VB143 Rightwiseness
You Are the Righteousness of God in Christ Jesus
Rightwiseness
[Mt 3:14-15; 3:16; 4:1,17]
Righteousness is RIGHT STANDING WITH GOD. It gives you the ability to be free of guilt, condemnation, fear, and inferiority. These are four problems that rob many Christians of God’s blessings.
We must diligently study to learn that an understanding of righteousness can transform our lives. Imagine a life of blessings with no guilt, fear, condemnation, or inferiority. What a blessed life it would be!
Righteousness is the greatest blessing of the new creation. Righteousness is a key word in the Apostle Paul’s epistles because it is the object of redemption.
The central theme of the gospel message is righteousness. God Himself is righteous; He gives His righteousness to us when we believe. The Old Testament Law and Prophets speak of righteousness obtained through faith.
It is the nucleus of saving faith in Jesus Christ, who through His death and resurrection restores us to righteousness and life. As a result of God’s acceptance of us as righteous, believers can walk in righteousness and holiness, having fruitful lives in the kingdom of God.
How can a righteous God freely give righteousness to an unrighteous people? Paul’s answer is: the love and mercy of God, revealed in the cross—is a love so strong that nothing can separate us from it. We can all become righteous in God’s sight if we believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
In studying righteousness, Holy Spirit imparted to me the idea that Jesus bought and paid for us, so He has the right to take us home.
William Vine, an English Bible scholar, and theologian, explained the Greek word, translated righteousness. “Dikaiosune (dik-i-yos-oó-nay) is the character or quality of being right or just; it was formerly spelled rightwiseness which clearly expresses its meaning.”1
The word “righteousness” is used many times throughout the Bible.
The first place in the New Testament where we see the word righteousness is at our Lord’s baptism in Matthew 3:15. Like many, you may ask, why should Jesus be baptized? The prophet John (the baptist) knew his cousin Jesus was sinless and didn’t need the baptism of repentance. So at first he refused to baptize Jesus.
Mt 3:14-15 (NKJV) – And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to me?” [15] But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.
Jesus said – “Permit it be so now [begin to allow it to happen], because it is [emphatically, or definitely] fitting for” us “[indeed; to effectively bring about] to fulfill all [rightwiseness].”2
This scripture gives us the end, or cut-off point in what I call an overlap or transition of historical events, or dispensations. It marks the end of a silent time between OT and NT, and the beginning of messianic ministry.
I don’t feel bad for not understanding all about Jesus’ baptism, evidently John had issues too. But I do see righteousness here as the equity and justification of Christian character. And we do know the Father was pleased (v. 17).
It’s enough to focus on what the Bible does say, rather than speculate on it’s silence of a topic.
What we can see here is; Jesus knew they both had some fulfilling to do concerning righteousness. John the baptist, publicly announced Jesus as the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29-36). And it fulfilled the prophecy (Isa 11:2 and others). And at His baptism, Jesus was anointed (Acts 10:38) by the Holy Ghost (Mt 3:16) and was empowered to begin His ministry. If Jesus needed to be anointed, how much more do we (Lk 24:49 with Acts 1:8 and 2:1-4) for our Christian character?
Note that this was the first manifestation of the Trinity (in a single verse) of the New Testament. The Father’s voice from heaven declaring Jesus to be the beloved Son, and the Spirit descended upon the One who came to baptize others with that same Spirit.
Mt 3:16 (NKJV) –When He had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him.
Mt 4:1 (NKJV) –Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Mt 4:17 (NKJV) –From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
We really need to understand that when we receive Jesus as Lord, we become “the righteousness of God in Him,” (2Cor 5:21).
My declaration:
In Christ, I become all that God requires me to be, all that I could never be by myself. I am the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus! Wow!
God bless you my friend,
1Vine, W. E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words (Oliphants Ltd., 1952)
2My translation and emphasis based on: Gary Hill. The Discovery Bible (NASB N.T.) H.E.L.P.S. Study System (Winona Lake: BMH Books, 1987).
