Tag Archives: Righteousness

Holy Ones

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As God’s children, is holy something we are or something we must try to become? First and foremost, holy is what we are in Christ. On this point the testimony of Scripture is clear: “By this we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”(Hebrews 10:10,14) One source puts it this way: “Sanctification is thus the state predetermined by God for believers, into which in grace He calls them, and in which they begin their Christian course and so pursue it. Hence they are called saints.” By referring to believers as saints (holy ones) in his many letters, Paul isn’t addressing an elite class of Christians; he means all those who belong to Christ.(1Corinthians 1:2)

It’s also important to recognize that in Scripture holiness is often used right alongside the terms redemption, righteousness and justification. Sharing the same context not only means that these concepts are related, but that they coexist as a reality here and now in the believer’s life.(1 Corinthians 1:30)

Likewise, the term blameless is often used in conjunction with holy to unambiguously declare the believer’s unique position in Christ. Being blameless means being regarded as faultless or without blemish—essentially the same as being made righteous. Paul forcefully brings this idea home in Colossians 1:22: “yet He has now reconciled you in His fleshly body through death, in order to present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach.”

Being justified (acquitted of sin) by God’s grace, we are now held blameless, and as a result set apart (made holy, sanctified) as His special possession. And this isn’t merely a hypothetical status or position—as it is often thought of. This is truly who we are in Christ!

Wait On Me

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My child, wait on Me. Wait in My Presence and listen for My Voice. For in My Presence is wisdom and joy, comfort and strength, encouragement and healing. Everything you need can be found by waiting in My Presence. Don’t rush our time together. Linger here. Be filled by all I desire to give you. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.

Matthew 5:6

Righteousness through Law

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Man’s motivation to be righteous before God is the product of his conscience. And the bedrock of man’s conscience is God’s law. Law has reached its pinnacle of perfection in the Law and Prophets of the Old Testament. The Law is indeed the epitome of God’s will for man prior to His revelation of what Paul calls God’s mystery—Christ Jesus Himself.(Colossians 2:2)

The truths of God’s law have filtered into all cultures in varying degrees to become the cornerstone of man’s attempt to gain acceptability in the eyes of whoever he perceives to be his god. Such law is the “elementary principles of the world” identified in Scripture. (Colossians 2:20) 

There are two basic elements of man’s attempt to be righteous before God: doing good (in an attempt to please Him), and restraining ourselves from doing evil (to keep from displeasing Him). These elements are at the heart of the activities of all religious systems, and may be thought of as the positive and negative aspects of man’s attempt at righteousness—the opposite sides of the same coin. But all this effort boils down to just one thing: earning one’s own way in an attempt at self-justification.

Excerpted from: Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself

God’s Guidepost to Life

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We are inherently self-interested creature in this sin-riddled world, and our sin is blatantly exposed by the presence of law. This fact is undeniable: “the sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.” (1 Corinthians 15:56)

What’s really sad about God’s law is not that it had to be imposed, but that it was so quickly interpreted as a means by which a person might earn his own righteousness—becoming the framework for man’s attempt to work his way to heaven. From the very beginning God had something far different in mind; law was to be a guidepost to His gift of life.(Romans 7:10)

Law was never intended to be the vehicle to bring us into right standing with Him, because ultimately God wanted to freely impart His own righteousness—and thus His life—to man.(Galatians 3:21) Consequently, man’s attempt to earn his own righteousness through works (what is commonly called works righteousness) can result in little else but pitting us head-on against God’s plan.

Paul talks about God’s people being held in custody under law—like children under a tutor—until the fullness of time came when Christ was to justify those who believe.(Galatians 3:22-24) Law had its purpose then, and still does now. But since freedom from law is the very essence of our freedom from the power of sin, we need to better understand the manner in which law relates to our righteousness in Christ now that He has come.

The Mind of Christ

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My child, I have given you My Spirit so that you may know the things freely given; spiritual thoughts with spiritual words. I have given you the mind of Christ. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? The temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. Be set apart from this world so I can use use. Walk according to My Spirit. I will lead you in My path of righteousness.

1 Corinthians 1 12 &16, & ch 2 vs 16 & 17

Never Could Earn Our Way!

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              The pursuit of righteousness through obedience to law is what Paul called the “elementary principles of the world.” Man has an inbred penchant for attempting to justify himself in this way; it’s absolutely fundamental to our thinking about God. And why shouldn’t it be? Because this philosophy of life has been hammered into us since the dawn of man, it’s not easy to escape. It just seems so right! So given this fact, we can’t judge Israel too harshly for falling into this trap—they merely “stumbled over the stumbling stone.”

            Making people work for righteousness was never God’s intent for law. Even in the Old Testament, grace was the key to righteousness before God. He instituted a system of sacrifice and offerings not for the Israelites to earn their way into His good graces, but that they might experience His forgiveness as they obeyed Him. Obeying God was to be an act of faith on their part, not merely an attempt to accumulate enough points to somehow satisfy Him. God’s intention regarding His grace is nowhere more evident than in the Old Testament ritual of the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16.

(Excerpted from “Free from the Power of Sin: The Keys to Growing in God in Spite of Yourself”)