In my morning quiet time with the Word of God, I was drawn over and over again to the word, "righteous; and righteousness". How about a word study? In your opinion, what is righteousness? In His Grace, Sissy

-- Sissy Sylvester-Barth (iblong2Him@ilovejesus.net), January 11, 2002

Answers

This is an interesting word to study. The basic word when used biblically in my mind means that we are to walk God's way. The thing is from the time man was in the garden, he has tried to set his own righteousness. In other words he is self-righteous. This is the basic source of sin. For in the garden the serpent told Eve that man could be like gods. So self-righteousness is the basic source of sin. Throughout the Old Testament God provided the Law. Man attempted to obey the law through his OWN righteousness. This was an abject failure. Hebrews 10 puts it this way:

Hebrews 10 1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.

As we follow the children of Israel we see that the idea of man being righteous in and of himself is impossible. Because of sin man cannot be righteous. The only true righteousness is that provided by God himself. Any righteousness besides that is a lie.

Therefore, because "there is none righteous, no not one". The only way man could be accepted before a righteous and just God is if he could somehow take on the righteousness of God. The only way for this to happen was that a sinless God had to carry the sins of man for him. This he came to do as Jesus Christ. Christ came and bore our sins as he also forgave them all. Past, present, and future. He did all that and all he asks for in return is our belief and recognition of his gift. Unfortunately man is deceived by sin and many of us just flatly, selfishly, refuse God's gift of Love. At that point we make our decision to embrace our own eternal punishment, not because God wants to punish us, but because we prefer that to accepting the gift of eternal life. In the end we find out just how much our self- righteousness has cost us, but by then it is too late. It is too late even as the murderer cannot give back the life he has taken in order to save his life in the end. Just like the rich man and Lazurus, there is no going back when the justness of God must be meted out upon the rejecting sinner. Fortunately, as long as a man still has breath, he can turn over his life if sin and choose to follow Christ. Then and only then can Christ come in and clean him up from the inside out. Then that accepting man can take on the righteousness of Christ and be baptized (dipped) into him. Not by water, mind you, but by the spirit and the soul. From then on God does not see that man in his sins, but instead sees him through the mirror of His Son. When God looks at the Christian he sees His Son. The Righteousness of Christ.

Little Bit Farm

-- Little Bit Farm (littleBit@farm.com), January 15, 2002.

thankyou Little Bit! Sissy

-- Sissy Sylvester-Barth (iblong2Him@ilovejesus.net), January 15, 2002.