Bible Thesaurus: Righteousness

◄ Righteousness ►

Jump to: ATS • ISBE • Easton's • Webster's • Concordance • Thesaurus • Greek • Hebrew • Library • Subtopics • Terms

Thesaurus

Righteousness (442 Occurrences)
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. RIGHTEOUSNESS. ri'-chus-nes (tsaddiq,
adjective, "righteous," or occasionally "just" tsedheq, noun ...
/r/righteousness.htm - 56k

Faith-righteousness (2 Occurrences)
Faith-righteousness. Faithlessness, Faith-righteousness. Faked .
Multi-Version Concordance Faith-righteousness (2 Occurrences). ...
/f/faith-righteousness.htm - 7k

Self-righteousness
Self-righteousness. Selfrighteousness, Self-righteousness. Selfsame . Noah
Webster's Dictionary ... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia. SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. ...
/s/self-righteousness.htm - 8k

Credited (19 Occurrences)
... (BBE). Romans 4:3 For what says the Scripture? "And Abraham believed God, and
this was placed to his credit as righteousness." (See NAS NIV). ...
/c/credited.htm - 11k

Alms (13 Occurrences)
... The later Jews often used "righteousness" tsedhaqah as meaning alms, that
being in their view the foremost righteousness. (Compare ...
/a/alms.htm - 22k

Perversity (23 Occurrences)
... Leviticus 19:15 Ye do not do perversity in judgment; thou dost not lift up the face
of the poor, nor honour the face of the great; in righteousness thou dost ...
/p/perversity.htm - 13k

Accounted (32 Occurrences)
... "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (WEB). ... For
we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. (WEB). ...
/a/accounted.htm - 15k

Selfrighteousness
... Int. Standard Bible Encyclopedia SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS. self-ri'-chus-nes:
A term that has come to designate moral living as a way of ...
/s/selfrighteousness.htm - 8k

Principle (32 Occurrences)
... Romans 1:17 for righteousness of God is revealed therein, on the principle of faith,
to faith: according as it is written, But the just shall live by faith. ...
/p/principle.htm - 16k

Vindication (14 Occurrences)
... Let your eyes look on equity. (See RSV NIV). Psalms 24:5 He shall receive a blessing
from Yahweh, righteousness from the God of his salvation. (See RSV NIV). ...
/v/vindication.htm - 10k

Bible Concordance

Righteousness (442 Occurrences)

Matthew 3:15 But Jesus, answering, said to him, "Allow it now, for this is the fitting way for us to fulfill all righteousness." Then he allowed him.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who have been persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 5:20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, there is no way you will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 5:48 Be then complete in righteousness, even as your Father in heaven is complete.
(BBE)

Matthew 6:1 Take heed that ye do not your righteousness before men, to be seen of them: else ye have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.
(ASV NAS NIV)

Matthew 6:33 But seek first God's Kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things will be given to you as well.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 12:20 The crushed stem will not be broken by him; and the feebly burning light will he not put out, till he has made righteousness overcome all.
(BBE)

Matthew 12:37 For by your words will your righteousness be seen, and by your words you will be judged.
(BBE)

Matthew 21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you didn't believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. When you saw it, you didn't even repent afterward, that you might believe him.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Matthew 23:23 A curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! for you make men give a tenth of all sorts of sweet-smelling plants, but you give no thought to the more important things of the law, righteousness, and mercy, and faith; but it is right for you to do these, and not to let the others be undone.
(BBE)

Matthew 23:28 Even so you seem to men to be full of righteousness, but inside you are all false and full of wrongdoing.
(BBE)

Luke 1:17 And he will go before his face in the spirit and power of Elijah, turning the hearts of fathers to their children, and wrongdoers to the way of righteousness; to make ready a people whose hearts have been turned to the Lord.
(BBE)

Luke 1:75 In holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Luke 7:29 And all the people, including the tax-gatherers, when they listened to him upheld the righteousness of God, by being baptized with John's baptism.
(WEY)

Luke 18:9 He spoke also this parable to certain people who were convinced of their own righteousness, and who despised all others.
(WEB NIV)

John 7:24 Let not your decisions be based on what you see, but on righteousness.
(BBE)

