For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17
When Paul made this bold statement that now, after the death and resurrection of Jesus, a righteousness from God had been revealed, he didn’t mean that it was revealed through his ideas or thoughts. Paul did not make the gospel up! It’s true that he received a divine revelation of Christ, but then, with the knowledge of Christ that came through the Spirit, it enabled him to finally see the truth in the Scriptures – for now he could see Jesus, and to Paul’s amazement, he realised he could find the testimony of the life and accomplishments of Jesus in every Scripture.
The good news of God’s grace, the new covenant and a righteousness by faith had always been testified to, but, without the revelation of Jesus and the full reality of what his death and resurrection accomplished for us, it had always remained a mystery. As Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians:
Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 2 Corinthians 3:12-16
Without the light of Christ, we all continue to read the Old Testament as if it were veiled of it’s true meaning and intention, but now that we are in Christ, that veil has been removed and we can clearly see the story of Jesus and the message of God’s righteousness that is given as a gift, and not earned by our own obedience to a written code, but rather through our acceptance of God’s Son.
When Paul made this bold statement about a righteousness by faith, he backed up his statement by quoting a scripture from the Old Testament; because when Paul looked at the Old Testament he saw the story of Jesus all through it. Jesus himself helped two of his disciples understand this Scriptural reality as he walked along the road to Emmaus with them. Luke records how Jesus opened up their eyes to see him in all the scriptures, starting with Moses and going through all the prophets.
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:25-27
The truth is that whole bible testifies about Jesus and the grace that comes to us through him. The Scriptures were never given to help mankind understand how to live before God, but rather to reveal, and testify to, the life story of Jesus, his suffering and the grace that would be given to us through his resurrection.
How wonderful to know that God’s intention for the bible was not to give us a rule book, or a life-application-manual, but rather his desire was to give us a testimony to the Life in us, that is Christ in us, our hope of glory! Now, if the testimony is true, and Christ did everything the bible testifies to, and he now lives in us, then we can rest assured that God’s righteousness that comes by faith is already radically alive and active in us. We can rest in the truth of God’s good news, and be assured that God is working powerfully in and through us at the same time. Amen.
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Written by Mick Mooney
Great stuff Jen
Amazing isn't it? Jesus has always been the God's entire point.
Mick, I am with you in that amazement. And one thing that has become clear to me is that God arranged for the things that happened before Christ came in order to point to Christ. This means that Christ was the central focus all along. The things of the Old Testament were all put in place to lead us to Christ. It wasn't that Christ was an after thought who had to make sure he did all the things of the Old Testament. His life was the ENTIRE point. This so changed how I read the Old Testament. Blessings!
I'm constantly amazed at how more and more of Jesus I find in the old testament Scriptures. It really is like what Paul said; everything found in the Scriptures are just a shadow, but the reality is found in Christ! I want to understand the reality, woohoo.