Righteousness by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

The dictionary defines righteousness as behavior that is morally justifiable or right — characterized by accepted standards of morality, justice, virtue, or uprightness.

But the Bible's standard of human righteousness is God's own perfection — in every attribute, every attitude, every behavior, and every word. God's law does not merely describe rules to follow; it describes God's own character.

When the commandment says thou shalt not kill, it means God will not murder. The kill referenced there must be understood in the context of justice. God can execute judgment — but God will not murder. When the commandment says thou shalt not commit adultery, it means God will never forsake His church for another. Adultery in the spiritual realm is idolatry — the abandonment of covenant. So when people view the ten commandments as merely a list of prohibitions, they miss the deeper truth: these are ten things God Himself will never do.

That is why God gave us the Holy Spirit — to keep the law through us, by Himself. It takes God to do what God requires, because those commands reflect His character and attributes. The Holy Spirit comes not to enforce the law in a consequential way, but in a preventive way — teaching, directing, alerting. Titus 2:11–12 confirms: the grace of God that has appeared to all men teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly lust. Grace is not a shortcut around the law. Jesus came to fulfill it.

The Meaning of Righteousness — Hebrew and Greek

Righteousness means code of conduct. That is the foundational Old Testament definition.

The Hebrew word most often translated righteousness is tsedaqah (TSEDAQAH), meaning: just, righteous, justice, rightness, moral rightness.

The Greek transliteration is dikaiosune (DIKAIOSUNE), meaning: justification, a legal standing of being declared right, equity, a statute or status, judgment, ordinance, righteousness.

Righteousness and justification are used interchangeably throughout the New Testament.

How the Bible Describes Righteousness

1. Right deeds or right conduct.

   Genesis 30:33 — My righteousness will answer for me in time to come. Jacob is referring to all the honorable things he did while serving Laban. Deuteronomy 9:4–6 warns Israel not to think God gave them the promised land because of their righteousness — that is, their good deeds. See also 1 Samuel 26:23, 2 Samuel 22:21–25, 1 Kings 3:6, Psalm 11:7.

2. Fair judgment.

   Leviticus 19:15: In righteousness you shall judge your neighbor. Righteousness here means fairness — impartial, equitable judgment. See also Psalm 9:8.

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3. Kindness toward people, rendered unto God.

   Deuteronomy 24:13: It shall be righteousness to you before the Lord. The act of returning a neighbor's pledge so that he may sleep in his own garment is counted as righteousness — kindness given to a person but directed unto God. 2 Corinthians 9:10 speaks of God multiplying the fruit of your righteousness in the context of generosity. Matthew 6:1 similarly uses the word righteousness when speaking about the giving of alms.

   Note: the phrase fruit of righteousness in Scripture carries two distinct meanings — (1) benevolence and generosity as an act of righteousness, and (2) the fruit of transformed character that flows from standing before God. Both are correct depending on context. See James 3:18, Hebrews 12:11, Philippians 1:11.

4. Imputed gift from God.

   Genesis 15:6 — the foundational text: And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. This fourth category is the one that transitions into the full New Testament revelation of righteousness.

Righteousness in the Old Testament

The Old Testament reveals three foundational truths about righteousness:

1. Righteousness was required.

   God is holy, therefore He requires righteousness. Deuteronomy 6:25: Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He has commanded us. The law revealed God's righteous standard. It also exposed human inability to meet it.

2. Human righteousness was revealed as insufficient through works.

   Psalm 143:2: In Your sight no one living is righteous. Isaiah 64:6: We are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags. Even our best attempts could not meet God's standard.

3. Righteousness was promised through a person.

   Jeremiah 23:5–6: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness... In His days Judah will be saved... and this is His name by which He will be called: THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. This is reiterated in Jeremiah 33:15–16.

   Isaiah 53:11: By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities.

   Isaiah 61:1–3, quoted by Jesus in Luke 4:18, closes with the promise: that they may be called trees of righteousness. Jesus came to make people righteous. That was the declared purpose.

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   Pastor Dolapo Lawal

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   Psalm 72:1–2 and Psalm 132:9 echo this throughout the Psalms: the coming righteous King who would clothe His priests with righteousness.

Righteousness in the New Testament

1. Righteousness is revealed apart from the law.

   Romans 3:21–22: But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets — even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference.

   This righteousness is not human righteousness improved or upgraded. Its source is God. Its standard is God. Its sufficiency is God. That means a new believer holds the same righteousness as a mature pastor — because neither holds their own righteousness. Both hold the righteousness of Christ.

   Philippians 3:9 — Paul, despite his blameless legal record as a Pharisee, counted everything loss: not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

   Romans 10:1–10 sets the two kinds of righteousness in contrast: the righteousness of the law (do these things and live by them) versus the righteousness of faith (the word is near you, in your heart and mouth). Moses himself in Deuteronomy 30 was preaching this gospel — choosing life over death. The righteousness of faith speaks: if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved... for with the heart one believes unto righteousness.

