Romans 9:30–31 Commentary – Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law
Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law
Key Passage: Romans 9:30–31
Romans VerseQuest Commentary Essay 64: Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law Text: Romans 9:30–31
Introduction
Romans 9:30–31 says, “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” Paul has been walking through Israel’s place, Israel’s privileges, Israel’s unbelief, God’s mercy, God’s purpose, the remnant, Gentile inclusion, and the faithfulness of prophetic Scripture. Now he brings the matter down to the great dividing line: righteousness. That is the issue. Not sincerity. Not heritage. Not zeal. Not religious activity. Not national privilege. Not law-keeping ambition. Righteousness. How does a sinner get righteousness before God? The Gentiles, who had not pursued righteousness in Israel’s covenantal manner, attained righteousness by faith. Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain to it. That is the shock of Romans 9:30–31. The people with the law missed righteousness, while Gentiles outside the law received righteousness by faith.
This passage is not anti-Israel, and it is not pro-Gentile boasting. Paul has already destroyed Gentile arrogance before it can put on a clean shirt. Gentiles were idolaters, strangers, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, without the covenant privileges, and without God in the world. Their attainment of righteousness was not due to superior wisdom, morality, culture, philosophy, humility, or religious instinct. They attained righteousness because righteousness is received by faith, and God in mercy called Gentiles through the gospel. Likewise, Israel’s failure was not because the law was evil. Romans 7 says, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The failure was not in the law. The failure was in pursuing righteousness the wrong way, as though law, zeal, heritage, and religious effort could substitute for faith in the righteousness of God.
Romans 9:30–31 therefore stands like a warning sign at the intersection of religion and salvation. The religious man assumes effort must count. The moral man assumes sincerity must count. The traditional man assumes heritage must count. The zealous man assumes heat must count. The ceremonial man assumes ritual must count. The Bible says faith counts because righteousness comes from God, not from the flesh’s religious treadmill. A man can run hard in the wrong direction and still be farther from the destination than when he started. Israel followed after the law of righteousness and did not attain it. Gentiles who were not chasing righteousness through Moses attained righteousness by faith in Christ. The gospel is not God rewarding the best climbers at Sinai. It is God giving righteousness to sinners who believe on His Son.
Chapter One: What Shall We Say Then?
Paul asks, “What shall we say then?” He is drawing a conclusion from everything he has been arguing in Romans 9. Israel had unique privileges. Gentiles were included by mercy. A remnant of Israel would be saved. The prophetic Scriptures had already testified of both mercy and remnant. Now Paul asks what conclusion must be drawn. The answer is not that God’s word failed. It did not. The answer is not that Israel vanished into the Church. It did not. The answer is not that Gentiles were naturally better than Jews. They were not. The answer is that righteousness comes by faith, and Israel stumbled by pursuing righteousness through the law rather than receiving the righteousness of God.
That question also keeps the reader from fragmenting the chapter into disconnected debates. Romans 9 is not a pile of theological spare parts scattered across the garage floor. Paul is building an argument. God’s promises to Israel have not failed because physical descent alone never guaranteed participation in the saving promise. God has always worked according to promise, calling, mercy, and His own word. He has shown mercy to Gentiles and preserved a remnant of Israel. Now the immediate issue becomes the contrast between Gentiles attaining righteousness and Israel missing it. The issue is not that God was unrighteous. The issue is that men refuse righteousness on God’s terms.
“What shall we say then?” should also sober every Bible reader. Paul is not writing merely to settle an ancient Jewish-Gentile dispute. He is exposing the permanent danger of religious self-righteousness. Men love to build religious ladders and then admire the height of their own climbing. They think pursuit itself proves acceptance. They think effort itself guarantees arrival. But Paul shows a people pursuing and failing, while another people attain by faith. That is enough to make every religious runner stop and check the road signs. Movement is not salvation. Zeal is not righteousness. A man can sweat all the way to hell if he is running past Christ.
Chapter Two: Gentiles Which Followed Not After Righteousness
Paul says, “That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness.” Historically, the Gentiles were not pursuing righteousness through the law of Moses. They did not have Israel’s covenants, priesthood, temple service, sacrifices, circumcision, national adoption, fathers, or oracles in the same privileged sense. Romans 1 described the Gentile world in its fallen condition: suppressing truth, changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into images, serving the creature more than the Creator, and sinking into moral corruption. Gentiles were not wandering around the pagan world with clean hands and hungry hearts, diligently seeking the righteousness of Israel’s God through His revealed law. They were in darkness.
