Justice and Righteousness
In this section we again look at a simple yet often mistaken comparison between mans justification and Gods. Right knowledge can bring joy and peace, we being secure in the knowledge of who is in charge.
Have a look at these questions below and see if you can answer them:
1. What is the difference between faith and belief?
2. What does it mean when we say 'God is just', what is the justice of God?
3 Give examples from scripture, which speak of how God expected His people to exercise justice in inter-personal relationships.
Abel
By faith Abel offered God a better sacrifice than Cain did. By faith he was commended as a righteous man, when God spoke well of his offerings. And by faith he still speaks, even though he is dead. Hebrews 11:4
We can have faith in God because He is perfect in all ways.
The following scripture is from Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means, 'repetition of the law" and the book is in the form of a covenant document. God is the initiator and provider of covenant; man is the recipient.
The verse we quote is in a section speaking of the renewing of covenant blessings if people follow God's ways. This does not mean they earned blessing; it simply brings them into a position whereby they can receive what is already there. If someone calls me into eat a meal my obedience enables me to benefit from what has already been provided for me. That is the point we are getting at!
He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his way are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he. Deuteronomy 32:4
As the following quote clearly reveals, scripture is all about God.
The stories are about God and the ways of God with the people of God; they show us how God characteristically relates to people like us.
They encourage and challenge us not by giving us a clearer picture of what we should or should not be but by giving us a clearer picture of who God is. The stories in Genesis, for instance, focus more on the way God deals with Abraham and Sarah than on the way Abraham and Sarah relate to God.
Their emphasis is on God's purpose, God's promise, God's initiative, God's blessing, and God's covenant undertaking. They offer mirrors for identity more than models for morality.'
Prof J. Goldingay, in Models For Interpretation of Scripture, page 58
God has drawn close so that we can find Him; He reaches out so that we can know Him (ultimately seen in Jesus).
I may be someone who believes in God, but am I really exercising faith?
Do I really apply what I know by resting in and live out what I know to be true?
Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. Deuteronomy 30:11-14
In the book 'Faith and Modernity' we find the following comment concerning Augustine's famous slogan, 'I believe in order that I may know'. It helps us see that faith is not a feeling or an alternative to knowledge. It is very important to know the truth.
Here faith is understood not as an alternative to knowledge but as the pathway to knowledge. We do not come to know anything except by believing something. We have to begin by believing the evidence of our senses, the veracity of our teachers and the validity of the traditions into which we are seeking apprenticeship, we have to begin with an openness to a reality greater than ourselves in relation to which we are not judges but pupils.
Faith and Modernity, ed P. Sampson, V. Sameul and C. Sugden, p 61
Justice - Confronting Wrong-Doing
In Deuteronomy 32:4 we read that God does no wrong; He is upright and just.
In its widest sense justice means 'to put things right", 'to intervene in a situation that is wrong" - like breaking up a fight, not allowing someone to intimidate others, and so forth. Justice is about confronting wrong-doing.
God 'hears' the cry of Abel's blood (Genesis 4:10) and deals with the crime and brings about punishment. God sees and 'comes down' when necessary (Genesis 6:5 -wickedness; Genesis 11:5 Babel).
In another place in Genesis we see judgment upon Sodom and Gomorrah. The emphasis of the passage is on God bringing judgement to bear on the way the city treated its resident foreigners. Note Genesis 19:3 and the following.
"Get out of our way," they replied. And they said, "This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We'll treat you worse than them." They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door. Genesis 19:9
See also Judges 19!
God is always against the evil ways a man may treats his fellow man. God is a God of justice and righteousness
In Exodus 3:7 we see that God is concerned about the suffering of his people. He is the one who preserves orderly relationships between people.
Unlike God, Pharaoh failed to take inter-personal relationships seriously or recognise that all are made in the image of God. He failed, as do so many, to hear the cry of the weak and downtrodden. He showed no justice at all.
The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey - the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Exodus 3:7-8.
In the case of the Exodus God did not come down in person, but sends a representative - Moses to implement His sentence. God hates injustice!
Justice - More Than Confronting Wrongdoing
We have already mentioned that justice is about confronting wrongdoing, but it is also about much more than just this.
God's justice is also about God being in the business of putting right broken relationships. He alone understands what relationships are really all about. He alone really knows what is right and just in a given situation.
Therefore in scripture we see that God's justice is also about restoring and repairing communities, protecting and instructing, teaching and encouraging.
