Luther's Free Beer, Part 3: "Righteousness is obtained through faith" (part 1)

If the Bible teaches that our righteousness is not obtained through works of the law, then how is it possible for one to be justified and declared as righteous in the sight of a perfectly holy God?! Thankfully, it seems that Scripture is a bit more clear on this point. There are many passages in the Bible which attest to justification by faith alone, but let's start with just a couple which, by themselves, could be considered the veritable battle cries of the Reformation:

For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.
-Romans 3:28

For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
-Romans 10:10

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life.
-John 6:47

It may need to be reiterated at this point that justification by faith alone is true not only because it is how justification is presented in the Bible, but also because salvation by faith alone is absolutely necessary for God, who is just, to be able to declare us to be righteous. "Righteous", by definition, means "without guilt or sin". We are humans who are sinful by our very nature, and therefore, we have never had, we do not presently have, and we will never have any righteousness of our own. Because of this, if we are to ever be labeled as "righteous", this title needs to be obtained by another on our behalf, and given to us. This process - a transaction, if you will - is called imputation:

And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."
-Romans 4:5-8

For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness."
-Romans 4:3

The only righteous being to ever walk this earth was our very God Himself who came in fully human form as Jesus Christ. It was His righteousness, not our own, that not only appeases His own holy wrath against sin through obedience to the law, but also fulfills the demand for worship that is required of a perfectly glorious and awesome creator being (i.e. Jesus not only never committed any sin of commission, He also never committed any sin of omission). This fulfillment of the requirements of righteousness is then given to us through faith, and makes a propitiation for God's wrath against our sin:

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. -Romans 5:1

This transaction, this imputed righteousness, was at the very heart of the Gospel for the reformers. Martin Luther was once tormented by Paul's letter to the Roman church, particularly by one key passage:

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed...
-Romans 1:16- (first half of) 17

Luther simply couldn't understand how God's own righteousness being revealed to us could ever possibly be "good news" to us who have no righteousness of our own! And his torment was very understandable, because during Luther's era, verses like these were interpreted by the Church in this way, as God's own actively righteous state being displayed to us, and his anger being set against us, compelling us to do good works to appease His wrath. This also made Luther angry against God, because in this verse Luther viewed God as crushing us with the impossible requirements of the law and threatening us with punishment through the Gospel!

But then Luther continued to contemplate the rest of this verse:

For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, "The righteous shall live by faith."
-Romans 1:17

It was upon reflexion of the full meaning of this verse that Luther realized that God's "righteousness" named here did not refer to His active righteousness by which He sets His anger against all sin, but rather His passive righteousness that He reveals to sinners by giving it to them, ascribing His own righteousness to those who were once completely unrighteous:

"The righteous shall live by faith"!

Furthermore, he saw that this imputed righteousness is the way by which the spiritually dead are made alive and given salvation:

"The righteous shall live by faith"!

And what are the means by which God chooses to give His righteousness to us sinners?

"The righteous shall live by faith"!