The
Righteousness of God
By
Pastor Nick Bibile
J.I.
Packer said, “Righteousness and holiness belongs together. They are
essentially the same but viewed from different angles.”
John Gill
said, “Without this attribute, He would not be fit to be the Governor of
the world and the Judge of the whole earth.
Louis Berkoff said, “This attribute is closely related to the
holiness of God.”
Charles
Spurgeon said, “The grand fact is God is righteous and he cannot err.”
The word
righteousness has a courtroom meaning. God is righteous because he
is infinitely holy. Also the righteousness of God has a connection
to the justice of
God and we
will see this later. A person becomes righteous with justice; it is the
Judge or the standard that makes one righteous.
The Hebrew
word for righteous when it comes to God’s nature is ‘sedeq’
sometimes written as tsaddik,
the root word is straight, it means an ethical moral
standard, it is referring to God’s righteousness to
its nature.
Ps 145: 17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
Also
righteousness is the result of keeping the law. The people who break the
law are called unrighteous. However when it comes to God, his
righteousness,
he is not subjected to any law, as there is no law above God. God is
the lawmaker
as his nature is righteous. Our nature is unrighteous. For us to
become righteous
our nature has to be changed. That is why the gospel is a
demonstration of the
righteousness of God.
Romans 1:
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of
God to
salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is
revealed from faith to faith; as it is
written, “The just shall live by faith.”
When it
comes to God his nature is righteous. Because his nature is righteous he
is perfect in all his works.
Ezra 9: 15
O LORD God of
as it is this day. Here we are before You, in our guilt, though no one can stand
before You because of this!”
Deut 32: 4
"The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice.
A God of
faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.
Dan 9; 14
Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it
upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he
has done,
and we have not obeyed his voice.
John 17:
25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I
know you, and these know that you have sent me.
2 Tim 4: 8
Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of
righteousness, which the
Lord, the
righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but
also to all who have loved His appearing.
Rev 16: 5
And I heard the angel of the waters saying: “ You are
righteous, O
Lord,
The One
who is and who was and who is to be, Because You have
judged
these things.
Justice of
God
As I said
before justice and punishment has to do because God is righteous.
God’s
justice can be divided into three.
1. Rectorial justice of God.
2.
Remunerative Justice.
3.
Retributive justice
All of the
above three shows that God is righteous. Now lets take one by one and
make these words simple to understand.
Rectorial justice
The word
‘recto’ is the Latin word for ruler. Rectorial
justice has to do with God’s
rule of this world in justice.
God
manifests as the Ruler of both the good and evil. God is not the author of
evil but is under God’s control. God is the lawgiver.
James 4:
12There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to
destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?
His laws
are righteous laws.
Deut 4:
8And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so
righteous as
all this law that I set before you today?
As the
ruler of the earth one day he will give rewards and punishments, rewards
to the believers and punishment to the unbelievers.
Rom 2:6 He
will render to each one according to his works: 7 to those who by
patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and
immortality, he will give
eternal life; 8 but for those who are self-seeking
and do not obey the truth, but
obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.
Remunerative Justice.
A.W. Pink
said, “Remunerative justice, or a distribution of rewards; the rule of
which is not the merits of men, but his own gracious promise; for he
first, of his
own grace and good will, makes promises, and then he is just and
righteous in
fulfilling them.”
Remunerative
means to reward someone. This is where God will reward both
angels and believers.
Ps 58: 11
So that men will say, “Surely there is a reward for the righteous;
Surely He
is God who judges in the earth.”
Mat 25: 21
His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were
faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over
many things. Enter into the
joy of your lord.’
34 Then
the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My
Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Heb 11: 26
esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in
James 1:12
Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,
for when he has
stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has
promised to those
who love him.
Colossians
3: 23 Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord
and not for
men, 24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance
as your
reward.
Retributive
justice
The word retribute means to pay back. There is a payback time coming
for the
ungodly. This is the expression of God’s wrath. There
will be no God’s wrath in
a sinless world but our fallen world is full of sin and the payback
time is coming
for those who live in disobedience to God.
Romans 12:
19 Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to
the wrath of
God, for
it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.”
God’s
holiness is the cause for his justice. God’s holiness always does what is
right, as he is righteous. If God is unjust then he will be unholy.
Justice is the
perfection of his divine nature. Justice flows from his
nature as he cannot be
bribed or forced. God is perfectly holy and just.
Even in
our earthly court system there is the {Penal code} (Law), a code of laws
concerning crimes and offenses and their punishment.
Penal means pain,
punishment.
God as the
Judge of the earth, he will do what is right. (Gen 18:25)
Romans 1:
18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their
unrighteousness
suppress the truth.
Romans 2:
5 But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up
wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment
will be
revealed.
Romans 2:
16 on that day when, according to my gospel, God judges the secrets
of men by Christ Jesus.
2 Thes 1: 8 in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those
who do not know God
and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
Eph 5; 6
Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things
the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
Heb 9: 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after
that comes
judgment.
Question:
How can God keep his righteousness and then forgive someone like
me a sinner? I would like you to think of this statement this week
and answer
next week.
In
conclusion there is a profound teaching in the Old Testament that God’s
people are to do just and righteous things. In short
the Old Testament has a very
high view of social reform, to help the needy, the fatherless and the
oppressed
from injustice. We lack this teaching from the pulpits today. We are
called to take
care of the poor and the needy. This was one of the crimes of
prideful, plenty of food and prosperous but neglected
the poor.
Ezk 16: 49 Behold, this was the guilt of your sister
had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the
poor and
needy. 50 They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I
removed
them, when I saw it.
Mat 25: 41
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed,
into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I
was hungry
and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I
was a
stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did
not clothe me, sick
and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will
answer, saying,
‘Lord,
when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in
prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he
will answer them, saying,
‘Truly, I
say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not
do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but
the
righteous into eternal life.”
Christ has
imputed his righteousness to the believers. How do we know that we
are truly born again? We will do righteous things.
1 John 2;
29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who
practices righteousness has been
born of him.