God's justice is about a Father's love being brought to bear on a crippled and rebellious world. Church should reflect the Father's heart in all these areas.
The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 33:5
How can we say that the earth is full of God's unfailing love when there is so much trouble init? Because the very fact that this world is continuing right now is because of God's love.
Because of who God is we are a community of believers (1 Peter 2:5 - living stones), built on the mercy revealed and given by another.
We continuously need to remind ourselves that God is faithful and just because, in looking through the Bible, we see that there is a constant dispute between men about the identity and character of God. We so easily chose to forget what God is like because it is more convenient to us than actually allowing God to face us with issues at times.
The Bible is a dispute about the identity and character of the true God. Israel's life is initiated and sustained by Yahweh, the giver of life. But Israel is always tempted and seduced by alternative gods and loyalties (Hos 2:8). The polemical question is always 'to whom will you compare me? Who is like Yahweh?' (Ex 15:11; Is 40:18). The answer of course is that there is no God like Yahweh who is the God who intervenes powerfully on behalf of the poor and the marginal in the face of oppressive power. This God is not known in any speculative or theoretical way but always through acts of social intervention and inversion that create possibilities of human life in contexts where the human spirit has been crushed (see Is 57:15)
Prof W. Brueggemann, A Social Reading of the OT p 54-55
There is no one like God; therefore we must allow Him to speak for Himself.
Unlike any other so-called gods in the ANE He is the one who intervenes powerfully on behalf of the poor, marginalised and oppressed. For example:
Do not deprive the alien or the fatherless of justice, or take the cloak of the widow as a pledge. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you from there. That is why I command you to do this. Deuteronomy 24:17-18
The God of justice must be allowed to speak for Himself
Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created man on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by miraculous signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? You were shown these things so that you might know that the LORD is God; besides him there is no other. Deuteronomy 4:32-35
God's justice is the reason for His compassion. This may appear strange to us simply because we usually only think of justice in terms of punishment and judgement.
Please think about this. God knows what this world should be like - he feels for us He is compassionate because He is fair and just. For example:-
Yet the LORD longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the LORD is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him! Isaiah 30:18
God's justice means that He hears the cry of the weak, the oppressed, the widow and the orphan and cares about them and takes action on their behalf in order to put things right.
For example, God confronts wrong-doing: Nathan confronts David on behalf of Uriah, and Elijah confronts Ahab on behalf of Naboth - God's prophets knew what was right and just and sought to bring this to bear on the community in the power of God's Spirit.
The vineyard of the LORD Almighty is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the garden of his delight. And he looked for justice, but saw bloodshed; for righteousness, but heard cries of distress. Isaiah 5:7
The Christian worldview avoids the fatal traps of both individualism and collectivism. It declares from the outset that each of us is unique and in the image of God, but that the God in whose image we are made is communal. That is, at our core, we are social beings. We were made for God; we were made for each other.
Dr James Sire in Discipleship of the Mind, p64
In the O.T. we see that he hears the cry of Hagar - (Gen 16:13-14) a slave girl, a foreigner, an abused person. Amazingly, Hagar is the first person in the Bible to, in a sense, give a name to God: 'The God Who Sees Me.
We are called to look out for, and look after those who are struggling and in difficulty because this is one way in which God's community exercise His justice.
Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly; defend the rights of the poor and needy. Proverbs 31:8-9
Note Jesus' care and concern for people: The widow of Nain's son, the Centurion's servant, and Jairus' daughter for example. Look at how Jesus spoke to the Pharisees, or His concern for Jerusalem, or outcast lepers. Jesus brought God's rule and reign to bear on the lives of so many who were lost and burdened by religion.
This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest," declares the LORD. "For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more. Jeremiah 31:33-34
Forgiveness and a wiping away of the past is only possible through Jesus Christ. He is the righteous One who exercises God's justice.
How is God's Justice Exercised in Community Life?
He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8
A community that knows the justice of God is one that is attentive to the needs of all brothers and sisters, recognising that we are all recipients of His great blessing.
A community that exercises the justice of God is a community that minimises the importance of all our own thinking and our professional skills and achievements and rests in the wisdom, knowledge and understanding of the Lord.
For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not? 1 Cor 4:7
This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. Jeremiah 9:23-24.
The knowledge and justice of God in a Christian community is seen in that the community is one that practices forgiveness - we do not hold old grudges, old hurts and so forth. We yield in all things to God. Why - because we are commanded to - and because we look to the cross for our forgiveness.
