Righteousness
Righteousness defined:the act of being or doing what is right; completely just; morally upright; the opposite of sin; the character, quality, and actions of Jesus Christ.
Only God is right. We cannot BE righteous on our own. We have no absolute righteousness in ourselves. We were all born sinners, in a fallen world. We all have sinned and fall short. We all are limited in what we know and understand, we cannot see the outcome of our every decision, we cannot read each other’s minds, and therefore it is impossible for human beings to even DO righteousness consistently on our own power. Being "good" does not save us or make us right with God. So God had to make a way for us! Jesus Christ - Yeshua the Messiah - the Son of the Living God! (Romans 3:23; Psalm 14:1-3; Mark 7:21-23; I John 1:8-9; 3:10; Job15:14; Isaiah 53:6; John 3:16-18)
We do not deserve nor can we earn God's love or salvation. Salvation is a free gift from God to ALL people out of His immeasurable love for us! He sent us His Son. Jesus is and always has been righteous. He paid the price of our sins with His life and those who believe in Him and lay down their life to live for Him, live in His righteousness. He was raised from the dead and now lives on in this world through those who are His. We are forgiven and made righteous through Him! Jesus is our One Way to be acceptable and pleasing to God, in terms of being righteous. (Ephesians 2:1-10; 5:8-10; Colossians 1:13-14; 21-23; I John 1:8-9; Romans 3:22-24; Acts 10:34-43)
But for those who are in Christ, we are empowered to also DO righteousness! Salvation is a free gift, but conditional upon the fact that we are righteous AND do righteousness. Jesus takes care of who we are - those who accept the free gift of salvation, believe on His name and turn their lives over to Him become righteous - in right standing with God. Jesus even breaks us lose from the bondage of sin that keeps us from doing righteousness and gives us the Holy Spirit so that we are free in Him to do all that He did while on this earth. But it is us who has to walk this path of righteousness. We cannot "be" without "doing"! (James 2:14-26; John 14:15; Galatians 5:16-25; Romans 8:14-17; Acts 1:8; Ephesians 3:14-21)
To DO righteousness without BEING righteous = legalism
(self-righteousness, judgmentalism, empty and vain acts of good)
To BE righteous without DOING righteousness = indulgence and illusion (false-righteousness, sinful living, acting in the flesh)
We are called to both, to come into unity in ourselves, body soul and spirit. We are to know WHO we are in Christ and to LIVE out a life based on who we are. To "be" righteous without "doing" righteousness, reveals that we are not really who we claim to be. To base your life on the grace of God to cover your actions and attitudes is a lazy and deceived spiritual life, a dying life. We cannot trust in God's grace to cover our willful, selfish, or disobedient lifestyle any more than we can trust in our own abilities to work our way into Heaven. A covenant is two sided; both parties give up something to get something. Jesus gave up His innocent life to redeem us from sin - what are we giving up for Him? We are instructed to work out our salvation, to obey God's Word, to live according to the Spirit and to produce fruit. God's grace covers what we don't yet know while we learn, and allows us room to repent and correct our ongoing mistakes. He knows that we are only human, and that we need to time to develop and grow up into His perfect image, but to remain unchanged or stagnant, only bring spiritual deterioration and eventually death.(I John 2:3-6; Philippians 2:12-13; Jeremiah 7:23; Luke 6:46; Galatians 5:13-25; John 15:1-10; 9:41; Acts 17:30-31; I Corinthians 13:9-12; II Peter 3:9; Hebrews 12:7-11; Ephesians 4:15; I Peter 2:2-3)
In Christ Jesus, we are made righteous. We are reborn new creatures identified with His righteousness to God the Father! What awesome news, to be forgiven and free... free to love and serve Him as we were created to! Now we are to get to work! We have God's Word, and every bit of it educates us of God's character, will, and desires, it shows us plainly what is right. He has commissioned us to be His light and carry it out into the world so let us not slack off in: meeting with Him and learning from Him daily, gathering together in His name to encourage and challenge each other to keep growing up in Him strong, laying down our old life to take on more and more of His character and becoming more like the image of Christ daily, and going out doing what He did - allowing Him to continue doing His ministry through us!
Let us shine Jesus' righteousness through us!
See related post: Appearing Righteous
12 Comments:
I really haven't anything to add. I follwed the bread crumbs from a comment you left to learn a little more about you and I thought it best I at least leave a thank you note for the post you provided.
God bless.
