Read Psalm 97

“…Righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne.” (Psalm 97:2)

Throughout Scripture, especially in the Psalms, the righteousness of God and the justice of God are intimately connected. You will often see them coupled together when describing the attributes, the character, and the acts of the LORD.

Let’s take note of a few other examples —

“He loves righteousness and justice; The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:5)

“For the Lord is righteous, He loves justice; His countenance beholds the upright.” (Psalm 11:7)

“The Lord executes righteousness And justice for all who are oppressed.” (Psalm 103:6)

God rules and reigns with absolute righteousness and justice in all His ways. So then, how are we to understand God’s righteousness? What are we to know of God’s justice? How are these two attributes different from one another, if different at all?

The word righteousness in the Hebrew is tsedeq (pronounced tseh’-dek). As the word denotes in English, it means to be right through and through. This applies morally and legally. God is always morally right and God is always legally right, which means that all of God’s judgments must therefore be honest and fair. Thus, God is not only right in all He does, but He also can do no wrong. It is impossible for Him, for righteousness is His nature. To cease to be perfectly right, God would cease to exist.

“He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.” (Deuteronomy 32:4)

But righteous is not all that God is! He is also "just” in His righteousness. Or to put it another way — God is not passively righteous (if there is such a thing), but He is actively righteous. The word justice means that God takes the responsibility to act according to His righteousness as a perfect Judge. He renders to each person according their deeds honestly and fairly.

And this is where we see righteousness and justice married in their definitions, for no one can be truly righteous who does not act upon it with justice, nor can anyone be just if they do not judge according to righteousness. But God perfectly lives and acts according to both. Truly — righteousness and justice are the foundation of His throne!

Beloved, since this is the truth of our awesome God, you can be certain that He will soon make all things right and bring to justice all things wrong. The Day of His coming is soon when He will render to each one according to their deeds — to the unrighteous judgment, but to those found righteous under Christ’s blood, praise from God! (see 1 Corinthians 4:5)

But until that day, do not seek vengeance or harm. It is not yours to give. Rather, overcome evil with good and commit yourself to God who judges righteously. He is your vindication, no other! Love your neighbor. Seek the wellbeing of others. And most of all, love the Lord with all your affections.

“But let justice run down like water, And righteousness like a mighty stream.” (Amos 5:24)