A community that exercises the justice of God is one that is always ready to show mercy, compassion and righteousness - this characterises all our relationships.
A community that exercises the justice of God is one that lives by the Spirit. God is the One who completes what He starts:
being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil 1:6
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. Eph 3:16-17
Power - 'dunamis' from which our English word 'dynamite' comes from. The word conjures up a picture of power in action, or the transference of power from one body to another. The word is also used in Luke 8:46
But Jesus said, "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." Luke 8:46
It is the power of His Spirit working in and through us that enables us to become the community of believers that reflect the love of Christ without compromise to holiness or justice.
William Booth once wrote, 'For strength to ever do the right, for grace to conquer in the fight, for power to walk the world in white, send the fire.
God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. Romans 5:5
A Healthy Community
It is apparent in the Bible that God wants people to live with a certain mindset in order to know full mental and spiritual health. They must learn to live life with a claim on and a sense of God's forgiveness, even in the face of continued faults and failures. They must live with the confidence that God has a plan for their happiness and well being in this life and that he provides a source of power to meet every challenge. Furthermore they must retain the confidence that even when they fail to appropriate that power God still maintains control.
Dr P. Cosgrove in Mental Health - a Christian Approach p 40
The Lord Loves Righteousness
1. What is righteousness? How did you reach your answer?
2. If our righteousness is as filthy rags, and all fall short of the glory of God, then how could Abel be regarded as a righteous man according to Hebrews 11?
The LORD loves righteousness and justice the earth is full of his unfailing love. Psalm 33:5
In the context of God's word righteousness is not conformity to any standard that man might choose to adhere to. This is because our ideas concerning what is right and wrong are often incorrect, and constantly changing. For example we now live in a society where homosexuality is regarded as a relatively normal practice. This was not the case forty years ago, but, apparently, we are now 'enlightened'.
Long before any commands or judgments were given to man, God already had a perfect knowledge of what was right and wrong. Therefore righteousness proceeds from His nature and character. He is our reference point.
Because of this faith involves accepting that God is right when He says that we are sinners and that salvation can only be found in Him.
Faith also involves accepting that God is right when He says that we cannot live the new life He has called us to in our own strength.
My judgment is not the last word. I have to be open to things, which I have not yet understood. In this sense authority has to be external; it refers to a reality beyond myself. But, if it is to be authoritative for me, I must come to the point of recognising its authority. It has to be internalised.) So the proper human relation to the reality with which we have to do is that of a learner, an apprentice.
Faith and Modernity (ed: Prof Oz Guiness) page 65
In a practical sense righteousness speaks of that which is straight; of something, which is fixed, and fully what it should be. Therefore it can mean a norm -that by which other things are measured, a standard. For example:
You must have accurate and honest weights and measures, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. For the LORD your God detests anyone who does these things, anyone who deals dishonestly. Deuteronomy 25:15-16
He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:3
When applied to human actions and relationships righteousness speaks of conformity - conformity to the right way of living. Think of the real impact this can have upon a fellowship of believers.
From this we see that 'paths of righteousness' is not simply about adherence to set laws; it is about the application of law to relationships.
Understanding that God is the source of all righteousness helps us to see that scripture is about how we become part of God's story, and not about our skills, abilities ad good works making us right with God.
they focus on God's activity, on God's grace, on God's achievement of an aim or aims, rather than on human activity, humanity's reaching out to God, or humanity's activity in the cause of God ... the focus of the gospel story lies on what God has done for us.When we take stories as examples of what we should do or be, we risk turning the faith into something we do rather than something God has done.
Prof J. Goldingay in Models For Interpretation of Scripture, pages 56-57
Abel was regarded as a righteous man because He came to God with that which only God could provide (a life), recognising that God was the giver and man the receiver. All who trust in their own works have a righteousness that is imperfect and therefore as 'filthy rags'.
In previous sessions we have touched on the Ten Commandments which scripture writes in the indicative form. This means that the commandments were never about what man had to do to deserve or earn God's love and become His child. Instead they are about the attitude of heart that is a response in love to what God has already done.
In understanding and looking at the commandments we see the attitude of a righteous person.
