The Doctrine of Righteousness
Righteousness means rightness or being upright in all things. Paul’s letter to the Roman believers explains God’s righteousness and humanity’s lack of righteousness. Only God is holy, pure, and utterly perfect; He knows no sin. Every human lacks true and perfect righteousness.1 While we may gain a measure of security by finding someone whose behavior seems worse than our own, righteousness cannot be measured by imperfect human standards. Righteousness must be measured by God’s holy and perfect standard—by which we all stand condemned and without hope.God understands our weakness and does not leave us hopelessly enslaved by sin. He extends compassion and offers His grand solution to our utter unrighteousness. God sent His Son to provide us His own true and perfect righteousness. When we believe Jesus bore the punishment our sin deserves, God freely gives us His righteousness, apart from any contribution on our part. This is the only way to be right with God. This transaction is called “justification” because we are counted as “just,” or back in proper relationship, with God. Jesus “was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”2