I thank you for your input on my blog . And I thought I would read yours, and I must say that I agree with 90-95% of what you wrote. The one thing I would like to bring up is the doing righteousness thing.Paul clearly states that in Romans 7:18, "that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing", Right?But the key to this dilemma is found in Romans 8:4-9. The key verse is 5, it says: For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh ; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.And verse 6 says:For to be carnally minded is death; but to spiritually minded is life and peace.8: So they that are in the flesh cannot please God.And also Christ says in John 6:63 The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. So I'm not saying that we don't show the love of God to others or stop preaching the gospel.God brings people in my life and makes the opportunity, and gives me the words to speak.The Gospel needs to be preached, and that is Christ and Him only, not some "fire" escape, or some offer of a better life. He is Lord and if He is not lifted up how can he draw all men unto himself.This doing good things sounds like mthe book of Galatians all over again.Sorry but that's what it reminded me of. I'm a base sinner with weak flesh and a new creation inside if me that seves the Law of God after the inward man, but according to the flash I'm a failure and Isaiah 22:14 says :"Surely this iniquity shall not be puged from you till you die, saith the Lord God of Hosts".So if Paul had abundant revelations in the desert with Christ for years , and he comes back and writes what he did in Romans 7, then all I can do is look to Christ and then I'm not sinning.......tell me what you think...Steve
You also said that a covenant is two sided; both parties give up something to get somthing.All I have is sin and disobedience. Christ gave us his righteousness and he got our sin. if you think you are going to offer some type of service for gratification then we will differ on this point.....Steve
You wrote:Salvation is a free gift, but conditional upon the fact that we are righteous and do righteousness. I need scripture for this one...You tell me if you still do righteousness after reading this, Jeremiah 9:24"But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgement, and righteousness, in the earth:for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. So I wouldn't be so quick to put on that "Doing righteousness" thing. I'm sorry I don't mean to come off strong , I'm just a lowly sinner saved and fed by the Spirit of God,and tending to the instrutions on righteousness in his word. I used to believe like you also. Thank God for your zeal.Glory be to His name. I'm nobody from nowhere, speaking for Him who holds all things in His hands. So I'm sorry if you take offence, I didn't mean it maliciously, but I am also a great fan of His Word...Steve
Steve,
This is exactly right... all we give up is our sin and disobedience! That's what doing righteousness is!! Did you see the definition - the part saying righteousness is the opposite of sin?
Thanks for your comment!
Yeah but it will never happen in this flesh. The most heinous sins are the ones that you don't even realize that you commit day after day.They are so big and we are so used to doing them that we can't even see them. They aren't the smoking, and drinking, and "R" movies,or lust,Tthey are probably in the non reverence departmen and self righteousness realm within our prayers! That is what Isaiah went through when he seen his holiness.Chapter 6:5 says I am a man of unclean lips!whoa...My mouth is stopped...............Steve
To reply to your comments further Steve...
"You wrote: Salvation is a free gift, but conditional upon the fact that we are righteous and do righteousness. I need scripture for this one"
I referenced this Scripture in my post, Jesus said, "I am the true Vine, and My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love". John 15:1-11
This Scripture shows the impossibility of imbalance - if you are in Christ (being righteous because of His righteousness) then you bear fruit (do righteousness by His power). Do you see the conditional phrasing, "If" you keep my commandments? Jesus claims that it is possible to "be" in Him and not bear fruit - and just warns that that condition won't last very long. It is similar to the parable Jesus speaks of about God's Word being seeds thrown out onto different types of grounds (people) - Luke 8:5-15. Temptations of sin and the appeal of materialism or loving the world more can damage the life in Christ a person once had, and certainly prevent them from bearing fruit.
I think you may be stuck on the word "righteousness" - I'm talking about Jesus' works of righteousness, not our own - not works of the flesh, but obeying God's Word through His power, avoiding continuing to sin because He freed us and enables us to live for Him in His righteousness. As I stated, "it is even impossible for us to DO righteousness consistently on our own power" - so why would we even attempt doing so? Jeremiah 9:24 says just that - we glory in His righteousness! I certainly can still lay down what is me to live out what He says to do... when I am doing His work in His power in obedience to His command - this is doing righteousness. Absolutely - because I know I can't do anything without Him, so He is my glory! We are called to nothing less than this!
The Scripture you noted is great - it backs up exactly what I've been saying. Romans 8:4-9 This is when we try to DO righteousness without BEING righteous... doing works without being in Christ (without trusting in the saving knowledge of Jesus - no relationship with Him). Apart from Christ, we can do nothing. In Him, we can do anything!
