the righteousness that is of faith, part two

Originally posted at a little perspective in August 2007.

Previously: the righteousness that is of faith

Doesn't Paul teach that the righteousness that is by the Law condemns us? YES!

Paul teaches that righteousness, which is “right standing before God,” can only be had by faith in Jesus Christ through grace! By works of the Law (read: obedience to the Law) no flesh will be justified in His sight (Rom 3:20). The righteousness which is of God -- through faith in Jesus Christ -- has now been manifested apart from the Law (Rom 3:21-22), and God's righteousness -- the righteousness which is of faith -- both the Law and the Prophets bore witness to (Deu 9:4-6, Isa 45:24-25, Isa 61:10).

Paul also says that the Gentiles attained righteousness (right standing before God, Rom 9:30) by faith in Jesus Christ, but Israel did not attain right standing before God, because they pursued God's righteousness as if it could be had by works of the Law (Rom 9:31-33), and not by faith.

Paul furthermore says that Israel did not know about the righteousness which is by faith, even though the Law and the Prophets witnessed to it (Rom 10:3)! So Israel sought to attain to self- righteousness (“seeking to establish their own”, Rom 10:3), which disqualified them for God's righteousness. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes,” (Rom 10:4). This scripture does not say that Christ ended the Law; it says that Christ is the end -- the goal -- of the Law for righteousness. In other words, the Law teaches that it is the Messiah to come who would bring righteousness.

Paul goes on to say that if righteousness (right standing before God) can be had by obedience to the Law, then Christ died needlessly (Gal 2:21)! Furthermore, Paul counts as rubbish a righteousness which is of his own (work) derived from (obedience to) the Law (Phi 3:8-9). Paul is saying that righteousness - right standing before God - cannot be attained by works of obedience to the Law. We already saw that Moses and the Prophets agree with him; and so does Jesus (Mat 5:17-20)!

“For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.” Mat 5:20

The scribes and the Pharisees misunderstood Moses, I am convinced, which is why they were at loggerheads with Jesus so often. The scribes and the Pharisees were trusting in their own self- righteousness through obedience to the Law in order to gain right standing before God. This is why Jesus said that those who enter the kingdom of heaven must have righteousness which exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. In other words, we need to have a righteousness which exceeds self- righteousness. I thank God for His righteousness which is had by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, it certainly exceeds my own!

The Law, the Prophets, Jesus, and the apostles all agree, and all preach right standing before God through faith, not obedience to the Law. Then do we need obedience to the Law? Yes (Mat 5:19)! But not for right standing before God. Just because the Law is perfect and righteous (Rom 7:12), does not mean that it produces right standing before God in those who obey it (Heb 7:19). Right standing before God was never the Law's purpose (Gal 3:21-22)! What then was its purpose? The answer to this question is truly fascinating! To be continued ...

Continued in God's word gives life to those who find it

righteousness

the righteousness that is of faith
the righteousness that is of faith, part two

the righteousness that is of faith

Originally posted at a little perspective in August 2007.

I used to think of the Old Testament and Israel as distinctly separate from the New Testament and Christianity. But the more I study the two books together, the more I realize that just as there is one God, there is one Word, one message, one gospel, one faith, and one people of God (Eph 4:4-6). I also used to think that Moses and the prophets preached righteousness that is of the Law and the works of the Law, while Jesus and the apostles preached righteousness that is of faith. But now I see that this is not the case at all.

Oh, Jesus and the apostles preached righteousness that is of faith, all right. But so did Moses, that is the part that was surprising to me. As a matter of fact, so did the patriarchs and the prophets (Gen 15:6, Isa 64:6).

I first saw this when studying Hebrews:

“For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” Heb 4:2

“They” is referring to those who came out of Egypt, led by Moses (Heb 3:16). So those who came out of Egypt had the gospel preached to them! What is the gospel? That righteousness is of faith, is it not? -- by the grace of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself for us. Moses and Israel had the gospel -- righteousness that is of faith -- preached to them? Well, that is what Hebrews says.

Of course, if we think about it a little bit, we see that they did indeed have the gospel preached to them, by living example: they had to apply the blood of the slain lamb to the doorposts of their houses in order for the angel of death to pass over them, and this they had to do by faith (Exo 12).

Then before Moses died, and Joshua took over, right before Israel was to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded the people again (Deu 9:4-6) that they were not entering the Promised Land because of their own righteousness, for they were stiff- necked and rebellious. They were entering, he took pains to impress upon them, because God is faithful to the covenant of promise (Deu 9:5). And here he is speaking of the covenant which God made with Abraham, in which Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6). Moses does not draw out the details for Israel in the way Paul does in the letter to the Galatians (Gal 3:6-12), because Israel was very familiar with the covenant of promise and what it meant; all Moses had to do was refer to it to make the point. Paul, however, was speaking to a Gentile audience and explained the connection in detail. Thank goodness for us.

Hebrews goes on to say that the first generation did not enter the Promised Land because of unbelief (Heb 3:19). I think we can assume this means that the second generation that did enter in did so because of belief, or faith.

In fact, I could only find one sentence in Moses in which it might be construed that righteousness was to be had by obeying the Law. In Deu 6:25 it says:

“It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the LORD our God, just as He commanded us.”

We read “righteousness” in the Bible and automatically think it must mean “right standing before God” because this is how the word is most often used in the New Testament. Actually, the word translated “righteousness” here means, “justice, ruling rightly,” (Gesenius Hebrew Lexicon) i.e. judging rightly between right and wrong. In other words, this verse could read, “It will be justice for us [we will have justice] if we are careful to observe all this commandment before the Lord our God, just as He commanded us,” and this is what it means in Hebrew.

But doesn't Paul teach that the righteousness that is by the Law condemns us?

Continued in the righteousness that is of faith, part two