My child, those who wait for Me will not be put to shame. I have called you to build up and encourage those around you. Proclaim My Good News to them. Lift up My standard. I am in you and with you. I will live through you as you surrender yourself to Me.
Isaiah 49:23 62:10
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.
Prior to his sin being exposed by God’s commandment, Adam didn’t realize that he harbored rebellion in his heart, since there was no standard by which it could have been measured. But there is no doubt that this weakness was there, because as soon as law arrived, sin was right there on its heels.(Romans 7:7)
God most likely wanted Adam to stay away from that tree well before He ever gave the commandment, but Adam couldn’t be blamed if he didn’t know it was wrong to eat of its fruit. So had he eaten it prior to God’s command, he would not have been held guilty of any offence.(Romans 4:15)
Still, had law never been given, Adam’s self-willed nature (sin in the flesh) would have been just as destructive over time. Why? Because the self-interest inherent in his nature would naturally have come into play as he interacted with his offspring—and they with him. The only difference here is that, in the absence of law, guilt for their sin could not be charged to them. It’s not hard to see why, then, law is so necessary in God’s eyes.(Galatians 3:19, Romans 3:20)
There’s no question that it was imperative for God to impose such a standard, because in the absence of law mankind would have rapidly self-destructed.(Romans 7:13)