Welcome to Hank’s Place –
Welcome HOME – to Righteousness (2)
“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”” Ro 1:16-17. What’s that mean, “the righteousness of God is revealed”? I’m glad you asked that question my friend!
I went to my theology bookshelf to look up some words. I found that while in English the terms ‘righteousness’ and ‘justice’ are different words, in both the Hebrew Old Testament and the Greek New Testament, there is only one word group behind them. That means that righteousness and justice when used in the bible are speaking of the same attribute of God.
God’s righteousness means that God always acts in accordance with what is right. God Himself is the final standard of what is right.
Moses in Deut 32:4 says of God, “all His ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and right is he.”
Abraham in Genesis 18:25 speaks to God’s character as righteousness when he says, “shall not the judge of all the earth do right?”
Ps 19:8 says, “the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart.” Isaiah 45:19 says, “I the Lord speak the truth, I declare what is right.”
But listen: as a result of God’s righteousness, it is necessary that God treat people according to what they deserve. Thus, it is necessary that God punish sin, for it does not deserve reward: it is wrong and deserves punishment.
When God does not punish sin, it seems to indicate that He is unrighteous, unless some other means of punishing sin can be seen. This is why Paul says that when God sent Jesus as a sacrifice to bear the punishment for sin, it “was to show God’s righteousness, because in His divine forbearance He had passed over former sins; it was to prove at the present time that He Himself is righteous and that He justifies him who has faith in Jesus.” Romans 3:25–26.
When Christ died to pay the penalty for our sins it showed that God was truly righteous, because He did give appropriate punishment to sin.
Next time we’ll answer the question, “What is right?” In the meantime, rejoice that our God is just, our God is right, our God is the God of mercy, grace, and lovingkindness — think on these things, and COME ALIVE!
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