Righteous, Righteousness
Righteous, Righteousness
RIGHTEOUS, RIGHTEOUSNESS
i. History of the terms.The root notion of the Heb. word is that which is just, right, and normal; and its exact meaning fluctuates in each epoch according to the standard by which right and wrong are measured. It is true that in the OT this standard is always based on the will of Jehovah; but we observe great changeschiefly progressivein the Jewish notion of what He requires. In more primitive times the conception of is mainly forensic, meaning that which accords with custom as fixed by the Divinely given decisions of the peoples judges. But the prophets raised the whole conception of the law of God, and insisted that its moral aspect was infinitely more important than its ceremonial. Indeed, thongh like all OT writers they dealt with action rather than character, they almost foreshadow in places the NT teaching, that it is a clean heart that makes a righteous deed. Hosea and Jeremiah illumined the conception of mans duty to his neighbour by the preaching of Gods loving-kindness to His people. Dcutero-Isaiah goes further still, and finds in the thought of Gods unfailing righteousness the pledge that He will comfort and redeem His servants. As used of Him, the word denotes moral consistency and faithfulness to His promises, and in the highest prophetic teaching this was felt to include the love which pardons the penitent, though ever stern to the obdurate.
In the age of formalism, which was marked by the cessation of prophecy, the notion of righteousness became more ceremonial and external. Already in some of the Psalms we have the righteous as a regular party in the land, and the term ultimately became the self-designation of the Pharisees. was now identified mainly with almsgiving in the sphere of private morals; and, in the judicial sphere, with readiness to help the weak as opposed to the letter of strict judgment.* [Note: See Dalman, Die richterliche Gerechtigkeit im AT, as quoted in art Righteousness (in OT) in Hastings DB iv. 281.] In the LXX Septuagint the word is translation usually by , but also by , , and ; and the adj. usually by , but also by , , , and .
The Gr. , like the Heb. , was generally used in a much broader sense than our word justice, and denoted social virtue as a whole. Aristotle defines it as , (Ethics, v. 3. 1129b; cf. Plato, Republic, 443). The chief difference between the Heb. and Gr. words lies, not in the terms themselves, but in the radical distinction between the religions of the two races,the former being based on the relation of man to God, the latter on mans duty to himself; thus in Greek is usually distinguished from .
ii. NT usage.The NT writers inherited the word with all its religious associations, and used as its equivalent , and as its opposite . The latter word is sometimes contrasted also with (e.g. Rom 1:18, 2Th 2:10); for truth passing into action is righteousness (Westcott on 1Jn 1:9). is also contrasted with (Luk 16:10-11), (2Pe 2:9, cf. Rom 4:5), (1Co 6:1). The first of these three words expresses an idea always present in the word righteousness (namely, consistency); the other two give its basis for man,devotion to God,but do not immediately express the notion of duty towards ones neighbour.
Jesus Christ transformed the whole conception of righteousness; for He broke down the externalism of His day by emphasizing character rather than action, and set religion on an entirely new basis by making it a real response of the whole personality to God, and pointing to love as the essence of righteousness. It is significant in this connexion that it was Christianity that created the very conception of personality, and so ultimately the word itself. Jesus Christ tells His followers that their righteousness is to be based on the eternal character of God (Mat 5:44-45), as uniquely revealed in human life by Himself (Mat 11:27 ||). Accordingly the early Christians seem to have spoken of Christ as the righteous one (see Act 3:14; Act 7:52; Act 22:14, Jam 5:6). But we must examine in more detail the righteousness taught and exemplified by Him.