John 16:8 When he has come, he will convict the world about sin, about righteousness, and about judgment;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

John 16:10 about righteousness, because I am going to my Father, and you won't see me any more;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

John 17:25 Father of righteousness, I have knowledge of you, though the world has not; and to these it is clear that you sent me;
(BBE)

Acts 10:35 but in every nation he who fears him and works righteousness is acceptable to him.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT)

Acts 13:10 and said, "Full of all deceit and all cunning, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to pervert the right ways of the Lord?
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Acts 17:31 because he has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Acts 24:25 As he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was terrified, and answered, "Go your way for this time, and when it is convenient for me, I will summon you."
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Romans 1:17 For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 2:5 The fact is that in the stubbornness of your impenitent heart you are treasuring up against yourself anger on the day of Anger--the day when the righteousness of God's judgements will stand revealed.
(WEY BBE)

Romans 2:13 For it is not the hearers of the law who will be judged as having righteousness before God, but only the doers:
(BBE)

Romans 2:26 Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
(KJV WBS YLT)

Romans 3:5 But if our unrighteousness commends the righteousness of God, what will we say? Is God unrighteous who inflicts wrath? I speak like men do.
(Root in WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Romans 3:10 As it is said in the holy Writings, There is not one who does righteousness;
(BBE)

Romans 3:20 Because by the works of the law no man is able to have righteousness in his eyes, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
(BBE)

Romans 3:21 But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 3:22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 3:24 And they may have righteousness put to their credit, freely, by his grace, through the salvation which is in Christ Jesus:
(BBE)

Romans 3:25 whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God's forbearance;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV)

Romans 3:26 to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Jesus.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS)

Romans 3:28 For this reason, then, a man may get righteousness by faith without the works of the law.
(BBE)

Romans 3:30 If God is one; and he will give righteousness because of faith to those who have circumcision, and through faith to those who have not circumcision.
(BBE)

Romans 4:2 For if Abraham got righteousness by works, he has reason for pride; but not before God.
(BBE)

Romans 4:3 For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:5 But to him who doesn't work, but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:6 Even as David also pronounces blessing on the man to whom God counts righteousness apart from works,
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:9 Is this blessing then pronounced on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:11 He received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while he was in uncircumcision, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they be in uncircumcision, that righteousness might also be accounted to them.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:13 For the promise to Abraham and to his seed that he should be heir of the world wasn't through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:22 Therefore it also was "reckoned to him for righteousness."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 4:24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be accounted, who believe in him who raised Jesus, our Lord, from the dead,
(See NIV)

Romans 4:25 Who was put to death for our evil-doing, and came to life again so that we might have righteousness.
(BBE)

Romans 5:1 For which reason, because we have righteousness through faith, let us be at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ;
(BBE)

Romans 5:9 Much more, if we now have righteousness by his blood, will salvation from the wrath of God come to us through him.
(BBE)

Romans 5:16 And the free giving has not the same effect as the sin of one: for the effect of one man's sin was punishment by the decision of God, but the free giving had power to give righteousness to wrongdoers in great number.
(BBE)

Romans 5:17 For if by the trespass of the one, death reigned through the one; so much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 5:18 So then as through one trespass, all men were condemned; even so through one act of righteousness, all men were justified to life.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 5:19 Because, as numbers of men became sinners through the wrongdoing of one man, even so will great numbers get righteousness through the keeping of the word of God by one man.
(BBE)

Romans 5:21 that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:13 Neither present your members to sin as instruments of unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God, as alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.
(Root in WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:16 Don't you know that to whom you present yourselves as servants to obedience, his servants you are whom you obey; whether of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness?
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:18 Being made free from sin, you became bondservants of righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:19 I speak in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh, for as you presented your members as servants to uncleanness and to wickedness upon wickedness, even so now present your members as servants to righteousness for sanctification.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 6:20 For when you were servants of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
(KJV WBS YLT)

Romans 8:10 If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 8:30 And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.
(BBE)

Romans 9:28 for He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth."
(WEB KJV DBY WBS YLT)

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who didn't follow after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 9:31 but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, didn't arrive at the law of righteousness.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 9:32 And why? Because they were pursuing a righteousness which should arise not from faith, but from what they regarded as merit. They stuck their foot against the stone which lay in their way;
(WEY)