First Commandment: God brought the Israelites into a place of freedom (with Him); and in their ongoing relationship they were being brought home to their loving Father. The true response to such loving-kindness was to be evidenced in a desire to know God and see what He was really like. The fruit of this was to be a genuine seeking of His ways within community relationships. There were to be no other gods (often used in pagan world to manipulate others) before Him. Freedom is found in God alone (note Exodus 4:23".and let my son go, so that he may worship me.
Second and Third Commandments: God is not like an idol - an idol is that which is often used to justify ones own actions and used to monopolise such things as land and wealth (the gods are blessing me) at the expense of other people. God is not like an idol, which speaks of surplus value in that time and effort and expenditure have gone into making it. God is living and to serve anything else is to insult God.it is, in a pale sense, like a child who spends all his time with his computer rather than with his parents.
Fourth Commandment: God's people had been brought out of a domineering culture where they were regarded as being of less value that the Egyptians, and, in the later years, exploited through slavery. Note Communism keeping people working. Note Nebuchadnezzar and the methodology of both Babylonians and Assyrians. God's people were aware that freedom comes from Him alone and would acknowledge His nature and character and goodness etc by allowing all people (including manservant, maidservant and alien) and animals to rest on the Sabbath. The development of the Sabbath year and year of Jubilee (all ultimately fulfilled in Christ) builds on this: God had freed His people from forced labour.
Fifth Commandment: God had freed His people from the oppressive violence and tyranny of the Pharaoh's and the way this had impacted family life (e.g. death of sons). Family life needed to be protected and the head of the family was responsible to teach the ways of the Lord to the rest of his family and from the inner bondage of sin (adultery - the destroyer of relationships - 7th commandment).
Remaining Commandments: God's people were to have the utmost respect for all life in their society. They were not to steal or covet because all things belong to the Lord. Neither were they to slander those around them or give false testimony in court because all people were precious unto the Lord. (Again note Jeremiah 9:23-24).
More information can be obtained on the above area of our studies from, 'Old Testament Ethics For the People of God', by Dr Wright.
Let us remember that Israel's response to God's commandments was in no way meritorious. Instead it was to be the true response of love - the response of a people who already know something of the grace and forgiveness of God.
(The Law at Sinai).was given in love by a God who wanted his people to know what he required in their relationship. Offerings were an accepted way to approach God, but it was clear that proper attitude, not the offering itself, was the key to pleasing God.
Prof A.J. Hoerth in Archaeology and the Old Testament, page 177
On many occasions Jesus caused a stir amongst the Pharisees because He healed people on the Sabbath. For example he healed a woman crippled for eighteen years (Luke 13:12), a man at the pool of Bethesda (John 5:8), and a person with the shrivelled hand (Mat 12:13) to mention but a few.
The Pharisees got annoyed with all this, failing to realise that rules were given to help nurture and develop relationships, not destroy them through legalistic interpretation. The Sabbath had been made for man. (Mark 2:27), and the one who had fashioned a world and instigated the Sabbath for man's blessing was Lord of the Sabbath (Mark 2:28).
On one occasion some Pharisees who'd been checking out Jesus took issue with Him for allowing His disciples to eat grain on the Sabbath as they walked through a field. Jesus points out the inconsistency of their thinking in that when David was hungry and in need, he ate consecrated bread reserved for the priests. Elsewhere he points out that if a baby needed circumcising on the Sabbath they went ahead and did it (John 7:23), and if a sheep fell into a pit on the Sabbath they would lift it out (Matthew 12:11).
(Man) is allowed to rule over the world for six days with God's will. On the seventh day, however, he is forbidden by Divine behest to fashion anything for his purpose. In this way he acknowledges that he has no rights of ownership or authority over the world.
Therefore even the smallest work done on the Sabbath is a denial of the fact that God is the Creator and Master of the world. It is an arrogant setting-up of man as his own master.
Dr D. Ehrenfeld quoting Raphael Hirsh in 'The Arrogance of Humanism' p 264
In all of this Jesus is not questioning biblical authority, but showing them a different way to understand and apply it. After all it had been given to nurture and develop relationship. Jesus did not set aside the law, but what it had become in the hands of man.
These are the laws you are to set before them. Exodus 21:1
1. What are the benefits of obedience to God's law if our obedience to His law does not save us?
2. What part does repentance play in the life of the righteous?
The laws spoken of in Exodus 21 (which goes on to speak of interpersonal relationship ) were called 'mishpatim' the root of which is 'saphet' which carries the meaning 'judging/saving.' 'Mispat' is a total ethical demand requiring a total commitment to truth.
