Day 14: Righteousness

The Old English word combined “riht” (right) with “wis” (manner or state) and later modified the ending “eous” to convey genuineness or excellence. It is the idea of acting rightly as a matter of habit (dare I say consistently and permanently). Acting rightly all the time…that's a tall order. When translating the Bible in the 1500's, this was a new word (in English) for an old theological concept (seen across Judeo-Christian and other religions). Since the word is used around 700 times in the Bible, the translators had a lot of context by which to contrive the meaning to the word. Basically, a life that lives up to some divinely set standard.

At a pivotal moment in human history, God gave Israel the Mosaic Law (through Moses, of course). The Jews were to make the law central to everyday life (Deuteronomy 6). When Jesus spoke of the law 1500 years later, He said,

Matt 5:18-19: “I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. So anyone who breaks one of the least of these commands and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever obeys them and teaches others to do so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (NET)

Secular philosophy has evolved the discipline of Ethics (moral philosophy) to address the universal human acknowledgement that our behavior means something beyond ourselves. All mentally-healthy humans have deep awareness of the concepts of right and wrong. When philosophers attempt to arrive at a set of moral standards, they generally include the following principles in their discussions: lawfulness, benevolence, paternalism, justice, honesty, autonomy, and even harm. There are also considerations of rights, personal benefit, and social benefit. One interesting congruence between secular ethics and biblical truth is that lawfulness (conforming to codified law) is only one part of the discussion. This is a very important point.

The Mosaic Law is a big deal and Jesus affirms its relevance. Could there really be more to righteousness than my obeying the law? Absolutely!

Gal 3:11: Now it is clear no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous one will live by faith. (NET)

Gal 3:24: Thus the law had become our guardian until Christ, so that we could be declared righteous by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian. (NET)

Rom 3:21: But now apart from the law the righteousness of God (although it is attested by the law and the prophets) has been disclosed (NET)

Rom 4:5: But to the one who does not work, but believes in the one who declares the ungodly righteous, his faith is credited as righteousness. (NET)

Write 2 Corinthians 5:20-21 in your own words. Are you righteous?

Righteous isn't a word we use often in daily life. I really only hear it occasionally used to berate someone as being “self-righteous.” Collectively, we seem to know that it isn't a property we should be cavalier about claiming for ourselves. It's surprising in today's politically correct anti-religion environment that we recognize this significant Biblical truth. Ultimately, a person can only be declared righteous by God. God set the standard so God is the only qualified judge.

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