66. Attained to Righteousness
Romans 9:30 The Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness, which is of faith.
The surprising New Testament promise is that Gentiles have attained to righteousness. This is unthinkable for the Jewish rabbis of the day that godless pagans who don’t care about the Law and its righteousness could attain righteousness. “They must become Jews and submit to the Law of Moses.” These people are obviously not righteous. The Lord could never accept them.
Faith is the key; faith makes the impossible possible; faith makes the impossible certain. The righteousness we have been promised and have attained to is the righteousness of faith. Faith receives the perfect righteousness of God as a free gift earned for us and given to us by grace on account of Jesus Christ. This gifted righteousness of God is complete; it is more than enough; it is obviously fuller than our own righteousness. Faith in Jesus is available for all people: it is for those who seek to establish their own righteousness (the Jew), and it is for those who do not follow after righteousness at all (the Gentile).
It is hard to accept the idea that the most hardened criminal who has committed the most heinous crimes can attain righteousness. It is hard to believe that an obvious bad person may attain the same righteousness that I, a good person, have. The grace of God is truly amazing: the righteousness of God is granted for free to faith. The further Good News is that God, the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, creates the faith that receives the gift. It is an incredible “leap” of faith for me to say without a doubt, “I have attained to righteousness!” Believing this promise I can say, “It is enough; it is done; it is finished.”