July 31 – The Most Confusing Word in The Bible: Righteous
Psalm 37:12a – "The wicked plot against the righteous..."
Throughout my lifetime, the most confusing, misunderstood, nebulous word/concept in the entire Bible has been the word "righteous". It is a word that is hardly used outside of religious thinking. There are a few references, however, in secular culture. Do you remember the Righteous Brothers music duo from the 60s onward? The world even uses the phrase "holier-than-thou" to reflect a perceived arrogance of a more-righteous behavior. That latter concept infers that righteous behavior has to do with morality, that built-in understanding of what are right and wrong acts. Behavior is certainly tied to a moral understanding of righteousness.
In reference to the opening Bible verse, however, "the righteous" is a person or group of people. So, who is the righteous; what makes them righteous; how do they possess righteousness; and what is righteous behavior? A cursory look at David's psalms gives us a contrastive overview of the wicked versus the righteous. A contrastive, but confusing, Psalm 91 also follows that theme. While reading these psalms, many questions arise in my thinking, especially when I contrast David's erratic actions over the course of his 70 years. With that in mind, I don't intend to make this blog an exclusive study of the concept of righteousness. I only want to give an overview and how I was inspired while reading Psalm 91.
Psalm 91:8 sums up the misfortunes described in verses 5-7, as being the just payment for "the wicked". These misfortunes, however, in reality, happen to all kinds of people and have happened throughout history. Is the protection reflected in Psalm 91:5-8 a definition of hyper-faith? The New Testament has examples of misfortunes happening to Christians. That sentiment is not my theme. As I reflected on "the wicked" in verse 8, I was reminded of Romans 3:10-16. In these compiled references of distinct Old Testament verses, Paul weaves the argument that all people are "wicked" and not righteous. This causes Psalm 91:8 to make perfect sense, because I am the wicked person. It is no wonder then, when my fallen nature (Romans 5:12-14) coincides with living in a fallen world (Romans 8:20-21), that undesirable things happen in my physical life. But I digress yet again, except to say that all of us are wicked individuals, (who may happen to act righteously from time to time; this concept will also play into BEING righteous versus acting righteously.) Then, how do I get righteousness? Let me mention two distinct understandings of the word righteous without trying to back up the definitions with detailed Greek language explanations.
The word righteous can basically mean two things: 1) being in right-standing with God (a peaceful friendship versus a status of enmity); and 2) behaving in a morally acceptable way towards people and God, which also pleases God. One is a positional or relational righteousness; the other is a practical, action-oriented righteousness.
Let us work backwards then from the argument in Romans 3, and from the (also confusing-sounding) remedy in 1 Corinthians 1:30 – "It is because of God that you are IN Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness, and redemption." Our right-standing (relational righteousness) with God is only because Jesus purchased that reconciliation through his atoning death on the cross (Romans 5:6-10). Our faith in that understanding of salvation was also what saved people under the old covenant, despite the fact that Jesus had not yet come to make atonement; the people's faith in the idea that God would forgive their sins, despite their wickedness is clearly shown in David's psalms, not because people could live any way they liked, but because their hearts were already drawn to a loving God. It is God's kindness that leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4), not just under the new covenant, but also in the times and covenants before. See the following for examples of those puzzle pieces: Psalm 32:1; Hebrews 11:7; and Romans 4:1-14, for the intertwining of righteous acts with faith.
