Scripture tells us that God is righteous. We commonly define righteousness as being in right standing with God. But what does it mean for God to be righteous? It would be silly to think that He has achieved some sort of excellence that allows Him to be good enough to be God. No, God doesn’t need to meet a standard of righteousness; He intrinsically is that standard. God’s righteousness means that He is by nature the essence of all that is good and just. Explaining God’s righteousness in The Knowledge of the Holy, A. W. Tozer says:
“In the inspired Scriptures, justice and righteousness are scarcely to be distinguished from each other. The same word in the original becomes in English justice or righteousness…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…Everything in the universe is good to the degree that it conforms to the nature of God and evil if it fails to do so. God is His own self-existent principle of moral equity…”
Now since God’s righteousness (justice) is the benchmark by which He will ultimately judge His creation, He had to provide mankind with the means to relate to His standard of perfection. He revealed that standard to man through law. So a good understanding of biblical law is essential, because it’s impossible to fully comprehend God’s amazing provision for our own righteousness (justification) without it.