Your righteousness.

[B-A-C]

There is a verse in Isaiah that says people's righteousness is like filthy rags. This seems to be another verse that people have built a doctrine on out of context.

Isa 64:5; You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?
Isa 64:6; For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isa 64:7; There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

The verse right before this says God will meet those who do righteousness. This passage is about people who have turned away from God and continued in sin for a long period of time.
It isn't about Christians. God hides His face from these people.

Psa 37:6; He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.

Isa 48:18; "If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Isa 62:2; The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.

Ezek 3:20; "Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

The fact is, there are more verses in the Old Testament saying people's righteous does matter, than the verses that say it doesn't. There are more than the ones listed above.

In the New testament Jesus says the same thing.

Matt 5:20; "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Rom 6:13; and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Even in the New testament, your righteousness matters. You can't be good and righteous enough to get to heaven on your own. You need Jesus. You need grace and mercy.

Rom 6:19; I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Your righteousness results in sanctification.

2Cor 9:10; Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

The Bible says some Christians are naked, and they don't even know it.

Rev 3:17; 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Jesus tells them to get dressed.

Rev 3:18; I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

What are these clothes He speaks of, and where do we get them?

Rev 19:8; It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

This clothing is your righteous acts.

===========================================

A lot of people believe they will be judged on what they believe, but the Bible doesn't say that. Don't get me wrong, you have to believe in Jesus, it's a requirement. But that isn't what you'll be judged on.

John 5:28; "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
John 5:29; and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

You will be judged on whether you're practicing good deeds or evil deeds.

Matt 7:22; "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
Matt 7:23; "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

You won't be judged on whether you believe in Jesus, you'll be judged for practicing lawless ( sin, iniquity ).

Some people think they won't be judged because they belong to Jesus. What they don't understand is, it will be Jesus doing the judging.

2Cor 5:10; For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Notice this verses says "good or bad". Yes, people will be rewarded for good deeds. But people will also get what they deserve for doing bad deeds.

Matt 16:27; "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.

Acts 9:36; Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.

Acts 26:20; but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Rom 2:5; But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Rom 2:6; who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:

You will be judged by the deeds you do.

Rom 8:13; for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Eph 5:11; Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

There are people living in sin, thinking that it doesn't matter. I can do whatever I want, and Jesus has me covered. These people will be in for a big surprise when they face Jesus.

Tit 1:16; They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Tit 3:8; This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
Tit 3:14; Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

Heb 10:24; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
Jas 3:13; Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

We are supposed to be encouraging each other to do good deeds. Instead, many Christians are encouraging us to do nothing, saying our righteousness, and our deeds don't matter. This is a lie straight from hell.

Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Rev 2:26; 'He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;

Rev 20:12; And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev 20:13; And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of scriptures about this. But it should be enough to get you thinking.

Faith alone doesn't help you.

Jas_2:19; You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Jas 2:20; But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

No, we aren't saved by works. No, we can't do enough good works to save us. But our good deeds definitely matter. ... so does our wicked/evil deeds.

Matt 25:44; "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
Matt 25:45; "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
Matt 25:46; "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

A number of times in the New Testament people call Jesus' "Lord", they know who He is, they even believe in Him. But some of them will go to eternal punishment.

 

[Charlie24]

There is a verse in Isaiah that says people's righteousness is like filthy rags. This seems to be another verse that people have built a doctrine on out of context.

Isa 64:5; You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness, Who remembers You in Your ways. Behold, You were angry, for we sinned, We continued in them a long time; And shall we be saved?
Isa 64:6; For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; And all of us wither like a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
Isa 64:7; There is no one who calls on Your name, Who arouses himself to take hold of You; For You have hidden Your face from us And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

The verse right before this says God will meet those who do righteousness. This passage is about people who have turned away from God and continued in sin for a long period of time.
It isn't about Christians. God hides His face from these people.

Psa 37:6; He will bring forth your righteousness as the light And your judgment as the noonday.

Isa 48:18; "If only you had paid attention to My commandments! Then your well-being would have been like a river, And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.

Isa 62:2; The nations will see your righteousness, And all kings your glory; And you will be called by a new name Which the mouth of the LORD will designate.

Ezek 3:20; "Again, when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I place an obstacle before him, he will die; since you have not warned him, he shall die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done shall not be remembered; but his blood I will require at your hand.

The fact is, there are more verses in the Old Testament saying people's righteous does matter, than the verses that say it doesn't. There are more than the ones listed above.

In the New testament Jesus says the same thing.

Matt 5:20; "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Rom 6:13; and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.

Even in the New testament, your righteousness matters. You can't be good and righteous enough to get to heaven on your own. You need Jesus. You need grace and mercy.