Romans 10:3 For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn't subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 10:4 For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Romans 10:5 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, "The one who does them will live by them."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 10:6 But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart,'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down);
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Romans 10:10 For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS)

Romans 14:17 for the Kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him, you are in Christ Jesus, who was made to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption:
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you; but you have been washed, you have been made holy, you have been given righteousness in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
(BBE)

1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
(KJV BBE WBS)

2 Corinthians 3:9 For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 5:21 For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 6:7 in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 6:14 Don't be unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? Or what fellowship has light with darkness?
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 9:9 As it is written, "He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor. His righteousness remains forever."
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 9:10 Now may he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Corinthians 11:15 It is no great thing therefore if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Galatians 2:16 Being conscious that a man does not get righteousness by the works of the law, but through faith in Jesus Christ, we had faith in Christ Jesus, so that we might get righteousness by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law: because by the works of the law will no flesh get righteousness.
(BBE)

Galatians 2:17 But if, while we were desiring to get righteousness through Christ, we ourselves were seen to be sinners, is Christ a servant of sin? In no way!
(BBE)

Galatians 2:21 I don't make void the grace of God. For if righteousness is through the law, then Christ died for nothing!"
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham "believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness."
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Galatians 3:8 And the holy Writings, seeing before the event that God would give the Gentiles righteousness by faith, gave the good news before to Abraham, saying, In you will all the nations have a blessing.
(BBE)

Galatians 3:11 Now that no man gets righteousness by the law in the eyes of God, is clear; because, The upright will be living by faith.
(BBE)

Galatians 3:21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Galatians 3:24 So the law has been a servant to take us to Christ, so that we might have righteousness by faith.
(BBE)

Galatians 5:4 You are cut off from Christ, you who would have righteousness by the law; you are turned away from grace.
(BBE)

Galatians 5:5 For we, through the Spirit, by faith wait for the hope of righteousness.
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ephesians 4:24 and put on the new man, who in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Ephesians 5:9 for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth,
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS NIV)

Ephesians 6:14 Stand therefore, having the utility belt of truth buckled around your waist, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness,
(WEB KJV ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Philippians 1:11 being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Philippians 3:6 concerning zeal, persecuting the assembly; concerning the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless.
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

Philippians 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, that which is of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;
(WEB KJV WEY ASV BBE DBY WBS YLT NAS RSV NIV)

2 Thessalonians 1:5 Which is a clear sign of the decision which God in his righteousness has made; to give you a part in his kingdom, for which you have undergone this pain;
(BBE)

ATS Bible Dictionary

Righteousness

Rectitude, justice, holiness; an essential perfection of God's character, Job 36:3; Isaiah 51:5-8; John 17:25; and of his administration, Genesis 18:25; Romans 3:21,22; 10:3. It is the wonder of grace that as the righteous guardian of the law, he can acquit the unrighteous. "The righteousness of Christ" includes his spotless holiness, his perfect obedience the law demands; and "the righteousness of faith" is that imputed to the sinner who believes in Christ. With reference to personal character, righteousness is used both for uprightness between man and man, and for true religion, Genesis 18:23; Le 19:15; Isaiah 60:17; Romans 14:17; Ephesians 5:9.

Easton's Bible Dictionary

see JUSTIFICATION.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

1. (n.) Holiness; purity; uprightness; rectitude.

2. (n.) A righteous act, or righteous quality.

3. (n.) The act or conduct of one who is righteous.

4. (n.) The state of being right with God; justification; the work of Christ, which is the ground of justification.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

RIGHTEOUSNESS

ri'-chus-nes (tsaddiq, adjective, "righteous," or occasionally "just" tsedheq, noun, occasionally = "riahteousness," occasionally = "justice"; dikaios, adjective, dikaiosune, noun, from dike, whose first meaning seems to have been "custom"; the general use suggested conformity to a standard: righteousness, "the state of him who is such as he ought to be" (Thayer)):

