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Hi,
This subject came up and deserves further study.
You will find strongly held opinions either way. Clearly we cannot save ourselves and our own righteousness is as filthy rags. Christ is our righeousness and we put on his royal robe covering our filth. He bacame sin for us that we might find forgiveness. Trinitarians must teach that God himself became sin which is anathema.I am posting an article for understanding of the issues that I have not read.
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The Very Serious Matter of Imputed Righteousness
© David H. LindenFebruary 1999
The Background of this Letter
In 1998 I was with an ACTION colleague and a Filipino brother in Manila discussing Roman Catholic doctrine. This paper was written for them. In North America, evangelical and Roman leaders, scholars and teachers have met to declare a common viewpoint on salvation including the most sensitive matter of all, the doctrine of justification. This paper addresses mainly one serious difference in the two doctrines.Justification in the Doctrine of the Reformation
Justification is an act of God, not a work in progress. However, God’s act of justification always results in His work of sanctification.In justification, God declares the sinner righteous; in this forensic doctrine, God does not make the sinner righteous, but gives him first a standing with Himself. The basis of this declaration is Christ’s obedience, not the progress the Christian is making in holiness.
God pardons the sinner in a decree so absolute it has the finality of the final judgment. This decree of God is certain and irrevocable.
The basis of our pardon is the atoning blood of Christ alone.
The means to justification is faith. “Faith alone” means there is no consideration of our works whatsoever in God’s declaration of righteousness. It does not mean that faith can be devoid of good works, because real faith always results in obedience to God.
The principle of grace excludes all participation and cooperation by the believer in the bestowal of a gift. All sense of merit or contribution by sinners toward the decree of “righteous” is excluded. Such contribution would destroy the nature of a gift.
Since our pardon is based only on Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, all penance and atoning activity by sinners is contrary to this basis. Scripture says, “I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!” Galatians 2:21
The faith by which we are saved is by nature one that embraces Christ for cleansing, not a false faith that seeks to have the benefit of a pardon, so that indulgence in sin may be perpetuated. (Here on #8, the Roman Church would agree.)
The Doctrine of Rome
The concept of faith, grace, pardon and righteousness are all present in Roman Catholic theology. Yet the product we are presented with in its teaching on justification is like taking all the pieces of a Lego set and building a different thing with the same parts. Because of this likeness of terminology, many are confused. Though the definitions sound alike, they are very different.In Roman theology, justification is not a settled final act of God, though Romans 5:1,2 presents it this way. It can be lost and the person would need to be rejustified. If it is lost, this can only be from a failure in the believer’s obedience. And therefore, in Roman thinking, the believer’s obedience really is part of the foundation of justification. But please note: When the Roman church speaks of rejustification, it is never viewed as arising from some failure on God’s part, only ours. But since it is seen as a failure on our part, then it is inescapable that we have a part in maintaining our justification. Human merit is not totally excluded.
This pardon begins not by faith but by baptism, and is maintained by faith, prayers, confession of sins, and works of contrition. The sinner’s cooperation with the grace of the Holy Spirit is necessary to sustain justification, even though it can begin only by the grace of God. Such cooperation with grace is good works. These works are viewed as a result of God’s grace, and grace is totally necessary to begin them. But such works occur in a cooperating human will, helped by God without any violation of man’s will, so that the human person is assisted by God to obey God. This fruit of the sanctifying Spirit merits eternal life for the Christian. Our works are not excluded.
Justification is not possible without faith, the grace of God, the sacrifice of Christ and the work of the Holy Spirit. All are said to be necessary. The Roman doctrine still includes and fails to exclude the cooperation of the believer in a life of good works as a basis to attain the final prize of eventual acceptance by God. Such good works are not seen as flowing from justification, yet distinct from it, but are works that are injected into this doctrine as a participatory cause of justification. Justification is not by “faith alone”.
