Testament era, now God, the
Holy Spirit, comes to indwell all believers at the moment of justification
(8:9; John 3:1–8) to empower them in order to overcome the experience of sin
(Rom 8:1–13). Once believers appropriate God’s power, they will immediately
experience deliverance from His wrath brought by sins. Thus, the righteousness of God should not only be
understood as a legal declaration, upon faith alone in Christ alone, but as
also bestowing all believers with resurrection-power through the Spirit’s
indwelling that aids them to live righteously (6–8; 12:1–15:13, see BDAG, 249)
and escape God’s present wrath (1:18; 5:9–10; 10:9–14; 13:4–5). (René L.
Lopez, Romans Unlocked Power to Deliver [Springfield, Miss.: 21st
Century, 2005], 40-41, emphasis in bold added)
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