Disciples Global Network

The righteousness of God refers to His faithfulness. He fulfills His promises, and this is demonstrated by the salvation He has provided in Jesus . Paul stresses the “ righteousness of God ” in his Letter to the Romans, the righteousness that is revealed whenever the Gospel is proclaimed. This message is the “ power of God for salvation to everyone who believes ,” including “ Jews and Greeks ” alike. Salvation is available to all men through the “ faith of Jesus Christ ,” God’s “ Righteous One ” (“ From faith for faith… My Righteous One will live from faith ”).

Since this “ Word spoken in a son ” is complete and definitive, it is “ better than ” the partial revelations of the past “ spoken in the prophets .” Unlike his predecessors, the Son, “ having achieved the purification of sins ,” sat down at God’s right hand where he remains to this day mediating for his people as their faithful High Priest. Logically, this means that the previous “ words ” by the prophets and the ministries of the Levitical priests proved insufficient to remove the stain of sin from the covenant community.

The power and wisdom of God are revealed in the proclamation of the Messiah who was crucified by the Roman Empire . Jesus of Nazareth performed miracles, exorcised demons, and taught with great authority, and for a time, he attracted large crowds. Nevertheless, his contemporaries failed to recognize who he was despite his displays of supernatural power. Only the Roman centurion on duty at Golgotha perceived that he was the “ Son of God ” when Christ breathed his last.

The Gift of the Spirit is one of the Covenant promises for blessing the Nations of the Earth through Abraham and his “Seed,” Jesus Christ . When Matthew’s Gospel declares Jesus to be the “ Son of Abraham ,” it links the man from Nazareth to the  Abrahamic Covenant . The New Testament is filled with scriptural citations and apostolic teachings demonstrating that Jesus came to fulfill the Covenant. He is the promised “ Seed of Abraham ” and the true Heir of all the promises, including to “ bless all the Nations ” in the Patriarch.

The Book of Revelation applies several terms to the saints who are under assault from without and within. The men who were redeemed by the “ Lamb ” form a single company that transcends all national, social, and cultural boundaries, and for them, persecution and “ tribulation ” are neither aberrations nor things to be feared. Persevering through trials while bearing witness is what it means to follow the “ Lamb wherever he goes .”

The death of Jesus inaugurated the messianic age with consequent changes in the status of God’s people . In his epistle to the Assembly in Galatia, Paul declares that his apostleship originated from the same God who raised Jesus from the dead, the Messiah of Israel who gave his life to “ deliver us from this evil age .” His declaration anticipates his proposition in the body of the Letter that the arrival of Jesus changed the status of the Law for the people of God, the “ children of Abraham .”