The last vestiges of sin are removed not by the work of the Savior who has suffered for us. For many our work must be added to Christ’s work for the removal of remaining venial sin, purged not by His atoning sacrifice, but by the sinner suffering the pains of purgatory after this life. Therefore the cross of Christ by itself is an incomplete basis for the removal of sin, because the sinner also makes an atoning contribution. Those of us of reformation theology say that Christ alone provided purification for sins. We object to this complementary purging since we read in Hebrews how fully adequate Christ’s sacrifice is. There is no denial in Rome of the necessity of the cross. Our objection is that Rome maintains a view that the cross alone is inadequate to atone fully and completely. We would be happy to see such a high view of the cross affirmed, but to do so will require deserting the doctrine of purgatory, which Rome has not done. Reformation theology has one means for removing guilt, namely the cross. Rome has multiple atonements.
In Roman theology, the righteousness upon which God bases His ongoing or eventual pronouncement of “righteous” is the righteousness produced in the Christian by the Holy Spirit. Justification is seen in terms of sanctification as the words of Paul are applied in this example: The recent Catechism of the Catholic Church treats Philippians 2:13 as justification: Work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you the willing and the doing of His good pleasure. (We reply that this text is not referring to the obedience of Christ for us. The Philippians verse speaks of our obedience as Christians, which is far from being the same as the righteous behavior of Jesus Christ.) Christ’s obedience and ours are not the same.
We must always be clear on whose righteousness we are speaking about. It is this point that will occupy our attention in this paper. Many of the things above have a halfway character to them. Faith is necessary for justification in Roman theology, a true statement, but not faith alone, which to the Council of Trent is a false view. The cross is necessary, true we agree, but so is penance, and we must disagree. In spite of some progress in affirming “faith alone” by some Roman Catholic leaders, the magisterium of the church still avoids the plain language of Galatians 2:15-21. Galatians 2 is teaching that greatly affected the Reformers’ doctrine. With “grace”, “faith” and even “justification” all used with a different meaning, my earlier analogy of a different Lego construction being made from the same parts is inadequate. The product is different because even the parts are different. The parts are labeled the same, yet the content of these words is so different, we are faced with two doctrines, not two versions of the same thing. Yet I do not assert that every Catholic truly holds to official Roman teaching. I once heard a priest turn all att
ention to Christ alone as the object of faith. That kind of instruction may well make its recipients hang on to the righteousness of Christ for them. I hope so. If any Catholic is not hoping for divine acceptance on the improvements in himself but on Christ alone, then he is a Christian.Different meanings make conversation difficult. If one speaks of a car and thinks that wheels are round things to decorate a car, or that an engine burns fuel in order to keep passengers warm, then words like “wheel” and “engine” will not mean the same thing. In Roman Catholic and Protestant doctrine on how to be accepted by a holy God, the counsel given to children will turn out to be very different, so different as to be flatly contradictory. One will inevitably point to the sinner’s obedience to God as part of his hope, and the other will point to Christ’s alone. Whatever words are employed, if faith is turned back in to the merits of the sinner, the difference becomes the difference between heaven and hell. That is why we must pay attention to the very serious matter of imputed righteousness.
Similarity in Roman and Reformation theology evaporates when we speak of imputed righteousness. This is not a half way issue. Here is one place where the Roman and Protestant doctrines stand in sharp contrast. We are not splitting hairs. The difference is not one of emphasis but substance.
What is the issue? What righteousness does God accept?
