Geoffrey R. Kirkland
Pastor, Christ Fellowship Bible Church
God is righteous and upright (Deuteronomy 32.4). The RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD is an essential quality of God flowing out of His perfect holiness whereby He is morally perfect and always acting in perfect harmony with His character. He cannot deny Himself or go against His own character. God is the standard of what is right and He shall always uphold what is right and cannot deny His own perfect standard.
We may say that the righteousness of God is the glorious expression of His perfect holiness. What makes God to be God and what sets God apart as the glorious Almighty shows itself in His righteousness. Because God is infinitely pure and holy, He must be opposed to all sin (Romans 3.25). This character quality of God is so beautiful that the psalmist extols: “the Lord is righteous and He loves righteousness” (Psalm 11.7). He is righteous in all His ways (Psalm 145.17). Daniel knew that the Lord is righteous with respect to all His deeds (Daniel 9.14). That means that every single thing God does in all of human history is good and right.
But here at this glorious point of God’s character is an insurmountable problem for unrighteous humanity. We by nature are sinners and unholy and impure. God’s righteousness is measured by His own perfect character and all mankind falls short (Romans 3.10). And God’s righteousness means that He will and must act in accordance with His own will, His own moral perfections, and His own truthful faithfulness. His character and conduct is always right and must do what is right. The Scripture says: “You are righteous and your judgments are right (Psalm 119.137). Because He is righteous and must uphold His own perfect, inflexible, glorious moral standard, all sinners are in a desperate condition because we fall short of His perfect glory (Romans 3.23).
God says that He is the righteous God and Savior (Isaiah 45.21). This is unspeakably good news for helpless lawbreakers like us. Through faith alone in Jesus Christ and in His gospel, the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith (Romans 1.17). That means that through faith in Jesus Christ, God’s only provision for sinners to be forgiven, God imputes or reckons the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ to that sinner’s account (2 Corinthians 5.21). Paul exclaims that faith is credited as righteousness (Romans 4.5). What wonderful news! We can be made right with the Righteous God all by His doing (1 Corinthians 1.30).
Most certainly and fearfully, God will return to judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 96.10). In fact, God will judge the world through Jesus Christ, His appointed Judge (Acts 17.30). And what a hopeless condition for every unbelieving sinner to be measured by God’s perfect character and standard. All sinners fall infinitely short with no hope of salvation within himself. God most marvelously wraps His people with a ‘robe of righteousness’ (Isaiah 61.10). This saving righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ — from God on the basis of faith (Philippians 3.9). Oh, what manifold reasons to rejoice happily!
True believers who are born of God will practice righteousness (1 John 2.29) because the righteous position of salvation granted through faith in Jesus Christ will inevitably produce a righteous conduct and practice as the believers grows in Christlikeness (1 John 3.7). Ponder God’s character! Consider His righteousness! Meditate on His nature! And stand in awe of His righteousness!
*This is part of the ongoing blog-series on the ATTRIBUTES OF GOD. Click here for more.