This makes their attainment of righteousness a miracle of mercy, not a trophy of Gentile virtue. The Gentiles did not deserve righteousness any more than Israel did. Romans 3 has already concluded that “there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Gentiles were not saved because they were less religious and therefore more honest. They were saved because the gospel of Christ reached them, and righteousness by faith was offered freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. A pagan idolater did not become righteous by being pagan. He became righteous by believing the gospel of the crucified and risen Saviour.
“Followed not after righteousness” also highlights the surprise of grace. The people not formally pursuing righteousness through Israel’s law attained righteousness because God’s righteousness is received by faith. That does not mean God rewards indifference. It means righteousness is not obtained by fleshly pursuit. Many Gentiles, when confronted with Christ, believed. They did not bring Moses’ law in their hands. They brought empty hands and received the righteousness of God by faith. Grace finds sinners where law never justified them. The Gentile did not climb into righteousness. He received it. That is why no Gentile believer has the right to brag. He did not outrun Israel. He was overtaken by mercy.
Chapter Three: Have Attained to Righteousness
Paul says the Gentiles “have attained to righteousness.” That is an astonishing phrase. The guilty are declared righteous. The strangers are brought near. The idolaters are justified. The uncircumcised receive righteousness without becoming Jews under the law. This is exactly what Romans has been teaching from the beginning. Romans 1:17 says, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” Romans 3:22 says, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 4 shows Abraham justified by faith before circumcision. Paul is not introducing a new doctrine in Romans 9:30. He is applying the same gospel doctrine to the Jew-Gentile issue.
To attain righteousness does not mean the Gentiles became sinless in practical conduct the moment they believed. It means they received a righteous standing before God by faith. Justification is a judicial act. God declares the believer righteous on the basis of Jesus Christ’s finished work. The righteousness attained is not self-manufactured virtue, moral improvement, religious polish, or Gentile sincerity. It is the righteousness of God. Second Corinthians 5:21 says God made Christ “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” That is not a patch sewn onto Adam’s old garment. That is divine righteousness in Christ.
This attainment of righteousness also answers every system that tells sinners to build a righteousness of their own. The gospel does not say, “Try harder until God is impressed.” It says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The law can reveal sin, define transgression, expose guilt, and shut the mouth, but it cannot justify the sinner. The Gentile who believed Christ attained what law-keeping effort could not produce. That is offensive to religious pride because grace gives the beggar what the worker thought he could earn. But heaven is not embarrassed by grace. God would rather save a believing beggar than applaud a self-righteous runner who refuses His Son.
Chapter Four: Even the Righteousness Which Is of Faith
Paul defines the righteousness attained: “even the righteousness which is of faith.” This phrase is the heart of the passage. The issue is not merely righteousness as an abstract quality, but the kind of righteousness God accepts and gives. It is “of faith.” That means faith is the appointed means of receiving righteousness. Faith does not create righteousness. Faith does not replace Christ’s work. Faith does not become a meritorious work that earns salvation. Faith receives what God provides in Christ. The sinner believes God’s testimony concerning His Son, and righteousness is imputed.
This has been Paul’s doctrine since Romans 3 and 4. Abraham “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” David described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. The righteousness of faith is not a New Testament novelty invented to fix an Israel problem. It is rooted in God’s dealings with Abraham before the law was given. That is why legalism has no safe hiding place. If Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision and before Sinai, then no man after Sinai can claim the law as the root of justification. The law came later, and it did not cancel the promise.
“The righteousness which is of faith” also puts Christ at the center. Faith is not faith in faith. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not vague religious optimism. Faith must have the right object. The righteousness of faith is tied to the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and God’s promise. A man is not justified because he believes something strongly. He is justified because he believes God concerning Christ. The world has plenty of faith in falsehoods. That faith will damn a man with confidence in its pocket. Saving faith lays hold of the righteousness God gives in Christ. Faith is the hand; Christ is the treasure.
