Righteousness - Chambers, Oswald
Righteousness means living and acting according to right and justice.
1. Righteousness of god
I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. (psalm 71:16) the righteousness of god must be the foundation of our life as Christians. It is easy to talk about gods righteousness and his justice, but too often we banish the revelation of his character into the limbo of the abstract; we accept his righteousness as a theological doctrine, but we do not believe it practically. In the bible theological and practical stand for the same thing. The greatest demand god makes of us is to believe that he is righteous when everything that happens goes against that faith.
(a) In creation
And god saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. (genesis 1:31)
What god created is a satisfaction to god, but to no one less than god, consequently until we come to know him there is a great deal in his creation we shrug our shoulders over; but when we come to understand god we are as delighted with his cre- ation as he is himself. A child enjoys what god cre- ated, everything is wonderful to him. When the son of god came on to this earth his own things (rv
Mg) recognised him who then is this, that he commandeth even the winds and the water, and they obey him? (Luke 8:25 RV ).
The constructed world of man is not the created world of god. The sin of man has polluted the mate- rial earth, and it will have to go through a cremation, out of which will emerge new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. That which god created can never finally be bad. God demands of his children the practical belief that all that stands for creation is upheld by his righteousness. The one who made the world and who upholds all things by the word of his power, is the one who keeps his saints.
(b) In history (Isaiah 40:1217)
Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance. (Isaiah 40:15)
Another demand god makes of his children is that they believe not only that he is not bewildered by the confused hubbub of the nations, but that he is the abiding factor in the hubbub. The bible conception of the righteousness of god at work in history is that of fire, intense blazing heat, in the flames of which the nations are seen to be tumbling into confusion as well as rising out of it. If you look at history through the medium of rational common-sense you do not see god, you see only confusion and the passions of men, and, at times, what we are seeing just now, the frantic contortions of war. Sin has not only infected material things, it is the common inheritance of the human race; but the time is coming when it will be impossible for sin to be on the earth any more, when the very material earth will be shot through with the glory of gods presence, and when man himself will be conformed to the image of his son. Meantime there is the conclusion and the agony which make men say, there is no god. These things are the evidence that god is.
(c) In providence
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. . . . (psalm 23:3)
The word righteousness in this connection is instructive; it means that god leads his children in the rightness, no matter in what providential dis- pensation they live, whether in personal cataclysms or national cataclysms. We have to accept gods pur- pose in the providential jumble of things, then he leads us in the paths of righteousness wherever we are placed, and continually restores our souls.
2. Righteousness before god
By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: and he shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:11 RV )
(a) in Christ
The wisdom of god is shown in that Jesus Christ is made unto us . . . Righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). The meaning of the redemption is that god can justify the unjust and remain righteous, and he does it through the cross of Christ. It is not a thing to reason out, but a thing to have resolute faith in. I do not come before god and say, lord, i have prayed; i have obeyed: i stand before god with- out the tiniest excuse, and discover that Christ, the just, suffered for the unjust; the righteous for the unrighteous.
(b) in concentration
If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love ( john 15:10). Righteousness cannot be imitated. If i abide in Jesus, his righteousness is done through me. Nowadays the tendency is to switch away from abiding in Christ; it is do this, and do that. You cannot do anything at all that does not become, in the rugged language of Isaiah, as filthy rags, no matter how right it looks, if it is divorced from abiding in Christ. Haul yourself up a hundred times a day till you learn to abide. Ask yourself is this work, this activity, deflecting me from abiding in Christ? If so, then fling it overboard.
(c) in communion
. . . Not having a righteousness of mine own, . . . But that which is through faith in Christ (Philippians 3:9 RV ).
To experience the loss of my own goodness is to enter into communion with god through Christ. Paul saw what it would mean i must give up my right to myself, give up my boasted goodness; he estimated it exactly, and not only estimated it, but experienced it for whom i have suffered the loss of all things . . . That i may . . . Be found in him (RV). If i try to be right, it is a sure sign i am wrong; the only way to be right is by stopping the humbug of trying to be and remaining steadfast in faith in Jesus Christ. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.