THE RIGHTEOUSNESS,
OR JUSTICE, OF GOD

Preliminary Note: The words "Righteous" and "Just", also "Righteousness" and "Justice", in the English Bible represent the same Hebrew and Greek words in the Old and New Testaments.

100.010.010 Torrey: p48, T:I
Topic 10: The fact that God is Righteous.

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POINT 10: God is righteous. He is just.

Ezra 9:15 O LORD, God of Israel, you are righteous! ...

Psalms 116:5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.

Psalms 145:17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made.

Jeremiah 12:1 You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you.

John 17:25 Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me.

100.020.000 Torrey: p48, T:II
Topic 20: What is Righteousness?

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POINT 10: What is it to be righteous, or just?

Ezekiel 18:5 Suppose there is a righteous man who does what is just and right.

Zephaniah 3:5 The LORD within her is righteous; he does no wrong. Morning by morning he dispenses his justice, and every new day he does not fail, yet the unrighteous know no shame.

To be just, or righteous, is to have that character that leads one to always do that which is right.

The Hebrew word, according to its etymology, means "right" or "straight." The etymology of the English word "righteous" is the same. the etymology of the Greek word is "custom" or "usage, i.e., that which conforms to custom.

The Righteousness or Justice of God is that attribute that leads Him always to do right. It is not to be limited, as it so often is in modern theological usage, to His punitive justice. This, as we shall shortly see, is only one manifestation of the Justice, or Righteousness of God, and not the one that is most prominent in Biblical usage.

Holiness seems to have more reference to God's character as He is in Himself; Righteousness to His character as manifested in his dealings with others.

100.030.000 Torrey: p49, T:III
Topic 30: How the Righteousness or Justice of God is manifested.

100.030.010 Torrey: p49, T:III, P:10
POINT 10: The Righteousness of God is manifested in His loving righteousness and hating iniquity.

Psalms 11:4-7 [4] The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes the sons of men; his eyes examine them. [5] The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates. [6] On the wicked he will rain fiery coals and burning sulfur; a scorching wind will be their lot. [7] For the LORD is righteous, he loves justice; upright men will see his face.

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POINT 20: The Righteousness of God is manifested in His visiting upon sinners the punishment due to their sins.

Exodus 9:23-27 [23] When Moses stretched out his staff toward the sky, the LORD sent thunder and hail, and lightning flashed down to the ground. So the LORD rained hail on the land of Egypt; [24] hail fell and lightning flashed back and forth. It was the worst storm in all the land of Egypt since it had become a nation. [25] Throughout Egypt hail struck everything in the fields -- both men and animals; it beat down everything growing in the fields and stripped every tree. [26] The only place it did not hail was the land of Goshen, where the Israelites were. [27] Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "This time I have sinned," he said to them. "The LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong."

2 Chronicles 12:5-6 [5] Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, "This is what the LORD says, 'You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak.'" [6] The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The LORD is just."

Daniel 9:12, 14 [12] You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem. [14] The LORD did not hesitate to bring the disaster upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in everything he does; yet we have not obeyed him.

Revelation 16:5-6 [5] Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; [6] for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."

100.030.030 Torrey: p50, T:III, P:3
POINT 30: The Righteousness of God is manifested in His bestowing upon the righteous the reward due for their faithfulness.

2 Timothy 4:8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day -- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

1 Kings 8:31-32 [31] When a man wrongs his neighbor and is required to take an oath and he comes and swears the oath before your altar in this temple, [32] then hear from heaven and act. Judge between your servants, condemning the guilty and bringing down on his own head what he has done. Declare the innocent not guilty, and so establish his innocence.

Psalms 7:9-11 [9] O righteous God, who searches minds and hearts, bring to an end the violence of the wicked and make the righteous secure. [10] My shield is God Most High, who saves the upright in heart. [11] God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day.

Hebrews 6:10 God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them.

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POINT 40: The Righteousness of God is manifested in His protecting and delivering His people from all their adversaries.

Psalms 98:1-3 [1] Sing to the LORD a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him. [2] The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations. [3] He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.

Psalms 103:6 The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.

Psalms 129:1-4 [1] They have greatly oppressed me from my youth -- let Israel say -- [2] they have greatly oppressed me from my youth, but they have not gained the victory over me. [3] Plowmen have plowed my back and made their furrows long. [4] But the LORD is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.

2 Thessalonians 1:6-7 [6] God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you [7] and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels.

In modern theological discussions we hear more of the Justice, or Righteousness of God in its relation to the punishment of sinners, but in the Bible we read of it more in relation to the protection of His people. In modern usage it is more frequently held up as an attribute of God at which sinners should tremble; in the Bible it is constantly dwelt upon as an attribute of God at which His people should rejoice and be confident.

Psalms 96:11-13 [11] Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; [12] let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; [13] they will sing before the LORD, for he comes, he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in his truth.

Jeremiah 9:24 "but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth for in these I delight," declares the Lord.

Psalms 116:5-6 [5] The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. [6] The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me.

Psalms 145:5, 15-19 [5] They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works. [15] The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. [16] You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. [17] The LORD is righteous in all his ways and loving toward all he has made. [18] The LORD is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. [19] He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them.

Revelation 15:2-3 [2] ... They held harps given them by God [3] and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages.

Even the righteousness of God in the punishment of the sinner is sometimes spoken of in relation to its connections with the deliverance or avenging of His people.

Revelation 19:1-2 [1] After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, [2] for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants."

Revelation 16:4-6 [4] The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. [5] Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: "You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; [6] for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve."

Here, it is the vindication and avenging of His people, rather than the suffering of the wicked, that is the prominent thought.

100.030.050 Torrey: p52, T:III, P:5
POINT 50: The Righteousness of God is manifested in His keeping His promises.

Nehemiah 9:7-8 [7] You are the LORD God, who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and named him Abraham. [8] You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous.

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POINT 60: The Righteousness of God is manifested (1) In His providing a propitiation when sin was forgiven. (2) In His justifying the person who has faith in the substitute, Jesus.

Romans 3:25-26 [25] God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished -- [26] he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

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POINT 70: The Righteousness of God is manifested in the forgiveness of the sins of the believer when they are confessed.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

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THE RIGHTEOUSNESS, OR JUSTICE, OF GOD

THE RIGHTEOUSNESS,
OR JUSTICE, OF GOD