justice
Righteousness is simply ‘rightness.’ It is the same word translated just or justice. It refers to lining up to the standard. In this world every line is crooked to some degree. God alone judges perfectly. The only time He interrupts justice is for the sake of mercy, which is the basis of our hope.
Justice is a popular term today. But what we know about ourselves is a clue as to how we have confused and corrupted moral categories such as justice. Everyone strives to justify his or her point of view so that it stands in the moral high ground, but how do we know who is truly on the side of justice?