Chapter Five: Israel Followed After the Law of Righteousness
Paul contrasts the Gentiles with Israel: “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness.” Israel was not indifferent to righteousness in the same historical sense as the Gentiles. Israel had the law. Israel had commandments, ordinances, priesthood, sacrifices, feasts, sabbaths, washings, and religious structure. Israel pursued the law of righteousness. The nation had zeal, history, heritage, Scripture, ceremony, and moral code. Paul will say in Romans 10:2, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Their problem was not lack of religious energy. Their problem was pursuing righteousness the wrong way.
The law of righteousness was holy, but Israel turned the pursuit into a ground of self-righteousness. The law was meant to reveal God’s standard, expose sin, shut the mouth, and point to the need of righteousness from God. Instead, many treated it as though it were a ladder by which flesh could climb into acceptance. That is the religion of Cain in a Moses costume. Cain brought the fruit of his own labor instead of blood. Israel’s self-righteous element pursued the law as though effort, heritage, and observance could substitute for faith. When Christ came, they stumbled because He exposed their need for righteousness outside themselves.
This is the danger of every religious system that has light but refuses the purpose of the light. A man with a Bible can still go to hell if he uses the Bible to decorate his pride instead of bowing to Christ. A man can quote commandments, attend services, defend tradition, argue doctrine, practice rituals, and still miss righteousness because he refuses the righteousness of God. Religion without faith in Christ is a well-dressed corpse. It may smell like incense, carry a prayer book, and speak with respectable vocabulary, but it is still dead. Israel followed after the law of righteousness, but pursuit without faith did not bring attainment.
Chapter Six: Hath Not Attained to the Law of Righteousness
Paul says Israel “hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” That is one of the most sobering statements in Romans. The people pursuing did not arrive. The runners missed the finish line. The religious system with the law did not produce national righteousness before God. The law demanded righteousness, but fallen flesh could not meet the demand. Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” The weakness was not in the law’s holiness. The weakness was in man’s flesh. The law is a perfect measuring rod, but a measuring rod cannot make a crooked board straight.
Israel did not attain because the law cannot justify sinners. Galatians 2:16 says, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 3:21 asks, “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But the Scripture concluded all under sin. The law could condemn, instruct, govern, and foreshadow, but it could not give life to guilty men. The sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, the true Lamb. The priesthood pointed to the need for mediation. The holy place, altar, blood, veil, and mercy seat all preached that sinners need atonement. To turn the law into a self-righteous ladder was to miss the sermon God built into the whole system.
This failure also shows why zeal cannot replace truth. Israel pursued, but not successfully. A man may be sincere and wrong. He may be devout and lost. He may be energetic and blind. He may pray long prayers and still reject the righteousness of God. The road to hell is not paved only with open rebellion; many stones in that road are religious effort without Christ. Paul himself knew this from experience. Before salvation, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless in outward measure, yet he counted it all loss for Christ. Religious credentials are impressive only until the righteousness of God appears. Then the best flesh has to go to the dump.
Chapter Seven: Faith in the Righteousness of God
Romans 9:30–31 sets before us the great contrast: righteousness by faith versus righteousness pursued by law. The Gentiles attained righteousness because righteousness is received by faith. Israel failed because they pursued the law of righteousness without submitting to God’s righteousness. Romans 10:3 will say, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” That is the issue in its sharpest form. Man is always trying to establish his own righteousness. God commands him to submit to the righteousness He gives in Christ.
Faith in the righteousness of God humbles every sinner alike. Jew and Gentile meet at the same cross. The Jew cannot boast in law. The Gentile cannot boast in liberty from the law. The moral man cannot boast in conduct. The immoral man cannot boast in honesty about sin. The religious man cannot boast in zeal. The irreligious man cannot boast in lack of hypocrisy. All must come by faith to Christ. The gospel does not allow one doorway for temple people and another doorway for pagan people. There is one Saviour, one blood, one righteousness, one faith, one justification, and one God who justifies the ungodly.