1. The Synoptists
(a) General usage.The Synoptic writers all use and generally, of the man who tries to do his duty in the sight of God, whether Christian or not (Mat 1:19; Mat 5:45, Mar 6:20, Luk 1:6; Luk 2:25). But St. Matthew also uses the words especially of believers in Christ, to denote the character which He requires in citizens of the Kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:10; Mat 6:1 etc.). St. Luke, indeed, approximates to this in three passages at least (Luk 14:14, Act 24:15; Act 24:25); but with him it can scarcely be called a well-defined usage. The explanation of this peculiarity of the First Gospel no doubt lies in the fact that its chief aim is to represent Christianity as the consummation of Judaism (cf. Mat 5:17). But a still more noteworthy fact is that the Synoptic writers do not directly speak of righteousness as a Divine attribute. [Mat 6:33 is no exception, for his righteousness there means the character which God expects of us, though this is implicitly based on the nature of the Father]. Nor is Christ ever directly termed by them, except in the mouth of unbelievers (e.g. Pilates wife in Mat 27:19), and in the cases mentioned above from the Acts, where St. Luke represents three different speakers as calling Him . In this connexion it is significant that in recording the centurions words at Calvary, St. Luke (Luk 23:47) writes, Certainly this was a righteous man; but St. Matthew (Mat 27:54) and St. Mark (Mar 15:39) give in place of . Now, when we remember that our Lord, in the Synoptic accounts, does not speak of Himself as , though He accepts the title from others, and acknowledges His unique Sonship before the Sanhedrin (Luk 22:70 ||), we see why He does not. call Himself . He does not put forward His own claims in the Galilaean ministry, but leaves His followers to infer them from His words and acts (cf. Mat 16:15-17). And when men have drawn the inference, then they call Him rather than . Similarly, He Himself does not speak of the Fathers righteousness, because to His hearers the word would not convey enough. He speaks rather of the Fathers love.
(b) Gods righteousness.What we have said above leads us on naturally to ask, What is the central idea in Christs teaching about the Fathers righteousness (for though He does not Himself apply the word to God in the Synoptic accounts, the idea is not excluded)? Our Lord bases everything on the truth that God is a loving Father to all men, and they are potentially His sons; by love they may know Him, and so make that potentiality actual. Such is the teaching of the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luk 15:11-32). In Mat 5:45-48 Christ tells us that God loves both good and evil, both righteous and unrighteous; and His followers are to do the same in order that ye may be ( = show yourselves to be; or else become) sons of your Father which is in heaven. And His summary of the whole matter is, Ye therefore shall be perfect (i.e. in and through love) as your heavenly Father is perfect. But this love in God, if it makes Him infinitely merciful to the penitent sinner, makes Him equally stern to the impenitent. Again and again Christ, by means of a series of parables, teaches the future suffering of the wicked. It will suffice to quote one which shows the unity of the Divine love in its two aspects of mercifulness and sternnessthe parable of the king that took account of his servants and punished him who showed no mercy to his fellow (Mat 18:23-35). He is ready to forgive the largest of debts if only the servant proves his love; but he has no mercy for the ungrateful and unloving; he delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due
(c) Christs righteousness.If we may rightly speak of the absolute righteousness of God in the Synoptic accounts, we have no less reason for speaking of the absolute righteousness of Christ. A close examination of His words may even seem explicitly to sanction this. In Mat 5:10 He pronounces a blessing on those who are persecuted for righteousness sake; and in the next verse He goes on, Blessed are ye when men shall persecute you for my sake. We may compare Mar 8:35 Whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospels shall save it (also Mar 10:29). Throughout his Gospel St. Matthew makes the character of the citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. But Jesus Christ is the inaugurator of that kingdom (Mat 11:11; Mat 12:28). It is He, as the Son of Man, who sows the good seed of the Kingdom (Mat 13:37); He, again, who can give the keys of the kingdom (Mat 16:19). He has authority over the angels in His kingdom, which is the kingdom of the Father (Mat 13:41; Mat 13:43). He not only gives to men a unique revelationthe only revelationof the Father (Mat 11:27 ||a passage which implies His sinlessness), but He is the giver of the Holy Ghost (Mat 3:11 ||). This teaching is confirmed by the order of words in Mat 24:36 and Mar 13:32 (menthe angelsthe Sonthe Father). So He claims to be the Son of God (Luk 22:70 ||), and suffers condemnation for blasphemy; as such, He is transfigured, before three of His Apostles, with the Divine glory (Mat 17:1-8 ||). And so again He assents to the statement that He is quite different from one of the prophets (Mat 16:14-18); they were righteous, but He is the righteous Man, and more also. The whole teaching of the Synoptic Gospels is implicitly the same; nowhere does our Lord show any consciousness of sin; again and again He emphasizes the sinfulness of all men and their need of repentance. Therefore He is to be the judge of mankind, in the consummation of Gods kingdom (Mat 7:22 f., Mat 13:41, Mat 16:27, Mat 25:31 ff.).