1. Double Aspect of Righteousness: Changing and Permanent

2. Social Customs and Righteousness

3. Changing Conception of Character of God: Obligations of Power

4. Righteousness as Inner

5. Righteousness as Social

6. Righteousness as Expanding in Content with Growth in Ideals of Human Worth

LITERATURE

1. Double Aspect of Righteousness: Changing and Permanent:

In Christian thought the idea of righteousness contains both a permanent and a changing element. The fixed element is the will to do right; the changing factor is the conception of what may be right at different times and under different circumstances. Throughout the entire course of Christian revelation we discern the emphasis on the first factor. To be sure, in the days of later Pharisaism righteousness came to be so much a matter of externals that the inner intent was often lost sight of altogether (Matthew 23:23); but, on the whole and in the main, Christian thought in all ages has recognized as the central element in righteousness the intention to be and do right. This common spirit binds together the first worshippers of God and the latest. Present-day conceptions of what is right differ by vast distances from the conceptions of the earlier Hebrews, but the intentions of the first worshippers are as discernible as are those of the doers of righteousness in the present day.

2. Social Customs and Righteousness:

There seems but little reason to doubt that the content of the idea of righteousness was determined in the first instance by the customs of social groups. There are some, of course, who would have us believe that what we experience as inner moral sanction is nothing but the fear of consequences which come through disobeying the will of the social group, or the feeling of pleasure which results as we know we have acted in accordance with the social demands. At least some thinkers would have us believe that this is all there was in moral feeling in the beginning. If a social group was to survive it must lay upon its individual members the heaviest exactions. Back of the performance of religious rites was the fear of the group that the god of the group would be displeased if certain honors were not rendered to him. Merely to escape the penalties of an angry deity the group demanded ceremonial religious observances. From the basis of fear thus wrought into the individuals of the group have come all our loftier movements toward righteousness.

It is not necessary to deny the measure of truth there may be in this account. To point out its inadequacy, however, a better statement would be that from the beginning the social group utilized the native moral feeling of the individual for the defense of the group. The moral feeling, by which we mean a sense of the difference between right and wrong, would seem to be a part of the native furnishing of the mind. It is very likely that in the beginning this moral feeling was directed toward the performance of the rites which the group looked upon as important.

See ALMS.

As we read the earlier parts of the Old Testament we are struck by the fact that much of the early Hebrew morality was of this group kind. The righteous man was the man who performed the rites which had been handed down from the beginning (Deuteronomy 6:25). The meaning of some of these rites is lost in obscurity, but from a very early period the characteristic of Hebrew righteousness is that it moves in the direction of what we should call today the enlargement of humanity. There seemed to be at work, not merely the forces which make for the preservation of the group, not merely the desire to please the God of the Hebrews for the sake of the material favors which He might render the Hebrews, but the factors which make for the betterment of humanity as such. As we examine the laws of the Hebrews, even at so late a time as the completion of the formal Codes, we are indeed struck by traces of primitive survivals (Numbers 5:11-31). There are some injunctions whose purpose we cannot well understand. But, on the other hand, the vast mass of the legislation had to do with really human considerations. There are rules concerning Sanitation (Leviticus 13), both as it touches the life of the group and of the individual; laws whose mastery begets emphasis, not merely upon external consequences, but upon the inner result in the life of the individual (Psalm 51:3); and prohibitions which would indicate that morality, at least in its plainer decencies, had come to be valued on its own account. If we were to seek for some clue to the development of the moral life of the Hebrews we might well find it in this emphasis upon the growing demands of human life as such. A suggestive writer has pointed out that the apparently meaningless commandment, "Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19), has back of it a real human purpose, that there are some things which in themselves are revolting apart from any external consequences (see also Leviticus 18).

