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RIGHTEOUSNESS IN NT
RIMjMON
from what they have in Jewish theology. Essen- tially, St. Paul is far more of a mystic than of a legalist, though he still speaks, to some extent, the language of legalism in wliich he had heen horn and trained. Cf. Thackeray, Relation of St. Paul to Contemporary Jewish Thought, 87 ft'.
The question arises : If faith is reckoned for righteousness, is it hecause faith is synonymous with righteousness or a substitute for it ? Faith is not righteousness in the sense of being so inherently excellent that it may be regarded as equivalent to righteousness. The power and value of faith are in its object. Faith is f^Teat because it allies man with God. Faith is union with Christ, and this union involves and guarantees increasing Christ- likeness, and Christlikeness is righteousness. The imputation of faith for righteousness involves a gracious treatment of man on the part of God ; it is an anticipatory declaration of what the grace of God will increasingly realize in those who in faith open their lives to the power of the Divine life. Justification means an entire forgiveness and an increasing attainment of righteousness.
(C) Righteousness in the Johannine Writ- ings.— In one passage only in the Fourth Gospel is the word Sixaios applied to God : ' O righteous Father, the world knew thee not, but I knew thee' (l"''^). The idea of God's righteousness here appears to be that it is the quality which prevents Him from passingthe same judgment upon Christ's disciples which He passes upon the sinful world. Upon this equitableness of God, Jesus bases His con- fidence in asking that special blessings be conferred upon His disciples. The thought is similar in 17", wliere the Father is designated as S.yioi. As the One who is absolutely good, — wholly separate from all that is sinful and WTong, — God is besought to guard from e^nl those \\ hom He lias given to His !son. In both these cases the righteousness or holiness of God is conceived of, not as a forensic or retributive quality, but as God's ovm moral self - consistency, His faithfulness to His own equity.
In 1 Jn (1' 2^) God is described as Jkaios, and, in both cases, in a sense closely akin to that which we have found in the Gospel. ' If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous (Tna-ris Kal Skoios) to forgive us our sins' (V). The correlation of the word Si/caios with the word Tricrris, as well as the entire context, shows that righteousness here is that quality of God which would certainly lead Him to forgive those who repent. It wotild be inconsistent in God — contrary alike to His pro- mises and to His nature — not to forgive the peni- tent, and to exert upon his life the purifying in- fluences of His grace. In the remaining passage (2-^), the term ' righteous ' has a broader meaning, and designates the moral perfection of God in general, as the type and ideal of all goodness in man : ' If ye know that he (God) is righteous, ye know that every one also that doeth righteousness is begotten of him.' Since God is essentially righteous, those who are begotten of Him must also be righteous. A similar thought is presented in 3', but in the reverse order : ' He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he (Christ) is righteous.' As against the Gnostic over-emphasis of knowledge, the apostle insists that the mere intellectual possession of truth is not enough. Truth, or righteousness, is not merely something to be known, but something to bo done (1° 3-'). The man is righteous who walks in the truth as his native element (2 Jn *, 3 .In "• ') ; in whom the truth dwells, controlling and guiding him (Jn 8", 1 Jn 2') ; who belongs to the truth and draws from it the strength and inspiration of his life (Jn 18", 1 Jn 2»' 3'»). Doctrine and life are in- separable.
{D) Righteousness in other >T "Writings. - There is nothing characteristically dillerent in th« conception of righteousness in the minor types of NT teaching from what we have already tound. The word is almost alwaj's used in the practical, religious sense of the good life which Christ in the gospel requires and imparts. Both James and Hebrews allude to righteousness in the sense of a gift of God on condition of faith (Ja 2=», He 11'), but both these Epistles generally speak of it aa that good life which the Christian loves and seeks. In the Petrine Epistles righteousness is the holy life in contrast to sin, as in 1 P 2^ ' that we, hav- ing died unto sins, might live unto righteousness.' In Revelation righteousness is predicated of the judgment (19", cf. IS''), and is said to be 'done' (cf. 1 Jn) by those who are righteous in the world to come (22").
From this sketch it appears that the NT presents the idea of righteousness mainly in two ways : (1) as a quality of God's nature and action, and (2) as the cnaracter which God requires of man. The first of these ideas is the logical basis of the second. "What God requires is grounded in what God is. What, now, is the actual content of that Divine righteousness which is the test and measure of all good life in men ? What is the ethical nature of God? St. John replies that it is love, and the whole NT conception of God agrees with this answer. Righteousness is an activity or aspect of love. When it is used to denote more especially the law and penalty side of God's nature, it is the self- respecting, self-preservative aspect of holy love — love as it appears in forbidding all sin and en- joining conformity to the perfect standard of uprightness. Righteousness is an element of love, ^^ ithout which love would be mere benevolence or good-nature. But since love is eternally holy, and is a consuming fire to all sin, justice and judgment are the foundation of God's throne. In the NT, righteousness is sometimes used more comprehen- sively to denote the equity or uprightness of God in general. His correspondence to what He ought to be ; sometimes more narrowly to denote the judicial aspect of His nature and action. In the latter sense it may be defined as the self-respect of perfect love.