2. Righteousness is received, not achieved.

   Romans 5:17–19: Much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ... through one Man's righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man's obedience many will be made righteous.

   The gift was not cheap. Someone worked for it — Jesus. It was then given to us. It is free to us, but it cost Him everything. God did not simply overlook sin. Justice was satisfied. What was paid for can be trusted, because God is bound to His word.

   1 Corinthians 1:30: But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.

   2 Corinthians 5:21: For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

   Romans 4:23–25: righteousness was imputed to Abraham — and it was written not for his sake alone, but for ours, who believe in Him who raised Jesus from the dead.

   Titus 3:5–7: Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us... that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

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3. Righteousness is given after believing.

   The biblical order is clear: faith first, then righteousness follows.

   Genesis 15:6: And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

   Romans 4:3–8: Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness... But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness. David also described the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works.

   Romans 4:9–11 makes the sequence explicit: Abraham received righteousness while he was still uncircumcised — in Genesis 15. The circumcision came later, in Genesis 17, as a sign and seal of the righteousness he had already received by faith. He did not walk to get righteousness. He walked because he had already received it.

   Hebrews 11:7 applies this to Noah: when Noah believed God's word about the flood and built the ark, that faith was accounted to him as righteousness. Eight people entered the ark. Those eight were not personally outstanding — they entered because they believed what Noah said. Their righteousness was imputed the moment they believed and acted on that faith. The ark is a type of Christ: whoever enters by faith is saved, not by their own moral standing.

   The whole of Hebrews 11 follows this pattern — every person listed found grace through faith. Even Gideon the doubter. Even Rahab the Gentile. The record God keeps is the record of faith. Whatever is not done by faith does not register in God's accounting.

   Galatians 3:11: The righteous man shall live by faith.

   Romans 4:13: the promise came to Abraham and his descendants through the righteousness of faith, not through the law.

4. Righteousness by faith is a fulfillment of God's plan from the Old Testament.

   The New Testament revelation of righteousness by faith is not a departure from the Old Testament — it is the culmination of it. The very first time righteousness appears in Scripture, it is imputed to a believing man. When Israel later rejected that pattern and asked for the law, God gave them what they asked for — but the original covenant was always righteousness by grace through faith.

   Psalm 132:9: Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness.

   Isaiah 61:10: He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness.

   The image in Zechariah 3:1–5 captures the heart of it. Joshua the high priest stands before God in filthy garments — his own righteousness, even as a priest who had offered sacrifices and cleansed himself by the law's requirements. Still filthy. The angel commands: Take away the filthy garments from him. And God replaces them — dressing him in clean robes. God provides what the priest could not provide for himself. That is the picture of imputed righteousness.

Righteousness Produces Right Living

Romans 5:17: Those who receive abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness will reign in life through Jesus Christ.

Romans 6:12 now applies it: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts.

Anyone who has received righteousness is reigning in life — and that means reigning over sin. This is not a prayer for help. It is a declaration of position. The instruction let him who stole steal no more is not a wishful encouragement — it is a command rooted in the reality of what righteousness has made available.

Righteousness received must produce righteousness expressed. A tree of righteousness bears fruit of righteousness. If the tree is right, the fruit will reflect it. Matthew 7:16–20: By their fruits you will know them... every good tree bears good fruit.

The clearest test of righteousness is not in public settings but in the home. If a spouse says their partner is not Christlike, that testimony carries weight — because they are the closest observer. After being filled with the Spirit, Paul's immediate practical instruction in Ephesians 5 is directed at marriage: wives submit, husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church. A person cannot be filled with the Spirit and consistently fail in the place closest to them.

Righteousness is not merely something we proclaim — it is something that must be visible in how we live, especially toward those who see us most clearly.

Righteousness Produces Relational Status

The New Testament presents righteousness not merely as a moral achievement but as a relational status.

Forgiveness addresses an act. Righteousness changes a status. A forgiven sinner is still, in classification, a sinner — the offense has been pardoned. But righteousness changes the person's standing entirely. What was done is cleared out and a new identity is given.

• To a sinner, God says: Go and sin no more.
• To a saint — one clothed in righteousness — God says: Come and dwell with me.

Righteousness is an invitation. It is not merely acquittal; it is access. Access to come and dwell in God's presence, to be with Him.

Zechariah 3:8 points forward to the Branch — the promised righteous one who would make this possible. The filthy garments of human righteousness removed. The clean robe of God's righteousness given. That is the finished work.

God's way of restoring humanity into right standing with Himself is through the gift of righteousness — received by faith, not produced by effort.