Living Understanding, Pt 39: Righteous

Exodus 15:4-6                        4Then the word of the LORD came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” 5He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” 6Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

Romans 4:1-5                        1What then shall we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, discovered in this matter?  2If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God.  3What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”  4Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation.  5However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.

Galatians 3:5-6                      5So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard?  6So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Righteousness is one of those grand words which are nonetheless hard to nail down.  Wikipedia says it is the state of being morally correct and justifiable.  Mirriam-Webster defines it as acting in accord with divine or moral law, and the Oxford Learner Dictionary says it is behavior that is morally right or good especially according to religion.  But some translations have used ‘justice’ to translate ‘righteous’ so it seems that at least the fringes of the word-picture are murky.  The basic problem is that the basis for defining ‘morally correct’ or ‘morally right’ is not given.

There is more here to think about.  You may know of the pivotal theologian, teacher, and writer Martin Luther who lived in the 16th Century and who sparked a schism which saw the breaking apart of the Church into two camps, the Catholic and the Protestant.  At the time, the Bible was written, read, and preached in Latin, and the word used for righteousness came from two Latin roots—one meaning just or righteous, and the other meaning to make.  But Luther was reading from the original Greek translation in which righteousness means to regard or declare a person as just or righteous.  There is a world of difference here because the one view sees a sinful person completely changed by some external force to be permanently righteous, while other sees the sinful person regarded as righteous in spite of the fact that he or she is definitely sinful and unrighteous at the core.

Justified by works

In his writings, Paul refers to the ‘works of the Law’ by which he means all the commands and requirements of the Old Testament.

10For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”  11Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.” (Galatians 3:10-11)

There are 613 commandments in the Old Testament (including the famous 10) so it is impossible for any human being to keep all of them; clearly relying on the Law to reach salvation is impossible.  Also, people often refer to themselves as ‘good people’ who do good things and surely God wouldn’t condemn such people because they are ‘good at heart’.  Abraham lived before the Law was given at Sinai so the works he did was the sort of thing we might call right living.  That sort of living doesn’t bring righteousness either because we don’t observe fully and at our core, we are ungodly.  We might show ourselves as righteous, but underneath still harbor sin.  At the root of all this is the certainty that whatever we do as human beings are limited by our sin nature and cannot in themselves bring us to righteousness.  Only God can do that.  After all, even Abraham was once ungodly because before he was saved, he worshipped idols.  And David who was called ‘a man after God’s own heart’ and who wrote the bulk of the Psalms was not at his core Godly.  After all, he committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband Uriah. 

Credited as righteousness

But nonetheless, Abraham did become saved, and his faith was credited to him as righteousness.  What the heck does that mean?  If following a myriad of commandments to the best of our ability is not enough, or if living a ‘good’ life is not good enough, then what is a person to do?  The answer lies in the context of the Exodus verses.  At the time of these verses, Abraham was 75 years old.  When Isaac was born, he was 100 and Sarah was 90.  It would be natural to be dumbfounded to be told, even by God, when he was 75 and childless, that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky.

What did Abraham do?  He believed God with no question, conditions, or qualifications.  He had faith that God knew what he was doing, that whatever He said was right and correct, and that his human perceptions must therefore be wrong.  Because Abraham believed God without question, he had faith.  That faith was credited to him as righteousness in spite of his history as an idolator, and in spite of his sin nature.

Abraham was a man whose faith resulted in action.  When God told him to leave Ur, Abraham left; when later God tested his faith by calling him to sacrifice his son Isaac, Abraham intended to comply until God stopped him.  He was a man whose faith was living and continuous.  That was why Abraham was declared righteous—the entirety of his life was spent trusting and serving God.

Justifies the ungodly

When we accepted Christ as our Savior we were forgiven of our sins, we were washed as white as the blowing snow, and declared righteous.  Only God can do that.  After all we are the sinners, and sinners can’t forgive themselves, so righteousness must be given, declared over us, from somewhere else.  That is, from God.  Really, when we attempt to justify ourselves by seeking right living through obedience to Law and works, we are, actually, worshipping ourselves, the creature, rather than God, the creator.  There is no such being as a Godly person without the grace given by God through forgiveness.

What about me?

You are a sinner.  I am a sinner.  The pastor at your church is a sinner.  The only one who wasn’t was Jesus Christ.  The only way around that reality is to admit it and turn to Christ for salvation.  If you haven’t done that, then I strongly suggest that you find a person you can trust at your church and ask him or her to help you seek Jesus.

Jesus Christ is the only way to eternity.  All the modern counterfeits are lies intended by Satan to siderail your faith and to turn you away from God.  Don’t let him do that.  Accept the righteousness that comes from faith in Jesus and let the Holy Spirit guide you through the rest of your life.