The answer is simple. We are saved by Christ’s obedience not ours. He was born under the law in His incarnation. He was tried and tempted. He obeyed and His obedience is perfect. His is the sinless obedience of His entire human pilgrimage on this earth. The sacrifice on the cross is His final culminating act of righteousness in our place. Since this obedience is perfect, God approves of it fully. His is sinless, and ours is not. And His is an accomplished historical fact and not a repeat chapter to be played out in our experience. It is done, finished; all of it occurred in one completed timeframe of the Savior Who no longer lives here under the law. Only one man in history has obeyed God. And that is the righteousness God looks at when He pronounces a sinner righteous. That is the ONLY righteousness God looks at when He declares the sinner who believes in Him, righteous. The obedience done for us must not be equated with later obedience in us.The other kind of justification, the Roman view, is different in kind, because the righteousness being performed is now in our experience, not back then in His. Rome asserts that Christ produces justifying righteousness in us as the Spirit sanctifies us, but it is not the righteousness of Christ for us, apart from us, outside us, and before our time. When the Roman view focuses on the sanctifying Spirit producing righteousness in the Christian, it has been deflected from the perfection of Christ obeying for us. Rome is clearly sensitive to the fact that righteousness in us is not perfect, because it is mixed with sin. But without righteousness being imputed to us, the current improvements in us are all Rome has to offer for justification. Therefore, in place of that perfection, one faces a vast array of duties, rituals, religious exercises, devotion, prayers and sacraments, and even the unBiblical intercession of Mary, none of which brings perfection to the Christian who still has sin! The gospel is that God declares us righteous based on the righteousness of Christ. This righteousness is the obedience of Christ in His body, not the obedience Paul insists on in ours. (Romans 6:11-13)
What is lacking in a kind of vacuum at this point, is the kind of righteousness God will put His imprimatur of perfection upon. To this, we say that all along it was available in the gospel. Jesus Christ in His human flesh has obeyed the law. He, like Adam, is the new father of the new race of man. In Adam all die, because when Adam sinned, we sinned in him. His transgression became ours; therefore his sentence became ours, and his experience of death became ours. Ours is Adam’s sin by representation; ours is Adam’s sin by imputation, and ours is Adam’s experience in death. His sentence of death was upon us all. In Christ, all live because the sentence of “just” is upon all who believe, and they receive a righteousness performed for them long ago, and imputed to them when they believe.
Romans 5: 12-21
Adam is the pattern of Christ, the One to come, says Romans 5:12-21.We see that righteousness in that text is a gift to us, which ought to clarify for us that our works/contribution to justification, either before or after conversion, is zero.
This gift comes by grace, which to Paul is incompatible with works. (Romans 11:6)
The obedience which secures justification is not ours at all, but Christ’s which then becomes ours as a gift. It is received by us but not produced by us or in us. This is what Rome fails to teach, but which the apostle Paul dwelt upon as essential to a Christian understanding of the basis of salvation.
Justification is brought by the gift of God, “the gift … brought justification” (Romans 5:16). Someone may say, “Yes, God sent His gift and that started this entire chain of salvation.” In saying this, my hypothetical speaker may have in mind that the righteousness on which justification rests will eventually be produced in us, so that God will eventually receive us.
But what is Paul saying? He says the righteousness of justification comes to us as a gift. This Scripture does not present it as what is produced in us. (Romans 5:17) Paul points to the past act of Christ. The Reformers spoke of this righteousness as “outside us.” Note:
… Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men. For just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18,19)
So Adam’s sin and Christ’s obedience are parallel. We did not participate in the decision of Adam’s act. Yet Adam disobeyed for us and the guilt of his act is ours by imputation because God set him up as the one who would represent us and act for us. Adam chose for us that each of us would be what he chose to become, namely a guilty sinner. The condemnation in which we begin our human existence preceded our sins and rests solely on his. [1]Christ, the new Adam, obeyed for us. We did not participate in His obedience whatsoever. Yet He acted for us, because God sent Him to be the new father of the redeemed race. And in this role, He chose for us that we would be what He is, righteous! The acceptance in which our new life in Christ begins, was secured for us by His obedience alone, and rests solely on His action, not ours. We receive the merit of this perfect obedience performed so long ago, by a faith that contributes nothing to it at all. It is a faith that receives. In the gospel God provides, and we receive.
The parallel of Romans 5:12 -21 revolves around this theme:
Response to the law of God The judicial ruling of God on each representative and the ones represented Resulting human Experience
ADAM: Disobedience/Sin –> Condemnation –> Death
CHRIST: Obedience/Righteousness Justification –> LifeHaving been justified by faith, we have a standing with God, Romans 5:1,2 so we receive the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of a new life in us. One may call this different righteousness in us real, as long as it is seen to be mixed with real sin. But it is pure folly to think of it as the basis of God’s pronouncement of us as righteous, since our righteousness is contaminated by our sin every day. Purity and perfection is not a description of our behavior yet. But it is a worthy description of His. His is a righteousness we can boast of and still have humility. In justification, we NEVER look at justification’s results in us as its ca
use. That righteousness was all imputed to believers; we did none of it and could not. And this is why we have a doctrine of resting completely on Christ, a rest not tampered with by our works. I did not cooperate at Calvary, Gethsemane or in the Temptation in the wilderness. All the righteousness is His, and was done external to my life, and came to me by God imputing it to me when I believed His promise. True faith is in Christ, not ourselves, and assurance rests in His perfection.Faith cannot be placed in Christ and in ourselves.
