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[This blog originally appeared on MatthewRuttan.com. You can also listen to the audio version as a podcast episode by clicking here.]

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There is a word that Christians need to reclaim.

It’s been neglected. Sometimes even avoided. I wonder if this grieves God. After all, it’s his word.

As I tell you what it is, be mindful of your first reaction. I think this is going to tell you something.

The word is righteousness.

What was your first response to it? Be honest. What was your very first gut reaction to my suggestion that Christians need to reclaim the word righteousness?

Did you instinctively hope it was something else? Were you disappointed? Did you think I missed the mark? Does that word somehow seem tarnished or out-of-date to you?

Did you wish I had said love? Or truth? Or mercy? Or courage? Or community? Well, all of these are a part of righteousness. Your immediate reaction might be an indication that you that you need to keep reading (or listening) to understand the rationale. After all, it’s a special idea that God himself has chosen.

Sneering

Our society sneers at the idea of righteousness. When many people think of that word the first thing they think about is someone who is “self-righteous.” That’s someone who thinks they are better than others. Think of a person who is clearly “full of themselves” or looking down their nose upon some lesser bloke they deem to be morally inferior.

No one wants to spend time with someone who is self-righteous. If they do, they tend to leave the experience feeling worse about themselves, not better.

I think there are seditious unseen forces who are actively steering us away from the word. If you have an allergic reaction to the idea that righteousness should somehow be pursued in any meaningful way, then that may be evidence that unbiblical deception is taking up more real estate in your mind than it should.

What is righteousness?

So, what is righteousness, anyway? Answering this question will help us reclaim a word that has been dragged through the muck.

As we begin, we need to keep in mind that we are here talking about two kinds of righteousness.

First, there is a way of life.

Someone who is “righteous” is someone who is humbly living in a way that is right with God and right with others. They are being faithful to the Lord and loving their neighbours.

This is a work-in-progress for all Christians. None of us are perfect (Romans 3:23). The apostle John says that “sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4). We routinely break God’s commands and mistreat others. When Craig Groeschel says that “no one stumbles into righteousness,”[1] he is commenting on the fact that (a) it takes dedicated effort, and (b) we need help from God if we’re ever going to make progress.

By God’s grace, and because his Spirit lives within his people (1 Corinthians 6:19), he grows us to become more like Christ. J.I. Packer observes that “a growing passion for personal righteousness,” along with “a more acute distress at the godlessness and immorality of the world around” is a sign that we are headed in the right direction in the footsteps of Jesus.[2]

Second, there is a status.

Speaking of Christ, his people are declared righteous before God not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done on our behalf. By God’s grace and through faith, Jesus’ righteousness gets credited to our account.

Last year I was in a drive-thru lane waiting for my coffee and sandwich. When I got up to the window I learned that the person in front of me had paid my bill. The analogy is very limited, but it gets us thinking about one person paying something for someone else. That other person was not me, but they did something which clearly benefited me.

2 Corinthians 5:21 says: “For our sake he [God] made him [Christ] to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Martin Luther called this an “alien righteousness.” He was not talking about U.F.O.’s, but rather how our standing before God comes from an outside source, something which is “alien” to our own achievements.

This is sometimes called the great exchange. Jesus gets our sin (and pays for it on the cross) and we get his righteousness (as a free gift through faith). Michael Reeves summarizes it like this: “He takes our sin; we take his righteousness.”[3]

So while our righteous standing before God is something given to us from an outside source (Christ), we strive with God’s help to live in a way that is righteous while here on earth. This includes living by God’s good instructions, growing in love for the people around us, and responding to his call on our lives. We learn about all of these things in his word, the Bible.

To summarize, God has given us a special word: righteousness. Sometimes it refers to a status (which we are given in Christ—the “great exchange”), and sometimes it refers to a way of life—to living in a way that is right before God and right before others.

Can you imagine how incredible the world would be if we all strove for that kind of living?

Eliminating words?

Every once in a while dictionaries get updated. Some words get taken out, others get put in, and the meaning of words can even change. Someone once said to me that the writers of dictionaries have a disproportionate influence on history. After all, words powerfully impact how we think. With this in mind, C.R. Wiley writes: “Eliminate a word and you eliminate an idea, and, by implication, a way of living that the idea suggests.”[4]

Well, the Oxford Junior Dictionary made an update. Do you want to know what word they took out? Sin. I don’t know their motives. But in our increasingly permissive and hedonistic culture, it’s telling, isn’t it? I wonder what word is next. I have a guess.

Righteousness.

Addicted

John Calvin writes: “unless we are devoted—even addicted—to righteousness, we will faithlessly abandon our Creator and disown Him as Saviour.”[5]

“Eliminate a word and you eliminate an idea, and, by implication, a way of living that the idea suggests.” But if we properly understand a word, use that word, and strive for a certain way of life with the help of God Almighty, we are advancing his will being done on earth as it is in heaven.

What should I pray for myself? Righteousness.

What should I pray for my friends? Righteousness.

What should I pray for my spouse? Righteousness.

What should I pray for my children? Righteousness.

What should I pray for my church? Righteousness.

What should I pray for our leaders? Righteousness.

What should I pray for my country? Righteousness.

Why do we shy away from a word and a way of life that God lifts high?

In Psalm 1:6 we learn that the Lord knows (or “watches over”) the way of the righteous. Psalm 112:6 teaches that the “righteous will never be moved.” In Matthew 13:43 Jesus says that “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.”

I remember hearing Kevin DeYoung speak at a conference for The Gospel Coalition Canada. He encouraged the attendees to use biblical words and ideas to address the problems we face. Why do we shy away from the words God himself gives to us? Are we trying to sound cool or more up-to-date than the God of eternity who will continue to govern the universe long after our time on earth is up? Maybe we should spend less time changing his words to fit our words, and more time changing our words to fit his.

Life is a battleground not a playground. Maybe we need to start talking—and living—like this is actually true.

Righteousness.

This is a word that Christians need to reclaim. Let’s do it—and live it—for the glory of God.

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[1] Craig Groeschel, Liking Jesus: Intimacy and Contentment in a Self-Centred World (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015), 120.

[2] J.I. Packer, Rediscovering Holiness: Know the Fullness of Life with God (Wheaton: Crossway, 2021), 2nd ed., 215.

[3] Michael Reeves, Authentic Ministry: Serving from the Heart (Bridgend: Union Publishing, 2022), 85.

[4] C.R. Wiley, The Household and the War for the Cosmos (Canon Press, 2019), 18.

[5] John Calvin, A Little Book on the Christian Life (Reformation Trust, 2017), 9.