It's much more than loving God, loving others, and preaching the Gospel. These are the foundations by which we seek to obey further. If we love God, we will want to spend time with Him and take on the character of Christ. To be like Christ will help us to love others and witness to others in sincerity, by the Spirit, not in our flesh. We can't live in sinful ways or disobedience and give a good witness to the world in preaching the Gospel - we must be in Christ (saved), and also must shine Christ's character (fruit of the Spirit) - one does not automatically ensure the other, it takes dedication and ceasing living for self, to allow Christ to work these things into us, and to work through us. I was simply getting at the fact that salvation as "fire insurance" and still living like we want is not really true salvation. I never said "do good", I said "do right" - I even said "Being "good" does not save us or make us right with God." By no means would I ever suggest that we are to do works out of our flesh (that is dead works), but to not obey and do what God tells us to do is just as bad (faith without works is also dead). James 2 :14-26. I'm not talking about service or sacrifice to please God or earn God's favor (God already loves us), I'm talking about laying down our lives because we were bought, we are no longer ours to rule, but belong to Jesus. We serve Him out of love and in His power. Jesus said "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father". John 14:12 We, as the general body of Christ, are not here yet, but we should be. We are not only to give up sin, but in Him, we are also to bear fruit, plant seeds, conform to His image - to stay rooted and growing so much in Christ that He is able to do His work through us. These things happen naturally if we are led by the Spirit. I am not judging here - but encouraging - spurring on myself and others to remember that taking on His righteousness is for His purpose here on this earth as well as for our eternity! All we can give Him is our old life to transform and make new, all we can do is what He does in and through us! But this is what we are called to do.
Thanks for your comments. I hope I gave you a clear response. I think we are more in accord than what you first thought - which may have been from my insufficient writing the first go around. :)
God Bless!
I'm sorry - I got these replies completely out of order. In reply to Steve's post: "Yeah but it will never happen in this flesh"...
I'm not saying perfection - I'm saying growth to maturity.
We are only human, and therefore, we are bound to make mistakes, get off the mark, flesh out every once in a while, it's a progression. Those very young in the faith must learn how to live in Christ and weed out the things of this world that has their heart. They will sin more and bear less fruit, but as we grow up in Christ, the more time we spend in prayer and in His Word, conforming our minds to God's Word and becoming more like Christ, the more we can rid ourselves of the little things and take up the bigger commands of God to do as He leads. All we have to do is obey - He makes the fruit happen. The process is sanctification. If we couldn't obey His Word and grow up to maturity in the Spirit (being in Christ and resting in His power to do His work), then God wouldn't have instructed us to do so throughout His Word. "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them". John 13:13-17 (Also see: Hebrews 10:14; II Timothy 2:20-22; John 17:17-19; I Thessalonians 4:3-7; 5:23-24; Ephesians 5:6-11)
We are not saved by works, we cannot impress God - but our words, actions, and thoughts reveal who we love and serve more... God or ourselves. (Matthew 7:15-27; Luke 6:43-46; Romans 3:31; Ephesians 2:8-10)
When we are led by the Spirit, and we submit ourselves to Him, He will show us the little or big things that need correcting (most little thing don't even matter - smoking and drinking aren't sinful, maybe unhealthy, but not wrong - and the big things God won't let lose of you until it's dealt with). If we listen as well as speak when we pray, and get a two way conversation going, it's easier to become aware of our own self righteousness, because we'll hear God flat out tell us if we're listening. I'm still working on obeying a few hard things God's been revealing to me to change (as far as really setting up a radical lifestyle and mindset change goes) for almost half a year now, and I'm getting really close with God's help. The more we place ourselves on the altar - die to self, shut out the world from our hearts and honestly go in prayer asking the Holy Spirit - God will begin to reveal and weed out any hidden sin, any heart misalignment, and anything against His Word and will even show you how to fix it, if not just repent and allow Him to remove it from you. This is the intimate relationship we have in Christ. He's all about doing His work IN us before ever doing big work THROUGH us. (John 16:13-15; Galatians 5:18-25; Romans 6:6-18; 8:12-15; I Peter 2:23-24; Ephesians 4:22-24; II Corinthians 3:18)
When coming face to face with God's holiness, it's scary - because in ourselves, we are so unworthy that we should die right away. But in Christ, we are to be holy as God is holy. "...You shall be holy for I AM holy" I Peter 1:16. How scary is that?!?! :) But His holiness comes out of us naturally the more we lay ourselves down and allow Him to live through us. Holiness is purity, sacredness, and separation from sin. Righteousness is the opposite of sin, it is doing and being right; it is simply doing God's Word. His righteousness can come out of us, this side of Heaven, the more we live in Him. The less of me, the more of Him!
