What does it mean that the righteousness of God is revealed (Romans 1:17)?

In Romans 1:16–17, the apostle Paul emphasizes the theme of his letter—the power of the gospel. The message of the gospel does not just contain power; it is God’s power for all who believe, receive, and obey the good news about Jesus Christ: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 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.’” Paul states that the gospel is God’s power at work for salvation and for the revelation of His righteousness.

The Greek word (dikaiosynē), translated as “righteousness” in Romans 1:17, refers to the legal status of being in right standing or right relationship with God because the moral requirements of His character have been satisfied. It is the only way we can ever stand before a holy God (see Hebrews 10:11–19). The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel means that the gospel message tells us how God makes us right in His sight, that is, through faith in Jesus Christ.

God took His Son, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God, and made Him “who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:21, NLT; see also Romans 5:6–9; 8:3). By dying on the cross, Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our guilt and sin. He took our punishment and satisfied all the requirements of God’s law. He died as a substitute in our place because we could never meet God’s holy standard of perfection. We are made righteous or right with God through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. This truth is revealed in the gospel and imparted freely to all who trust in Him.

In Romans 3:21–26, Paul details how God’s righteousness is revealed: “God has shown us a way to be made right with him without keeping the requirements of the law. . . . We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. . . . God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus” (Romans 3:21–26, NLT).

When we believe in Jesus and receive Him as our Lord and Savior, God applies Christ’s sacrificial work to our lives. We stand before God, and He declares us forgiven, acquitted, and innocent of sin. This is the doctrine of justification. God pronounces us righteous in Christ. God’s only Son—the person Jesus—is the righteousness of God revealed through the gospel. He is everything we need to live a godly life (2 Peter 1:3) and to gain eternal life (John 17:3; 1 John 5:20).

Our righteousness is a gift from God based on faith (Romans 4:16; Ephesians 2:8–9). It is not based on our own worthiness or anything we do (Philippians 3:9; Romans 3:28; Galatians 2:16). Our right standing before God is grounded on our total trust and reliance on the complete work that Christ accomplished on our behalf.

Nothing makes God’s righteousness more clearly and powerfully known to a lost and dying world than the message of the gospel. Paul lived to preach the gospel (Acts 20:24; Philippians 1:21), and so should we, as Jesus commanded: “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone” (Mark 16:15, NLT). The gospel is “foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God” (1 Corinthians 1:18). When we share the gospel, its power brings people to salvation and the righteousness of God is revealed.