Righteousness

Righteousness is the attribute of having ‘right standing’ or living with ‘right behaviour’ in God’s sight. The Bible teaches that God is the only truly righteous one as all human beings have fallen short of His standards (1 John 2:1, Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23). This gives humans a problem, as unrighteous people cannot be in relationship with a righteous God and all unrighteousness must be punished (Romans 3:4-5). Yet no matter how hard we try, human effort cannot make us righteous (Romans 3:20). The Lord has dealt with this problem by sending His Son Jesus, to die as an atoning sacrifice for us, taking our unrighteousness into Himself and bearing the wrath of God for it (Romans 3:24-26, 1 Peter 3:18). In turn He gives His righteousness as a gift, so that people can be made right in His sight and we can have eternal life in God’s presence (Romans 5:17-21). If we have faith in Jesus, then by His grace we can be made righteous (Romans 3:21-31). (See Justification)