3. Changing Conception of Character of God: Obligations of Power:

An index of the growth of the moral life of the people is to be found in the changing conception of the character of God. We need not enter into the question as to just where on the moral plane the idea of the God of the Hebrews started, but from the very beginning we see clearly that the Hebrews believed in their God as one passionately devoted to the right (Genesis 18:25). It may well be that at the start the God of the Hebrews was largely a God of War, but it is to be noticed that His enmity was against the peoples who had little regard for the larger human considerations. It has often been pointed out that one proof of the inspiration of the Scriptures is to be found in their moral superiority to the Scriptures of the peoples around about the Hebrews. If the Hebrew writers used material which was common property of Chaldeans, Babylonians, and other peoples, they nevertheless used these materials with a moral difference. They breathed into them a moral life which forever separates them from the Scriptures of other peoples. The marvel also of Hebrew history is that in the midst of revoltingly immoral surroundings the Hebrews grew to such ideals of human worth. The source of these ideals is to be found in their thougth of God. Of course, in moral progress there is a reciprocal effect; the thought of God affects the thought of human life and the thought of human life affects the thought of God; but the Hebrews no sooner came to a fresh moral insight than they made their moral discovery a part of the character of God. From the beginning, we repeat, the God of the Hebrews was a God directed in His moral wrath against all manner of abominations, aberrations and abnormalities. The purpose of God, according to the Hebrews, was to make a people "separated" in the sense that they were to be free from anything which would detract from a full moral life (Leviticus 20:22).

We can trace the more important steps in the growth of the Hebrew ideal. First, there was an increasingly clear discernment that certain things are to be ruled out at once as immoral. The primitive decencies upon which individual and social life depended were discerned at an early period (compare passages in Leviticus cited above). Along with this it must be admitted there was a slower approach to some ideals which we today consider important, the ideals of the marriage relations for example (Deuteronomy 24:1, 2). Then there was a growing sense of what constitutes moral obligation in the discharge of responsibilities upon the part of men toward their fellows (Isaiah 5:8, 23). There was increasing realization also of what God, as a moral Being, is obligated to do. The hope of salvation of nations and individuals rests at once upon the righteousness of God.

By the time of Isaiah the righteousness of God has come to include the obligations of power (Isaiah 63:1). God will save His people, not merely because He has promised to save them, but because He must save them (Isaiah 42:6). The must is moral. If the people of Israel show themselves unworthy, God must punish them; but if a remnant, even a small remnant, show themselves faithful, God must show His favor toward them. Moral worth is not conceived of as something that is to be paid for by external rewards, but if God is moral He must not treat the righteous and the unrighteous alike. This conception of what God must do as an obligated Being influences profoundly the Hebrew interpretation of the entire course of history (Isaiah 10:20, 21).

Upon this ideal of moral obligation there grows later the thought of the virtue of vicarious suffering (Isaiah 53). The sufferings of the good man and of God for those who do not in themselves deserve such sufferings (for them) are a mark of a still higher righteousness (see HOSEA). The movement of the Scriptures is all the way from the thought of a God who gives battle for the right to the thought of a God who receives in Himself the heaviest shocks of that battle that others may have opportunity for moral life.

These various lines of moral development come, of course, to their crown in the New Testament in the life and death of Christ as set before us in the Gospels and interpreted by the apostles. Jesus stated certain moral axioms so clearly that the world never will escape their power. He said some things once and for all, and He did some things once and for all; that is to say, in His life and death He set on high the righteousness of God as at once moral obligation and self-sacrificing love (John 3:16) and with such effectiveness that the world has not escaped and cannot escape this righteous influence (John 12:32). Moreover, the course of apostolic and subsequent history has shown that Christ put a winning and compelling power into the idea of righteousness that it would otherwise have lacked (Romans 8:31, 32).

4. Righteousness as Inner:

The ideas at work throughout the course of Hebrew and Christian history are, of course, at work today. Christianity deepens the sense of obligation to do right. It makes the moral spirit essential. Then it utilizes every force working for the increase of human happiness to set on high the meaning of righteousness. Jesus spoke of Himself as "life," and declared that He came that men might have life and have it more abundantly (John 10:10). The keeping of the commandments plays, of course, a large part in the unfolding of the life of the righteous Christian, but the keeping of the commandments is not to be conceived of in artificial or mechanical fashion (Luke 10:25-37). With the passage of the centuries some commandments once conceived of as essential drop into the secondary place, and other commandments take the controlling position. In Christian development increasing place is given for certain swift insights of the moral spirit. We believe that some things are righteous because they at once appeal to us as righteous. Again, some other things seem righteous because their consequences are beneficial, both for society and for the individual. Whatever makes for the largest life is in the direction of righteousness. In interpreting life, however, we must remember the essentially Christian conception that man does not live through outer consequences alone. In all thought of consequences the chief place has to be given to inner consequences. By the surrender of outward happiness and outward success a man may attain inner success. The spirit of the cross is still the path to the highest righteousness.

