Sometimes we are asked what holiness means or entails. Most people of course will say holiness has to do with living just and righteous life, blameless of sins or iniquities, keeping the commandments of God. However the Bible made us to be understand that our self righteousness and good works are like a filthy rags. Can we achieve a righteous state by our own power. The Bible helps us to understand that our self righteousness can't save us.
Many always mistaken good works to righteousness, and they always believed that their good works will definitely help them to be saved; to gets into God's kingdom. So they dedicate their lives to doing good, helping the poor, giving out to the needy and all other good acts. Is all these acts bad? Of course no, infact Christ permits that we do all these as part of being a Christian, but the righteousness of God does not depends on the good works of men. Some things are needed too. A person might be doing good but if he doesn't possess the love of God or is vengeful in spirit, he cannot attain righteousness.
Righteousness is a virtue of God and God doesn't confer righteousness on people except they are sons. The sons in this context are those that have been born anew, and have accepted Christ as their Lord and savior. Someone need not to be saved and still be doing good, but he can never be called a righteous man. One of the first prerequisite of being a righteous man is by knowing God personally; to be born again and possessing a christlike spirit.
The knowledge of the law given to Moses by God makes some people think that fulfilling all the commandments makes them righteous in God's sight but it's not so. Fulfilling all those commandments like not stealing or lying, are good but they're not enough. After all, with the coming of law came the knowledge of sins. Without law, there is no sin. Therefore the law is not considered perfect for righteousness, and so its keepers.
God confers righteousness to people because of some things he'd seen in them. Take for example Abraham was proclaimed a righteous man as a result of his faith. God scrutinized his heart and he saw a heart that is ready to obey and believe without arguing. His faith was eventually counted unto him as righteousness. Abraham demonstrated this in a lot of ways; he demonstrated it when God asked him to leave his father's land for an unknown land, he also exhibited the same level of faith when God asked him to sacrifice his only son. By human reasoning it will be a stupid and murderous act to kill one's child yet Abraham never grumbled.
Righteousness in itself is a virtue of God. We have to walk as Christians pleasing God and having an intimate relationship with him. Let's consider Noah, God said he was a righteous man in his days and he was the only one with his family who were not destroyed out of God's wrath then. God saw the good ways of Noah and how holy he is even among the perverse generations he found himself. Just as God anoint people with his typical nature, is how God pick righteous men to serve him. Righteousness is a gift from God, not on the basis of our own hard work. We must be ready to walk a righteous life with God by allowing the spirit of God to guide us. Without the spirit of God, it is impossible to please God.