What does it mean for grace to reign through righteousness?

Explanation:

One important clue that exposes Paul’s meaning is his reference to eternal life. In particular, Paul writes that grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life. In other words, the righteousness that reigns through grace enables eternal life. Now, we know that no guilty sinner enters eternal life, so the fact that grace reigning through righteousness enables eternal life implies that Paul has credited righteousness in mind.⁴ That is, Paul is saying that by grace God credits righteousness to people who are guilty of sin, so that they are no longer legally guilty, and because they are no longer legally guilty, they have eternal life.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that it reads a theological framework into the text. That is, Paul makes no mention of credited righteousness or legal guilt in Romans 5:21. Rather, he simply explains that grace reigns through righteousness, which leads to eternal life. Now, Paul may teach elsewhere that righteousness is credited to believers, but he says nothing about this here so we should not read this teaching into the text.

Response to counterargument:

The immediate context suggests that Paul has credited righteousness in mind, so we are not importing into the text what was not near to Paul’s thinking. Paul writes in Romans 5:19 that through the one man’s obedience, that is, Jesus Christ, the many will be made righteous. In other words, because of what Christ did, others will be made righteous. We can take this as a statement related to credited righteousness. For clearly Paul is saying that Christ’s obedience, not the obedience of the believer, will make one righteousness. In other words, it is Christ’s obedience credited to the believer that makes them righteousness. Two verses later Paul says that grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life, which, given that Christ’s obedience credits believers with his righteousness, implies that grace reigns through credited righteousness.

Explanation:

Paul writes that grace reigns through righteousness to eternal life. We can understand what he means by considering the broad and immediate contexts. We note that one thing Paul teaches in this letter is that righteousness is credited.⁵ We learn this in Romans 3:21–26, where Paul explains that God put Jesus forward as an atoning sacrifice for sin, showing that he is just and the justifier for those who have faith. In other words, God is just for punishing sin, and he is the justifier because he shares Christ’s righteousness with us. Paul is even more clear in Romans 4:9–12 where he explains that Abraham’s faith was counted to him as righteousness. In other words, it is not that Abraham was actually righteous by his works, but that because he had believed, God credited righteousness to him. Finally, in Romans 5:19 Paul repeats that through the one man, Jesus Christ, many will be made righteous. In other words, those who are saved are saved because Jesus’ obedience is credited them as righteousness. Thus, Paul has in mind that grace reigns through credited righteousness that leads to eternal life.⁶

Counterargument:

While Paul might allude to credited righteousness in various sections of Romans, he also emphasizes the importance of righteous living. For example, in Romans 2:6–11 Paul explains that God will render each according to their works. He goes on to say that those who seek for glory and immortality will receive eternal life. In other words, God will reward those who live righteously, enabled through faith in Jesus Christ, with eternal life. Likewise, in Romans 5:21 Paul may be suggesting that grace reigns through the righteous living that is enabled by Jesus Christ. In any case, since Paul refers to righteousness as credited, and as actually holy living, it is not easy to decide whether Paul has credited righteousness in mind in Romans 5:21.

The weakness of this view is that credited righteousness is a theological concept so we expect Paul to be explicit when he uses it. That is, we expect him to make clear that the righteousness he has in mind is that of Christ’s. In the case of Romans 5:21, it is ambiguous whether he has Christ’s, the Father’s, or our own righteousness in mind.

Explanation:

We can detect what Paul means when he writes that grace reigns through righteousness by paying attention to the verb to reign. For the verb suggests that Paul sees grace as a power that reigns, in particular, through righteousness. Of course, if grace is a power that reigns through righteousness, then that power must be effective in the believer’s life. Thus, that grace must produce actual righteousness in the believer’s life. So, given that Paul uses the verb to reign to denote the power of grace over the believer, the righteousness Paul has in mind is actual righteous living. Thus, grace reigns by producing actual righteous living in the believer.⁷

Counterargument:

The problem here is that this view overlooks the subjunctive mood of the verb to reign. The subjunctive suggests a future orientation, so that we should translate Romans 5:21 that grace might reign through righteousness. In other words, grace reigning through righteousness is a future state that might be enjoyed when Christ returns.⁸ Of course, if grace reigning is a future state, then grace does not reign through righteousness in the sense of producing actual righteous living now.

Response to counterargument:

The subjunctive carries a variety of nuances and is generally best taken in the sense of probability.⁹ This probability could be future-related, or contingent on some other factor. Thus, that Paul uses the subjunctive in Romans 5:21 does not necessarily indicate that grace reigns as a future state, but that grace might reign over certain people through righteousness depending on the conditions. In other words, while Adam made sin and death a fact for all people, Christ makes righteousness a possibility for all people. And this righteousness could be experienced in this life as renewed holy living.

Explanation:

When Paul writes that grace abounds through righteousness, he follows this up by saying this leads to eternal life. While eternal life is an aspect of the age to come, we learn from Romans 6:4 that eternal life has also invaded the present evil age.¹⁰ In particular, Paul writes that we were buried with Christ in baptism, that we might walk in newness of life. Walking in newness of life has to do with living a holy, righteous life in the here and now. Given that Paul will soon highlight the fact that the gospel entails walking in newness of life now, likely when he refers to grace reigning through righteousness, he means grace empowering believers to walk in newness of life now. That is, grace empowering actual holy living, which leads to eternal life.

Counterargument:  

The problem here is with the theology it implies. For we know that Paul ends Romans 5:21 with the phrase leading to eternal life. Now, if the righteousness that leads to eternal life is actual holy living, then Paul is saying that actual holy living is what leads to eternal life. Of course, Paul seems to counter this type of theology earlier in this letter when he makes clear that Abraham was justified not by works but by faith (Romans 4:1–5). Thus, we expect the righteousness that leads to eternal life to be not the righteousness of actual holy living, but the righteousness credited through faith.

One weakness of this view is that, while Paul does promote practical holy living in many other letters, this section of Romans is fixated on the general theology of the gospel. That is, Paul is emphasizing the inclusion of the Gentiles, that justification is through faith, and that righteousness is credited because of Christ’s obedience. Thus, it is unlikely that he would refer to practical holy living in this section.