This righteousness by faith also guards the believer after salvation. The Christian life begins by faith and continues by faith. Galatians 3:3 asks, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Many believers trust Christ for justification and then try to live accepted before God by returning to the old treadmill of performance-based confidence. Obedience matters. Holiness matters. Good works matter in their proper place. But none of them become the foundation of righteousness before God. The believer stands in Christ, walks by the Spirit, and serves from acceptance, not for acceptance. Faith receives righteousness; works follow as fruit. Reverse that order, and you have built a religious machine that grinds souls into dust.
Conclusion
Romans 9:30–31 explains one of the great ironies in redemptive history. Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness through Israel’s law, attained righteousness by faith. Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness. The issue was not that Gentiles were naturally better or that Israel’s law was evil. The issue was the means of righteousness. God gives righteousness by faith in Christ. Fallen flesh cannot produce it by law, heritage, zeal, ritual, or religious effort. The sinner must receive what God provides.
This passage strips religious pride to the bone. Israel had privileges no Gentile nation possessed, yet privilege did not save without faith. The law was holy, but the law could not justify. Zeal was real, but zeal without knowledge led to stumbling. Heritage was significant, but heritage could not wash away sin. Religious pursuit was intense, but pursuit in the wrong direction did not end in righteousness. The same warning stands over every church pew, altar rail, baptismal font, confession booth, seminary classroom, and family Bible. A man can be surrounded by holy things and still miss the righteousness of God if he refuses Christ.
The answer is “the righteousness which is of faith.” That righteousness is not man-made, man-earned, or man-improved. It is the righteousness of God received by faith in Jesus Christ. The Gentile sinner receives it the same way the Jewish sinner must receive it: by believing God concerning His Son. The law says man is guilty. The gospel says Christ died for the ungodly. The law stops the mouth. The gospel opens the door. The law exposes the wound. The gospel presents the blood. Righteousness is not found at the top of Sinai by exhausted climbers. It is found in Christ by believing sinners. Any man who tries to substitute zeal, heritage, law, or effort for faith will miss what God freely gives.
Romans 9:30–31 Commentary – Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law
Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law
Key Passage: Romans 9:30–31
Romans VerseQuest Commentary
Essay 64: Righteousness by Faith, Not by the Law
Text: Romans 9:30–31
Introduction
Romans 9:30–31 says, “What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” Paul has been walking through Israel’s place, Israel’s privileges, Israel’s unbelief, God’s mercy, God’s purpose, the remnant, Gentile inclusion, and the faithfulness of prophetic Scripture. Now he brings the matter down to the great dividing line: righteousness. That is the issue. Not sincerity. Not heritage. Not zeal. Not religious activity. Not national privilege. Not law-keeping ambition. Righteousness. How does a sinner get righteousness before God? The Gentiles, who had not pursued righteousness in Israel’s covenantal manner, attained righteousness by faith. Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain to it. That is the shock of Romans 9:30–31. The people with the law missed righteousness, while Gentiles outside the law received righteousness by faith.
This passage is not anti-Israel, and it is not pro-Gentile boasting. Paul has already destroyed Gentile arrogance before it can put on a clean shirt. Gentiles were idolaters, strangers, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, without the covenant privileges, and without God in the world. Their attainment of righteousness was not due to superior wisdom, morality, culture, philosophy, humility, or religious instinct. They attained righteousness because righteousness is received by faith, and God in mercy called Gentiles through the gospel. Likewise, Israel’s failure was not because the law was evil. Romans 7 says, “Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” The failure was not in the law. The failure was in pursuing righteousness the wrong way, as though law, zeal, heritage, and religious effort could substitute for faith in the righteousness of God.
Romans 9:30–31 therefore stands like a warning sign at the intersection of religion and salvation. The religious man assumes effort must count. The moral man assumes sincerity must count. The traditional man assumes heritage must count. The zealous man assumes heat must count. The ceremonial man assumes ritual must count. The Bible says faith counts because righteousness comes from God, not from the flesh’s religious treadmill. A man can run hard in the wrong direction and still be farther from the destination than when he started. Israel followed after the law of righteousness and did not attain it. Gentiles who were not chasing righteousness through Moses attained righteousness by faith in Christ. The gospel is not God rewarding the best climbers at Sinai. It is God giving righteousness to sinners who believe on His Son.
Chapter One: What Shall We Say Then?