(d) The contents of righteousness.What, in brief, was the ideal of which Christ was the perfect example, and which He sets before His followers? Obviously an adequate answer to this question is far beyond the limits of this article. But we must try to apprehend a few leading principles. This is the easier, because Christ sought to educate His disciples by giving them principles rather than precepts; His service was to be a free development, not a slavish system. St. Matthew has collected for us, in the Sermon on the Mount, much of our Lords teaching on the Kingdom of heaven and the which marks its citizens. They are to seek above all else the kingdom of God and his righteousness (Mat 6:33); they are to hunger and thirst after it (Mat 5:6). The Kingdom only reflects the eternal character of the King (Mat 5:45). Thus , which is very close in meaning to our modern word morality, is throughout based on religion, and treated as inseparable from it. Matthew 6 opens with a warning against ostentation in (if, indeed, that is the right reading); and the examples given are those of almsgiving (Mat 6:2), prayer (Mat 6:5), and fasting (Mat 6:16)the second of which, at least, is often treated by us as outside morality. Now the central principle of Gods being is, as we said, represented to be love. Consequently love is the unfailing measure of human . The first commandment is Love God; the second, Love thy neighbour as thyself (Mar 12:29-31 ||); and, according to St. Matthew (Mat 22:40), Christ adds the words, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets (words almost repeated in Mat 7:12 and presupposed in Gal 5:14 and Rom 13:8).
Here, then, is the principle by which we may test all our actions. God judges men by what they are rather than by what they do; we, being human, and unable to read the heart, are to judge by their deeds what men are (Mat 7:16), though with much caution against rash and censorious judgments (Mat 7:1). But the final judgment is Gods, who takes account of motive as well as act. He who nurses wrath against a brother, or treats him with bitter contempt, is guilty before God as well as the man who proceeds to murder (Mat 5:21-22); and every one that looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart (Mat 5:28). It has been well said that inwardness is the guiding principle of the Sermon on the Mount. The hard sayings of Mat 5:39-42 must clearly be interpreted on the same principle of love towards our neighbour, resting on love towards God; they do not forbid all resistance of evil (such as resistance to a thief or one of overbearing temper), but they prohibit resistance which springs from personal resentment; they do not inculcate indiscriminate charity, but command us to do, without thought of self, whatever is best for those in need. On the same principle, Christ tells us that it is quality, not quantity, that matters. In prayer we are not to use vain repetitions, as if we should be heard for our much speaking (Mat 6:7); yet it is to be observed that Christ Himself sometimes spent the whole or the major part of the night in prayer (Luk 6:12, Mar 6:46-48). Men may cast out devils and do many mighty works in Christs name, and yet be no true followers of His (Mat 7:22-23). The widow who cast a farthing into the treasury was doing a greater thing than those who brought rich offerings (Mar 12:41-44 ||).
Love to God is the first commandment; love to man is included in it, as the less in the greater. The motive which makes the service of men righteous in the highest sense is that it should be done for Christs sake (Mar 9:41, Mat 10:42; Mat 18:5), or, in other words, in order that men may glorify your Father which is in heaven (Mat 5:16). We must really lose ourselves before we can find our true selves (Mat 16:25 etc.); i.e. self-development is included in the end, but it can never come through selfishness. The Christians paradise is not like the Mohammedans; the reward of self-denying toil in Christs service is more toil (Luk 19:17). The Lords Prayer opens, not with petition, but with adoration and thanksgiving; and petition must be qualified with the thought, nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done (Luk 22:42).
