(the picture in the video is from Tim Challies)
F.
Righteousness or Justice (moral)
1. Definition
a. God always acts in accordance with what is right
and is himself the final standard of what is right. (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, pg. 204)
2. Scriptural Data
a. Deuteronomy 32:4: “The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just
and upright is he.”
b. Psalm 19:8: the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes
c. Job 40:2, 8: “Shall a faultfinder contend with the
Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.” Will you even put me in
the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
3. Consideration and
Reflection
a. 2 categories of God’s justice (Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, pg. 75)
i. Rectoral Justice: God’s justice manifest over both
the good and the evil
-Psalm 99:4: The King in his might loves justice. You
have established equity; you have executed justice and righteousness in Jacob.
ii. Distributive justice: God’s justice related to
meting out rewards and punishments
-Isaiah 3:10-11: Tell the righteous that it shall be
well with them, for they shall eat the fruit of their deeds. (remunerative
justice) Woe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him, for what his hands have
dealt out shall be done to him. (retributive justice)
b. Imputed sin and righteousness (Geerhardus Vos, Reformed Dogmatics, 4:173, 33 a-d)
i. What should we answer when someone says that in justification,
declaring us to be righteous, God does not act according to truth, since in
ourselves we are still full of sin and unrighteousness?
-God’s judgment pronounced in justification does not
mean that we possess a perfect inherent righteousness. If God said that, he
would be making an untrue declaration. But He does not do that.
-God’s judgment would likewise be untrue if He imputed
to us an imperfect righteousness of the Mediator as if it were perfect. This
would be ex injuria (by injustice). But this, too, is not the case. Nothing at
all is lacking from the righteousness of Christ.
-God’s judgment would be precisely untrue if He
declared us righteous on the basis of our persistently imperfect subjective
righteousness.
-The truthfulness of God’s judgment rests on the
truthfulness of imputation. This is no fiction. In reality, God ascribes the
merits of Christ to our account. To deny that this is a reality is also to deny
the reality of the atonement, in which, conversely, our sins are imputed to
Christ. If the mediator can occupy our legal position without that detracting
from the truthfulness of God, so also we can occupy the legal position of the
Mediator, and God’s judgment concerning that can be fully according to truth.
c. Why is
sin punished? (Charles Hodge, Systematic
Theology, 1:417-424)
i.
To reform the offender
-NO: punishment is related to God’s anger while
chastisement is related to God’s love
-Joshua 7:26: And they raised over him a great heap of
stones that remains to this day. Then the Lord turned from his burning anger.
Therefore, to this day the name of that place is called the Valley of Achor.
-Hebrews 12:5-6: And have you forgotten the exhortation
that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of
the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one
he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.”
-NO:
punishment in many cases equals destruction
-Acts
5:1-10: Ananias and Sapphira die
-Acts 12:20-23: Now Herod was angry with the people of
Tyre and Sidon, and they came to him with one accord, and having persuaded
Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they asked for peace, because their country
depended on the king's country for food.
On an appointed day Herod put on his royal robes, took his seat upon the
throne, and delivered an oration to them.
And the people were shouting, “The voice of a god, and not of a
man!” Immediately an angel of the Lord
struck him down, because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by
worms and breathed his last.
-NO: suffering in punishment causes men to hate and
reject God
-Revelation 9:20-21: The rest of mankind, who were not
killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up
worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood,
which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their
sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
ii.
To prevent crime
-NO:
not the biblical witness
iii.
Because God is holy
-infinitely
pure; opposed to all sin
iv.
Because men deserve punishment for sin
-Men
know they deserve punishment when convicted
v.
Because God’s wrath needed to be satisfied
-Justification of the elect demands both expiation
(removal of sin) and propitiation (turning away of anger through an offering)
4.
Practical Application
a. Just as
God deals fairly with everyone, so should we.
i. James 2:1-9: My brothers, show no partiality as you
hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man
wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man
in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears
the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the
poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then
made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen,
my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be
rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love
him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress
you, and the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme
the honorable name by which you were called? If you really fulfill the royal
law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you
are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are
convicted by the law as transgressors.
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