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Restoration of the Righteousness of God

Introduction

The purpose of this article is to investigate the relationship between the righteousness of God and the salvation of sinners from a biblical perspective.

Righteousness of God in the Old Testament

The Hebrew word, ṣ^eḏā·qā(h), which is translated as “righteousness”, “righteous deed”, “vindication”, “right” and “justice” in most modern English Bible appears 159 times in the Hebrew manuscript. When associated with God, it carries the following three major contextual meanings:

1. God’s personal holy attribute – uprightness (Ps 119:142; Isa 5:7);
2. Status and rightful standing before God (Je 23:5; Eze 33:12);
3. God’s saving action (Ps 31:1; Ps 143:11).

One of the key passages in the Old Testament is Exodus 34:6 -7,

‘The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: The LORD ​— ​the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love (ḥě·sěḏ) and truth (ʾ^ěměṯ), maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.’

God reveals to Moses what He is like. The first two attributes are ḥě·sěḏ and ^ěměṯ which are often translated as loving kindness and faithfulness in the Bible. The third attribute ṣ^eḏā·qā(h) is not mentioned but its contextual meanings are carefully elaborated. The first clause indicates God’s saving action (by forgiving sinners). The second clause indicates God’s uprightness (by punishing the guilty). Thirdly, God acts as a judge in a courtroom (by bringing in judgment).

I believe ‘righteousness’ should not be translated as covenant faithfulness. Covenant faithfulness is certainly God’s holy attribute. But it has a meaning closer to ḥě·sěḏ and ^ěměṯ. To forcefully replace ‘righteousness’ with ‘covenant faithfulness’ is to subdue God’s uprightness from the Bible and it is a wrong interpretation of the Scriptures.

In this report, the term – ‘Godlikeness’ is used to describe the first contextual meaning – God’s upright attribute. Similarly, the term – ‘forensic clearance’ is used to describe the second contextual meaning – a rightful legal standing before God (declared not guilty before God as in a courtroom case).

Righteousness of God in the New Testament

The term, δικαιοσύνη του Θεού, ‘righteousness of God’, appears in the New Testament 12 times (Romans 1:17, 3:5, 3:21, 3:22, 3:25, 3:26, 10:3 [twice], 2Cor 5:21, Mt 6:33, James 1:20, 2Peter 1:1). According to Douglas Moo, if this is a possessive genitive, the term can be rephrased as ‘God’s righteousness’ and it would have the same meaning as ‘uprightness of God’ that was described in the last section. If it is viewed as source genitive, the term can be rephrased as ‘righteousness status granted by God’ or ‘in a not guilty, right relationship with God’ and it would have the meaning of forensic clearance as described in the last section. If it is viewed as a subjective genitive, the term can be rephrased as ‘God’s rightful action’ and it would have the same meaning as God’s saving action that was described in the last section. Hence, it can be concluded that the term, ‘righteousness of God’ found in the Old and New Testaments has consistent and similar contextual meanings.

In the following sections, we will study the loss and restoration of the righteousness of God in Adam, Eve and their descendants. We will focus on the Godlikeness and forensic clearance as they are relevant attributes that will be added to Christians who have faith in Lord Jesus Christ.

Loss of the Righteousness in the Garden of Eden

God gave the command to Adam (Gen 2:17) and Eve (Gen 3:3) not to eat the fruits from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This command defines ‘the not eating’ as right and ‘eating’ as wrong. Hence, both Adam and Eve must possess Godlikeness upright attribute if they have the capacity and understanding to obey this command. Suppose God’s upright attribute is absent in Adam and Eve; it will clearly violate God’s holy character (Exodus 34:6) since He gives a command which is impossible for them to obey.

After the Fall, that Godlikeness upright attribute inside Adam and Eve vanishes. This can be verified with the replies from Adam and Eve to God after the Fall (Gen 3:12, 13). The word rendering in both replies demonstrates their own unrighteousness and craftiness. Both replies aim to shift responsibility to the others. According to Adam, Eve is responsible, According to Eve, the serpent is responsible. These replies are ‘unrighteousness’ because they are partial truth twisted with false accusations. These half-truth and half-lie sayings are in fact similar to the serpent’s question to Eve (Gen 3:4 – 5). The loss of the Godlikeness upright attribute is permanent and catastrophic. From this point onward, Adam, Eve and their descendants are no longer upright like their Creator.

Next, we will look at the righteousness of God from the forensic perspective. According to Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve walk with God in the garden of Eden and are in a right relationship with Him. After the Fall, they are afraid of God and need to hide away from Him (Gen 3:10). This hiding indicates a broken relationship. Adam and Eve are in a guilty state as God declares their judgments in Genesis 3:16-19. They can no longer stand right before Him. Since their descendants also lose the Godlikeness upright attribute, it would be impossible for them to keep a rightful standing before God either. From this point onward, Adam, Eve and their descendants are always in a guilty status in the legal courtroom of God.