5. Righteousness as Social:

The distinctive note in emphasis upon righteousness in our own day is the stress laid upon social service. This does not mean that Christianity is to lose sight of the worth of the individual in himself. We have come pretty clearly to see that the individual is the only moral end in himself. Righteousness is to have as its aim the upbuilding of individual lives. The commandments of the righteous life are not for the sake of society as a thing in itself. Society is nothing apart from the individuals that compose it; but we are coming to see that individuals have larger relationships than we had once imagined and greater responsibilities than we had dreamed of. The influence of the individual touches others at more points than we had formerly realized. We have at times condemned the system of things as being responsible for much human misery which we now see can be traced to the agency of individuals. The employer, the day-laborer, the professional man, the public servant, all these have large responsibilities for the life of those around. The unrighteous individual has a power of contaminating other individuals, and his deadliness we have just begun to understand. All this is receiving new emphasis in our present-day preaching of righteousness. While our social relations are not ends in themselves, they are mighty means for reaching individuals in large numbers. The Christian conception of redeemed humanity is not that of society as an organism existing on its own account, but that of individuals knit very closely together in their social relationships and touching one another for good in these relationships (1 Corinthians 1:2 Revelation 7:9, 10). If we were to try to point out the line in which the Christian doctrine of righteousness is to move more and more through the years, we should have to emphasize this element of obligation to society. This does not mean that a new gospel is to supersede the old or even place itself alongside the old. It does mean that the righteousness of God and the teaching of Christ and the cross, which are as ever the center of Christianity, are to find fresh force in the thought of the righteousness of the Christian as binding itself, not merely by commandments to do the will of God in society, but by the inner spirit to live the life of God out into society.

6. Righteousness as Expanding in Content with Growth in Ideals of Human Worth:

In all our thought of righteousness it must be borne in mind that there is nothing in Christian revelation which will tell us what righteousness calls for in every particular circumstance. The differences between earlier and later practical standards of conduct and the differences between differing standards in different circumstances have led to much confusion in the realm of Christian thinking. We can keep our bearing, however, by remembering the double element in righteousness which we mentioned in the beginning; on the one hand, the will to do right, and, on the other, the difficulty of determining in a particular circumstance just what the right is. The larger Christian conceptions always have an element of fluidity, or, rather, an element of expansiveness. For example, it is clearly a Christian obligation to treat all men with a spirit of good will or with a spirit of Christian love. But what does love call for in a particular case? We can only answer the question by saying that love seeks for whatever is best, both for him who receives and for him who gives. This may lead to one course of conduct in one situation and to quite a different course in another. We must, however, keep before us always the aim of the largest life for all persons whom we can reach. Christian righteousness today is even more insistent upon material things, such as sanitary arrangements, than was the Code of Moses. The obligation to use the latest knowledge for the hygienic welfare is just as binding now as then, but "the latest knowledge" is a changing term. Material progress, education, spiritual instruction, are all influences which really make for full life.

Not only is present-day righteousness social and growing; it is also concerned, to a large degree, with the thought of the world which now is. Righteousness has too often been conceived of merely as the means of preparing for the life of some future Kingdom of Heaven. Present-day emphasis has not ceased to think of the life beyond this, but the life beyond this can best be met and faced by those who have been in the full sense righteous in the life that now is. There is here no break in true Christian continuity. The seers who have understood Christianity best always have insisted that to the fullest degree the present world must be redeemed by the life-giving forces of Christianity. We still insist that all idea of earthly righteousness takes its start from heavenly righteousness, or, rather, that the righteousness of man is to be based upon his conception of the righteousness of God. Present-day thinking concerns itself largely with the idea of the Immanence of God. God is in this present world. This does not mean that there may not be other worlds, or are not other worlds, and that God is not also in those worlds; but the immediate revelation of God to us is in our present world. Our present world then must be the sphere in which the righteousness of God and of man is to be set forth. God is conscience, and God is love. The present sphere is to be used for the manifestation of His holy love. The chief channel through which that holy love is to manifest itself is the conscience and love of the Christian believer. But even these terms are not to be used in the abstract. There is an abstract conscientiousness which leads to barren living: the life gets out of touch with things that are real. There is an experience of love which exhausts itself in well-wishing. Both conscience and love are to be kept close to the earth by emphasis upon the actual realities of the world in which we live.