It IS possible to get to the point of obeying and loving God with all our hearts to where people only see Him and not us, maybe not possible to stay that way constantly (because God works with human tools) - but the mature person of faith can live that way most of the time. Look at Mother Theresa - she gave out her whole life to Jesus and Jesus ministered to the poor, orphaned, and hungry through her. Look at Paul, he gave up his whole life and Jesus healed and did signs, spoke through him and wrote a big chunk of the New Testament through him. Did these two make mistakes, sure! Did they make so many mistakes that it destroyed their ministry and witness - nope! But that wasn't automatic, it didn't happen over night or without their obedience and willingness to step out in faith - they had to grow up, learn, and trust in Jesus, lay down their lives, and conform to the image of Christ, understand their spiritual gifts and move in His power. (Romans 12:2; 13:14; I Peter 2:2; I John 3:21-24; John 4:34-38; 8:31; 15:16; )We might not ever acheive these levels, but that doesn't excuse us from trying and growing up in Him as far as we can!
God Bless!
Good scripture, John 15:1-11. I like that you found one.I couldn't think of one.But concerning the James verse"Faith without works is dead" I still think that one is Christ's works. Faith without the works of Christ is dead.And my reasoning on this is from John 6:63 "The words that I speak they are spirit and they are life". So I'm inclined to believe that most of what we are reading is for the spiritual side and not the flesh.It is so hard not to get all into works,like I said in my blog"My Story", I was all caught up in the works thing, so now I am looking to Christ for all my works of righteousness, because Colossians 2:10 tells me I am complete in him.Actually verse 10-23, wow that is awesome..I'm not saying you are for works, I understand that you don't believe that way, but watch out for the leaven of the pharisees,we must dust it off every once in awhile.
Now concerning the "Mother Theresa" thing, I don't think she preached the Gospel for one, and I don't even want to get into what she believed. And concerning the Paul matter, that "He gave up his life",He was the prisoner of Christ, as he plainly states, he was separated from the womb for God. Just like everyone else who believes. We just don't get an Idea to serve God. He gives us a new heart and opens our understanding, and gives us a desire for himself, unbeknownst to us.Then it all starts to make sense, more and more.Remember All that the Father gives shall come to me" verse.I believe He forknew us before the world began.Now I know that will open up another "can of worms". Anyway I thank you for response and time..Steve
Yes - absolutely, no one should be doing works of the flesh. As my post said, "To DO righteousness without BEING righteous = legalism" - meaning, doing on your own and not being in Christ. Or even if we are in Christ, we still have to do only what we are assigned to do, only as God leads and empowers, only in His strength - essentially, obey and allow Christ to live through us. To rely only on God's grace for our salvation, however to continue to live in sin, and to disobey, is not living in His righteousness either. That is why I was saying "balance". Not one over the other. We DO because we ARE in Christ. If you have a passion for sports, you are going to naturally learn all you can about sports, look up to those who do well in sports, and talk all the time about sports and try to do sports. Same way with God – which is what you were saying – when God captures our heart, we don’t just say we love Him and then go on with our lives, we learn His Word, listen to His Spirit, spend time discover His passions which become our passions too and we obey Him out of our love for Him, to disobey Him or neglect Him would be unthinkable. But what if the world started to creep in, and all grace only teachers came in and said “you’re fine, God loves you when you sin, go ahead and sin – you’re fine, God loves it when you do your own thing – Jesus paid for all that” and you got to thinking, “well, I could spend time with God – or watch this movie I wanted to see – God loves me either way, I’ll watch the movie”, or “I know God said for me to put away sexual immorality, but God loves me, I’m covered, I’ll go ahead and keep that anyway”. Is that when Jesus comes down and does His works of righteousness to force you to spend time with Him or to put away your sexual immorality for you?… or is that when by the power of the Holy Spirit you choose to DO RIGHTEOUSNESS?
You said, "We just don't get an idea to serve God." - I agree! We don't just wake up one morning and think "I want to cut down 20 trees for God today!" God has already instructed us. We have God's written Word - that is what we are to do. Specifically and individually, the Holy Spirit gives gifts and callings for us to fulfill our purpose - this too we are to do as we grow up in Him (again, not just picking what we want our gift to be or attempting to do so on our own, but following what and where God purposes us to serve and submitting to His direction so that He can do His work through us). God's Word is alive and active - His Holy Spirit dwells in and fills us for keeping His Word and ministering in His Body and out in the world - we serve and obey His Word because we love Him, not out of obligation, and I certainly hope I didn't come across that way. But as children often need reminded to eat their vegetables and brush their teeth - we too need reminded to remain in Him, learn from Him, and lean on Him because our flesh fights hard against obeying Him if we do not train it to do otherwise.
