“even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Romans 3:22).
Romans 3:22 is a portion of Scripture that focuses on the relationship between faith and righteousness…
“When we trust Christ’s righteousness on our behalf and embrace Him, then God legally transfers His righteousness to us. A double transfer is involved in salvation. Christ dies for our salvation, but He also lives for our salvation. Our sins are transferred to Jesus, and He died for us on the cross to bear those sins… God assigned our guilt to His Son. He transferred it from us to Christ, but that is only half the transaction.
The other half is that He took Christ’s righteousness and assigned it to us when we believed so that now when God looks at us, knowing that all our righteousness is as filthy rags, we will not perish. He has given us the cloak of the righteousness of Jesus.” (1)
So, once again, Paul the Apostle presents us with an important correlation: a right relationship with God is contingent upon putting our faith in Christ. Yet even though the Biblical Scriptures repeatedly highlight the importance of faith, what does that really entail? That brings us to several observations from earlier in our study of Romans chapter one that bear repeating.
For example, one Biblical dictionary offers a simple, but helpful definition of faith: “[Faith is a] belief in or confident attitude toward God, involving commitment to His will for one’s life.” (2) Authentic, Biblical faith is rooted in the conviction that God is who He claims to be, and that He will fulfill His promises. It also embodies the firm belief that God will keep His word, regardless of the external circumstances. This type of faith represents a defining feature of a God-honoring life.
Nevertheless, we should caution against “placing faith in our faith.” In other words, we should guard against placing our faith in the amount of faith we possess. That serves to redirect attention to ourselves and our level of faith rather than God, who should be the object of our faith. Therefore, it’s important to consider where our faith is invested. As Jesus once said, “…’I can guarantee this truth: If your faith is the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you’” (Matthew 17:20 GW).
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(1) Sproul, R. C. The Power of the Gospel: A Year in Romans. Ligonier Ministries, 2024. p. 86
(2) “Faith” Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Copyright © 1986, Thomas Nelson Publishers.