Mispat is not simple obedience but a quality of genuineness and authenticity in all human relationships. Throughout the history of the covenant, the priests were charged with teaching mispat.
A Light Unto My Path - O.T. Studies in Honour of J.M. Myers p81 ed H.Bream, R. Heim, C. Moore
God's law is brought to bear upon everyday life with the purpose of correctly discerning how life should be lived. Hence the primary sense in verse 1 is to exercise the processes of government by acting like the Lord did in His dealings with His people.
These rules (were) intended to secure the freedom given and to help establish an alternative social structure to the dependency relationships and the imperial structures of the ruling class and slave labour as in Egypt.
Dr U. Duchrow & Dr G. Liedke in Shalom, Biblical Perspectives on Creation, Justice and Peace, Page 79.
Believing communities are called to reflect the love of God in the freedom that comes in a God-centred community. However, to some people, the 'O.T. God' sees rather harsh. This is often because people take what is being said out of context. For example:-
But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise. Exodus 21:23-25
The above verse is often taken in that God in the Old Testament is harsh and legalistic whist God in the New Testament is kind and loving. But the context shows that the law is about restraint rather than simply vengeance.
When in a world of power, retributive justice must operate, the law insists that the punishment must not be excessive, but must correspond to the severity of the infraction.
Prof H. Hummel in 'The Word Becoming Flesh', p 75
The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The ordinances of the LORD are sure and altogether righteous. They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. By them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. Psalm 19:7-11
The words of the Psalm 19 show the heart of a man who is captivated by the wonder of God's law and really excited about it. This would not have been the case if the law were simply a heavy burden under which one worked in order to earn salvation. Think about it!
To put it simply, this man knew that the law was a rule of life and not a means of justification.
When Israel really thought about it they could see that the law was a gift of God expressing His love for His people and His desire for their utmost good as they lived in community with one another.
A righteous person was 'one who conforms, who is civilised, who observes custom," one who fulfils personal obligations, or one who observes legal norms. Thus righteousness entailed a set disposition leading to obedience to the civil law and fulfilment of one's civil duty.
Dr S. Grenz, in 'Theology of Community, p 567
Righteousness
Let the assembled peoples gather around you. Rule over them from on high; let the LORD judge the peoples. Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, according to my integrity, O Most High. O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure. Psalm 7:7-9
In the above David asks God to judge him according to his own righteousness, yet how can David have any righteousness since 'all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" and when people like Isaiah speak of all righteous acts as filthy rags?
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. No one calls on your name or strives to lay hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us and made us waste away because of our sins. Isaiah 64:6-7
Since good works do not put us right with God (Eph 2:9, Titus 3:5) we need to understand what the righteousness that David speaks of is all about because it is not a righteousness unto salvation
To the Jewish mind that was open to the Lord righteousness did not speak of sinless perfection.
To the Jew righteousness is primarily an attitude to God's law. It speaks of a person who willingly and lovingly seeks to serve God in response to God's great acts of love and absolute right to rule over man.
If their righteousness (or ours) were meritorious there would have been no need for the sacrificial system in the OT or of a Saviour.
Realising not only our lack of righteousness, but also our inability to attain it, he in his kindness determined to provide a righteousness for us. It was his grace that led him to provide it; he was under no obligation whatsoever to do it. In his grace he had regard for our guilt, and in his mercy to our misery.
Prof H. Thiessen in Lectures in Systematic Theology, p 278
Israel's claim to righteousness was not a claim to sinlessness.
Israel's righteousness in accordance to the law was simply a right attitude towards it compared with the opposition of those who rebelled against God and built their own belief systems and along with them 'codes' concerning righteous behaviour.
In Hebrew the word sedekah, 'justice' or 'righteousness', is a relational concept. It does not mean good conduct in abstract terms but 'conduct conducive to fellowship' This means that in the Bible we should not associate the words 'judging', 'justice', 'righteousness' with the Greek and Roman traditions, i.e. with either judicial institutions or abstract virtues of individuals but rather with God's community-building and protecting power.
Dr U. Duchrow and Dr G. Liedke in Shalom, Biblical Perspectives on Creation, Justice and Peace p 78
Repentance will always play a great part in the life of a righteous person, because that person sees that he or she cannot fulfil the law in their own strength.
They will also see that despite this they are accepted by God - and know that this is through the blood - a sign of God's love, grace, mercy, righteousness and justice.
