What is the Bible Referring to, when “Righteousness” is the Topic?
There is much to discuss with the spirit of GOD after this one. We think we are pleasing GOD with how we live, treat and speak to one another.!
Let’s get warmed up! (Genesis 38)
Tamar was married to Judah’s eldest son, Er, who died.
According to levirate custom, Tamar should have been given to the next son to preserve the family line.
Judah’s second son, Onan, also died after refusing this duty.
Judah promised Tamar his youngest son, Shelah, but never fulfilled that promise, leaving Tamar without legal protection or descendants.
Realizing Judah would not act, Tamar disguised herself and unknowingly conceived by Judah himself.
When Judah later condemned her for immorality, Tamar produced Judah’s seal, cord, and staff as proof.
At that moment, Judah publicly confessed: “She is more righteous than I…”
Asking GOD’s Spirit about RIGHTEOUSNESS can be a deep question. We all know that the mere inquiry into this topic, asking answers from the Holy and Righteous Judge, will illicit something more than we thought we would be able to chew and swallow. It is however, a very important question. The answer(s) will be just as critical. Well, I asked. I initially searched the Scriptures, from the framed reference point of what was “stemming from GOD’s mouth.” Some would ask, “Why would I need that? That would come from the OT and that has no merit any longer. We only use what Paul said and maybe refer to some of what Jesus said.” Here is your answer—because in Scripture, righteousness is first and foremost defined by GOD’s own character and declarations, not human moral and religious systems.
The core view and understanding of what Is “Right” in GOD’s Guidance (Laws) comes from the root words/letters צ־ד־ק (Ṣ‑D‑Q). The basis of these (3) has words that are specific in nature and the definition and action these are tied to. They are as follows:
צֶדֶק (tsedeq) – righteousness / justice / right order
צְדָקָה (tsedaqah / tzedakah) – righteousness expressed in action
צָדַק (tsadaq) – to be in the right, vindicated, or justified
All of the Lexical definitions consistently agree that tsedeq means “What is right, just, or correct according to an established standard.” In this case, what is “established” is and has been GOD’s Word, since He started speaking. He is and has been the Standard. This very Standard is going to drive and make secure our character and integrity. No wonder we men struggling in these two areas. We often don’t want to live and treat one another according to the Words of GOD. We often refer to something a man has declared and hope that he has a clue. So frequently, we don’t have that clue (understanding) in our possession and refuse to go get it from the Source.
Righteousness is notselective godliness and principles; it is us aligning with GOD’s Way of fixing the truth we use to the reality of His Truth.
In His Words… One of the earliest times the Holy GOD defined righteousness in His own speech about Abraham, “…for I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the Way of the LORD by doing righteousness and justice.” — Genesis 18:19
This is before Moses! What righteousness was Noah living by? …GOD’s Words, by Speech. Righteousness is something you and I “do,” and is married to/with justice. In a nutshell, it describes how faithful we are to fulfilling our responsibility within any relationship we are in, especially the ones of Covenant.
If we can wrap our minds of faith around GOD being Righteous, we can possibly understand how He walks in Covenant Faithfulness. This is what keeps you and I alive, close and within reach. He will not abandon His creation—even less likely, the ones who have chosen to be in Covenant with Him. THAT means, be obedient to His words and not the doctrine of a human, not an establishment.
When Scripture says GOD is righteous, it does not mean He is morally restrained by a higher law. What even would THAT be? What it means though is:
He is faithful to His Word
He keeps Covenant (His) with His people
He acts consistently with His Promises
“The LORD is righteous in all His ways and faithful in all He does.”— Psalm 145:17
The Lexicons I have been in explicitly define GOD’s righteousness as His Covenant‑keeping justice, so, righteousness is trustworthiness as much as honorable morality. Righteousness originally detailed in Scripture, per GOD’s Words.
The “righteousness of the Pharisees” is not seen as a Christian sketch, but as it would have been understood within Second Temple Judaism (of Israel), the TANAKH, and the social world of Jesus. This is why tzedakah means both righteousness and charity—because generosity is covenant faithfulness in action. The Pharisees understood righteousness through this same lens, but with a particular emphasis. Yeshua never condemned Torah or Pharisees wholesale. He critiqued a distortion of righteousness.
Some of the same things we do to one another are the things Yeshua critiqued then. His statement “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees…” was a mouthful and provided reason for caution for the listeners.
This statement only makes sense if you, the reader is reading and studying from a Hebraic context, not the English and Greek mindsets. These people in Judea are NOT Christians. They are Jews living by the Torah and TANAKH (that includes Yeshua). Jesus is not saying “Be stricter than the Pharisees,” nor is He talking about “Outperform them in rule‑keeping.” What we see and hear Him saying is “Return to the heart of covenant righteousness and let righteousness flow from a transformed heart. Scripture declares in MANY areas of the Bible, to “Let justice, mercy, and faithfulness define your obedience.” –Jer 31 & Ez 36
If we look at the life He lived and shared, we should see how His righteousness is relational, not merely behavioral.
