Righteousness In William Evans's The Great Doctrines Of The Bible

“Lord, I want to see, see you rightly. I know that Your eyes are like flames of fire. I know that Your head is white as wool. I know that Your voice it sounds like water. Jesus, You’re beautiful (Thurlow).” Jon Thurlow, International House of Prayer worship artist, penned these words in his song Jesus, You’re Beautiful. Oh that this would be the heart cry of every believer, to see the Lord rightly! Only a response as this comes from seeing a perfect and Holy God. Thurlow describes only a few physical attributes of the living God; attributes that demand and call for true and proper worship. The second doctrine in the Salvation Army’s handbook of doctrine states that “there is only one God, that is infinitely perfect, the Creator, Preserver,

Holiness relates to the character of God, while His righteousness is used to express how God deals with men (Evans 23). The Psalmist says that “righteousness and justice are the foundation of (His) throne” (Psalm 89:14). In William Evans book, The Great Doctrines of the Bible, he categories the righteousness and justice of God into three forms. He says “there is the imposing of righteousness laws and demands, which may he called legislative holiness; second there is the executing of the penalties attached to those laws, which may be called judicial holiness; third, there is the sense in which the attributes of the righteousness and justice of God may be regarded as the actual carrying out of the holy nature of God in the government of the world” (23). Evans goes on to say that “in the righteousness of God we have His love of holiness, and in the Justice of God, His hatred of sin” (23). In other words, because of God’s holiness, His character requires righteousness and justice to be carried out. God’s holiness is a cause to His actions of righteousness and justice. The attribute of justice lacks passion; it is vindicative not vindictive (23). However, with His righteousness and justice also comes His mercy and loving-kindness. Man is not doomed by the holiness of God because of His extension of mercy to man. Man is guilty, yet God. Man’s sin condemns him, yet God. God’s mercy is the attribute of Himself exercised in connection with guilt (23).

God’s faithfulness promises His continued creative power for the sake of achieving fellowship with His creation (Powell 27). God’s faithfulness testifies to His unfaltering character (27). He is faithful to sustain and preserve the very universe He created (27). In the earth He created, He alone sustains life within His providence (28). “The act of creation not only is the world’s beginning but also God’s act of sustaining the world and its rhythms” says Samuel Powell in Discovering Our Christian Faith (27). God did not create the earth and depart from it, abandoning His creation to live in a far off place. When He created the earth, He filled it and continues to sustain and be present in it. His faithfulness to His creation is reflected and evident in His blessing of it. God placed within His creation natural processes to sustain the earth (29). The Psalmist declares that His “faithfulness is as enduring as the heavens” (Psalm 89:2b). God’s faithfulness to man brings forth worship within