MAKING RIGHTEOUSNESS ATTRACTIVE AGAIN

*The effectual demonstration *of righteousness *and justice *is the chosen propitiation *of Yahweh *before the ritual sacrifice. (mast)

Proverbs 21:3 (NKJV)

3 To do righteousness and justice Is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

*[The effectual demonstration] verbally, to act with effect. But the Qal infinitive restricts this construct to the use of a verbal noun. So it is adverbially genitive to the nominal that follows it. It is descriptive of the act of marrying righteousness to justice. So it is pointing to the effect of the demonstration of the two coming together as one (Ps.85:10). It is the guide by which we define the following terms. Only exercising righteousness will not guarantee justice, and exclusively performing justice will not reward righteousness. So how does marrying the two terms effect a change that is acceptable to the LORD in harmony with his perfect works (Dt.32:4)? These terms are not synonymous as often presumed. They each have a distinct definition. But there is a demonstration and effect when the two become one. As seen in Psalm 85:10, that effect is “peace with God” when both terms are fulfilled and defined by God in the Mediator of Jesus Christ. But that is not how it is going to be understood under this context in its Old Covenant application. While it is shadowing the glory of the cross, it is not the present proverbial application in the mind of the Jew. From the king’s perspective, it is a judicial ruling of the court, fulfilling a wise answer to both of these demands, that righteousness would be rewarded and justice satisfied, thus making peace on every level (i.e., in the eyes of God and man). But being a proverb it has more than one application.

Both the Old Testament Scriptures are full of examples and illustrations of this “effectual demonstration” of righteousness and justice. The one that comes off the top of my mind is the demonstration of Israel’s delivery from bondage to the Egyptians. Righteousness was rewarded, and justice was satisfied in Israel’s exodus. They obeyed the voice of the Lord to come out into the wilderness to sacrifice to Yahweh, and Yahweh demonstrated his holy name in this through the various miracles and the death of the firstborn of Egypt, and so through much tribulation, Israel entered the promised land that flowed with milk and honey. In righteousness, they were to receive the sweetness of the land; but in justice, Egypt was disciplined for their misuse of Israel’s presence. Egypt did not act righteously with Israel, and therefore a sacrifice was made to cover Israel’s sin where Egypt lost her firstborn to the Lord’s justice. And so, through this demonstration of God’s righteousness and justice, peace is made effectual for Israel to come out into the wilderness to know her God and receive her promise. It was by this effectual demonstration of peace that she was led into the promised land to receive her reward (Rev.22:12; Heb.4:7; Rom.9:6-7).

*[of righteousness] literally, righteousness. In this context, righteousness is the fulfillment of the law from a human perspective (1Sam.15:22). It is obedience to the Lord’s demand. In other words, it’s not the formalism of the sacrifice that covers our sins. Rather it is the favorable demonstration of God that covers our sins. It is in how God chooses to glorify himself (in our sins) that makes peace with God (Rom.9:14-24). This noun is also feminine of the genitive construct. That puts the noun into a state of being. It’s demonstrative of the genitive action. So this righteousness is a state of being and of mind as the effect of the action, rendering the verbal construct passive. In other words, the verbal effect is not the result of the object acting upon itself but of being acted upon from outside itself. Something from the outside is working this state of being on the inside, rendering the implied, invisible object righteous (Phil.2:13). So the effect of performing righteousness in a way that satisfies God is the presence of peace that has been made through God’s justice (Phil.4:7). In this, we become the righteousness of God, not merely by imputation, but also by sanctification, through this reconciliation and demonstration of the two kissing one another (2Cor.5:21; Pr.24:26; Lk.22:48; Hos.13:1-16).

*[and justice] literally, and justice. Now justice is the enforcement of the law from God’s perspective. Justice is the enforcement of the written law. What God has written with His finger cannot be erased by the works of men. Therefore to erase justice from what is owed to us by wicked works and violations of the law requires the fulfillment of the law (Matt.5:17-20, 48). To fulfill this on behalf of the human perspective, Christ became flesh; but to uphold justice from God’s perspective, Christ did not sin (Heb.7:26). Though he stepped over the signs of the national covenant (Jn.5:18), he kept all the promises of the covenant (Isa.7:14; 9:6-7), by making himself the sign of the new covenant that was promised to them (Jn.2:18-22; 5:36; Mk.14:56-62; Matt.26:59-64; Lk.7:28). Therefore he is the only mediatorial substitute qualified to make peace with God (Gal.3:20; 1Tim.2:5; Job.33:22-30). This is the demonstration of justice that supersedes the ritual sacrifice. Nevertheless, Jesus did subject himself under John the Baptist’s ministry (Lk.7:28; Matt.5:19) to fulfill all righteousness (Matt.3:13-17), demonstrating Christ’s humility (Ecc.7:15-18), because that’s what he came to do, to save his people from their sins (Matt.1:21; Mk.10:45), and from the “ministry of death” that confined Israel under guard until the Lord’s righteousness was complete (Jer.23:6; 33:16; Rom.11:26), to satisfy the full justice of God (Gal.3:23; Rom.1:16-17; 10:1-13).

Therefore, in Christ, the old covenant was rendered a ministry of death in the death of Christ (2Cor.3:4-6; Heb.9:16; Rom.7:1-6). Its only purpose was to reveal God’s justice and its righteous requirement (Rom.6:23; 7:9). And therefore, Israel is still a sign of God’s justice from heaven (Rev.11:8, 11-12; Hos.6:2), for in them the law of unrighteousness is revealed (Rom.7:18, 21), and the ministry of death is applied (Rom.1:18-2:24; 1Cor.14:20-22; 2Cor.3:4-4:12; Jer.31:31-37). But she will be called righteous again (Jer.33:16) when her justice is brought forth as the noonday (Isa.1:27; Zeph.3:5; Mal.4:1-3). Behold the application of the following proverb (Pr.21:4). Justice cannot be satisfied through the proud of heart (James 1:19-20; Rom.3:5 (i.e., unrighteousness by confession)). Therefore Christ came in humility to work the effectual peace between righteousness and justice (Eph.2:15). The self-righteous look of the proud will not work the righteousness of faith in the heart. Therefore the plowing of the wicked is sin. Sinners cannot effect this change of heart and silence the hostility between the nature of the flesh and of God (Jn.3:3, 5-7). There must be an effectual demonstration of the two becoming one to satisfy the demands of both definitions (Rom.7:1-6, 24-25). With men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible (Matt.19:25-26).

*[is the chosen propitiation] verbally, to be chosen. But definitionally, the finest choice. Now the Hebrew verb form is Niphal participle and absolute. That brings the flow of the verbal action to a halt here. Its purpose is to make us stop and think. What is the best choice? And what is the context of the choice? We have to consider the remaining phrasal construct to consider the context. The context is sacrifice. But if obedience is better than sacrifice, whose obedience is the finest choice? Justice requires a righteous sacrifice, but the law reveals that there is no man who is righteous, not even one (Rom.3:10-12; Ps.14:3; 53:3; Isa.64:6). Therefore the action of the verb is reflexive to the previous verbal construct. It is not to be interpreted that the implication is for the object to “make the choice,” but that the object is passive in the choice. The subject is Yahweh, who is acting upon the scale (Pr.21:2), but the object is the heart and soul that sits upon the scales of righteousness and justice based on the previous proverb in the present application of that understanding (Pr.21:2). Therefore this cannot be applied apart from a proper interpretation, isolating the proverb from the previous one. So the Nifal stem is reflexive to the Lord’s action but is passive to the object in the effect of that action.

Also, the verb is participle, indicating that it is adjectivally contrastive of the preposition that follows, which renders the absolute form of the verb void, redirecting it genitive of the Lord’s choice. We choose to exercise the ritual sacrifice, but it is the Lord who makes it effective. It is the LORD who sanctifies it (Matt.23:16-23). It is the LORD who accepts or rejects it as righteousness according to his standard of justice (Jer.7:1-14). So the verbal participle is descriptively defining the “effect” again of the Lord’s action, which is the satisfaction in the continual demonstration of his own justice working peace and righteousness in the nature of his object (Isa.26:12; 32:17). Therefore the participle is to convey the mind of the subject, which is Yahweh, to the object’s understanding, which is the one who believes, and therefore is not a direction of order as an imperative “to do something” (Jn.6:28-29). This is simply a statement of fact indicative for our understanding. If there is any application on our part, it is to receive it with meekness as the passive object of its work (James 1:21). It is to know the Holy One (Num.16:7; Pr.9:10; 30:3-4; Isa.5:19; 17:7; 31:1; 40:25; 41:20; Jer.9:24; Ezk.39:7). It is to submit to the LORD’s choice and stop trying to establish our own (Rom.10:3).