Thus one important aspect of love is filial trust, or faith in God. But this faith is certainly not intellectual in essence. Without love it is void and empty (Mat 7:22 f.). It is the faith which seeks Gods kingdom and His righteousness first, and makes the daily toil for the material necessaries of life subordinate to these, in its calm certitude that God will give sufficient for our needs. But how, it may be asked, are we to win such faith as this? Partly by contemplation of Gods love in Nature (Mat 5:45; Mat 6:26-30, Luk 12:24-32); partly by the evidence of Christs life, death, and resurrection (Mat 16:8-10; Mat 28:19-20 etc.); partly by turning into earnest prayer the measure of faith that we have (cf. Mar 9:23-24); and partly by loving service of our brother men in all humility (see Luk 17:5-10).
Again, as love for mankind is incomplete except when based on love for God, so is love for God an idle sentimentality unless it is realized by the service of men. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven (Mat 7:21). This is set forth in detail in the picture of the Last Judgment (Mat 25:31-46). Here the test of men is whether they gave food, drink, and shelter to strangers and to those who were needy, or sick, or outcast. For the Golden Rule, which sums up the Law and the Prophets, is, All things whatsoever ye would that men should do unto you, even so do ye also to them (Mat 7:12, Luk 6:31). Nor is any man to be outside the pale of a Christians love. To the scribes question, Who is my neighbour?, Christ replies by a parable, in which a Samaritan is represented as doing for one of his traditional enemies, the Jews, what the priest and Levite of the mans own race had left undone (Luk 10:29 ff.). So He abolishes the Jewish belief that neighbour includes only those of ones own race. And His last words on earth lay before His Apostles their duty of teaching all nations (Mat 28:19, Luk 24:47, cf. Mar 16:15). He uses also the term brother in a no less catholic sense, in all probability, though He never explicitly tells His disciples that they are to consider all men as brethren (see Mat 7:3; Mat 18:15; Mat 18:21, Luk 17:3-4). The teaching of the parable of the Prodigal Son is still more emphatic on this point. It is also true that He uses the word brother in a narrower sense, to denote specially the man, whoever he is, that does the will of God (Mar 3:35 ||). See art. Brotherhood.
It was the simplicity and the inwardness of this supreme test of righteousness by love that were to make Christs yoke easy (Mat 11:30), in contrast with the heavy burdens imposed on mens shoulders by the externalism and endless rules of the Pharisees (Mat 23:4). He said, Except ye turn and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven (Mat 18:3-4, cf. Mar 9:35); and He called the scribes and Pharisees children of hell (Mat 23:15)a term which he never applies even to the publican or the harlotbecause He found in their self-exaltation and censoriousness (cf. Luk 18:11, Mat 23:5-10) the very antithesis of the meekness and humility which were to Him the essence of righteousness (Mat 11:29; Mat 7:1-5, Luk 17:7-10). His mission, He says, is not to the self-righteous, but to the man conscious of his sin (Mat 9:13 ||, cf. Luk 15:7). To the Pharisee ceremonial was everything, the spirit of action nothing (Mat 23:25-26); to Him the ceremonial was useless unless carried out in the spirit of love (Mat 5:23-25), and the rule of law must always give way to the rule of love (cf. His treatment of Sabbath-observance, Mar 2:23 to Mar 3:5). Therefore He said, Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven (Mat 5:20).
This leads us to speak briefly of His treatment of the Mosaic Law. He made a rule of observing it, but never in a literal, slavish manner. In everything He acted on the principle that the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath (Mar 2:28). He yielded to authority (cf. Mar 12:17 ||, Luk 17:14, Mat 17:27). except when doing so meant the violation of a higher law (see Mat 23:3). The Law was to Him sound in principle, but not perfect. His work in respect to it was not revolutionary, but evolutionary (Mat 5:17-20). Not a jot or tittle of its underlying principles was to perish; and the man who should break ( in Mat 5:19 picks up in Mat 5:17; cf. Joh 7:23) them would be acting against Christs command.* [Note: This passage has caused such difficulties to the commentators that some of them have declared it inconsistent with Christs teaching, and have held that He never said these words (cf. Hastings DB, Ext. Vol. p. 24f.). But that Joh 7:18 really applies to the principles of the Law, and not its letter, is surely proved by the addition of Joh 7:20, where the scribes and Pharisees are denounced as having broken it while seeming to hedge it round.]
