What is righteousness? A playful answer might be: it is just a word. But of course, it is more than that. What does righteousness mean? And more importantly, how do our modern ideas differ from those found in the Bible?
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These questions matter. They shape how we understand God, ourselves, and the world around us.
My interest was sparked by a recent book by Jože Krašovec, professor of biblical studies at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia: God’s Righteousness and Justice in the Old Testament. The topic is excellent, but the book itself is disappointingly unclear and disjointed. I eventually gave up reading it.
That is unfortunate, because the author has valuable insights to offer. I did take something away from my failed attempt to read and understand this book, something worth sharing. What follows seek to do just that.
Before we go, a brief note on terminology. Two Hebrew groups of words are central:
- Terms related to zedeq, commonly translated righteousness
- Terms related to mispat, commonly translated justice or judgment
The two groups show considerable overlap in meaning, much like righteous and just in English, which is why I use these terms interchangeably here.
Modern Justice
Let’s begin with what many of us instinctively think of as justice. Our modern concept, shaped heavily by Roman law, relies on rules that define – at least in principle – what is right and wrong. The same law applies to everyone. Its application should be impartial.
Modern justice is also retributive. When someone breaks the law, punishment is called for. The offender must ‘pay’ for the crime.
This mindset is embodied in statues of the Roman goddess Iustitia. She typically holds a scale (to weigh evidence) and a sword (to enforce punishment); she also wears a blindfold (symbolizing impartiality). Her primary aim is retribution.
Ancient Justice Beyond Israel
In the ancient world around Israel, however, righteousness and justice meant something quite different.
Many cultures based justice not on human-made laws but on a cosmic order: a universal, impersonal balance woven into creation. Justice meant maintaining the harmony of the world. In the case of wrongdoing, the goal was to restore balance, not to punish according to a legal code.
Roman justice, though ancient, was already moving toward a legal approach, based on man-made laws. Its focus was social rather than cosmic harmony. Its aim, therefore, was to uphold social balance.
Biblical (Hebrew) Justice
The understanding of Israel stands apart from both. What makes its understanding distinctive?
1. Its foundation is personal, not impersonal.
The Bible grounds righteousness not in cosmic order but in God’s own character. Justice is rooted in who God is and how he relates to the world.
2. Righteousness is relational.
Therefore, biblical righteousness is about right relationships – between people, and between people and God. God’s righteousness is practical: he protects, saves, restores, and sets things right. He would not be righteous if he ignored the oppressed. Orphans and widows, for instance, can depend on him.
To call God “righteous” is not to say he maintains the cosmic machinery. It is to say he acts faithfully and justly toward his people and creation.
3. The vocabulary leans toward salvation rather than punishment.
In Hebrew poetry, righteousness often appears alongside words like salvation, faithfulness, mercy, steadfast love, and kindness (see Is. 40-56; Ps. 85:10; 96:13; 98:2-3; 103:17; so also Paul in Rom. 1:16-17). Because God is righteous, he will also be saviour.
Therefore, there is no room for an impersonal cosmic balance. If righteousness is personal and relational, it implies moral responsibility.
4. The purpose of justice, then, is right relationships.
To do justice is not primarily about legal correctness but about healing what is broken.
I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. (Jer. 9:24)
The Good News of God’s Righteousness
This understanding has profound implications.
It means punishment does not hold the central place it occupies in much of Western thought. The Bible certainly acknowledges guilt and punishment, but they are relational realities, not based on legal norms consistently applied. Unlike Iustitia’s impersonal verdicts, God makes room for forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation. His goal is not simply to punish wrongdoing but to restore what has been damaged.
The point is not that there is no retributive punishment in Scripture; there is. But punishment is not its own aim. It is the final resort, when other attempts to restore righteousness have failed. The Hebrew understanding of justice is broader than the Western concept.
In addition, because God is righteous, he must also be faithful, merciful, and active. He cannot encounter injustice and remain passive. To be righteous is to save.
God’s righteousness, therefore, is not simply an unbending law, but the good news of God’s active intervention.
This is why biblical writers can speak of God’s coming judgment as a source of joy:
Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;
break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
(…)
Let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
the world and those who dwell in it!
Let the rivers clap their hands;
let the hills sing for joy together
before the LORD, for he comes
to judge the earth.
He will judge the world with righteousness,
and the peoples with equity. (Ps. 98:4, 7-9)
Judgment is good news when the judge is righteous in this sense: acting to heal and to rescue, making all things well.
Attribution
All images taken from Unsplash and Pixabay (CC0)
References
Unless indicated differently, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Krašovec, Jože. 2022. God’s Righteousness and Justice in the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans)