Gospel Guidebook: Getting and Keeping It Right 
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The Gospel and the Justification of God
by Robert P. TerryUpdated May 8, 2025
We read in Romans 1:1-6 (NASB), "Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake, among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ." From this description, we learn that the Gospel is not a message about what sinners must to do to "get saved." Rather, the Gospel is concerned with God's Son and how He was declared to be the Son of God with power, showing Himself to be Jesus Christ the Lord. Accordingly, obedience of faith cannot mean the efforts sinners make under the pretense of faith to appropriate the favor of God for themselves. Instead, obedience of faith means recognizing the righteousness of God revealed in the Gospel (Rom. 1:16-17) for the sake of His glory (Rom. 1:5, 2 Cor. 4:3-6). It was this righteousness and glory that was kept secret for long ages past, but had now been revealed and manifested in the preaching of Jesus Christ (Rom. 16:25-27). What this means is that the Gospel is about the justification and glorification of God. He was "justified in the Spirit" (1 Tim. 3:16) when He was "declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness." Likewise, the Apostle Paul says that the purpose of faith in His blood is "to demonstrate His righteousness" (Rom. 3:25) so that He might "demonstrate His righteousness" in being "just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus" (Rom. 3:26). And in this manner, God is justified and fulfills the Scripture, "That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged" (Rom. 3:4), through which "every mouth may be closed, and all the world may become accountable to God" (Rom. 3:19) when He shall come, on the one hand, to "be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe" (2 Thess. 1:10), and on the other hand, to "execute judgment upon all, and convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him" (Jude 15).
In light of the above, the correct response to the Gospel is to believe God's righteousness revealed therein, for the recognition that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, who accomplished a justifying act on the cross, is the power of God unto salvation (Rom. 1:16-17). Whoever believes the divine righteousness proclaimed in the Gospel both justifies God and is himself justified. This fulfills the Scripture where it says, "For with thee is the fountain of life: In thy light shall we see light" and "They looked unto him, and were lightened: And their faces were not ashamed", for the righteousness of God reflects righteousness unto all who behold it (Psalm 36:9, Psalm 34:5, and 2 Cor. 3:1-4:6).