What righteousness does God look at when He justifies? Christ’s.What righteousness is imputed to the sinner who believes? Christ’s.
What righteousness alone is perfect and holy? Christ’s.
What righteousness does God require in the law? Ours but since none is found in us, He provides a righteousness for us in the gospel.
What righteousness does God give in the gospel? Christ’s.
Where does Christ’s righteousness come from? He was born under the law and in His human existence after His incarnation, Jesus Christ fulfilled all the law's requirements for us.
What righteousness in the Christian does the Holy Spirit produce, which, in Roman doctrine, is at least a partial basis of justification? The Christian’s.
With this we strongly disagree since the Christian’s is an inadequate and imperfect righteousness. Because of our sin, it is unacceptable to God as even a partial reason for Him to declare anyone righteous.
Rome embraces a serious and even fatal error. This error Paul spells out in Romans 9:30 – 10:13. Paul’s Jewish brothers did not accept God’s gift and set about to establish their own. This lack of submission to God was a sin against the grace of God in Christ. When they turned it down by establishing their own, they rejected Christ Himself and were lost. Righteousness as a gift from God (Romans 1:17) is the core of the Christian gospel and thus at the core of the entire Christian faith. God accepts me only because He approves the righteousness He gave me. If He justified me on the ground of any human righteousness rising in my obedience, He would be untruthful to declare such unacceptable righteousness acceptable. He would violate His character. We must learn to keep our dirty little hands off the righteousness of Christ.
That God accepts lawbreakers based on Another’s righteousness does seem strange to one of another religion, but God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, (Isaiah 55: 8,9) and we ought to believe Him as to the doctrine and believe in Him for such a gift. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21) This famous text was preceded with the gospel truth that, in the case of those He saves, God was not imputing men’s sins against them. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
There are three great imputations in the Bible:
Of guilt – Adam’s sin to those Adam represented.Of sin – our sin to Christ Who represented His people.
Of righteousness – Christ’s righteousness to all He represented.
The Relation of Imputed Righteousness to other Vital Aspects of the Christian Faith
God’s Holiness He never pronounces our contaminated righteousness acceptable, so He has not compromised His holiness.
Our Confession of Sin We may confess sin honestly, since admitting it does not change the foundation of our justification.
Evangelism The good news for sinners who say, “I can’t meet God’s standard,” is that Christ has. Since Christ has satisfied God, all you need is to be satisfied with Christ and you shall be saved.
Good works These have always been required, never as the way to become a Christian, but having been accepted as a response of gratitude. (Ephesians 2:8-10, Romans 12:1)
Assurance Our confidence is in the perfection of the One Who has already died for us and obeyed for us. Since we contribute nothing to this, our confidence is not pride in ourselves but in Christ who represented us.
Worship Worship is not contaminated by pretense that we meet standards we do not, rather we are moved by a sense of wonder at what Christ has done. We submit to the law, confess sin, rejoice in Christ’s sinless obedience, rely on the Spirit’s work in us, receive the Word and sacraments; and praise God for such love and grace.The Contrasts stated or implied in Ephesians 2:8-10
Principle Means Result
False system: Merit Works Boasting
The gospel: Grace Faith Gratitude shown in good worksI have called this paper The Very Serious Matter of Imputed Righteousness. It is serious because the issue is whether we will trust completely in Christ or will reject Him as the Savior by adding in elements of our own righteousness. To insert ourselves at any part of God’s justifying decree reveals a terrible misunderstanding of the holiness of God, and is a horrible way to treat Christ when He was sent to obey for us, and did so perfectly. The solution is to exalt His righteousness as unimpeachable, and to treat ours as contemptible beside His.
