Righteousness

The word “righteousness” or “righteous” appears many times in our English Bibles. It may seem like a biblical, New Testament word but it appears many times throughout the Hebrew Bible as well. But what does this word mean? What does it mean to be righteous or show righteousness? Let’s start with a basic definition and let Scripture give its own definition. 

The Hebrew word for righteousness is ṣᵊḏāqâ and the Greek, dikaiosynē. They both mean “justice” or “right acts”. I like to think about righteousness as doing good by or to someone. So if you are a righteous person, you do good by others and you are loving your neighbor as God has called us to do. Sometimes when we think of a righteous person, we think of a church-goer, bible reading, upstanding person who is “better” than others. But to be righteous in its basic form means we love others and God by being just and doing good to them.   

This word first appears in Genesis 15:6 where it says, “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” Abram had faith in God and his promises and this made him right in God’s eyes. By believing and trusting in Yahweh he was made in right standing with God. Later in the Torah, we learn that Israel has received the laws of God from Moses and they are to obey these laws so they can do right by others (Deuteronomy 6:25). The problem is, Israel can’t obey these laws so they are never seen as righteous by obeying the law. This is where Jesus comes in. 

Keeping the law becomes the focus of being righteous for the Pharisees and other religious leaders and so they forget that true righteousness comes from loving others. They want to obey the law with scrutiny so much that they will do it at the expense of hurting others. They cannot obtain righteousness because they do not obey the law fully. So if the law cannot be fully obeyed, how do we become righteous and do good by others and God? Jesus will tell us, we do this by simply loving God and loving others. 

The sermon on the mount in Matthew is full of righteous vocabulary. Jesus says in Matthew 6:33, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well”. Jesus wants us to seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness and then everything else will follow. How do we seek the kingdom and God’s righteousness? The answer lies in Luke 10:27. When Jesus told us that our righteousness had to surpass the Pharisees’ righteousness or we wouldn’t enter the kingdom, it implied that we must go beyond just the wording of the law and understand the heart of the law. So when Jesus was asked about having eternal life in Luke 10:26, the man answered that we should love God and others. Jesus said that we would live if we do this. For Jesus, righteousness is not about obeying specific laws and keeping the rules strictly, it’s about loving God and loving others through faith in Him, that will make us righteous. We are seeking the kingdom and God’s justice when we do good to others and so we will be doing right by God because we are doing right by others. 

We cannot speak of righteousness without discussing Romans. This letter mentions righteousness more than any other New Testament book. For Paul, righteousness is not earned by any works, it is given to those who have faith in Jesus (Romans 3:22). Paul even uses the example of Abraham. Since Abraham was righteous because of his faith in God, we are too, but we are made righteous because of our faith in Jesus. We couldn’t uphold the law and so Christ came to help us do right by God by having faith in Jesus. Romans 10:4 says, “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Christ fulfilled the law that we couldn’t and so by believing in him we are made righteous and do right by God by believing in Him. 

In conclusion, being righteous is not an elite club for only a few “exceptional” Christians. Being righteous is also not obtained by any means of religious acts or positions. We are made righteous (do right by God) by believing and having faith in Jesus. Because of this faith, we love God and others by doing right by them. If we have faith in Jesus, we are considered righteous because of the death and resurrection that made righteousness possible.