God's righteousness and ours (1)
God’s righteousness may be said to be the quality of his
character (Psalm 11:7, 45:6-7, Romans 3:3-5). It is his holy nature
from which flows all his righteous acts and purposes. His deeds are all
shaped as they are and have their moral texture because of this
changeless holy character (Isaiah 57:15). In this sense when we say God
is righteous we mean his personal character.
But because God’s deeds flow from his holiness as righteousness and
express his righteous character his deeds may properly be called God’s
righteousness. When God acts to save Israel from her enemies his
righteousness is said to draw near when salvation in on the way (Isaiah
51:5, 56:1). It’s true that prophets and psalmists would almost always
have covenant righteousness in mind. That is, God made a covenant
with Israel and his holy character means he will be faithful to that
covenant and when, with that in mind, God acts righteously it is covenant righteousness—righteousness that is a response to his covenant commitment.
Just the same, God’s righteous character is prior to the making of
any covenant so we’re not to say that because the Bible writers usually
have covenant righteousness in mind that they exclude the notion of
God’s eternal holiness and righteousness. We will be correct if we say
that God’s covenant righteousness is a specific expression of his
eternal character righteousness.
The deeds of God are called the righteousness of God because they are
his personal righteousness expressing itself and they are the result of
his keeping his word and the covenants he makes. The righteousness of
God revealed in deeds can show itself as blessing. He makes
promises to various people in scripture and acts to fulfil those
promises and those acts produce blessing. But that righteousness of God
that shows itself in deeds may also make itself present in judgement (Psalm 48:4-11).
God calls various people and nations to turn from evil and it is often
the evil of those that are oppressing defenseless nations or
marginalized groups in some given society. When they don’t repent God in
righteousness delivers the oppressed by judgement, by punishing the
oppressor. In these cases the judgement is the holy righteousness of God
expressing his eternal opposition to evil in specific temporal
punishment Revelation 16:7). In these cases God is keeping faith with
the promises he made to humankind.
In keeping faith with Israel or other nations in fulfilling promises
to bless and in keeping faith with the oppressed against the oppressor
God is keeping faith with himself. He is acting in character against
evil (and he can be depended on to do that, said Abraham in Genesis
18:25) and expressing his will for good for humankind.
In one case his righteousness is made present when he enriches the
earth, multiplies the flocks and herds, makes the crops grow abundantly
and does all the things necessary to benefit humanity and make life
pleasant. Imagine our looking out on golden fields of wheat, lakes and
rivers teeming with fish, healthy and joyful people living in peace and
asking God, "And what is all this?" If he said, "My righteousness," we
would know what he meant.
Imagine our looking at local warlords that have been feeding on the
people and seeing them go down under the punishing hand of God and our
asking him, "And what is this?" If he said, "My righteousness," we would
know what he meant.
Food, health and joy understood as gifts from God are more than
material and social blessings; they are also God’s righteousness made
visible because they are expressions of his personal integrity and faithfulness in keeping his word.
Judgement on the local warlords (or international gangsters) is more
than pain and distress inflicted it is God’s righteousness made visible
and present in the form of pain and loss inflicted because it is the homage God pays to his holy righteousness.
The existence of the blessings given and the judgement rendered point
beyond themselves to another and underlying reality—the righteousness
of the giver and the judge.
It’s conceivable that blessings could be given as a bribe and that
inflicted pain and distress could be bitter spite and sheer
vengefulness.
If we knew that this was the case we’d have learned something
sinister about God, something that isn’t flattering to him. It would
follow that the existence of the blessings and pain made God’s unrighteousness visible and present.
If we know that it’s impossible for God to be merely spiteful
or to engage in bribery then we wouldn’t interpret the blessings and
affliction in those ways.
Something about God himself is expressed in the blessing and
judging! The blessings cannot be isolated from the giver and the judging
cannot be isolated from the judge. All things being equal we would
thank God for the blessings because the blessings are from him and they express his righteousness. All things being equal we would be angry with or protest against or thank God for his judgement because it comes from him and expresses his righteousness.
I wish to stress a single point here and it’s this: Punishment is the righteousness of God making itself present as inflicted pain or distress. It is not merely pain or loss inflicted; it is expressed righteousness in the form of
pain and loss. It isn’t simply that sinners transgress and God responds
by inflicting pain, it is that God pays homage to holy righteousness by
inflicting pain and loss. The holy righteousness to which he pays
homage is his own so that he is maintaining the integrity of his
character; he is being true to himself before the eyes of his creation.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.