God is always consistently “Godly.” God is not defined by the term “righteous,” as much as the term “righteous” is defined by God. God always acts righteously His every action is consistent with His character. We must then say the righteousness of God is evident in the way He consistently acts in accord with His own character. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity, and when He sentences evil men or rewards the righteous, He simply acts like Himself from within, uninfluenced by anything that is not Himself.” 31 Justice, when used of God, is a name we give to the way God is, nothing more and when God acts justly He is not doing so to conform to an independent criterion, but simply acting like Himself in a given situation. Nothing has entered the being of God from eternity, nothing has been removed, and nothing has been changed. All God’s reasons come from within His uncreated being. The truth is that there is not and can never be anything outside of the nature of God which can move Him in the least degree. If there were it would be superior to God, for only a superior power can compel obedience. This is an error of thinking as well as of speaking, for it postulates a principle of justice outside of God which compels Him to act in a certain way. It is sometimes said, ‘Justice requires God to do this,’ referring to some act we know He will perform. Unlike men, God is not subject to anything outside of Himself. Righteousness, in relation to men, is their conformity to a standard. These words by Richard Strauss bring us very close to a concise definition of righteousness. When we read that God is righteous or just, we are being assured that His actions toward us are in perfect agreement with His holy nature. If He is infinitely pure, then He must be opposed to all sin, and that opposition to sin must be demonstrated in His treatment of His creatures. God’s righteousness (or justice) is the natural expression of His holiness. But whichever word they use, it means essentially the same thing. Nehemiah 9:8 and 9:33 where the same word is used). Sometimes the translators render the original word ‘just’ and other times ‘righteous’ with no apparent reason (cf. The word just and the word righteous are identical in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. While the most common Old Testament word for just means ‘straight,’ and the New Testament word means ‘equal,’ in a moral sense they both mean ‘right.’ When we say that God is just, we are saying that He always does what is right, what should be done, and that He does it consistently, without partiality or prejudice. In addition, the righteousness of God is virtually synonymous with His justice: Initially, distinguishing the righteousness of God from His holiness or His goodness seems difficult. The righteousness of God, one of the most prominent attributes of God in the Scriptures, is also one of the most elusive.
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