LITERATURE.

G. B. Stevens, The Christian Doctrine of Salvation; A. E. Garvie, Handbook of Christian Apologetics; Borden P. Bowne, Principles of Ethics; Newman Smyth, Christian Ethics; A. B. Bruce, The Kingdom of God; W. N. Clarke, The Ideal of Jesus; H. C. King, The Ethics of Jesus.

Francis J. McConnell

Greek

1343. dikaiosune -- righteousness, justice
... righteousness, justice. Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine Transliteration: dikaiosune
Phonetic Spelling: (dik-ah-yos-oo'-nay) Short Definition: justice, justness ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1343.htm - 7k

1345. dikaioma -- an ordinance, a sentence of acquittal or ...
... by God) to be righteous (just, the right); or the restoration of a criminal, a fresh
chance given him; a righteous deed, an instance of perfect righteousness. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1345.htm - 8k

2118. euthutes -- uprightness
... Word Origin from euthus Definition uprightness NASB Word Usage righteous (1).
righteousness. From euthus; rectitude -- righteousness. see GREEK euthus. ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2118.htm - 6k

4266. proginomai -- to happen before
... This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He
passed over the sins (4266 ); 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4266.htm - 7k

1342. dikaios -- correct, righteous, by impl. innocent
... See 1343 ("). [Righteous" relates to to (justice). For more on the
root-idea see the cognate noun, 1343 ("righteousness").]. 1342 ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1342.htm - 8k

487. antilutron -- a ransom
... exchange" and 3083 , "ransom-price") -- properly, a , referring to Christ paying
the complete to secure our () -- ie Christ His eternal righteousness for our ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/487.htm - 7k

4976. schema -- figure, shape
... was (even original sin). [2 Cor 5:21: "He made Him , so that we might become
the righteousness of God in Him" ().]. Word Origin from ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/4976.htm - 7k

1344. dikaioo -- to show to be righteous, declare righteous
... Short Definition: I make righteous, defend the cause of, justify Definition: I make
righteous, defend the cause of, plead for the righteousness (innocence) of ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/1344.htm - 9k

2315. theopneustos -- God-breathed, ie inspired by God
... Each-and-every (3956 , singular) Scripture (Gk, singular) is (2315 ) and profitable
for teaching, for convincing, for correction, for training in righteousness ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/2315.htm - 8k

846. autos -- (1) self (emphatic) (2) he, she, it (used for the ...
... 1), myself (10), number (1), one (1), one's (2), other (1), ourselves (8), own
(2), part (1), people (1), person (1), personally (1), righteousness (1), same ...
//strongsnumbers.com/greek2/846.htm - 8k

Strong's Hebrew

3072. Yhvh Tsidqenu -- "the LORD is our righteousness," a symbolic ...
... "the LORD is our righteousness," a symbolic name for Jer. ... Word Origin from Yhvh and
tsedeq Definition "the LORD is our righteousness," a symbolic name for Jer. ...
/hebrew/3072.htm - 6k

6664. tsedeq -- rightness, righteousness
... 6663, 6664. tsedeq. 6665 . rightness, righteousness. Transliteration: tsedeq
Phonetic Spelling: (tseh'-dek) Short Definition: righteousness. ...
/hebrew/6664.htm - 6k

6666. tsedaqah -- righteousness
... 6665, 6666. tsedaqah. 6667 . righteousness. Transliteration: tsedaqah Phonetic
Spelling: (tsed-aw-kaw') Short Definition: righteousness. ...
/hebrew/6666.htm - 6k

139. Adoni-tsedeq -- "Lord of righteousness," king of Jer.
... 138, 139. Adoni-tsedeq. 140 . "Lord of righteousness," king of Jer. ... Word Origin
from adon and tsedeq Definition "Lord of righteousness," king of Jer. ...
/hebrew/139.htm - 6k

