Though it is rarely used in everyday speech, righteousness is a well-known biblical term. Let’s start at the beginning of the word, “right,” to define it. This word has a good meaning and is widely used in daily speech. We presume that a person who is just and acts morally will be truthful, virtuous, and lead a decent life.
Who decides what or who is right?
In every country throughout the world there are rules and laws that have to be obeyed in order that every one may live together in harmony. If someone disobeys these rules and laws, it is expected that the person who has done wrong will be arrested, taken to court and the judge, magistrate or the country’s leaders who will decide on an appropriate punishment, based on that country’s standard. So severe crimes will be punished with severe penalties and less severe crimes with less severe penalties, this is considered the right thing to do.
How do people react when they feel that a judge has been too lenient on a criminal? There is public outcry – people will demonstrate, sign petitions and make their views known. Crimes must be punished in order for justice to be satisfied. It is the same with God. He cannot ignore sin or the breaking of his law, otherwise there is no point in making them.
What does it mean that God is righteous?
Every nation’s citizens are bound by the laws of the nation in which they currently reside. Regarding God, He has the right, privilege, and honor to establish the laws and regulations that govern the world because He created it and everything in it.
The Bible contains a written version of these regulations. Yes, it covers the 10 commandments, but reading the Bible makes it clear that abiding by God’s commands involves much more. The ten commandments provide an overview of how we are to live in a good and righteous [connection with God] and good and righteous relationship with each other.
God has the authority to determine who deserves punishment and how severe the punishment should be since He created the universe and all of its laws and regulations.
There is hope
When it comes to God, disobedience to him has just one possible outcome: death. “The soul that sins will die,” according to Ezekiel 18:20. According to Romans 5:12, “Death spread to all men because they all sinned.” Therefore, every human being is already doomed to die by virtue of God’s universal laws; this proves God’s righteousness.
If that was all we had to say about God’s righteousness, then we could all just as well follow our own wishes and reject the Bible altogether as we are already doomed. However, there is hope for the Christian and everyone who understands this!
Because God made the universe and everyone in it, He loves everyone who has ever lived and is reaching out to them to offer them a way out of their terrible state of damnation.
Jesus took our punishment
God loved the world so much that He sacrificed His only son, John 3:16, so that everyone who believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus is the only son that God ever sent into the earth. Despite the fact that He never sinned or defied God, God yet permitted Him to suffer the consequences of disobedience—he was crucified. After His death, He was buried in a tomb, but as He had never sinned, death had no power over him and He rose from the dead on the third day. God now extends an invitation to all people to believe in Jesus and be set free from our guilt.
Ask God to pardon us and cleanse us of all our sins, and believe that He died in our place and suffered our punishment. As we acknowledge what God did or ordered, we will now submit to God and offer ourselves to him as his servants in order to be found not guilty.
Jesus’ death shows God’s righteousness
Although God acknowledges that we are all sinners, He made a means for us to all be set free by the death of Jesus Christ. God is righteous because of Jesus’ death and our acceptance of it; the law and its penalty have been satisfied. God’s laws still stand; every sin and transgression must have a consequence.
