The words “righteous,” “righteously,” “righteousness” and “righteousnesses” appear in the Bible about six hundred times, their opposites such as “unrighteous” and “unrighteousness” also appearing a number of times.
A term so largely in use indicates its importance in God’s message to us. Just what does it mean?
In the broad sense it means being right in conduct and attitude while in the theological sense it means being accepted in God’s sight and on God’s terms. From the Bible it is obvious that sin is the antithesis of righteousness. Our Lord’s coming into this world, and the Gospel message which has resulted from his redemptive work, centers on the fact of the sinfulness of man and the righteousness of God which is made available to man in and through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, says: “For they, being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God” (Romans 10:3).
Paul was speaking of his own nation, Israel. But he is also speaking to a worldwide situation having to do with men of all races and of all generations. Within the human heart there is an almost universal sense of need. This is expressed in multitudes of ways but the Bible makes it plain that man cannot make himself righteous by anything he does. It is God offering man the righteousness of his Son that is the supreme evidence of his love, his concern and his mercy.
Within the Bible there are repeated incidents of men employing their own devices to make themselves acceptable in God’s sight. Adam and Eve are pictured making aprons of fig leaves to cover their shame. Cain made an offering much more esthetic than the slain lamb of Abel his brother. But God accepted the latter because it was offered in obedience to his command while at the same time he rejected Cain’s offering because it was a rejection of the divine plan. The writer to the Hebrews says: “By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous” (Hebrews 11:4).
Unregenerate man hates to admit that he is a sinner. Isaiah’s affirmation that “we are all as an unclean thing, and our righteousnesses as filthy rags,” is hard to take. We greatly prefer to believe that we are pretty good folks after all and that there lies within us the power to reform and make ourselves righteous. “Bootstrap religion,” as it is aptly called, appeals to the pride of man but it is as effective as our attempts to overcome gravity by the power of our wills or muscles.
The whole concept of righteousness, as revealed in the Bible, is entirely different from that of the world. As J. B. Phillips has translated the proposition so aptly, it is not a matter of achieving but of believing. It is not a matter of doing but of accepting that which has been done for us. In Romans 1:16, 17, we read: “For 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 from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith.”
That divine righteousness is a matter of imputation is also abundantly clear. In II Corinthians we read: “Him (Jesus) who knew no sin, he (God) made to be sin in our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.”
The Chinese character for righteousness is remarkable in its composition. It is made up of the character “wo” which means “me,” the personal pronoun, and the character “yang,” indicating a lamb. When this character representing a sheep or lamb, is placed above the character representing the personal pronoun it immediately becomes “I,” which means righteousness. No one knows how this happened back in the antiquity of Chinese hieroglyphics, but the fact remains that according to that character (and also according to the Scriptures), when God looks down from above and sees the Lamb of God over me I am then righteous in his sight.
Many years ago a prominent young banker in a large northern city was noted for his profligate habits. With it all he was desperately disgusted but he was unable to overcome when the various temptations came. One day, walking down the street he saw a large poster which read:
“The wages of sin is death.” Because of this message he made a herculean effort at self-reformation, gave up his heavy drinking and gambling and renounced many of his former companions of both sexes.
One day he noticed this same poster again but this time he read all of the message. True, it did say that the wages of sin is death, but it did not end there and these words burned into his mind and heart: “But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Only then did he realize that righteousness was not a matter of reformation but the receiving of a gift from God through his Son, Jesus Christ.
It is the ignorance of God’s righteousness which is a barrier to millions around the world and it is the preaching of the Gospel, which proclaims the righteousness of Christ as a free gift from God which turns men from their own ways to God’s ways. Man may say that he can save himself but God tells him that by the works of the law shall no man be justified and points us to Christ, of whom it is affirmed: “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.”
To become righteous in God’s sight requires an act of supreme humility, a willingness to recognize that Christ can do something for us which we cannot do for ourselves. All of this is involved in conversion: awareness of sins, repentance for them, confession of them and turning to Christ for forgiveness, cleansing and trusting in him for salvation.
The Bible tells us: “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The robe of the believer’s righteousness has been woven by Christ. The perfect obedience rendered by the Son of Man is placed to the account of those who have faith in him. The believer’s sole desire is to “be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Let us never forget: Righteousness is not a matter of achieving, but rather of receiving.
L. NELSON BELL