On the other hand, He gives new and deeper applications to the laws of Moses, as in the case of the law of murder (Mat 5:21 ff.). He does not hesitate to add new restrictions to it, as in the case of the laws of adultery, false swearing, and retaliation (Mat 5:27; Mat 5:33; Mat 5:38); and He definitely abrogates a law of Moses when He declares all meats clean (Mar 7:15-19).
In connexion with the question of Christs relation to the Law, there is one passage which calls for special mentionMat 3:15, where, in answer to the Baptists protest against baptizing Him, He says: Suffer it now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness. We are sometimes told that is here equivalent to the ceremonial law; but this cannot be so, inasmuch as there was no ceremonial law about baptism. Nor did baptism mean the same to Him as to most who underwent it. To them the ceremony selected by John brought assurance of forgiveness of sins, but no conscious outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Act 19:2-3); to Him it brought no forgiveness of sins, but a visible descent of the Spirit. For He never, all His life through, raised Himself above the ordinary human dependence on outward act and form, as His use of symbolic action and the institution of the two Sacraments show us. By , then, in this passage, He clearly means the general use of outward religious ritual current at His time, and He makes this the occasion of receiving spiritual power.
(e) The communication of Christs righteousness to His followers.It would be going beyond the limits of this article to discuss the method of Justification and Sanctification (see sep. artt.), as represented in the Synoptic writers; it only remains to show the place they give to the facts which these words represent (even though it is impossible entirely to separate method and fact). We have seen that Christ claimed a unique knowledge of the Father and a unique power of revealing Him to man (Mat 11:27 ||),a revelation which He consistently represented as possible only through love. Nor was this power to fail at His death. As their risen Lord He would always be with His disciples, to pour upon them power from on high (Mat 28:18-20, Luk 24:48-49). He was now to fulfil the Baptists prophecy that He should baptize them with the Holy Spirit (Act 1:4-5; Act 2:1-13). The Holy Spirit, representing the risen Christ (Mat 28:20), was to give them the righteousness which should, by Gods love, fit them for the Kingdom of heaven,righteousness growing with their growing love and faith, which were to be its essence. Christ distinctly took His stand on the appeal to morality. Works were to be the necessary outcome of true love (Mat 7:21 etc.). When He says, Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be tilled (Mat 5:6), He does not mean in the next world only, but in this also. Indeed, throughout His teaching, the life to come is treated as an orderly development of this life. He speaks, on the one hand, of the Kingdom of heaven as already come in some measure,the kingdom of God is within you (Luk 17:21, cf. Luk 6:20; Luk 11:20), and it is to come with more marked power still within the lifetime of some of His disciples (Mar 9:1 ||). Yet, on the other hand, its consummation is not for this life, but for the life to come (Mat 25:34, Mar 14:25 = Luk 22:18 = Mat 26:29). So Christ taught His disciples to pray, Thy kingdom come, i.e. in ever more and more fulness until the end (). Meanwhile (as is everywhere implied, and nowhere stated) God sees each member of the Kingdom not as he is, but as he is becoming in Christ, and treats him as a son for his faith and love.
2. St. John.When we turn to the Johannine writings, we pass into a new atmosphere. We are no longer dealing so much with the outer activities of Christs life in its earthly setting. St. John had pondered through long years and with deep reverence over the inner meaning of that life. To him Christ was primarily the , the revelation of the eternal nature of the Father, though it had been given them to touch and see Him in earthly form. Consequently we have a series of sayings unlike anything in the first three Gospels: God is Spirit (Joh 4:24), God is Light (1Jn 1:5), God is Love (1Jn 4:8; 1Jn 4:16), I am the way, and the truth, and the life (Joh 14:6). So the thought of righteousness as a Divine attribute is peculiarly developed in St. John. It is parallel to his favourite use of , which he treats almost as a synonym for , representing the less active side of righteousness (cf. in Joh 3:21 and 1Jn 1:6 with in 1Jn 3:7). So in Joh 8:32-34 the truth shall make you free but he that doeth sin is a slave. Again, the conception of the Kingdom becomes in St. John the thought of life eternal; and the latter in Jn., as the former in the Synoptists, is spoken of, now as a present possession (Joh 3:36), now as that which shall be fully bestowed only in the next life (Joh 12:25).
