In the longest chapter in the Bible (a chapter which extols and exalts the Word of God in nearly every line), the psalmist declared, “My tongue shall speak of Your word, For all Your commandments are righteousness” (Psa. 119:172). Meditate on that last line for a few moments — “all Your commandments are righteousness.” What are the commandments of God? They are right! They are righteousness!
For the focus of this article, turn that around — what is righteousness? The simplest definition of righteousness is simply “doing right” or “that which is right.” But, what does this verse affirm? Righteousness is the commandments of God. Think about that truth and substitute “commandments of God” for “righteousness” in some New Testament verses.
Jesus insisted on being baptized because “it is fitting for us to fulfill all the commandments of God” (Matt. 3:15).
Jesus taught, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for the commandments of God, for they shall be filled” (Matt. 5:6).
We must set our priorities to “seek first the kingdom of God and the commandments of God, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matt. 6:33).
God promises that “in every nation whoever fears Him and works the commandments of God is accepted by Him“ (Acts 10:35).
Those who reckon the gospel to be grace-inclusive and command-exclusive perhaps have missed Romans 1:17 — “For in [the gospel] the commandments of God [are] revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
In His death, Christ set forth our redemption and the purpose for our lives — He “Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for the commandments of God” (1 Pet. 2:24).
It is true that “everyone who loves” and “whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ” “is born of God” (1 John 4:7; 5:1). Interestingly enough, the same book proclaims, “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices the commandments of God is born of Him” (2:28).
John said it another way in the next chapter, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice the commandments of God is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother” (3:10).