In this series, we’re going to take a look at the Biblical concept of Righteousness. We’ll define what it is and how you get it (Biblical “theory”), and then what it means to us and how to apply it.
WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?
Introduction
What comes to mind when you hear the word “righteousness”?
“Righteousness” used to scare me. I always knew it was something I wasn’t. I had scriptures to prove it.
Romans 3:10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…
Isaiah 64:6 All our righteousness is like filthy rags…
1 Corinthians 6:9 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Many blessings were promised to the righteous, but I always felt I was disqualified. The unrighteous always got the wrath:
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.
I had a sense of foreboding. I knew the Father loved me, but I always felt He wasn’t pleased with me; like a disobedient child. If I could ever get to the place where I was righteous, then I could get the blessing instead of the wrath.
Definitions
Webster’s dictionary definition of righteousness: acting in a just, upright manner, virtuous. Morally right or justifiable.
The traditional definition of righteousness is that the righteous did not sin. He acted like God. If you sinned, you were un-righteous.
This is an Old Testament definition of righteousness! It was by obedience to the Mosaic Law that the Old Testament saints were declared righteous. Christians have carried this idea into the New Testament, but substituted a different set of rules and regulations. But we couldn’t obey this law any more than the Old Testament saints could obey the law of Moses.
Righteousness is a description of relationship, not a standard of behavior.
(Rom 5:1 AMP) Therefore, since we are justified – acquitted, declared righteous and given a right standing with God, through faith, let us grasp the fact that we have the peace of reconciliation to hold and to enjoy…
Justified – δικάιοω dikaiŏō (dik-eye-oh) – to be made righteous
Rightousness – δικαιωσύνη dikaiōsúne (dik-eye-oh-soo-nay)
Ask many Christians today if they are righteous, and they will say no. I remember many years ago when I was first learning these things (with a lot of zeal but lacking wisdom), I was introducing a song I was doing for the offering and asked the congregation, “How many would say you were righteous?” (no hands). “How many are born again?” (hands up everywhere). “Then why didn’t you raise your hands the first time?”
I talked to the associate pastor afterwards and he said, “You know, when you asked that question I thought, ‘Well in myself I am not righteous but in Jesus I am.’ I didn’t know the point you were going to make so I played it safe and didn’t raise my hand.”
But what about all the “there is none that are righteous, no not one” scriptures? All we have to do to answer that is look at the entire context of the verse.
Romans 3:9-24 What then? Are we better than they? Not at all. For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;
11 There is none who understands;There is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside;They have together become unprofitable;There is none who does good, no, not one.”
13 “Their throat is an open tomb;With their tongues they have practiced deceit”;”The poison of asps is under their lips”;
14 “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.”
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways;
17 And the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
22 even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
Verses 10-18 are quotations from various parts of the Old Testament.
Vs. 19 says that the Law speaks to those under the Law (the Jews), and vs. 20 that by the works of the Law – following standards and rules of conduct – no man will be justified (declared righteous).
Vs. 21 says there is a new righteousness that comes apart from and distinct from that which comes from obeying rules of behavior, and calls it the “righteousness of God”.
Vs. 22 this new righteousness of God is available to all who have faith in Jesus Christ (i.e., not just to the Jews to whom the Law was given).
Vs. 23 just as all people have sinned and fallen short of God’s standards (and that is without distinction between Jew and Gentile)
Vs. 24 so all are freely justified – declared righteous – by grace as part of the redemption made possible by Christ Jesus.
It amazes me how people camp out on vs. 10-18 and vs. 23, when the whole point of the passage is that faith in Jesus Christ brings you out of those categories. They stick themselves back under the law – it may not be the Law of Moses, but it is a law none the less.
Righteousness is a free gift obtained by faith, and it cannot be obtained by following rules of correct behavior.
How to Obtain Righteousness
Romans 5:17-19 For if by the one man’s offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.)