6667. Tsidqiyyahu -- "Yah is righteousness," six Israelites
... "Yah is righteousness," six Israelites. Transliteration: Tsidqiyyahu or Tsidqiyyah
Phonetic Spelling: (tsid-kee-yaw') Short Definition: Zedekiah. ...
/hebrew/6667.htm - 6k

6665. tsidqah -- right-doing
... 6664, 6665. tsidqah. 6666 . right-doing. Transliteration: tsidqah Phonetic
Spelling: (tsid-kaw') Short Definition: righteousness. ... righteousness. ...
/hebrew/6665.htm - 6k

6663. tsadeq -- to be just or righteous
... you right (1), do justice (1), give him justice (1), just (2), justified (5), justifies
(1), justify (5), justifying (2), lead the to righteousness (1), made ...
/hebrew/6663.htm - 6k

2617a. chesed -- goodness, kindness
... loveliness (1), lovingkindness (176), lovingkindnesses (7), loyal deeds (1), loyalty
(6), mercies (1), merciful (2), mercy (1), righteousness (1), unchanging ...
/hebrew/2617a.htm - 6k

Library

Righteousness.
... RIGHTEOUSNESS. "that I ... faith."Ep. to the Philippians 3:8, 9. What does the
apostle mean by the righteousness that is of God by faith? ...
//christianbookshelf.org/macdonald/unspoken sermons/righteousness.htm

'The Breastplate of Righteousness'
... EPHESIANS 'THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS'. 'Having put on the breastplate
of righteousness.'"Ephesians 6:14. There can be no ...
/.../the breastplate of righteousness.htm

Faith and Righteousness
... GENESIS FAITH AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. 'And he believed in the Lord; and He counted it
to him for righteousness.' GENESIS XV.6. ... It is righteousness, for". ...
/.../maclaren/expositions of holy scripture k/faith and righteousness.htm

Practical Righteousness
... I. JOHN PRACTICAL RIGHTEOUSNESS. 'Little children, let no man deceive you; he that
doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous.'"1 John 3:7. ...
/.../expositions of holy scripture ephesians peter/practical righteousness.htm

Why the Righteousness which is of the Law is Valued Slightly by ...
... Book III. Chapter 20."Why the Righteousness Which is of the Law is Valued
Slightly by Paul. Therefore the blessed Paul casts away ...
/.../augustine/anti-pelagian writings/chapter 20 why the righteousness which.htm

A Blow at Self-Righteousness
... A Blow at Self-Righteousness. A Sermon (No.350). Delivered on Sabbath Morning, December
16th, 1860, by the. REV. CH SPURGEON. At Exeter Hall, Strand. ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 7 1861/a blow at self-righteousness.htm

"The Sun of Righteousness"
... "The Sun of Righteousness". A Sermon (No.1020). Delivered on Lord's-day Morning,
November 12th, 1871 by. CH SPURGEON,. ... "The Sun of righteousness.""Malachi 4:2. ...
/.../spurgeon/spurgeons sermons volume 17 1871/the sun of righteousness.htm

A Preacher of Righteousness
... A Preacher of Righteousness. "Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or
the lawful captive delivered?" "Thus saith the Lord, Even ...
/.../white/the story of prophets and kings/a preacher of righteousness .htm

June 1. "That the Righteousness of the Law Might be Fulfilled in ...
... JUNE 1. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Rom. viii.
4). "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us" (Romans 8:4). ...
/.../simpson/days of heaven upon earth /june 1 that the righteousness.htm

Original Righteousness.
... First Chapter. INTRODUCTION V. Original Righteousness. "For in Him we live and move,
and have our being: as certain also of your own poets have said. ...
/.../kuyper/the work of the holy spirit/v original righteousness.htm

Subtopics

Righteousness

Righteousness by Faith

Righteousness Imputed is a Free Gift

Righteousness Imputed is of the Lord

Righteousness Imputed: Abraham

Righteousness Imputed: Blessedness of Those Who Have

Righteousness Imputed: Christ Being Made Righteousness to Us

Righteousness Imputed: Christ Brings in an Everlasting Righteousness

Righteousness Imputed: Christ Called the Lord of Our Righteousness

Righteousness Imputed: Christ is the End of the Law For

Righteousness Imputed: Exhortation to Seek Righteousness