Romans 3:1-8

Romans 3:1-8 picks up on a number of themes and concerns that reach back to the first chapter of the letter, especially the crucial verses in 1:16ff. Although unrighteousness (ADIKIA) has been a topic in chapter 2, the contrast between the ADIKIA of man (and of Jews in particular) and the “righteousness of God” (DIKAIOSUNE THEOU) is unique to 1:17-18 and 3:5. In fact, the phrase “righteousness of God” that first appears in 1:17 appears for the second time in Romans in 3:5. “Jew and Hellene” is found in 1:16 and 3:9 (also in 2:9-10). The “truth” of God is suppressed in 1:18ff and is contrasted with the lies of men in 3:4.

One insight that follows from these thematic links has to do with the phrase “righteousness of God,” which has been the subject of considerable debate throughout the last couple of decades. If 3:1-8 is linking up with 1:16-18 and forming an inclusio, then the use of DIKAIOSUNE THEOU in 3:5 may well shed light on the meaning in 1:17. In chapter 3, righteousness is clearly parallel with PISTIS (“faithfulness”) and with ALETHES (“true”). The logic of Paul’s argument makes little sense unless he is using these words as virtual (though not exact) synonyms. The argument of 3:3-5 proceeds as follows:

Jewish unfaithfulness does not nulllify the faithfulness of God
Rather, let God be true and every man a liar
As it is written, God is justified in His words and victorious in judgment
for if Israel’s unrighteousness manifests God’s righteousness, what shall we say?

The opposition of unfaith/faith must be equivalent to the opposition of true/liar, and these are both functionally equivalent to the opposition of unrighteousness/righteousness. This makes it quite clear, first, that the “righteousness of God” is not primarily a righteousness that God gives but the righteousness that God possesses and manifests in His acts. One way that God manifests this righteousness is by giving the gift of righteousness, both in the sense of bestowing a righteous status on sinners and in the sense of causing right to triumph and flourish on earth. But the PHRASE “righteousness of God” means “God’s own righteousness.” Second, the parallel of these two sections helps to establish the MEANING of “righteousness.” It is parallel to “true” and “faithful,” and in the context of Romans 3, with its emphasis on the advantage and calling of the Jewish people, these terms have a definite covenantal coloration. To say God is faithful over against the faithlessness of Israel is to say that God will accomplish His purpose and keep His promises regardless of Israel’s failure. What is added in the term “righteousness” is a judicial/forensic flavoring: To say that God is “righteous” is to say that He is faithful and true in the judicial sphere, that He judges in accord with His commitments to His people and to the creation. This is evident in the fact that in Romans 3 the DIK- stem is introduces as support for Paul’s argument in favor of God’s truth only when he puts the whole discussion in a judicial context (v 4).

Another structural feature of this text is the fact that Paul initiates a chiastic structure. This can be seen by attention to the cluster of related Greek words, words based on the same root:

A. PIST- root, vv 2-4 (entrusted, unfaithful, unfaithfulness, faithfulness)
B. ALETH- root, v 4a (true)
C. DIK- root (justify, unrighteousness, righteousness, unrighteous; along with KRIN-, judge), vv 4b-6
B’. ALETH- root, v 7 (true)

But there is no return to the PIST- group of words in verse 8, or in 9-20 for that matter. The word group does not appear until v 22, where the noun PISTIS is used in the contested phrase “PISTEOS CHRISTOU.” Given this chiastic structure, it seems that the PISTIS CHRISTOU is reaching back to the questions and answers at the beginning of chapter 3. This insight is fruitful on a number of levels. First, it indicates Paul’s most profound answer to the issues raised in 3:2-3: What is going to happen with Israel’s APISTIA, her unfaithfulness to her entrustment with the “oracles of God”? And the answer is, God has acted in Christ, apart from the law, to manifest His righteousness through the PISTIS CHRISTOU. Christ, the true and faithful Israel, is the answer to the faithlessness. He ensures that the entrustment of the oracles of God to Israel is not in vain. Second, as already intimated, this indicates that Paul is operating with (among other things) a “Christ-as-Israel” Christology. Third, this supports the reading of the PISTIS CHRISTOU as “faith of Jesus Christ” understood as “faithfulness of Jesus Christ.” The righteousness of God, His faithfulness to covenant and to Himself in the judicial sphere, is manifest in the faithfulness of Jesus.