But the righteousness of faith says this, "Do not say in your heart, who will go up into heaven?" (that is, to bring Christ down)
Truth to Learn
Even the greatest of works does not produce righteousness.
Behind the Words
“The righteousness of faith” is from hē ek pisteōs dikaiosunē, which literally means “the out of faith righteousness.” It refers to the true righteousness, that which can only come by faith, and Paul uses a personification of that faith here to let it speak for itself.
The expression “say in your heart” is a Hebraism (a Hebrew expression) which means “to think or say to oneself.”
Meaning Explained
In the previous verses Paul talked about the Jews who have a zeal for God but who try to obtain the righteousness of God by keeping the Law. He then quoted a passage from Leviticus 18:5 which says, You shall keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he will live by them: I am the LORD.
Now, since Paul is contrasting the righteousness which comes from obeying the Law with the righteousness which is a result of faith, he makes a statement about the righteousness of faith. This is roughly taken from the book of Deuteronomy.
For this command which I am commanding you today is not too wonderful for you, nor is it far off. It is not in the heavens, that you should say, “Who will go up into heaven for us and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it that we may do it?” And is it not beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, and cause us to hear it, that we may do it?” For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14)
In this passage from Deuteronomy, Moses has just warned the Israelites what will happen to them if they turn from Jehovah and serve other gods. He then tells them that if they turn back to Jehovah, even while they are in the land of their captivity, He will once again bless them. The message Moses is giving is not one of “obedience produces life and disobedience produces death,” it is a message of “faithfulness produces life, leading to works of obedience and unfaithfulness produces death (spiritual), leading to works of disobedience.” As Moses continues in Deuteronomy 30:15, he says: See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. He does not say “goodness and life” because goodness does not produce life, he says “life and good” because only spiritual life produces good.
The Israelites were confused. They thought that obedience could produce righteousness. Moses, on the other hand taught that faith produces righteousness. In today’s verse, what the righteousness of faith is telling us is that works, even works as great as ascending into heaven to bring Christ’s righteousness down to us, don’t produce righteousness.
Application
The Apostle Paul tends to hammer on a subject from every possible angle until there is absolutely no wiggle room for the critics to argue against him. That’s what he has been doing with regard to righteousness. We cannot earn it; we can only receive it by faith.
In God's service, for His glory,
Copyright © 2018 Will Krause. All rights reserved