Thus the thought of righteousness as a Divine attribute meets us at every turn, and its explicit mention not infrequently. , cries the angel to the Eternal in the Apocalypse (Rev 16:5, where the thought is chiefly of His sternness to the wicked [cf. Rev 15:3, Rev 16:7, Rev 19:2] in delivering His saints). are Christs own words in prayer (Joh 17:25), where the thought is primarily of Gods gracious mercy and faithfulness in revealing His love to His chosen ones. occurs again in 1Jn 1:9 in a similar sense of true to his loving nature. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In exactly the same way righteousness is predicated of Christ throughout as One who is consistent in His mercy to the penitent, and loving in His necessary sternness to the obdurate. If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous (1Jn 2:1); They that have done good (shall come forth) unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done ill, unto the resurrection of judgment. My judgment is righteous (Joh 5:29 f.). Yet I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me the word that I spake shall judge him in the last day (Joh 12:47-48). Christ, that is to say, seeks but to save the wicked, in His love for them; but if they will not have His mercy, they are self-doomed.
The Divine part throughout is that of absolute love: God is love,that sums Him up in a word; and that is the newness of the Christian teaching (Joh 13:34, Joh 15:12) which transforms the notion of what makes goodness in deed. Our whole duty is to love God, which involves obedience to Him (1Jn 5:3), and is declared to be the only means of knowing Him (1Jn 4:7). The love of God necessarily carries with it the love of man (1Jn 4:11-12; 1Jn 4:20); it is the love of God, shown by sending His Son to die for the world, which teaches us to love other men (1Jn 3:16, 1Jn 4:9-10), and the one love must be as catholic as the other (cf. Joh 12:32). Elsewhere, in emphasizing the inwardness of all true righteousness, Christ shows that it depends on Gods nature as Spirit. God is Spirit, and they that worship him, must worship in spirit and truth (Joh 4:24). And the corollary is that true worship is independent of locality and ceremonial (Joh 4:21),though this is not to be taken as implying that all ceremonial may be safely cast aside.
But it is by developing Christs teaching about the second or spiritual birth that St. John especially marks both the essential inwardness and the continuous growth of righteousness. The locus classicus for this is the Lords discourse given in Joh 3:3-21, where the eternal life given by the second birth is brought into immediate relation with His own pre-existence and resurrection (Joh 3:13-16). This chapter is illustrated in the First Epistle, where he writes:
Every one that loveth is begotten of God (1Jn 4:7).
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is begotten of God (1Jn 5:1).
If ye know that he (probably Christ) is righteous, ye know that everyone also that doeth righteousness is begotten of him (1Jn 2:29).
But here we notice a further point. Christ was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not ; the righteous man is he that doeth righteousness, even as he is righteous. Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin, because his seed abideth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is begotten of God (1Jn 3:5-9). At first sight this seems inconsistent with 1Jn 1:8-9, where the Apostle tells us, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins Clearly, in the former passages, sin is thought of as a lasting state of rebellion against God; in the latter, it is treated rather as an act due to weakness. He that is born of God cannot deliberately rebel against God, as long as the new life is in him; cf. Joh 13:10 Ye are clean, but not all (Christ excepts only Judas, Joh 13:11); Joh 15:3 Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you; for, as He goes on to say, this cleanliness of heart comes from the union of Himself with the disciple, effected by love. Abide in me and I in you. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for apart from me ye can do nothing (Joh 15:4 f., cf. Joh 17:21; Joh 17:23). Here we have explicitly stated what is implicit in the Synoptic Gospels, namely, that only by the union of love with the risen Christ (cf. Joh 8:31-32, Joh 15:13-15) can we do righteousness, receiving more and more of his fulness and grace for grace (Joh 1:16), having already in us the eternal life which is to be consummated at the last day (cf. Joh 17:3, Joh 20:31). This is the general meaning of Joh 16:8-10. (The Holy Spirit), when he is come, will convict the world in respect of righteousness because I go to the Father, and ye behold me no more; that is to say, the Holy Spirit will not only reveal Christs righteousness to the world, but will show men the infinite possibilities which are theirs in union with Him, because Christ is henceforth alive for evermore with the Father, having conquered death and sin. All this implies, what St. Paul explains so fully, that God sees us as we are becoming in Christ, rather than as we are; but St. John does not analyze forgiveness as St. Paul does, and throughout he looks rather at the eternal fact than the temporal process.
