The Righteousness of God

The Righteousness of God part 1

1. What does Jesus say is the first thing to be sought for in life? Matthew 6:33

2. What constitutes the righteousness of God? Psalm 119:172

3. What is in the heart of those who know the righteousness of God? Isaiah 51:7

4. How long will God’s righteousness endure? Psalm 111:3

5. What is unrighteousness? 1 John 5:17

6. What does the Bible declare sin to be? 1 John 3:4

Our only definition of sin is that given in the word of God; it is “the transgression of the law;” it is the outworking of a principle at war with the great law of love which is the foundation of the divine government. (The Great Controversy, p. 493)

Therefore, according to the axiom that two things that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other, we have: Unrighteousness = transgression of the law ...which is a negative equation. The same thing, stated in positive terms, would be: Righteousness = obedience to the law. (1890, EJW, Christ and His Righteousness, pp. 47, 48)

7. What law is it, which obedience to is righteousness, and disobedience to is sin? Romans 7:7

8. Upon what did the Psalmist love to meditate? Psalm 119:97

9. What attributes does Paul give to the ten commandment law? Romans 7:12

10. How did Christ show the spirituality of the law? Matthew 5:27, 28

He [Jesus] showed that even a look or a thought may be a violation of the law, and that it is indeed a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. (Christ Our Righteousness, p. 49)

11. What is the whole duty of man? Ecclesiastes 12:13, 14

12. Who shall be justified or made righteous? Romans 2:13

13. How many of the commandments of God are important? James 2:10-12

The Righteousness of God part 2

1. Who shall be justified? Romans 2:13

2. How many have sinned (broken the law of God)? Romans 3:23

To justify means to make righteous, or to show one to be righteous. Now, it is evident that perfect obedience to a perfectly righteous law would then constitute one a righteous person.

But for one to be judged “a doer of the law,” it would be necessary that he had kept the law in its fullest measure every moment of his life.

The law speaks to all who are within its sphere; and in all the world there is not one who can open his mouth to clear himself from the charge of sin, which it brings against him. (Christ Our Righteousness, p. 54)

3. Can we be justified by the deeds of the law? Romans 3:20

The law, being ‘holy, and just, and good,’ cannot justify a sinner. In other words, a just law cannot declare that the one who violates it is innocent. (Christ Our Righteousness, p. 54)

4. Can our righteousness exceed God’s? Psalm 16:2; Job 4:17

5. What is the heart of man like? Jeremiah 17:9

6. Did Jesus know man’s heart? John 2:24, 25

7. Can the carnal man please God? Romans 8:7, 8

8. What is man’s righteousness declared to be? Isaiah 64:6

9. According to Jesus, what only can come from an evil heart? Luke 6:44, 45

Therefore works done by a sinful person have no effect to make a man righteous. Man must first be made righteous by Christ before he can do the goodness that is required of him. How this is accomplished is the subject the lesson next Sabbath.)

10. Does the Bible speak of people who are righteous? Isaiah 3:10

11. Does the Bible speak of a righteous nation? Isaiah 26:1, 2

12. What constitutes the truth which the righteous nation keeps? Psalm 119:142

13. Who will enter God’s kingdom? Matthew 7:21