Doing right is God’s non-negotiable way of doing things.
I was shopping at Walmart a few years ago during the Christmas season and came across a shirt for sale with this message printed on the chest: “naughty, nice, whatever.”
That alludes, of course, to the song about Santa Claus and his work:
He’s making a list,
And checking it twice,
Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.
Santa Claus is coming to town!
He sees you when you’re sleeping,
He knows when you’re awake.
He knows when you’ve been bad or good,
So be good for goodness sake!
Doing right
“Naughty, nice, whatever” expresses the spirit of our age, commonly called postmodernism, and is summed up in the word whatever. In other words, nothing ultimately matters, there really is no such thing as absolute right and wrong, or if there is, no one can say for sure what it is. To the person wearing that shirt, being bad or good doesn’t really matter, and being good for goodness sake is merely a quaint idea.
That spirit stands in direct contrast with one important truth the gospel teaches about God—his righteousness. The gospel turns on the idea of righteousness—God’s righteousness, our unrighteousness, and how God’s righteousness can be imputed to the unrighteous sinner.
Jesus doing right
Jesus personified the importance of righteousness to God. At the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, he came to John the Baptist at the Jordan River to receive baptism. John said, “‘I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?’ But Jesus answered him, ‘Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.’” (Matthew 3:14–15, ESV)
Fulfilling all righteousness is God’s way of doing things. He fulfills all righteousness in everything—everything—he does. In the innumerable things that God has thought and said and done in the history of this created world, he has never done wrong, not once. He cannot do wrong. He loves what is right and does only what is right.
Scripture says
Scripture says:
“The LORD is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works” (Psalm 145:17).
“I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD” (Jeremiah 9:24).
“The heavens proclaim his righteousness, and all the peoples see his glory” (Psalm 97:6).
The gospel turns on righteousness
God displays his righteousness in many ways, but far and away the greatest display is the gospel. In the following summary of the gospel in Romans 3, notice the centrality and repetition of the word righteousness and different forms of the word just:
21 But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21–26, ESV)
In Greek, the words righteousness (dikaiosyne) and just (dikaios) are based on the same root (dik). Righteousness pervades the gospel. The gospel answers two questions: (1) How can sinners be found righteous in the sight of God? and (2) How can God be righteous in forgiving sinners?
God showing his commitment to doing right
We might suppose God doesn’t care what anyone thinks. In one sense that is true, of course, but in another sense, God is extremely concerned what humans, angels, and demons think. Verse 26, above, says God designed the means of salvation as he did “to show his righteousness at the present time.” God cares so deeply about righteousness that he designed the gospel in such a way is to leave beyond any question that he has been perfectly righteous in his dealings with mankind.
When Judgment Day has reached its conclusion and all things are known, when all the works of God and humans have been made public, as they surely will be, every mouth will be stopped. No one will be able to accuse God of wrongdoing. At that time, God’s righteousness will shine brighter than the sun, to the praise of his glory.
How the gospel displays God’s righteousness
1. How can unrighteous sinners be found righteous in the sight of God? God makes the unrighteous righteous. He accomplishes this by the work of his righteous Son Jesus on their behalf. God’s righteous Son Jesus accomplishes the Great Exchange—in fact, the greatest exchange in human history. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Our unrighteousness was put on Jesus, and his righteousness was given to us. At the cross, our status was exchanged with his status. Our unrighteousness went to him, and his righteousness went to us.
We can be found righteous in the sight of God because we are found “in him,” in Christ, in the righteous one.
“By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities” (Isaiah 53:11).
“The Lord is our righteousness” (Jer. 33:16).
2. How can God be righteous in forgiving unrighteous sinners? God won’t ignore justice to forgive the unrighteous, because he is perfectly righteous and just. He can forgive our unrighteous deeds because Jesus acted as our substitute, receiving the wrath of God in full at the Cross for these deeds.
Jesus “committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” (1 Peter 2:22–24)
At the cross, God showed beyond a doubt that he is the righteous judge of all. Even if it required punishing his beloved Son, he would not just forgive sins.
Our ways and God’s ways
Our way: Fallen mankind is not committed to what is right.
God’s way: The Lord is totally committed to what is right, even if it means Jesus must go to the cross in order to save the sinners he loves.
Life principle: Once our unrighteous deeds are forgiven through faith in Jesus, we must walk in the ways of our Father in heaven and learn to delight in righteousness, to be totally committed to doing what is right. God did not put Jesus through the suffering of the cross for us to go on content with unrighteous living. “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness” (1 Peter 2:24). The better we understand God’s commitment to righteousness, the more we become committed to righteousness if we truly love him.
Jeremiah 9:23–24: “Thus says the LORD: ‘Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.’” (ESV)