Mother Theresa had some wacky beliefs, of course, she was taught by the catholic church (everyone taught by man and not by God has some wacky beliefs)- but her heart was pure, she gave all she had out of what she knew. She was not called to preach the gospel or she would have been called an "evangelist" - she did minister to the sick and poor and tell them Jesus loved them out of her own callings and giftings, so she did her part. She, for one, proves that God can work through any who's heart is His even if our theology is off, as long as we get our mind out of the way for God to work. Good thing she wasn't called to teach theology - or that WOULD have been a problem! :)
I didn't "find" John 15 - it's one of the many Scriptures that has led me to my post, which I also referenced. I do not find Scripture to back up what I believe - I believe based on what Scripture says and what the Holy Spirit teaches me. I thank you for the warning and your sincere concern against works of the flesh (that is another issue that needs to be taught in the body of Christ), but spiritual works of Christ through us was all I was ever talking about to begin with. If Christ is in us, and He's doing His works... then the work Jesus is doing, He is doing through us, by our physical mouths and hands. But if we refuse to move our hands or speak, what can Jesus do through us? We become a useless tool - a fruitless branch. James 2:26 - "faith without works are dead" Who's faith? Ours - given us by God. Who's works? His – in His power by our hand and voice as we obey Him. If we do not do our part, God will not do His - but we can not do our part until we are rooted deep in Him, and no longer living our life, but His.
For instance, the Jesus said, "But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you..." Matthew 5:44-45 and we happen to read that verse, and the Holy Spirit tugs at you to obey that, and you happen to have an enemy... do you suppose that because we are already complete in Christ that Jesus has already loved and prayed for your enemy for you? Maybe He has, but if He already did that for everyone, why would He tell us to do that? - why would the Holy Spirit tug at you to obey? - isn't it up to you to submit and obey, and love and pray for your enemy? Who we are in Him is complete - we are righteous when we are in Christ. Colossians 2:8-23 is a great Scripture! We are not to be held in bondage to man-made religion, we are freed from the price of our sin and former life, Jesus has made us complete! Does that mean we stay floating on a cloud of in-action or neglecting our relationship with the One who gave us such an awesome gift, or go from this point on just racking up the sins because they are all paid for? No. Jesus said "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me". Luke 9:23-24 and "..."If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free." John 8:31-32 There's those "if"s again. It is our duty to grow, learn, remain in and mature in Christ so that we can obey and do righteousness according to His Word and how He leads us. If we were simply complete with out any purpose to DO His works on the earth, we would be saved and taken right up into Heaven.
I'm sure everyone at one point or another has battled with doing "self-righteousness" rather than "righteousness of Jesus"! When we are young believers - it is VERY hard not to run in front of God. I remember a number of years ago running with a Scripture feeling obligated to carry it out in obedience without praying, without spiritual wisdom, without relying on the Holy Spirit - and then becoming burned-out, or frustrated, or seeing my works fall to the ground, or getting puffed up in what I was doing. That is a very real condition - which is why those young in the faith are encouraged to learn and grow and wait until they become more rooted in Christ before ministering, and learn to only act led by the Holy Spirit and in His power (I Timothy 3:6; Hebrews 5:12-14). But even as the youngest in the faith must be taught that, without Christ they can do nothing, that in Him, His righteousness becomes theirs and there is nothing more need to be done to gain them entrance into Heaven or into right standing with God, that they must also continue to love God, obey Him, and grow deeper and deeper in Christ. Everything depends on our relationship with Christ - who we are and what we do, all comes out of our relationship with Him!
I’ve enjoyed our discussion, and learned that “works of the flesh” to please God are still being taught or tolerated in churches today. Maybe you and I can agree together in prayer that that will be broken off of people in the body of Christ!
God Bless!
Would you agree to this statement? That being a beliver is a paradox? 1John3:9"Cannot commit sin" and then 1:8; "If we say that we don't have sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us"
Now that,used to confuse me, but now I totally understand it(well, at least alot more). We are holy in spirit, but living in this body of death,but yearning for more of Christ daily from His word...Steve
Well put!
We have two natures, the old self, the flesh that battles against the new creation, our reborn spiritual nature. Scripture speaks to both because while we're on this earth - we have to learn to put the one away to live in the other.
It's good that we as believers have each others' backs to help us stear away from legalism or being luke-warm! Thanks.
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