The Lord warned against confidence in our righteousness, Luke 18:9. In Philippians 3:1-11, Paul tells that he turned from all confidence in his own righteousness, even viewing it as rubbish. Instead, he placed his hope in the righteousness that comes from God and is received by faith. We cannot have the righteousness that comes from God if we insist on presenting Him with the kind that comes from us. I repeat that this is very serious.
It is received by faith, but how? The Bible’s answer is that God imputes (See Romans 4) or sets a benefit to the account of the person who trusts Christ. In other words, the obedience was Christ’s but the benefit or credit for it, becomes ours when we receive Christ. Just as the sin was ours and the penalty became His, so in imputation, the obedience was Christ’s, yet the merit of it becomes ours since He was sent for the purpose of standing in for His people. He has died and obeyed for me, so I will trust Him and never try, in the slightest, to be accepted by God in any other way. And this is what God had in mind when He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him will most certainly have everlasting life.
The problem:
This guy is right And he is wrong!
We are Justified by faith, we did not deserve salvation. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done.
Justification by Faith is truth!
BUT,
Once you have been justified, once you have received this free gift, then you must obey Christ and abide in him. If you do not then you are pruned from the True Vine.
This isn't Roman doctrine this is every doctrine on salvation that has existed since the beginning of Orthadox (basically non-gnostic) Christianity since the beginnning until the reformation.
Paul's words have been misunderstood exactly as Peter said they are. Paul's words are hard to understand and people twist them to their own destruction as Peter said they do.
People take Paul's words in Romans call them the “Clear” texts and then filter their understanding of Christ's teachings and the other epistles such as James through their view of the teachings in Romans.
If anything, Peter's words should probably indicate the opposite should be done.
Romans 6
15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! 16Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?
17But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted. 18You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.
19I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.
20When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!
22But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Is Paul giving us License to sin after we have come to Christ? Absolutely Not!
Read his words carefully particularly vs. 22-23.
Paul is saying we have been Delivered from future sin not Imputed of all future sin.
Hi MS,
It is the Spirit that sanctifies and produces righteousness.
Galatians 5:5
But by faith we eagerly await through the Spirit the righteousness for which we hope
Romans 14:17
For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit,
Isaiah 61:3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion— to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor.How do any of those verses contradict what I am saying?
We have been delivered from sin, the holy spirit comforts and counsels, leads and convicts.
Christ in us, we have died, we have been crucified in the flesh, we have put on the new man and we no longer serve by letter but by spirit.
No, Sorry Nick:
If I am understanding you correctly, then I must disagree with you relative to Adam being responsible for our sin, and your assessment of righteousness by understanding follows:
While it is true that Adam sinned and through him sin entered into the world, you and I have a free will and so Adam is not responsible for my sin. If Adam is responsible, then why am I accountable to God for the life that I live. The word of God states that every man will be judged according to his works.
“And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works”. (Rev. 20:13)
The scripture states: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered inot the world, and death by sin; and death passed upon all men, (Why did death pass upon all men?) FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED”.
I have posted relative to my understanding on the doctrine of original sin in the appropriate thread.
Salvation under the old covenant and the new is by Faith so that it might be by grace. None have earned it through the obedience to God's eternal law. “
“For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect: because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression. Therefore it of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,…”. (Romans 4:13-16)
As Morning Star stated when we come to God through Jesus our Lord, we are justified by our faith, the fact that we believed God's message of salvation through our Lord Jesus, it was not by our works but like Abraham we believed God's Word.
When we receive the Holy Ghost, God is then the Father of our Spirit. God is not a dictator and neither are we robots. God is our helper. Just as any Father who loves his children, he will teach us and he will discipline us, but it up to us to apply what we have been taught. We as Christians are striving to walk in the foot steps of our Lord Jesus. He obeyed God without sin even unto death on the cross. We will make mistakes, and when we do we must repent, and God will forgive us through our Lord Jesus.
“Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.” (James 2:19-24)
“And (Jesus) being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”. (Hebrews 5:9)
“And this is his commandment, that we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as he gave us commandment. And he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him. And hereby we know that he abideth in us, by the Spirit which he hath given us”. (1 John 3:23-24)
“He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”. (1John 2:4)
God Bless
Hi 94,
I agree every man is responsible for his own sin actions and no one can blame Adam.But the sin that lived in Paul was not his actions.
