Righteousness has been described as "an attribute of God which maintains what is consistent with His own character, and necessarily judges what is opposed to it_sin" (Morrish’s New and Concise Bible Dictionary). As the one who is perfectly righteous and just, God does not play favorites; He is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34); He is not capable of being bribed. All of His actions are perfectly consistent with one another and with every aspect of His nature and attributes.
The righteousness of God is revealed in a number of Scriptures. The following represent a sampling of these:
Abraham interceded with Jehovah to spare Sodom and Gomorrah:"That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from Thee; shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" (Gen. 18:25).
Nehemiah acknowledged that God was true to His word:"Thou art the Lord the God, who . . . made a covenant with [Abram] to give the land of the Canaanites … to his seed, and hast performed Thy words:for Thou art righteous" (Neh. 9:7,8).
"Righteous art Thou, O Lord, and upright are Thy judgments. Thy testimonies that Thou hast commanded are righteous and very faithful" (Psa. 119:137,138).
"The Lord is righteous in all His ways" (Psa. 145:17).
Jeremiah acknowledged God’s righteousness; but in his impatience, he wondered why God allowed the wicked to prosper, not realizing that God is longsuffering as well as righteous:"Righteous art Thou, O Lord, when I plead with Thee; yet let me talk with Thee of Thy judgments:Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?" (Jer. 12:1).
Daniel confessed Israel’s sin that led the nation into captivity. He owned that the Lord was righteous in having dealt with the nation in this way:"Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all His works which He doeth:for we obeyed not His voice" (Dan. 9:14).
God, in His righteousness, both will judge those who have died in their sins, and rewards those who serve and obey Hun:"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works" (Rev. 20:12). "God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which ye have showed toward His name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister" (Heb. 6:10).
The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is equally righteous. The following Scriptures confirm this:
"By His knowledge [or, by the knowledge of Him] shall My righteous servant justify many; for He shall bear their iniquities" (Isa. 53:11).
"But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you" (Acts 3:14).
"Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me at that day" (2 Tim. 4:8).
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).
"If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1). Note that we have an advocate described as righteous, not merely gracious and merciful. His advocacy is based on the fact that "He is the propitiation for our sins" (verse 2), that is, He bore the punishment for our sins in our stead.
Man’s salvation is inextricably bound up with the righteousness of God. First, in the Old Testament we find:"There is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else" (Isa. 45:21,22). Then in the Epistle to the Romans in the New Testament we have the following references to the righteousness of God with respect to saving the sinner:"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ:for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth …. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed" (1:16,17). "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested,. . . even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe" (3:21,22). "God hath set forth [Christ Jesus] to be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time His righteousness; that He might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (3:25,26). God’s righteousness is revealed through Christ in His judgment of sin. The just penalty for sin was exacted when Christ died for us as our substitute upon the cross. God’s attributes of grace and mercy also shine forth in the atoning death of Christ for us, but mercy does not become effective until justice has been satisfied.
As a result of God’s righteousness in thus dealing with the question of sin_that is, how sinful man can be reconciled with a holy God_ those who place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation are pronounced righteous. This is our standing before God because of Christ’s work. The believer in Christ is justified or accounted righteous, not by his own works but by Christ’s work on the cross. "Being justified freely by His grace" (Rom. 3:24). "That He might be … the justifier of Him which believeth in Jesus" (3:26). "To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (4:5). "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin" (4:8).
This justification or righteous standing before God is a wonderful thing. It goes much further than being pardoned or forgiven. It means that the entire record of my sins, iniquities, and offenses against God and man has been judicially wiped clean because Another has taken them as His own and received the full penalty for them. Surely, then, we can joyfully exclaim, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ" (Rom. 5:1).
Now, given that we have this righteous standing before God so that there is no longer any judgment hanging over us because of our sins, what is our responsibility in our daily lives? Are we free to do as we please and sin with abandon because there is no judgment awaiting us? "God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Rom. 6:2). It is a denial of the position God has put us in to go on living in unrighteousness. It is also an affront to Him and a display of gross ingratitude for all of the blessings He has given us. Thus, believers are frequently exhorted to righteousness, as shown in the following scriptures.
"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:for they shall be filled" (Matt. 5:6).
"Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God" (Rom. 6:12,13).
"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness" (Eph. 6:14).
"But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness . . ." (1 Tim. 6:11).
"Flee also youthful lusts; but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).
"Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:by whose stripes ye were healed" (1 Peter 2:24).
May we all, therefore, be encouraged to live righteously, dealing honestly and fairly with all men, not playing favorites, having no respect of persons (Jas. 2:1-9), rewarding or complimenting those who do well, and rebuking or judging (as in 1 Cor. 5) those who do evil. God our Father and our Lord and Saviour are perfectly righteous in all their ways. Let us be "imitators of God, as beloved children" (Eph. 5:1 JND), and thus seek to be righteous in all our ways.
FRAGMENT
The perfect righteousness of God
Is witnessed in the Saviour’s blood;
"Tis in the cross of Christ we trace
His righteousness, yet wondrous grace.