Rom 6:19; I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

Your righteousness results in sanctification.

2Cor 9:10; Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness;

The Bible says some Christians are naked, and they don't even know it.

Rev 3:17; 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked,

Jesus tells them to get dressed.

Rev 3:18; I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

What are these clothes He speaks of, and where do we get them?

Rev 19:8; It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

This clothing is your righteous acts.

===========================================

A lot of people believe they will be judged on what they believe, but the Bible doesn't say that. Don't get me wrong, you have to believe in Jesus, it's a requirement. But that isn't what you'll be judged on.

John 5:28; "Do not marvel at this; for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice,
John 5:29; and will come forth; those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment.

You will be judged on whether you're practicing good deeds or evil deeds.

Matt 7:22; "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?'
Matt 7:23; "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'

You won't be judged on whether you believe in Jesus, you'll be judged for practicing lawless ( sin, iniquity ).

Some people think they won't be judged because they belong to Jesus. What they don't understand is, it will be Jesus doing the judging.

2Cor 5:10; For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.

Notice this verses says "good or bad". Yes, people will be rewarded for good deeds. But people will also get what they deserve for doing bad deeds.

Matt 16:27; "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and WILL THEN REPAY EVERY MAN ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS.

Acts 9:36; Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which translated in Greek is called Dorcas); this woman was abounding with deeds of kindness and charity which she continually did.

Acts 26:20; but kept declaring both to those of Damascus first, and also at Jerusalem and then throughout all the region of Judea, and even to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds appropriate to repentance.

Rom 2:5; But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God,
Rom 2:6; who WILL RENDER TO EACH PERSON ACCORDING TO HIS DEEDS:

You will be judged by the deeds you do.

Rom 8:13; for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Eph 5:11; Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;

There are people living in sin, thinking that it doesn't matter. I can do whatever I want, and Jesus has me covered. These people will be in for a big surprise when they face Jesus.

Tit 1:16; They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.

Tit 3:8; This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
Tit 3:14; Our people must also learn to engage in good deeds to meet pressing needs, so that they will not be unfruitful.

Heb 10:24; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
Jas 3:13; Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.

We are supposed to be encouraging each other to do good deeds. Instead, many Christians are encouraging us to do nothing, saying our righteousness, and our deeds don't matter. This is a lie straight from hell.

Rev 2:5; 'Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place—unless you repent.

Rev 2:26; 'He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS;

Rev 20:12; And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.
Rev 20:13; And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of scriptures about this. But it should be enough to get you thinking.

Faith alone doesn't help you.

Jas_2:19; You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder.
Jas 2:20; But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?

No, we aren't saved by works. No, we can't do enough good works to save us. But our good deeds definitely matter. ... so does our wicked/evil deeds.

Matt 25:44; "Then they themselves also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?'
Matt 25:45; "Then He will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
Matt 25:46; "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

A number of times in the New Testament people call Jesus' "Lord", they know who He is, they even believe in Him. But some of them will go to eternal punishment.

When we place verses of Scripture from the Gospels, (most being what Christ has said), next to the verses in Paul's epistles, it's inevitable that confusion takes place. In order to place what Christ has said in perspective, we must first understand what Paul is saying. This is what takes away the confusion.

Paul tells us twice in his epistles that he was given a revelation from Christ, it didn't come from man, it came from Christ. This revelation Paul received from Christ is the meaning of the New Covenant in Christ. God gave Paul about 1/3 of New Testament Scripture to explain the meaning of the New Covenant. I'll use myself as an example of what Paul is teaching us from the New Covenant given to him by Christ.

As I sit here typing this reply, I'm a born-again believer in Christ. I have no righteousness of my own, if I were to think I did Paul says, your righteousness is as filthy rags. Then he explains that the righteousness we have was given to us by God through faith in Jesus Christ. It's something we don't deserve, and is purely an act of Grace on the part of the Father.

If justice were to be served, I would be in Hell right now, and rightly so. But by the Grace of our loving Father I have been pardoned from Hell and exalted to the position of co-heirs with the Son of God through faith. Totally and completely by the wonderful Grace of God.

Through faith in Christ and the Grace of God, I stand perfect and faultless before the Throne of God. But in reality I still commit acts of sin through the sin nature that we all have. Being saved, I don't want to sin against God, but at times I do. Here lies the battle we Believers face in this life, to keep the faith until the end. As Paul told us, "for we are made partakers with Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end."

Paul tells us in Rom. 6, this Grace that God has bestowed upon us is not a license to sin, he says, God forbid that we should do such a thing. Then he later tells us about the chastisement of God on the children of disobedience, purely out of love.

