Glory Be to Our Great God | Day 17 - God is Righteous

Give Thanks to the Pure, Lawful, and Just God

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The Lord our God is but one only living and true God . . . working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will . . . forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him, and withal most just and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty. - The London Baptist Confession of 1689

We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God—eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good. - The Belgic Confession (emphasis added)

O God! Be merciful to me—
I am a sinner through and through!
My only hope of righteousness
Is not in me, but only You.
- Eric Schumacher & David L. Ward, “Not in Me”

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” - Genesis 18:25

Righteous are you, O LORD, and right are your rules. - Psalm 119:137

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. . . . - Romans 3:21-22

For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21

The God of Law and Order

I’m really curious about how crime TV shows came into existence and became popular. When it comes to crime shows, I grew up watching a lot of CSI: Las Vegas, CSI: Miami, and CSI: NY on TV with my older brother and was fascinated by how painstaking the search for evidence was for the sake of justice. Other shows like NCIS and Law and Order explore the themes of bringing criminals to justice and understanding what happened in every case. What makes these crime shows fascinating is that there is a longing for justice to be brought to bear, and all these shows thrill viewers by showing how criminals who have committed various atrocities are finally caught and tried. In some episodes, however, the good guys fail to solve the case, and the criminals succeed in evading the law’s detection. This shows in one of many ways how all humans long for justice. We all long for wrongs to be made right, the innocent defended, and the punishment of wickedness, However, the justice humans can offer is not perfect, and the laws of society are not exhaustive to detect every single wrongdoing and promote every single virtue.

But what about God? Is God a God of justice? What kind of justice does he emanate? Is his righteousness contingent on what we determine as right or wrong or the laws of the day? Is he righteous in word but a lenient pushover that we can overwhelm with excuses? Is he a maniacal tyrant whose laws are not for our good but our detriment? Will God truly make all the wrongs right or will he sometimes fail, like all human justice systems?

Thankfully, God doesn’t leave us to guess around because he has revealed his righteousness through his written word. Thanks be to God that he is righteous, and his righteousness is not like our own which is good news to all.

Righteous Judge Over All

Before defining what it means for God to be righteous, let's take a step back and think about God’s nature. God is a simple, undivided being who is the source of his nature, and thus he is infinite in all of his perfections. But as we have seen in previous posts, God is infinite not only in his metaphysical attributes (ex. omnipresent, omnipotent, immutable, impassible, etc) but also in moral attributes like his holiness and goodness. Therefore, God is an “absolute personality” in that he is a personal being who is not only infinite in all that he is but also personal in that he communicates his perfections to others.¹ Much more will be unpacked on this when we cover his Triune nature, but, for now, God is perfect in not just his metaphysics but also his character and morality. Thus, this means that what God is (ontology) determines the nature of what he does (function).

With this in mind, God’s righteousness, similar to his goodness and holiness, is infinite, pure, and perfect. Stephen Wellum writes that “Justice and righteousness means a ‘strict adherence to law,’ and they carry a forensic sense. But unlike us, God is just and righteous, and thus the standard of justice and righteousness—a law unto himself.”² Because God is all-sufficient in himself (aseity), his is the absolute personal standard for what is righteous. God doesn’t determine his standard of morality on anything outside of him. That’s why throughout the Scriptures, God is praised as the only righteous God who thus rules righteously over all things. King David praises him by stating, “They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness” (Ps. 145:7). Moses declares that the LORD God is “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4). In short, God alone is absolute morality, and all morality is derived from him. As Louis Berhkof writes, “But though there is no law above God, there is certainly a law in the very nature of God, and this is the highest possible standard, by which all other laws are judged.”³

This righteous God is not only righteous in himself but also the creator of all things which means he has given creation law and order. This is why another definition states that it “speaks to God’s character, specifically in regard to the coherence between his revealed will and his actions on behalf of his people.”⁴ Because he is the righteous Creator of all, he is also the righteous judge over all creation who “requires moral conformity of his creatures to his moral demand.”⁵ In Genesis 18:25, Abraham requests God to spare Lot and his family stating that “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?” Paul states in Romans 1:18-20 that God’s righteous wrath is revealed against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men because his righteousness, along with his other attributes are revealed in all creation. In Psalm 19, David similarly states that God’s glory is revealed in the beauty of creation, but later he states the following about God’s law:

The law of the Lord is perfect,
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
- Psalm 19:7-11

God’s perfect righteousness means that all that he says, does, ordains, plans, and designs is not only good but also righteous and just. Because he is law unto himself by nature (ad intra or “within God”), all of his external works are the outworkings of his holiness, goodness, and beauty.⁶ Therefore, Isaiah is right to boldly proclaim, “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of me, are righteousness and strength; to him shall come and be ashamed all who were incensed against him. In the LORD all the offspring of Israel shall be justified and shall glory” (Isa. 45:24). God’s justice has to do with his dealing with how humans adhere to his laws, and this comes in various ways. As shown before, God legislates his justice by the establishment of laws for all to obey. He also distributes or executes justice by which he rewards obedience and punishes disobedience.⁷ All of this shows that the same God who is gracious and abounding in steadfast love is the same God “keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation” (Exod. 34:7).