And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. Deuteronomy 6:25
The righteousness spoken of above is relational within the community of God - a living in loving response to all that He has said and done.
Major problems arose in Israel when people took on a legalistic understanding of righteousness and assumed that their righteousness was meritorious or that being an Israelite automatically meant they were saved. However..
No matter what man does in his strength, or with his resources, one simple fact remains; he is still a sinner before God. Our righteousness does not give us any rights concerning making claims on God.
Let us remember that we are concerned with a satisfaction for sin, and not with a compensation for the remission of the penalties of sin. Let us remember, further that sin, by rebelling against the authority of God, by violating the family bond, by alienating the life from God, and thus, so far as it lies with the sinner, destroying it, has called for the wrath of God which guards righteousness in the interests of love and life.
Prof Lidgett The Spiritual Principle of the Atonement p 270
So what are the benefits of obedience if obedience to the law cannot save?
Obedience does not force God's hand in any way - as if he owes us wages. Obedience enables man to partake of that which has already been graciously provided - God's help.
The Righteousness of God.
The righteousness of God speaks of His salvation-creating activity. God entered covenant with man and stands by the decrees He has made, even though man broke covenant. He offers man a righteousness that is totally of God and meets the requirements of the law:
The covenant is embodied in the act of liberating slaves. Violation of covenant consists in reclaiming slaves and undoing liberation. This leads to war declared by Yahweh against the covenant violators.
Prof Walter Brueggemann A Social Reading of the Old Testament p 64
God has freely chosen to enter into Covenant with the weaker partner, knowing that we cannot fulfil covenant.
We do not enter covenant by our works, effort or worth but through accepting the offer of God given completely out of his love. In really knowing His love for us we begin to grow in all that He has done.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:21-25
Legalistic Righteousness Blinds Man to the Grace of God.
In the time of Jesus we see many Jews believing that righteousness was meritorious. In doing so they saw themselves as superior to the Gentiles, thus revealing an inadequate view of sin and self.
For many Jews sin was simply a deficiency which man had the power to remedy. They relied on outward ritual and were not able to deal with the real issues of the heart. Outwardly the righteousness of the Pharisees and Sadducees may have been very commendable, yet God's righteousness is totally unattainable by human effort.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:20
Paul says that 'as for legalistic righteousness' he was faultless (Phil 3:6)
as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless.'), yet the reality was that, when living like this Paul was against God albeit unknowingly.
The true righteousness of the law is the attitude of heart whereby we respond in love to what God has said, recognising that we can only succeed in and through what God has done.
Jesus is Israel, true man, but also radically distinct from Israel, true God.
Dr H. Hummel, The Word Became Flesh, p 224
As we have been seeing, our righteousness is very important when it comes to human relations. When we seek to live the right way the sinful past is dealt with (thinking and actions), families prosper and friendships deepen as we grow in His provision of amazing grace
Our unrighteousness formerly bared the way to community with God. The Spirit, however, strips off our 'filthy rags' of sin and replaces then with the 'coat' of Christ's righteousness. Clothed in the righteousness of the eternal son, we now enjoy fellowship - community - with the Father.
Dr S. Grenz in 'Created For Community' p192
My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defence - Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:1-2
In believing in Jesus I am pronounced and treated as righteous. How is this possible? Let us note the words of Paul
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ - the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. Philippians 3:9-10
God did not save us because of our character or good works, but despite our character and good works, which, in the eyes of a perfect holy God warrant nothing but condemnation.
In and of ourselves we are not righteous, yet in being declared righteous (speaking of my position) it is as if I have fulfilled God's law of love every moment of every day. His righteousness has been credited to my account.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor 5:21
There is nothing that I can offer God that will ever be perfect. My very best is still very inadequate. Yet my imperfect ways are accepted through His perfect ways because in seeking to do what is right (trusting fully in Him, and living out that trust in the way I reach others)) I am becoming what I already am in position - righteous.
This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:22-25
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. 1 John 3:7
As a community of believers we are called to live out our righteousness - we are to live as Jesus did in a world that was sinful, restless and hurting. We are to reach out to each other in the power of His Spirit, which can only be done insofar as we continue to yield our lives to our Father day by day.
We should seek to live the right way before his heavenly Father. His actions were not meritorious yet revealed a heart that trusted in the provisions of God above all else. Trusting God does not mean that life will be easy, but it is life.
Now revise the questions at the beginning of this course and review your answers. What does this tell you about Gods continued love?