Theological Term of the Week

righteousness
That perfection of God whereby he conforms to his own holiness; his attribute of moral purity by which he always thinks and does what is right.

• From scripture:
  

  …to declare that the Lord is upright;
  he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. (Psalm 92:15 ESV)

  What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! (Romans 9:14 NKJV)

• From A Body of Doctrinal Divinity: Of the Justice or Righteousness of God by John Gill:

   Concerning this attribute of God, I shall,

  1. First, Show that it does belong to him, and is natural and essential to him. The scriptures do abundantly ascribe it to him; all rational creatures, angels and men, good and bad, acknowledge it in him, (Rev. 16:5; Ex. 9:27; Jer. 12:1; Dan. 9:9; Ps. 145:7) and remove all unrighteousness from him, and affirm there is none in him (Ps. 92:15; Rom. 9:14). And, indeed, without this attribute, he would not be fit to be the Governor of the world, and the judge of the whole earth; his government would be tyranny, and not yield that pleasure and delight to the inhabitants of it, it does; the reason of which is, because “righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne” (Ps. 97:1, 2). And from his love of righteousness, and constant performance of it, it may be concluded it is natural to him; as what is loved by men, and constantly done by them, shows it to be agreeable to the nature of them, (Ps. 11:7, 9:4) and, indeed, it is originally and essentially in God; it is in and of himself, and not of another; it is his nature and essence, and is not derived from another. Adam was righteous, but not of himself, God made him upright, or righteous; saints are righteous, not by their own righteousness, but by the righteousness of Christ imputed to them. But God is righteous in and of himself; his righteousness is essential and inderivative, and is incommunicable to a creature; it is not that by which men are made righteous, as Osiander dreamed; for though he who is Jehovah is their righteousness, yet not as he is Jehovah; for then they would be deified by him: the righteousness of God being his nature, is infinite and immutable; the righteousness of angels and men, in which they were created, was mutable; Adam lost his, and many of the angels lost theirs; but the “righteousness” of God is “like the great mountains”, as high, firm, and stable as they, and much more so (Ps. 36:6). Righteousness in creatures, is according to some law, which is the rule of it, and to which it is conformed, and is adequate so the law of God, which is holy, just, and true, is a rule of righteousness to men; but God has no law without himself, he is a law to himself; his nature and will the law and rule of righteousness to him. Some things are just, because he wills them, as such that are of a posture kind; and others he wills them because they are just, being agreeable to his nature and moral perfections. This is an attribute common to the three Persons in the Godhead, as it must be, since it is essential to Deity, and they partake of the same undivided nature and essence: hence the Father of Christ is called by him “righteous Father”, (John 17:25) and Christ, his Son; is called Jesus Christ “the righteous”, (1 John 2:1) and no doubt can be made of its being proper to the Holy Spirit, who convinces men “of righteousness and of judgment” (John 16:8). But,

Learn more: 

1. Blue Letter Bible, Don Stewart: Is God Righteous?
2. Bob Deffinbaugh: The Righteousness of God
3. Fred Zaspel: Four Aspects of Divine Righteousness
4. From my attributes of God posts: God’s Righteousness

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