Note: There are two main sections to this article. Don’t stop reading too soon! If you only have time for part of the article, go immediately to the second half. It is the most important information you need to read. If you’re really in a hurry, you can go straight to the bottom line.
The Standard is God’s Perfect Righteousness
We know that God’s standard is that the human beings He created must be righteous in order to be acceptable in His presence. The Bible teaches constantly that God accepts “the righteous” and rejects “the wicked”. Those two phrases are contrasted dozens of times in the Psalms alone, starting with Psalm 1 (verse 6: “For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”) and going all the way through to Psalm 146 (verses 8-9: “The LORD loves the righteous…but He thwarts the way of the wicked.”).
We also know what the standards are in order to be considered righteous:
Who may ascend into the hill of the LORD?
Psalm 24:3-4
And who may stand in His holy place?
He who has clean hands and a pure heart,
Who has not lifted up his soul to falsehood
And has not sworn deceitfully.
O LORD, who may abide in Your tent?
Psalm 15:1-2
Who may dwell on Your holy hill?
He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness,
And speaks truth in his heart.
You should diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and His testimonies and His statutes which He has commanded you.
Deuteronomy 6:17
…for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified.
Romans 2:13
But we encounter a problem: “There is none righteous, not even one.”
So says the Apostle Paul in Romans 3:10-12, where he is quoting Psalm 14:1-3 and its statement that “the LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.“, and what He found was that “They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; There is no one who does good, not even one.” Psalm 143:2 repeats this point: “...in Your sight no man living is righteous“.
As we read these words and realize that we must be righteous before we can be acceptable to God, we learn that we’re sunk. Even our best efforts will end in failure and despair, because we are not capable of living up to such a goal. A few verses later in Romans 3:20, Paul comes to the conclusion: “by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight.“
Paul goes on to say “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” in verse 23 and then later, in Romans 6:23, he gives the result: “The wages of sin is death.“
Oops.
But…
God Will Supply His Own Righteousness to Us
How are we to resolve this dilemma? By understanding the true source of righteousness. Here’s a secret: It’s not us! It’s God.
Because He loves us despite our sin, God provides the righteousness that we lack on our own. I like the way my AI search phrased it:
Instead of demanding perfection we cannot achieve, God offers His own righteousness as a gift or through relationship.
Even the verse quoted above doesn’t say that God looked down from heaven searching for people who behave a certain way. No, He was searching for any who seek after God. That is the starting point: simply wanting God in our lives as opposed to wanting Him to stay away while we live however we choose.
From that starting point of seeking God, we proceed to the next point: Trusting Him. That isn’t just a New Testament concept, by the way. It is seen in the Old Testament also.
Old Testament
In Romans 4:1-5, Paul contends that even Abraham, the much-revered father of the Jewish nation, was NOT considered righteous enough to have earned that honor due to his own perfect moral actions. No, he “believed in the LORD; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) It was the trust that mattered most to God. Any noteworthy actions were the effect of that righteous trust, not the cause of it.
That continues throughout the Psalms, as well. As mentioned above, they often contrast the righteous with the wicked. But they are deemed righteous only secondarily because of their behavior. The real reason they are righteous is because they trust God. The prophet Habakkuk tells us that “the righteous will live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). Psalm 37:3 says to “Trust in the LORD and do good“; notice that the trusting comes before the doing.
From seeking and trusting come the gift: righteousness supplied by God. That “Who shall ascend?” passage quoted above goes on to say in verse 5: “He shall receive … righteousness from the God of his salvation.” Isaiah 61:10 portrays that righteousness as a garment covering our un-righteousness: “He has clothed me with garments of salvation, He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness“.
So far, I’ve used quotes from the Old Testament. They show that righteousness has always come via faith rather than legalistic rule-keeping, and has always been something provided by God, not achieved by human effort.
New Testament
But, of course, the ultimate example of this is Jesus. I wonder if any readers choked on the way that I cut short the quotes from Romans above? Here are the full quotes, with the good part added and emphasized:
…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…
Romans 3:23-24
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 6:23
Ahhh, that’s much better! It was uncomfortable not to finish the thoughts to begin with. 😁
The prophet Jeremiah foretold a time when God would raise up a King who would be called “Yahweh Tsidqenu”: “The Lord our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5-6, 33:14-16). Zechariah described the entrance of that King, riding on a humble donkey (Zechariah 9:9), and Jesus fulfilled that prophecy as He entered Jerusalem on His way to be crucified (John 12:12-16).
In the New Testament, God continued and completed what He began in the Old 1. He provided the perfect righteousness that we need, making it possible for us to be acceptable to enter His presence (Hebrews 10:19-22).
Bottom Line
The overriding truth of the good news, the Gospel, is that Jesus offers a trade: He took on my sin, and gives me His righteousness instead. When God looks at me, He sees Jesus, and that makes me good enough. Personally, I think I got the better deal, but apparently it was worth it to Him.
Actually,…I am worth it to Him, and so are you. What an incredible thought that is!
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
2 Corinthians 5:21
Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ
Romans 5:1
Footnotes and Scripture References
- See article “Before and After” for more on the two Testaments.