3. St. Paul.In St. Pauls Epistles generally bears the same meaning as elsewhere in the NT, and so is associated with and (cf. Tit 1:8, Rom 7:12). However, once at least he seems to revert almost unconsciously to the Pharisaic idea of the as one who conforms to law; for in Rom 5:7 he apparently differentiates between the righteous and the good () man in much the same way as the Gnostics afterwards called the God of the OT righteous (meaning just), and the God of the NT good. This is not his usual custom, however; indeed, in Eph 5:9 he couples and ; and in Rom 7:12 he puts between and .
In Rom 14:17 St. Paul tells us that the kingdom of God is righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost,words which remind us of St. Matthew. But, unlike the First Gospel, he often speaks of the righteousness of God. In the years which preceded his conversion, he had known all the suffering of a sensitive man who feels that, in spite of all his desire to keep Gods law, he is constantly breaking it in act, and generally failing to live up to the spirit of it. The salvation of his life had come to him in the conviction that God takes the will for the deed, and that in union with the risen Christ the human will is kept constantly true. This is the truth that he has to work out intellectually in his Epistles. And he begins by showing that Christ had not lowered the standard of Gods righteousness to meet human weakness, but raised it (cf. Rom 3:21-26). God is and must be true to His righteous nature; He is the righteous judge who will reward those who serve Him and punish those who do not. It is not the fact of Gods righteousness that has been abolished by Christianity, but the old standard of service. This comes out very clearly in Romans 10. Israel, he says, were ignorant of Gods righteousness (though they knew Gods law, Rom 10:3), for Christ is the end of the law unto righteousness unto every one that hath faith (Rom 10:4). The Jew had thought that he must ascend into heaven or descend into the abyss, that is, make superhuman efforts to keep the Law. But the righteousness which is of faith saith, The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart; that is, the word of faith which we preach. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (Rom 10:6-10). It is not keeping the Law in act that God demands so much as faith working through love (Gal 5:6); the end of the charge is love out of faith unfeigned (1Ti 1:5). For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, even in this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself (Gal 5:14, cf. Rom 13:8). Without love, the most wonderful of Gods other giftseven faith itselfor the most perfect acts of self-devotion, are vain and empty (1Co 13:1-3): love is greater than faith (1Co 13:13), though it necessarily contains faith (1Co 13:7). Thus Mosaism is , but Christianity (2Co 3:9). God, the righteous judge, shall give the crown of righteousness (i.e. perfect righteousness as a reward; cf. , Rev 2:10, Jam 1:12) to all them that have loved His appearing (2Ti 4:8).
So St. Paul, though he constantly emphasizes the truth that faith is counted for righteousness (Rom 4:5 etc.), never means by faith merely an intellectual belief, but that faith which is part of love, i.e. a response of the whole personality to God. Therefore it is obviously quite unfair to represent his doctrine of justification by faith as entailing a legal fiction. The faith and the love must be actual in the believer, and must issue in action (Rom 2:13), and as they grow, so must action become more perfect; it is not the action, however, that constitutes righteousness in Gods sight, but the faith and love. God views us sub specie aeternitatis: He looks on us as we shall be some day by virtue of our union with Christ. St. Paul puts forward, in different language, the truth which St. John expresses by saying that the man who is begotten of God cannot sin. As the believer beholds through faith the glory of the Lord, he is transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit (2Co 3:18). Christ is the Second Adam (Rom 5:12-15); we are, by the mysterious union of love, in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us righteousness and sanctification (1Co 1:30). We may become the righteousness of God in him (2Co 5:21). I can do all things in him that strengtheneth me (Php 4:13). Sometimes St. Pauls language touches that of St. John: If Christ is in you (your) spirit is life because of righteousness (Rom 8:10; cf. the opposition of and in Rom 6:16; cf. also reigning in life, Rom 5:17, where Gods gracious giftis coupled with ).