18 Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Notice that it is not through our obedience that we earn righteousness, but we are made righteous through the obedience of Jesus Christ.
Phillipians 3:9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
Romans 4:4-8 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin.”
If you work for something, then what you work for is owed you like wages. So under the Old Testament, they had to earn their righteousness; and there was a certain level that they could obtain by obeying the Law. But it could never measure up to God’s holy standard, and even built into the Law was the knowledge that no one could obey it entirely – that is the whole reason for the sacrificial system to cover sins. And David speaks of the blessing a person has where God forgives and does not hold sins against him. He was a recipient of this – remember the incident with Bathsheba.
Romans 3 was talking about our own “earned” righteousness that comes from obeying God’s law and standards of conduct – i.e., our works. And under that measurement, nobody is good enough, we all fall short, nobody can gain righteousness on their own merit.
We must differentiate between our own “earned” righteousness, and the righteousness gained through faith.
So if we have no righteousness of our own, whose do we have?
(1 Cor 1:30) But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
Why, Christ Jesus’, of course.
How do we become Righteous?
When we exercise faith to be born again, and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we receive the gift of righteousness. There is an exchange that takes place.
2 Corinthians 5:21 For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This is the verse that opened my eyes to the revelation of righteousness. Just as Jesus had no sin, we had no righteousness. But on the cross, He took on our sin – notice it doesn’t just say He bore our sins like a burden, but He became our sin (this is a whole subject in and of itself that we don’t have time to go into here) – even though He had never committed a transgression in His life. In a similar manner, when we are born again, we become His righteousness – the righteousness of God – even though we did not do the works of righteousness. It was a great exchange (and we got the better part of the deal!)
Righteousness is reckoned to our account when we believe God.
Romans 4:22-24 And therefore “it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
23 Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him,
24 but also for us. It shall be imputed to us who believe in Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
This is speaking of Abraham, who believed God, and that faith was credited to his account as righteousness (Rom 4:3). Our faith in Jesus Christ results in an even stronger statement – that we become the righteousness of God in Christ.
Romans 9:30-33 What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith;
31 but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone.
33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense,And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.”
Romans 10:1-10 1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, “The man who does those things shall live by them.”
6 But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ “ (that is, to bring Christ down from above)
7 or, ” ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ “ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach):
9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
This passage contrasts the Israelites, who were seeking to be righteous by the works of the Law but ultimately failed, with the Gentiles who were not seeking righteousness but gained it when they believed in Christ. The Jews failed because they relied on their own righteousness. Remember this is like “filthy rags” in God’s eyes (or maybe His nose; having raised five boys, I always equate “filthy rags” with “dirty diapers” Phew!). The Gentiles succeeded because they relied on the righteousness of God in Christ.
The method by which they obtained is summed up in vs. 9 and 10 – by believing in their heart that Jesus was raised from the dead, and confessing Him as Lord.
Why do you think God went to righteousness by faith instead of by works?
Romans 11:32 For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all.
I look at sin like spiritual AIDS. Nowadays people don’t have to die if they are HIV positive, there are medicines and treatments to keep AIDS under control and live a relatively normal life. But whether a person exhibits all the symptoms of full blown AIDS, or whether they don’t, they both have that HIV virus inside of them. And in the same way, some people are good people and don’t exhibit many of the “symptoms” of committing transgressions, but the sin disease is still there, and it separates them from God.
God has lumped all people – from the good, moral person to the most vile of sinners – into one bucket. And He does this in order to be able to offer the same cure for all – Jesus Christ. If it was by a person’s works or behavior, that would rule some people out. There are many, who because of circumstances or the way that they were brought up, just have too many strikes against them to live a moral life to “earn” their way into God’s favor. Therefore God removed behavior from the equation and made it a question of faith.
Some basically good people actually get mad that God would accept a real “sinner” before He would accept them. My mother was like that, but she finally accepted Jesus as her Lord before she died.
