The Righteousness of God.—The righteousness of God is in his law; for "sin is the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4), and "all unrighteousness is sin" (1 John 5:17). It therefore follows that the law which prohibits or forbids all sin or unrighteousness embraces in itself all righteousness. The Law Is Righteousness.—But that God’s law is righteousness is expressly stated in his word. Says the Psalmist, "My tongue shall speak of thy word; for all thy commandments are righteousness." Ps. 119:172. Again: "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and thy law is the truth." "The righteousness of thy testimonies is everlasting." Verses 142, 144. Says the Lord through the prophet, "Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law." Isa. 51:7. The law of God, his commandments, and his righteousness are synonymous terms. That people know righteousness who have God’s law written in their hearts.
It Shall Not Be Abolished.—This righteousness, which is synonymous with his law, the Lord declares "shall not be abolished." Isa. 51:6. Jesus emphasized the same thing by saying one jot or tittle should not pass from the law till heaven and earth passed. See Matt. 5:17–20. On another occasion he declared that "it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke 16:17. The same thing is taught all through the New Testament. In the Epistle to the Romans the law of God is made the basic truth of the plan of salvation. All are subject to the law (3:19); all have sinned, or transgressed the law (3:20). Hence the necessity of the death of Jesus Christ and the gospel of the grace of God. This law, the value, the universality, and the holiness of which is so emphasized, is the will of God, and the Jews, who did not know its deeper meanings, but only its outward form, had in what they did know "the form of knowledge and of the truth." See Rom. 2:17–20.
The law can no more be abolished than can the government of God. God’s Character in His Law.—The law is the expression of God’s character. As before stated by the scriptures quoted, it is God’s righteousness. In fact, whatever is said of the moral attributes of God is said also of his law. God is said to be righteous, holy, just, true, sure, faithful, pure, wise, spiritual, perfect, merciful, everlasting, loving, etc. These adjectives, or their equivalent nouns, are spoken of God over and over again, but not more emphatically than of his law, either directly or impliedly. Read the whole of Psalms 119, where nearly all of the above qualities are spoken of God’s law, under the various terms applied to it, such as law, commandments, statutes, testimonies, precepts, judgments, ways, words. Read also Ps. 19:7–9, where the terms "perfect," "sure," "right," "pure," "clean," "true and righteous," are all applied to the precepts of God. They are said to convert, make wise, rejoice, enlighten, endure, and warn. Love is the law’s fulfilling; he who loves keeps it. 1 John 5:3. Judgment, mercy, faith, and the love of God (Matt. 23:23; Luke 11:42) are all component parts of the great reflect of God’s character; and that law demands of every responsible soul all these things, and condemns those who do not meet its claims, as coming short of God’s glory, or goodness of character. Rom. 3:20; Ex. 33:18, 19.
Man Unrighteous.—Man is a sinner. Not only has he sinned in the past, but it is his nature to sin. "The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh [carnally minded] cannot please God." Rom. 8:7, 8. Man has no righteousness in himself; he cannot get it out of the law. In fact, man cannot of himself get righteousness from any source. In his natural condition, following his natural desires, he does not want righteousness. And even though he desired to do God’s will, he could not do it, for God’s law is of one nature, he of another. Therefore, while God’s righteousness is in his law, man cannot get it from thence, because his very nature is against the law, antagonistic to its principles. He thus stands condemned by the law. And the law cannot impart to man its character, because man’s fleshly nature is against it. Rom. 8:3.
Righteousness by Faith.—But man’s case is not hopeless. The sinless Son of God took man’s sinful flesh and overcame sin in the flesh. He kept all God’s commandments in all their perfection while in the flesh. He demonstrated God’s character in the flesh. He changed it from what might be called an abstraction of law, the way it presented itself to man apart from God, and incarnated it in mortal flesh, that by union with Christ the law or character of God might be triumphantly manifest in the mortal flesh of every soul who wanted it. How all this is done, how God does it all, we need not now inquire, nor could we comprehend the working of infinite power. But we may apprehend, or lay hold, of the righteousness of God. All that God asks on our part is to choose his way, to yield up our way, to renounce sin in both deed and nature, to admit our demonstrated and condemned condition, and to accept of the death of Christ for the death of which we were worthy, the life of Christ for our life, the character of Christ for our character. That is all. What a glorious exchange, the poverty and wretchedness of sin for the eternal riches and joy of righteousness! This is the gospel, which brings the righteousness of God upon all and into all who believe. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth; . . . for therein [in the gospel] is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Rom. 1:16, 17. That righteousness comes to every man who will renounce all of self, and accept Christ for what he has revealed himself; and the law comes in as a blessed witness to show that the righteousness is the same that before condemned the sinner. Rom. 3:21.
The Righteous Man Keeps the Law.—The righteous man, the one whom God has made righteous, keeps God’s law. The righteousness of God’s law in Christ Jesus has been placed within and upon the man who has accepted Christ, and the righteousness within the heart recognizes the righteousness within the law, and by the same faith in Jesus Christ fulfills it. This is what the apostle states: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. . . . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God [did by] sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Rom. 8:1–4. He who hates God’s law knows not Christ as Saviour. He who knows Christ, loves God’s law, the blessed witness of the character of God, which is in him.498"Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." Rom. 3:31.