Paul asks, “What shall we say then?” He is drawing a conclusion from everything he has been arguing in Romans 9. Israel had unique privileges. Gentiles were included by mercy. A remnant of Israel would be saved. The prophetic Scriptures had already testified of both mercy and remnant. Now Paul asks what conclusion must be drawn. The answer is not that God’s word failed. It did not. The answer is not that Israel vanished into the Church. It did not. The answer is not that Gentiles were naturally better than Jews. They were not. The answer is that righteousness comes by faith, and Israel stumbled by pursuing righteousness through the law rather than receiving the righteousness of God.
That question also keeps the reader from fragmenting the chapter into disconnected debates. Romans 9 is not a pile of theological spare parts scattered across the garage floor. Paul is building an argument. God’s promises to Israel have not failed because physical descent alone never guaranteed participation in the saving promise. God has always worked according to promise, calling, mercy, and His own word. He has shown mercy to Gentiles and preserved a remnant of Israel. Now the immediate issue becomes the contrast between Gentiles attaining righteousness and Israel missing it. The issue is not that God was unrighteous. The issue is that men refuse righteousness on God’s terms.
“What shall we say then?” should also sober every Bible reader. Paul is not writing merely to settle an ancient Jewish-Gentile dispute. He is exposing the permanent danger of religious self-righteousness. Men love to build religious ladders and then admire the height of their own climbing. They think pursuit itself proves acceptance. They think effort itself guarantees arrival. But Paul shows a people pursuing and failing, while another people attain by faith. That is enough to make every religious runner stop and check the road signs. Movement is not salvation. Zeal is not righteousness. A man can sweat all the way to hell if he is running past Christ.
Chapter Two: Gentiles Which Followed Not After Righteousness
Paul says, “That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness.” Historically, the Gentiles were not pursuing righteousness through the law of Moses. They did not have Israel’s covenants, priesthood, temple service, sacrifices, circumcision, national adoption, fathers, or oracles in the same privileged sense. Romans 1 described the Gentile world in its fallen condition: suppressing truth, changing the glory of the uncorruptible God into images, serving the creature more than the Creator, and sinking into moral corruption. Gentiles were not wandering around the pagan world with clean hands and hungry hearts, diligently seeking the righteousness of Israel’s God through His revealed law. They were in darkness.
This makes their attainment of righteousness a miracle of mercy, not a trophy of Gentile virtue. The Gentiles did not deserve righteousness any more than Israel did. Romans 3 has already concluded that “there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Gentiles were not saved because they were less religious and therefore more honest. They were saved because the gospel of Christ reached them, and righteousness by faith was offered freely through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. A pagan idolater did not become righteous by being pagan. He became righteous by believing the gospel of the crucified and risen Saviour.
“Followed not after righteousness” also highlights the surprise of grace. The people not formally pursuing righteousness through Israel’s law attained righteousness because God’s righteousness is received by faith. That does not mean God rewards indifference. It means righteousness is not obtained by fleshly pursuit. Many Gentiles, when confronted with Christ, believed. They did not bring Moses’ law in their hands. They brought empty hands and received the righteousness of God by faith. Grace finds sinners where law never justified them. The Gentile did not climb into righteousness. He received it. That is why no Gentile believer has the right to brag. He did not outrun Israel. He was overtaken by mercy.
Chapter Three: Have Attained to Righteousness
Paul says the Gentiles “have attained to righteousness.” That is an astonishing phrase. The guilty are declared righteous. The strangers are brought near. The idolaters are justified. The uncircumcised receive righteousness without becoming Jews under the law. This is exactly what Romans has been teaching from the beginning. Romans 1:17 says, “For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith.” Romans 3:22 says, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe.” Romans 4 shows Abraham justified by faith before circumcision. Paul is not introducing a new doctrine in Romans 9:30. He is applying the same gospel doctrine to the Jew-Gentile issue.
To attain righteousness does not mean the Gentiles became sinless in practical conduct the moment they believed. It means they received a righteous standing before God by faith. Justification is a judicial act. God declares the believer righteous on the basis of Jesus Christ’s finished work. The righteousness attained is not self-manufactured virtue, moral improvement, religious polish, or Gentile sincerity. It is the righteousness of God. Second Corinthians 5:21 says God made Christ “to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” That is not a patch sewn onto Adam’s old garment. That is divine righteousness in Christ.
This attainment of righteousness also answers every system that tells sinners to build a righteousness of their own. The gospel does not say, “Try harder until God is impressed.” It says, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” The law can reveal sin, define transgression, expose guilt, and shut the mouth, but it cannot justify the sinner. The Gentile who believed Christ attained what law-keeping effort could not produce. That is offensive to religious pride because grace gives the beggar what the worker thought he could earn. But heaven is not embarrassed by grace. God would rather save a believing beggar than applaud a self-righteous runner who refuses His Son.
Chapter Four: Even the Righteousness Which Is of Faith
Paul defines the righteousness attained: “even the righteousness which is of faith.” This phrase is the heart of the passage. The issue is not merely righteousness as an abstract quality, but the kind of righteousness God accepts and gives. It is “of faith.” That means faith is the appointed means of receiving righteousness. Faith does not create righteousness. Faith does not replace Christ’s work. Faith does not become a meritorious work that earns salvation. Faith receives what God provides in Christ. The sinner believes God’s testimony concerning His Son, and righteousness is imputed.
This has been Paul’s doctrine since Romans 3 and 4. Abraham “believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” David described the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works. The righteousness of faith is not a New Testament novelty invented to fix an Israel problem. It is rooted in God’s dealings with Abraham before the law was given. That is why legalism has no safe hiding place. If Abraham was justified by faith before circumcision and before Sinai, then no man after Sinai can claim the law as the root of justification. The law came later, and it did not cancel the promise.
“The righteousness which is of faith” also puts Christ at the center. Faith is not faith in faith. Faith is not positive thinking. Faith is not vague religious optimism. Faith must have the right object. The righteousness of faith is tied to the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood, His death, His burial, His resurrection, and God’s promise. A man is not justified because he believes something strongly. He is justified because he believes God concerning Christ. The world has plenty of faith in falsehoods. That faith will damn a man with confidence in its pocket. Saving faith lays hold of the righteousness God gives in Christ. Faith is the hand; Christ is the treasure.
Chapter Five: Israel Followed After the Law of Righteousness
Paul contrasts the Gentiles with Israel: “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness.” Israel was not indifferent to righteousness in the same historical sense as the Gentiles. Israel had the law. Israel had commandments, ordinances, priesthood, sacrifices, feasts, sabbaths, washings, and religious structure. Israel pursued the law of righteousness. The nation had zeal, history, heritage, Scripture, ceremony, and moral code. Paul will say in Romans 10:2, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” Their problem was not lack of religious energy. Their problem was pursuing righteousness the wrong way.
The law of righteousness was holy, but Israel turned the pursuit into a ground of self-righteousness. The law was meant to reveal God’s standard, expose sin, shut the mouth, and point to the need of righteousness from God. Instead, many treated it as though it were a ladder by which flesh could climb into acceptance. That is the religion of Cain in a Moses costume. Cain brought the fruit of his own labor instead of blood. Israel’s self-righteous element pursued the law as though effort, heritage, and observance could substitute for faith. When Christ came, they stumbled because He exposed their need for righteousness outside themselves.
This is the danger of every religious system that has light but refuses the purpose of the light. A man with a Bible can still go to hell if he uses the Bible to decorate his pride instead of bowing to Christ. A man can quote commandments, attend services, defend tradition, argue doctrine, practice rituals, and still miss righteousness because he refuses the righteousness of God. Religion without faith in Christ is a well-dressed corpse. It may smell like incense, carry a prayer book, and speak with respectable vocabulary, but it is still dead. Israel followed after the law of righteousness, but pursuit without faith did not bring attainment.
Chapter Six: Hath Not Attained to the Law of Righteousness
Paul says Israel “hath not attained to the law of righteousness.” That is one of the most sobering statements in Romans. The people pursuing did not arrive. The runners missed the finish line. The religious system with the law did not produce national righteousness before God. The law demanded righteousness, but fallen flesh could not meet the demand. Romans 8:3 says, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.” The weakness was not in the law’s holiness. The weakness was in man’s flesh. The law is a perfect measuring rod, but a measuring rod cannot make a crooked board straight.