As a conclusion, Adam, Eve and their descendants lose the righteousness of God (both the Godlikeness upright attribute and the non-guilty status before God) after the Fall. In the next section, we will study how the work of Christ restores the lost righteousness of God back to fallen mankind.

Restoration of the Righteousness of God by Christ

He made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21)

… so also Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many … (Hebrews 9:28)

Both the adverbial clauses in 2Cor 5:21 (ἵνα + subjunctive) and Heb 9:28 (εἰς τὸ + infinitive) refer to intended results of the main verbs (“made” in 2Corinthians 5:21 and “have been offered” in Hebrews 9:28).

Therefore, the logical flow of Christ’s redemptive work according to the Scriptures can be summarized as follows:

Christ has been offered once as a sin offering => Christ carried sins of believers => add righteousness of God onto believers in Christ.

Firstly, this workflow is a non-repeating, one-off event. The tenses of verbs in both verses – “made” (ποιέω), “become” (γίνομαι), “offered” (προσφέρω) and “bear” (ἀναφέρω) are aorist which usually indicates fully completed actions. The additional ‘of righteousness of God’ onto believers is all completed and is never gradual.

Secondly, the verb that describes the additional ‘of the righteousness of God’ to believers is not ‘give’ (δίδωμι) but ‘become’ (γίνομαι). If ‘give’ is used, the gift of righteousness can be viewed as an external entity to the recipients and can possibly be lost. In 2 Corinthians 5:21, ‘become’ is used, and Paul would consider the gift of righteousness that is integrated directly into the inner being of the recipients. The gift is intrinsic and thus can never be lost (Isa 53:11). Therefore, Christ’s redemptive work restores the gift of righteousness of God in every believer in a permanent and fully completed fashion. This is the reason why Paul calls this act of God as a ‘new creation’ (2 Corinthians 5:17). Unlike Adam and Eve in the first creation who lost the righteousness of God in the garden of Eden, this can never happen in believers of Jesus Christ.

The next question will be: which aspects of the righteousness of God have been restored in believers. I would argue that both forensic clearance and Godlikeness upright attributes have been restored in believers.

In 2 Corinthians 5:16-6:2, Paul describes his work as the ministry of reconciliation to God. Verse 21, ‘we might become the righteousness of God’, is the solution to the reconciliation message ‘not counting their trespasses against them’ in verse 19. This clearly indicates that righteousness of God must offer forensic clearance to believers so that they can attain rightful legal status in the courtroom of God (no trespasses against them).   

Do we then nullify the law through faith? Absolutely not! On the contrary, we uphold (ἵστημι) the law. (Romans 3:31)

In Romans 3:31, Paul argues that believers who are saved through faith in Christ will uphold the whole Mosaic law. The Greek word ἵστημι has meanings like ‘stand’, ‘stand firm’ and ‘uphold’. The verb (ἵστημι) is in the present, active indicative form and therefore, the statement ‘On the contrary, we uphold (ἵστημι) the law’ can be viewed as a universal truth. Paul states that believers in Christ are always able to meet the requirement of perfect obedience to the law.

So then, the law is holy (ἅγιος), and the commandment is holy and just (δίκαιος) and good (ἀγαθός). (Romans 7:12)

In Romans 7:12, Paul describes the nature of Mosaic law. Since ἅγιος, δίκαιος and ἀγαθός are God’s holy attributes, the law reveals God’s character to Israelites. When they practise the law in their daily lives as a requirement of the Mosaic covenant, they will also learn what Lord Yahweh is like. One of the holy attributes, δίκαιος, has the same root as δικαιοσύνη which has the meaning of ‘just’ and ‘upright’. Therefore, the law also reveals God’s righteousness. An unrighteous person by his or her own nature is always in conflict with the law and will never be able to keep it. On the other hand, believers who have this imputed Godlikeness upright attribute will be able to keep the righteous law as stated in Romans 3:31.

Conclusion

The Scriptures confirm that the righteousness of God is added onto every individual Christian who believes in Jesus Christ as his or her Lord and Saviour. This righteousness gift from God is both forensic clearance (source genitive) and Godlikeness (possessive genitive). Christ’s death on the cross has restored the righteousness of God in believers who have faith in Christ. In this way, God’s righteousness (subjective genitive) as God’s saving action has been fulfilled in the work of Christ.

In conclusion, it is unbiblical to restrict this righteousness gift to a solely forensic clearance or to solely Godlikeness. Removing the forensic clearance element may end up creating a soteriology of salvation by works. Removing the Godlikeness element may deny God’s saving power in believers. Christ’s work on the cross fully amends the Fall in the Garden of Eden and is a perfect and complete redemption for sinners. Give thanks and praise the name of our Lord Jesus!!

– John Kho