Romans 7:9
I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died;We inherit a state of lawlessness from Adam, being under the power of licentious lusts leading to sin. It is the result of the separation from God since Adam and the negative influence of the god of this world and his forces.
Nick, A very interesting post, “The very serious matter of Imputed Righteousness”. I believe you are familiar with my view, and although this article discusses various views of this “Righteousness”, I feel the view that states, “we have no part in our salvation” is the correct one. Pauls epistle to the Ephesians especially points this out, particularly Eph.2:8-9.
For in grace, through faith, are you saved, and this is NOT OUT OF YOU; it is God's approach present,
9 not of works, LEST ANYONE SHOULD BE BOASTING.
10 FOR HIS ACHIEVEMENT ARE WE, being created in Christ Jesus for good works, which GOD MAKES READY beforehand, that we should be walking in them.Again, a very good post, thank you.
Hi,
Righteousness now is shown to be through faith in Jesus and His God.Isaiah 54:17
No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.Isaiah 56:1
Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed.Romans 3:22
Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:It is witnessed to in the OT
Romans 3:21
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;And this righteousness can only be understood with the help of the Spirit.
John 16:8
And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
And when Christ comes to rule
Isaiah 59:17
For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.Isaiah 26:9
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.Righteouness now for us is that of Christ and not the Law
Philippians 3:9
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:The crown of the righteousness of Christ awaits his followers.
2 Timothy 4:8
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.For KW,
Did God change His mind as you said in another post or did He have to show us we could never be righteous without His Spirit?Nick Hassan:
Quote Did God change His mind as you said in another post or did He have to show us we could never be righteous without His Spirit?
If I said God changed His mind then I made an error because God does not change. Under the old covenant the people of God were imputed (credited) with righteousness because they have faith but they could not be reborn in spirit.
The new covenant though is different or there would be no sense in Jesus dying. It is different as through faith we can live by the spirit and God and Jesus will do their righteous works through us. If a person claims to have faith and their actions are not righteous they are liars as God is faithful and will do as he promises. In fact if they really had faith and were disobedient then they like a demon would tremble in fear knowing the condemnation they face if they do not change their ways. That is why the fear of God is the beginning of Wisdom just as it is written:
Psalms 111:10(NIV) reads:
Quote The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
To him belongs eternal praise.Hi KW,
By the work for the Spirit in gifts and fruit.
Gal5
22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,23Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
24And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
Nick Hassan writes:
Quote By the work for the Spirit in gifts and fruit.
Gal5:
Quote [But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
That pretty much sums up living by the spirit which is the result of true faith. It is true that faith saves us but if you do not manifest the fruits of the spirit then you do not have true faith in Jesus our Messiah and if instead you manifest the fruits of the sinful nature(flesh) then you will perish even as it is written:
Galatians 18-21(NIV) reads:
Quote The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Hi KW,
You say
“That pretty much sums up living by the spirit which is the result of true faith.”True faith allows the leadership of the Spirit.
The branch cannot produce fruit outside of the vine.Nick and Kerwin……….If we say we have no sin we are liars, so it looks like you are going to parish according to you words right?
And Paul is also because He said the good i would do i do not , but the evil i would not do that i do, O wretched man that i am, who can deliver me from this body of death. Seems not everyone agree with you two. “Theres non righteous (NO) not even ONE” God said He looked for (ONE) righteous man and could find (NON). So before you both go around handing out death penalties on others make sure you include yourselves in them to. IMOlove and peace to you both………………………………gene
GB,
There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.
Jn3
“God so loved the world that He sent his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”This is the divine offer but you would enlarge it?
Why?Gene Balthrop writes:
Quote If we say we have no sin we are liars, so it looks like you are going to parish according to you words right? And if you do not believe Jesus when he states that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled then you have no real faith. So is Jesus a liar or are you misunderstanding what John wrote. It is up to you to choose which and by that choice and others you will be judged. I choose to believe all things are possible by God.
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