Just because we read things in different parts of the Bible does not mean that it means something totally different.
Since we are drawing directly from the Hebrew terms and the cultural world behind them, we must look at the next statement as it is. …a Hebraic term, being relayed to the people of a likely different culture. We must go back to the original context to understand why it was said and what it meant. This is the VERY THING going on with Paul. He was taking Hebraic terms and culture and sharing it with the nations. They had to learn and obey the Ways of the TANAKH from the Tribes of Jacob (in the case with Paul, Judah). It has not changed.
We of the nations are to learn some things in order to live according to the Ways of GOD, based on the Words of the Bible, from the Nation of Israel—and not try to build our own GOD, Yeshua, Holy Spirit, Peter, James and Paul. That is NOT Scriptural.
“All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”—Isaiah 64:6
Can you consider this not being a “rag” in the modern sense. It can be considered a normal garment, often an inner garment or lap cloth. The root also carries the idea of treachery or deceit, hinting that the “garment” symbolizes a deceptive covering—a righteousness that looks like devotion but hides something else.
Here is another connection (ʿiddim) — menstrual cloths. This is not just “dirty” but ceremonially unclean in ancient Israel. Menstrual blood rendered a person and anything it touched ritually impure. Thus, the image is not “grossness” but ritual impurity—something unfit to bring into GOD’s Presence. That should be clear enough to grasp.
Isaih was talking to the people and the way they have been living, acting and treating their covenant with GOD. Isaiah 64 is a joint lamentation. Israel as a whole is crying out because, they have been unfaithful, and their worship had become tainted and fake. external and performative. What they were doing “for” GOD was not really the case. Their covenant loyalty had worn thin. Even their GOD-mandated rituals were just being done in a manner that filled the requirement. THIS LOOKS and SOUNDS just like Christianity, the Messianic Communities and the like.
Isaiah includes himself (“we are all…”) because he is speaking as part of the nation.
The issue is not that righteous acts are bad. The issue is that their righteousness had become corrupted—a clean garment made unclean through hypocrisy and covenant infidelity.
Righteousness of treatment towards their neighbor is a popular theme that sits at the very heart of the Scriptures AND the Teachings of Jesus. This is one of the most important focuses in all of the Bible, and it becomes even more powerful when you see it through Hebrew eyes. If you did not know this… The Bible is a totally Hebrew text—even what was written to the people not in the land of the Tribes of Jacob. Look for the themes of implementing GOD’s culture and His people and the surrendered nations and how His Emissaries are telling them what they are not allowed to do, per the Scrolls they, Words they heard from the Messiah, or what they recalled.
NOTE: Righteousnessis to be considered and treated as Covenant faithfulness, expressed in relationships. Righteousness is not an internal feeling or a doctrinal status. I have mentioned this all throughout this post, “It is yours and my faithfulness to the Covenant we agreed to, when we said, YES to Jesus. This is the same Covenant He taught and walked out. This agreement between us and GOD (His Son) and GOD and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob) has the same language:
Loving GOD
Loving your neighbor
Loving the stranger
Loving the poor
Loving the vulnerable
Loving your enemy
Righteousness is always going to be measured by how you treat the people GOD cares about. This is why the prophets are constantly saying take care of your people.
“Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your GOD.” He is talking to the people of the Nation if Israel. Walking with GOD and treating people rightly are inseparable—Micah 6:8
Can you recall how many times the terms of how the nation’s righteousness also involved the treatment towards the poor, orphans and widows? They are named together because they lack three protections that Israel depended on:
Land
Male legal representation
Tribe inheritance
“You shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If you afflict them in any way and they cry out to Me, I will surely hear their cry.”—Exodus 22:22–23
<gulp>
REMINDER: GOD rejects our worship (including sacrifices back then) that were offered without people living by His righteousness.
“Seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.”
— Isaiah 1:17
The prophets do not accuse Israel of atheism. They accuse Israel of “performing” worship, while breaking Covenant righteousness—just like we do TODAY!
“Woe to those who make unjust laws… to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed of My people, making widows their prey and robbing the fatherless”— Isaiah 10:1–2
Consider why Judah said “she is more righteous than …I”—Genesis 38
You cannot be righteous while exploiting the vulnerable. Religious language without covenant action is fraud. In the Biblical view, righteousness toward the poor, orphan, and widow means faithfully fulfilling God‑assigned covenant responsibility to protect, provide, and restore justice for those without social power—and failing to do so is Covenant betrayal.
Covenant commitment made visible in real relationships is GOD’s Righteousness oozing out of you and me.