The Just and the Justifier of the Ungodly

So much more can be written, but you may recall that God’s righteousness is good news to all. However, the good news of God’s righteousness can’t be fully grasped until we recognize the bad news for all humanity in relation to it. Sadly, since Genesis 3, all humanity has been spiritually dead as Paul explains:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. - Ephesians 2:1-3

Sin is anything that goes against God’s character, design, and commands. Whereas God’s righteous character is pure morality, we sinners are totally depraved in utter immorality. Whereas God’s righteous design is a correct order, we sinners have distorted his good design for our lives and societies. Whereas God’s righteous commands are perfectly just laws for our good and joyful obedience, we sinners ruled by the law of sin and death lived in transgressive disobedience against them. Therefore, we sinners deserve God’s wrath, his external expression of his righteousness and justice against sin, which is not only in the form of physical death but also everlasting punishment (see Rom. 5:12-14; 6:23a; Rev. 20:11-15).

Sadly, all humanity is held captive to the demonic lie that we can justify ourselves or somehow fix our sorry state. Yet, all attempts still leave us under the perfectly righteous condemnation of God. Some suppress the truth of God’s moral law by continuing to live all their sinfulness like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable in Luke 15. Others, like the older son in the same parable, think they are entitled to God’s good side because of their obedience. However, as Dane Ortlund writes “we can vent our fleshly passions by breaking all the rules, or we can vent our fleshly passions by keeping all the rules, but both ways of venting the flesh still need resurrection. We can be immoral dead people, or we can be moral dead people. Either way, we're dead.”⁸ Therefore, Paul quoting the Psalms rightfully summarizes humanity’s sorry stating that none are righteous before the holy God and “by work of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin” (Rom. 3:20; see vv. 9-19).

But thanks be to God that this is not the final word for us, because God’s righteousness has been revealed apart from his law that condemns us. Instead, this one is “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:22-24). Here is the scandalous wonder at the heart of the gospel of Jesus Christ: God, the perfectly righteous judge, justifies/declares righteous the ungodly not based on their works but on their faith in his Son, Jesus Christ (Rom. 4:5). Sinner can’t save themselves by their own sin-tainted righteousness “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Tit. 3:3-5).

The good news of God’s righteousness in the gospel is that Jesus lived in perfect obedience according to God’s righteous character, design, and commands, died in our place for all our sins, and rose triumphantly over our sins and death so that those who trust in him and his finished work are clothed in his righteousness and declared righteous before the righteous God. This Jesus is “whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26). In Christ, Christians are justified based on Christ’s perfect obedience and all-sufficient atonement on the cross and therefore have peace with God. Therefore, the Christian life is no longer about us trying to achieve or maintain good standing before God but rather about us living lives of joyful obedience in light of who we are in Christ. In fact, when Christians either die or when Christ returns, we will be as this hymn triumphantly declares:

When he shall come with trumpet sound,
O may I then in him be found:
Dressed in his righteousness alone,
Faultless to stand before the throne.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand:
All other ground is sinking sand;
All other ground is sinking sand.
- Edward Mote, “My Hope is Built on Nothing Less”

Father, thank you so much for being the righteous God. You alone are the ultimate standard for what is right and wrong, and you are just in all that you do. But, Lord, who can stand righteous before you if you numbered all of our sins? Unlike you, I am a sinner who deserves your perfect justice and wrath, and there is nothing in me that can fix this. But thank you for sending your Son at the right time to die for the ungodly so that those who trust in him will be saved. By your Holy Spirit dwelling in me, I can have fellowship with you without any fear because you see me clothed in the perfect righteousness of Christ. By your grace, empower me to live a life that glorifies you knowing that I am free in Christ Jesus. In his name, I pray. Amen.

1. John M. Frame, The Doctrine of God (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2002), 26-7.

2. Stephen J. Wellum, Systematic Theology, Volume 1: From Canon to Concept (Nashville, TN: B&H Academic, 2024), 651-2; Quote from L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 74.

3. L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 74.

4. J. Owen Carroll, “God’s Righteousness,” in Lexham Survey of Theology, ed. Mark Ward et al. (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

5. Wellum, Systematic Theology, 652.

6. Ibid. 652.

7. Ibid., 652-3.

8. Dane C. Ortlund, Gentle and Lowly: The Heart of Christ for Sinners and Sufferers (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2020), [page number].