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SureHope -> RE: Ordinary righteousness? (9/16/2008 7:08:15 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: pinopolitan
Is God's righteousness the same as that which everyday, ordinary people understand justice to be?
Definitely not. Since "ordinary people" do not understand the "things of the Spirit of God" (1 Cor 2:14) they therefore cannot understand God's righteousness and justice. Paul writes in Romans chapter 1,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, (Romans 1:18 NASB95)
Unregenerate man does not honor God or give thanks to Him, but instead lives in unrighteousness and thus suppresses the truth of who God is. "Ordinary people" are those who "suppress the truth in unrighteousness" and therefore do not understand the righteousness and justice of God in truth. "Ordinary people" place higher value on the creation than they do the Creator; God Himself. Thus their understanding of God's righteousness is perceived through a warped sense of justice that values things of little or no value at all instead of placing ultimate value in God.
John Piper has influenced my thinking about the righteousness of God. He states,
Is not the essence of righteousness to place supreme value on what is supremely valuable, with all the actions that follow? And isn't the opposite of righteousness to set our highest affections on things of little or no worth, with all the unjust actions that follow? Thus the righteousness of God is the infinite zeal and joy and pleasure that He has in what is supremely valuable, namely, His own perfection and worth. And if He were ever to act contrary to this eternal passion for His own perfections He would be unrighteous, He would be an idolater (Piper, The Pleasures of God, Multnomah 200, 43)
Piper states it concisely,
The righteousness of God consists most basically in God's unswerving commitment to preserve the honor of His name and display His glory (Ibid 162 fn).
Natural man (ordinary person) treasures and places his desire upon the created and not the Creator. "Ordinary people" set their affections on things of little or no worth or value instead of savoring the ultimate treasure, God Himself. Because natural man values "things" and other creatures more than God Himself, he cannot possibly understand God's righteousness, for God's righteousness is valuing God and the display of His glory as the ultimate treasure and of ultimate value. Those who do not value God and His glory can never understand it. "Ordinary people" understand justice in terms of what they ultimately value.
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