In 1 Cor. 3 Paul tells us believers of our judgment. We will not be present at the Great White Throne of Judgment, that judgment is on sin, the unbelievers who have no forgiveness of sins. We believers have no sin to be judged, we are faultless before God, washed in the Blood of the Lamb.

We will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Not for sin, but for our works to be judged by the trying of fire. Every man's (believers) work will be made known, and tried in the fire. If a man's works pass the test of fire he will receive a reward. If any man's works fail the test of fire, he will suffer loss of reward but will still be saved despite the fire burning up his works. These are works done for the wrong reasons, which is done in multiple ways.

1 Cor. 3:10-15
"According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.

11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."


If we understand what Paul is teaching us from Christ, which is the meaning of the New Covenant, then we will begin to understand the words that Christ spoke and the true meaning of what He was telling us.

 

[B-A-C]

We will stand at the Judgment Seat of Christ. Not for sin, but for our works to be judged by the trying of fire. Every man's (believers) work will be made known, and tried in the fire. If a man's works pass the test of fire he will receive a reward. If any man's works fail the test of fire, he will suffer loss of reward but will still be saved despite the fire burning up his works. These are works done for the wrong reasons, which is done in multiple ways.

That will happen too, but it doesn't nullify the 50 scriptures given above.

 

[Charlie24]

That will happen too, but it doesn't nullify the 50 scriptures given above.

What is your understanding of those verses you refer to? In a nutshell, not a long list of verses.

 

[joestue]

When we place verses of Scripture from the Gospels, (most being what Christ has said), next to the verses in Paul's epistles, it's inevitable that confusion takes place. In order to place what Christ has said in perspective, we must first understand what Paul is saying. This is what takes away the confusion.

very typical American Christianity. instead you should first learn the OT context, then study Jesus, and if you can't come to the same conclusion Paul did, then throw out Paul. seriously: you will end up with a much closer, common sense relationship with Jesus, and less wasted time arguing theology. Our principal purpose in life is to heal the sick raise the dead, drive out demons, and spread the gospel. the end result is righteousness.

Paul tells us twice in his epistles that he was given a revelation from Christ, it didn't come from man, it came from Christ. This revelation Paul received from Christ is the meaning of the New Covenant in Christ. God gave Paul about 1/3 of New Testament Scripture to explain the meaning of the New Covenant.

same as any cult leader today.

As I sit here typing this reply, I'm a born-again believer in Christ. I have no righteousness of my own, [hmmmm...]

If justice were to be served, I would be in Hell right now, and rightly so

So would Noah, Daniel and Job. Godly people the Lord commended as righteous men.
Be more like them.
Righteous works and clean robes never atoned for past sin/dirty robes and bloody hands.
No one I know of on the internet even declares that righteousness results in salvation, yet the first thing the non works/faith alone crowd brings to the argument is accusing them of saying works is required for salvation. they aren't the same thing!

works don't earn salvation, but go wash your robes, as God told the Israelites to do in the past, and James told us to do prior to Paul, around 50-60AD in his letter. --you will likely find your life a lot cleaner, God provides a lot more protection, etc, etc. you may even find the faith, capacity, and authority needed to heal the sick.

 

[joestue]

friend of mine had a realization come to him around 2014 iirc

he basically thought that God did all the work in sanctification, and he could just wait around for God to change his heart.

he realized that's not how it works.

maybe he should have read James 4:8 much earlier.
Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

 

[Charlie24]

very typical American Christianity. instead you should first learn the OT context, then study Jesus, and if you can't come to the same conclusion Paul did, then throw out Paul. seriously: you will end up with a much closer, common sense relationship with Jesus, and less wasted time arguing theology. Our principal purpose in life is to heal the sick raise the dead, drive out demons, and spread the gospel. the end result is righteousness.

same as any cult leader today.

So would Noah, Daniel and Job. Godly people the Lord commended as righteous men.
Be more like them.
Righteous works and clean robes never atoned for past sin/dirty robes and bloody hands.
No one I know of on the internet even declares that righteousness results in salvation, yet the first thing the non works/faith alone crowd brings to the argument is accusing them of saying works is required for salvation. they aren't the same thing!

works don't earn salvation, but go wash your robes, as God told the Israelites to do in the past, and James told us to do prior to Paul, around 50-60AD in his letter. --you will likely find your life a lot cleaner, God provides a lot more protection, etc, etc. you may even find the faith, capacity, and authority needed to heal the sick.

"Throw out Paul?" I think that's all I need to know from you, friend!

 

[joestue]

"Throw out Paul?" I think that's all I need to know from you, friend!

if that's all you got out of it, then we are not friends.

 

[Charlie24]

if that's all you got out of it, then we are not friends.

Friends or not, if you can't see from Scripture that Christ and Paul are in perfect harmony with one another, then it's for sure we have nothing to talk about!