Israel did not attain because the law cannot justify sinners. Galatians 2:16 says, “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 3:21 asks, “for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law.” But the Scripture concluded all under sin. The law could condemn, instruct, govern, and foreshadow, but it could not give life to guilty men. The sacrifices pointed forward to Christ, the true Lamb. The priesthood pointed to the need for mediation. The holy place, altar, blood, veil, and mercy seat all preached that sinners need atonement. To turn the law into a self-righteous ladder was to miss the sermon God built into the whole system.
This failure also shows why zeal cannot replace truth. Israel pursued, but not successfully. A man may be sincere and wrong. He may be devout and lost. He may be energetic and blind. He may pray long prayers and still reject the righteousness of God. The road to hell is not paved only with open rebellion; many stones in that road are religious effort without Christ. Paul himself knew this from experience. Before salvation, he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless in outward measure, yet he counted it all loss for Christ. Religious credentials are impressive only until the righteousness of God appears. Then the best flesh has to go to the dump.
Chapter Seven: Faith in the Righteousness of God
Romans 9:30–31 sets before us the great contrast: righteousness by faith versus righteousness pursued by law. The Gentiles attained righteousness because righteousness is received by faith. Israel failed because they pursued the law of righteousness without submitting to God’s righteousness. Romans 10:3 will say, “For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” That is the issue in its sharpest form. Man is always trying to establish his own righteousness. God commands him to submit to the righteousness He gives in Christ.
Faith in the righteousness of God humbles every sinner alike. Jew and Gentile meet at the same cross. The Jew cannot boast in law. The Gentile cannot boast in liberty from the law. The moral man cannot boast in conduct. The immoral man cannot boast in honesty about sin. The religious man cannot boast in zeal. The irreligious man cannot boast in lack of hypocrisy. All must come by faith to Christ. The gospel does not allow one doorway for temple people and another doorway for pagan people. There is one Saviour, one blood, one righteousness, one faith, one justification, and one God who justifies the ungodly.
This righteousness by faith also guards the believer after salvation. The Christian life begins by faith and continues by faith. Galatians 3:3 asks, “Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Many believers trust Christ for justification and then try to live accepted before God by returning to the old treadmill of performance-based confidence. Obedience matters. Holiness matters. Good works matter in their proper place. But none of them become the foundation of righteousness before God. The believer stands in Christ, walks by the Spirit, and serves from acceptance, not for acceptance. Faith receives righteousness; works follow as fruit. Reverse that order, and you have built a religious machine that grinds souls into dust.
Conclusion
Romans 9:30–31 explains one of the great ironies in redemptive history. Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness through Israel’s law, attained righteousness by faith. Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, did not attain to the law of righteousness. The issue was not that Gentiles were naturally better or that Israel’s law was evil. The issue was the means of righteousness. God gives righteousness by faith in Christ. Fallen flesh cannot produce it by law, heritage, zeal, ritual, or religious effort. The sinner must receive what God provides.
This passage strips religious pride to the bone. Israel had privileges no Gentile nation possessed, yet privilege did not save without faith. The law was holy, but the law could not justify. Zeal was real, but zeal without knowledge led to stumbling. Heritage was significant, but heritage could not wash away sin. Religious pursuit was intense, but pursuit in the wrong direction did not end in righteousness. The same warning stands over every church pew, altar rail, baptismal font, confession booth, seminary classroom, and family Bible. A man can be surrounded by holy things and still miss the righteousness of God if he refuses Christ.
The answer is “the righteousness which is of faith.” That righteousness is not man-made, man-earned, or man-improved. It is the righteousness of God received by faith in Jesus Christ. The Gentile sinner receives it the same way the Jewish sinner must receive it: by believing God concerning His Son. The law says man is guilty. The gospel says Christ died for the ungodly. The law stops the mouth. The gospel opens the door. The law exposes the wound. The gospel presents the blood. Righteousness is not found at the top of Sinai by exhausted climbers. It is found in Christ by believing sinners. Any man who tries to substitute zeal, heritage, law, or effort for faith will miss what God freely gives.
Romans Verse-by-Verse Commentary
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Romans 1:1 Commentary – Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ
Romans 1:2-4 Commentary – The Gospel Promised Beforehand
Romans 1:5–7 Commentary – Grace, Apostleship, and Obedience to the Faith