The Bible talks a lot about righteousness. It is not a word largely used in our modern culture but is central to understanding what went wrong in the relationship between God and man and how that relationship can be made right again. Understanding righteousness is the key to understanding salvation. We have gathered the top contents that best describe righteousness in this article:

First and foremost, righteousness is an attribute of God: “For the LORD is righteous” (Psalm 11:7). The fact that God is righteous means that he “always acts in accordance with what is right and is himself the final standard of what is right” (Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology). Righteousness is a statement about God’s moral nature and it means that he never does wrong. More than that, God’s righteousness means that he cannot do wrong.

1 John 1:5 “God is light; in him, there is no darkness at all.”

For man, righteousness is a measure of morality just as it is for God, but man has no part in defining what is right. Man is righteous only as much as his morality, expressed in desires, thoughts, and deeds, conforms to that of God’s. Where he differs with God, he is unrighteous.

Scripture is clear that because Adam’s sin has corrupted every man, “none is righteous, no, not one” (Romans 3:10; cf. Psalm 14:1-3). But it is also clear that Jesus Christ lived a perfectly righteous life and died for our sins in order to free us from our punishment and credit us with his own righteousness–the righteousness of God (see 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This is the gospel.

True And Perfect Righteousness

As defined in dictionaries, righteousness is "behavior that is morally acceptable or right." It is defined by morality, justice, virtue, or uprightness. Biblical righteousness refers to God's perfection in every attribute, attitude, behavior, and word. As such, God's laws, as described in the Bible, both describe His own character and define how He measures the level of human righteousness.

Read more at Got Questions as presented in this article. 

Pursuing Righteousness

On a blog written by Leah E. Good in www.leahegood.com,she shared several insights about righteousness in the Bible. She discussed the difference of Righteousness in the Old Testament versus the New Testament. In the Old Testament: 

• It shows us that we cannot depend on ourselves to define righteousness.

• It shows us that we must depend on God as the only truly righteous being.

• It shows us that righteous living values justice because God values justice.

In the New Testament:

• We learn that righteousness is synonymous to being acceptable to God.

• We learn that Jesus was not only acceptable but pleasing to the Father.

• We learn that no one besides Christ ever achieved righteousness in their own strength.

• We learn that we can become acceptable to God by receiving the righteousness of Christ.
  

Furthermore, she differentiated Truth from Righteousness. Truth means conformity to fact or reality. It has to do with the trustworthiness of information. On the other hand, righteousness indicates conformity of the heart to the law of God. She also offered  practical ways to pursue righteousness. To learn more about her views, click here. 

The Righteousness of Man vs. God

Christianity.com presented an insightful take on righteousness in the Bible. Phillip Wijaya, the author, wrote that because we live in a world in which people tend to think their ways are right in their own eyes, it is hard for many to accept the absolute standard of righteousness.

The truth becomes relative, and people are capable of doing whatever they feel is right. In this article, it was explained why the Bible's view of righteousness stands out among the thoughts and ideals of this world. 

According to human standards, righteousness is “being morally right or fair.” Compliance with the regulation (or national constitution, in the case of a nation) is the basis for justification.

Essentially, righteousness is being right with God in all aspects, including character, conscience, conduct, and word. God is the ultimate Lawgiver, so righteousness depends upon His standard (Isaiah 33:22).  Find out more in this article about what  righteousness means for Christians today.

How Can One Be Righteous?

At Crosswalk.com, Topher Haddox said righteousness is the perfect holiness of Christ. It is an essential attribute to the character of God; quite literally meaning “One who is right”.

Until recently, he believed righteous living was more about behavioral changes than heart transformation. He was more concerned about the outward appearance of holiness than with Spirit-filled transformation. We are all born with sin, and we are not able to achieve righteousness on our own (Romans 3:9-12). Even if our good deeds are inspired by well-intentioned motives, unless they glorify Jesus, they are sinful and self-righteous.

Eventually, he decided that he needed to repent and submit all of this to Jesus. He is not capable of changing his own heart. That can only be done by Him. 

Our hearts will be made righteous when we stop trying to produce righteousness and begin trusting in the Holy Spirit to do the work.

The pursuit of righteousness means turning away from natural, sinful desires and seeking the perfect, righteous ways of Christ. God aligns us with our righteousness through obedience to this command, preparing us for eternal life with Him. The righteousness of His Son has restored us back to God, and we can be thankful, as everything He does is for the good of His people. The beginning and the end of our righteousness are in Christ. 

Righteous Defined In The Dictionary Of Biblical Theology

An article on biblestudytools.com offers comprehensive points about righteousness. In the New Testament, the noun righteousness or justice has two meanings:

The major one is the Hebrew thought-world of the Old Testament and particularly the sdq [q;d'x] word group, which locates the meaning in the sphere of God's gracious, covenantal relation to his people and the appropriate behavior of the covenant partners (Yahweh and Israel) toward each other. The other is the regular use of the words in everyday Greek as spoken in New Testament times, which fixes the meaning in the sphere of a life in conformity to a known standard or law — thus honesty, legality, and so on. This latter meaning in terms of doing God's will is of course also found in the Old Testament.

To understand both John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ's teaching on righteousness and justice, two of the dominant ideas of the Old Testament should be kept in mind. First, Yahweh-Elohim, the Lord God, is righteous in that he speaks and Acts in accordance with the purity of his own holy nature; further, what he says and does for Israel is in accordance with his establishment of the covenant with this people (see  Psalm 22:31 ; 40:10 ; 51:14 ; 71:15-24 ; Amos 5:21-24

Secondly, the covenant people of God are to do what is right, in according to the covenant and God's will, to live righteously (see Psalm 1:4-6 ; 11:7 ; 72:1 ; Isa 1:16-17  ). Receiving the gift of salvation through their covenant relationship with God, they are to behave like the people of the holy Lord. Read more about this article.

There is a lot to say about righteousness. It is possible that some will interpret it differently.  In truth, we still have a lot to learn and understand about righteousness. Ultimately, God is the personification of righteousness, and He is infinite!