No, O people, the Lord has already told you what is good, and this is what he requires: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. Micah 6:8 NLT
There are some words that are difficult to define – the word righteous is one of them. Can someone be immoral and yet righteous at the same time? The Hebrew word for righteous is tsedek, and that word was used some 120 times in the Old Testament. The New Testament word dikios is used about 60 times. Both words mean essentially the same thing. In a biblical context, righteous means upright, just and in conformity with what God requires. The words were used of a scale that had accurate weights and measurements, hence it was just. The same word was also used of individuals who were upright and just.
The prophet Micah came as close to defining the word as anyone, saying, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God†(Micah 6:8).
Yet the Old Testament uniformly shows how man failed to live up to that standard, no matter how much good he did. Isaiah wrote, “All our righteous acts are as filthy rags†(Isaiah 64:6). In the New Testament Paul said, “There is no one righteous, not even one†(Romans 3:10).
But Paul does not stop there. He says that there was One who was righteous, and He died and rose again, and that God extends His righteousness to those who believe in Him.
So does that mean that anybody can be righteous today? Righteous describes the worst sinner in the world whose faith is in Jesus Christ, whose sins have been covered with the blood that was shed at Calvary. And that’s you and me, redeemed!