4. The rest of the NT.The other books of the NT present few new features which call for notice here. The Epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes Christs absolute righteousness, in order to show Him as the one sufficient Victim and High Priest. He is the effulgence of (Gods) glory and the very image of his substance (Heb 1:3). The Psalmists words apply to Him uniquely, Thou hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity (Heb 1:9). He was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Heb 4:15). He is the king of righteousness (Heb 7:2). With regard to His work for His followers, the writer of the Epistle usually employs the words and . He exhorts his readers to have experience of the word of righteousness, that is, to press on unto perfection (), not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment (Heb 5:13 and Heb 6:1-2). This perfection comes only through Christ (Heb 7:11; Heb 7:19); He is the risen High Priest, who ever liveth to make intercession for us (Heb 7:25, cf. Heb 4:16, Heb 5:9, Heb 6:19-20). His blood purges us from dead works to serve the living God (Heb 9:14). By one offering he hath perfected for ever (i.e. potentially) them that are being sanctified (Heb 10:14). Therefore we must follow after the sanctification without which no man shall see the Lord (Heb 12:14). The Epistle bases our sanctification on love through faith, just as St. Paul does (Heb 3:19 with Heb 4:2). The OT heroes wrought all their great deeds through faith (ch. 11); but faith could not possibly bring them such as it can to the Christian, who is united with his risen Lord (Heb 11:40). The Christians work rests on a fuller faith; but love is what makes it fruitful,love to man rooted in love to God (Heb 6:10, Heb 10:24). Our first duty is to offer up loving worship to God; our second, to do good and to communicate (Heb 13:15-16).
The Epistles of St. Peter touch the subject at several points; but, being practical rather than doctrinal, they do not treat it systematically. The writer of the Second Epistle salutes those that have obtained a like precious faith with us in the righteousness (i.e. consistent mercy) of our God and (the) Saviour Jesus Christ (2Pe 1:1). Christ, the righteous, died for us the unrighteous (1Pe 3:18; cf. St. Peter in Act 3:14); He is the lamb without blemish and without spot (1Pe 1:19). He bare our sins in his body upon the tree, that we, having died unto sins, might live unto righteousness (1Pe 2:24), by the power of the risen Lord (1Pe 1:3, 1Pe 3:21). Our union with Him in love and faith works out the salvation of our souls (1Pe 1:8-9). For faith ends in love (2Pe 1:5; 2Pe 1:7). The Christians duty, therefore, is to love his neighbour from the heart fervently (1Pe 1:22); above all things being fervent in love for love covereth a multitude of sins (1Pe 4:8). But the end of all his good works is that men may glorify God (1Pe 2:12). So shall he be saved unto the new heavens and new earth, where this righteousness shall dwell in perfection (2Pe 3:13).
The Epistle of St. James follows closely the Sermon on the Mount. He speaks once of Gods righteousness, meaning the righteousness which God demands of us (Jam 1:20). And in all probability he refers to Christ as (Jam 5:6). He speaks of love for ones neighbour as the royal law (Jam 2:8); and he insists at some length that the faith which was accounted unto Abraham for righteousness was not merely intellectual; it could not be separated from his works, in which it was realized and made perfect (Jam 2:22-23).
Literature.The subject is treated, in some of its aspects, in so many books that it is hard to select any for special mention. There are chapters on it in almost every work on NT Theology; e.g. Beyschlag and Stevens; see also Wendt, Teaching of Jesus, vol. i. iii. ch. iv.; Bruce, Kingdom of God, chs. viii. ix. For individual passages in the NT, reference must be made to the standard Commentaries. Probably the fullest analysis of the word is in Cremers Bib.-Theol. Lex. of NT Greek.
C. T. Wood.