*[of Yahweh] prepositionally, towards and away from Yahweh. It acts as a conjunction between the two absolute constructs. Where the verb comes to an absolute, the preposition rejoins it genitive of the remaining phrasal construct. Yahweh is at the center of the action, but the two constructs contrast in action. The ritual sacrifice implies human (or the object’s) interaction “towards” Yahweh. But the verbal action that is genitive of Yahweh is out of or away from the LORD. That’s the reflexive nature of the preposition that is genitive of the verbal construct. It could be translated: “The effectual demonstration of righteousness and justice is chosen by the LORD more than the ritual sacrifice.” In other words, the Lord chooses his righteousness over our righteousness (Isa.46:10). All our works must be done through him (1Chr.29:17; Eph.2:10; Dt.9:5; 1Kgs.3:6; Ps.15; 32:11; 33:1). We must walk as Christ has walked (1Jn.2:6). As Christ was in the light, we must come into the light (1Jn.1:5-2:2; Jn.3:19-21). The ritual sacrifice cannot do this (Heb.7:27; 9:12). It cannot order our steps aright because that is not what makes our steps righteous and good (Ps.37:23; Mk.10:18; Lk.11:13; Gal.6:15; 2Cor.5:17). It has a purpose, but it is not justified on its own (1Cor.4:1-5).

*[before the ritual sacrifice] prepositionally, a marker of comparison and difference. But literally, more than sacrifice. Definitionally, the communal sacrifice. This is a sacrifice offered not only to satisfy Deity but as a thanksgiving communally. This involves the whole assembly or community. In Israel’s context, it involves the whole nation that is citizen of the covenant. So it would imply the Passover and the other annual sacrifices. So the heart of its definition here is the ritual application of their purpose for coming together (1Cor.11:20). There is something greater that is required than the ritual itself (1Cor.11:28-32). God’s presence must be there to sanctify their offerings (Rev.3:20). Some teaching must be there to demonstrate the illustration of the sacrifice (Gal.3:24-25; Eph.4:11-16). Confession must be there to recognize the purpose of the sacrifice (1Jn.1:5-2:2). And all of it must be conveyed to the understanding (Acts 9:31; Rom.14:19; 1Cor.8:1; 10:23; 14:4, 17; Eph.4:12, 16; 1Thess.5:11). The demonstration must be unmistakable for it to be effectual (1Cor.15:12-19). It is more than the routine sacrifice (Heb.10:10-18; 11:1-6). God will not abide in the sacrifice if his soul is not in it (Lk.23:46; Isa.1:14; Jdgs.13:19-25).

What was the Passover sacrifice but a reminder of ‘the effectual demonstration’ of Yahweh’s righteousness and justice over and out of Egypt? By way of relevant application for us today, you could say church membership and water baptism is not the favored propitiation of the Lord but is nothing more than this communal sacrifice. These external things add nothing to the beauty that is demonstrated in the LORD’s righteousness and justice coming together in the person and work of Christ crucified. They are simply the tools that make this work known, but it is God that supplies all things necessary to make it known (2Pet.1:1-11). The privilege is that we are called to participate in being clothed by the beauty of God’s righteousness and justice (Jer.33:16; Rev.21). But Christ is greater than these (Rom.8:29; Col.1:15, 18; Heb.1:6; 11:28). He is rightly called the “Firstborn” because he arose from the grave, declaring his innocence and sinlessness (Ps.16:10; Acts 2:27, 31; 13:35). Our bodies see corruption because we are not a sign of righteousness but of justice (Rom.6:23; 1Cor.15:56). But because these were both satisfied in Jesus Christ, we participate in the promise and are clothed in his beauty (Eph.5:27; Heb.9:13-15; 1Pet.1:19; 2Pet.3:14; Rev.3:4-5, 18; 16:15; Jude 23; Heb.1:11). Therefore the effectual demonstration is a changed heart (Eph.2:15; 4:24; Col.3:10); a new nature and image of life that begins under the direction of repentance and faith in the steps of Christ (Jn.11:25-26; Lk.13:24; Matt.7:13-14; Jn.10:1-18; 14:6).