No Righteousness = No Heaven

[Episkopos]

I'm sorry I don't see that. Please show forth how you think that that is.

You forgot that you disagreed with DOING righteousness to BE righteous. Instead you are after a religious posturing.

 

[justbyfaith]

We take on His sinless perfection by putting on Christ...as an anointing.

Entire sanctification and sinless perfection are two different things.

One has to do with sin being made dead...the other has to do with having sin eradicated. The former is true while the latter is false.

 

[justbyfaith]

How he gets there is an individual thing.

There is only one way to be made righteous...and that is to receive it as a gift (Romans 5:15-19).

 

[justbyfaith]

You forgot that you disagreed with DOING righteousness to BE righteous. Instead you are after a religious posturing.

I hold that being righteous will result in my doing righteousness. Have I contradicted myself?

 

[justbyfaith]

Will be back later...time for devotions.

 

[Episkopos]

I hold that being righteous will result in my doing righteousness. Have I contradicted myself?

That's not what you said. And that's not what you meant. The bible states that Cornelius was righteous BEFORE being baptized in the Spirit.

Actually God does not baptize the wicked in the Spirit. Being baptized INTO Christ means you have been approved in heaven.

God does not make sinners holy...they must repent first. But God does make the righteous holy...if they surrender to Him.

But you are looking for an extra-biblical righteousness. You want to be a sinner AND also righteous while claiming to be of Christ. But claiming too much too soon isn't wise. Until we walk in His holiness by grace we cannot have a right standing with God. Until then we are judged by our own righteousness. Most believers fail even here.

How? By inventing a religious righteousness that isn't real.

A person who has the righteousness of God on them is holy as God is holy...with the same authority. So then His righteousness is to rule over others.

 

[Episkopos]

Will be back later...time for devotions.

Praying with you brother!

 

[marks]

Jesus taught that our righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees if we expect to enter into the kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 5
[20] For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Yep.

And you've got two choices of how to qualify. Either you can point to your own righteous life, start to finish, and that will give you life.

Or you can receive the righteousness from God.

Your choice.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Well non-believers far too often are ALL vilified as unrighteous

Righteous unbelievers.

Do you realize what you are saying?

 

[marks]

...so that many believers condemn others who are actually righteous in God's eyes. When someone condemns a righteous person...they are judged themselves as unrighteous. So then religion (yes, even the Christian religion) makes good evil and evil good.

What foolishness!!

The believer states the truth from God that those who do not believe in God CANNOT please Him, and you would have that make the Child of God guilty.

You begin with the false supposition that people can be righteous outside of Christ, and then condemn those who hold a Biblical view.

Foolishness!

 

[marks]

Gal 2:21, I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Phl 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:

Simply stated.



Ya just can't get your own righteousness.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Jesus then proceeds to give the standard of God's righteousness that we MUST live up to:

Matthew 5
[21] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
[22] But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
[23] Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee;
[24] Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.
[25] Agree with thine adversary quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.
[26] Verily I say unto thee, Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost farthing.
[27] Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:
[28] But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.
[29] And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
[30] And if thy right hand offend thee, cut if off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
[31] It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a writing of divorcement:
[32] But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
[33] Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:
[34] But I say unto you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven; for it is God's throne:
[35] Nor by the earth; for it is his footstool: neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King.
[36] Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, because thou canst not make one hair white or black.
[37] But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
[38] Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:
[39] But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
[40] And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloke also.
[41] And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
[42] Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
[43] Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
[44] But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
[45] That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
[46] For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?
[47] And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?
[48] Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

How's that working out for you?

I can simplify this list if you wish. Love God with all your heart mind soul and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. Perfectly! Always! Since birth.

Good luck, which ever list you want to hold yourself to, the longer or the shorter.

But remember, God doesn't grade on a curve like you do.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Actually that was said to expose the futility of the righteousness of the Pharisees, and also anyone else's who thinks that he or she can enter Heaven by their own efforts to be righteousness.

What Jesus really meant is that unless you have the righteousness of GOD HIMSELF, AND CHRIST HIMSELF, you cannot enter Heaven. He also said that we are to be perfect as God in Heaven is perfect, and who can attain that perfection outside of Christ's perfection? Meaning that unless God imputes Christ's righteousness to you by grace through faith, you are shut out of Heaven. That is what justification is all about.

There are several here who resist the idea of justification by grace through faith in Christ and His finished work of redemption. And that is because they neither understand the grace of God nor the work of Christ.

As if the sermon on the mount was to show how we can all somehow keep the Law, and be righteous because of it.

More like the final coffin nail for anyone who thought that way. Jesus was explaining how noone has a chance of being justified by keeping law.

Much love!

 

[marks]

Actually, what Jesus taught was God's standard of righteousness, unlike the scribes and Pharisees, and that's why he proceeded to explain it in the following verses from Matthew 5:21-48 and Matthew chapters 6 and 7. Jesus would not tell us what to do if He didn't expect us to live up to it. People can't hide behind their fig leaf religion of "no works" and expect to inherit eternal life. No righteousness = No Heaven. Why call me Lord, Lord and do not the things I say? - Jesus.

Again, good luck with that. How's it working out so far? Be honest. Sinless life? From the beginning?

Much love!

 

[marks]

None of us have God's righteousness. That is impossible. None of us has God's power or His good looks either!

Quips aside . . .

" . . . that we might become the rightousness of God in Him."

Do you want to try to get your own righteousness, or to receive God's righteousness?

Philippians 3
6 . . . touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.
7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.
8 Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
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:

Spend your life trying to aquire righteous from keeping Law, and wake up one day to a handful of ashes.

 

[marks]

By ourselves if we realize that we are sinners...and we humble ourselves for it...then that makes us righteous in God's eyes.

Not so.

It is by faith in Jesus that we are made righteous. Not through "Self Realization".

Read in the bible where the publican was justified by beating his chest over his sins.

Mis-stated to reach an erroneous conclusion.

Let's look at the actual passage.

Luke 18:13 "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner."

This was not some self-realization of his sinfulness, and voila! he is justified. Otherwise anyone who knows they've done wrong is justified. That's absurd.

But look what really happened . . .

. . . smote upon his breast, saying, "God be merciful to me a sinner."

It was his cry to God in faith for mercy.

Shouldn't this be rather plain to see?

 

[marks]

Imputing righteousness is only righteous if the one receiving the imputation is ACTUALLY righteous. Otherwise you are endorsing fables. God does NOT endorse fables. People like you do, however.

More foolishness . . .

If you are Actually righteous, then where is the imputation of righteousness? Do you see how this doesn't work?

It's like saying, If you are wet, I'm going to make you wet. I can't make you wet unless you are already wet. Do you see how this is nonesense?

You deny the new birth in Christ. Oh, you acknowledge it happens, but not what the Bible says that God does. You deny the transformation, you deny God's power.

If you are not a new creation, then by all means try to cobble together some of your own righteousness - I can't even write that without seeing the silliness of such a thought! Talk about fables!

But more to the point, I think what you are really saying is that there is no imputation of righteousness without the person becoming truly righteous. And on that point I agree with you, but not the way you mean. You mean that someone has no claim to Christ's righteousness unless they themselves are righteous, as seen in what they do.

Two Huge flaws with that thinking.

One it the hubris of thinking you can know. That you think you can know yourself even though God says you don't. That only Jesus really knows you. So to think your "self-realization" is as complete as God's knowledge of you? Hubris.

Another is that you deny God's power to create one anew. And that's a big mistake. If it is a mistake.

 

[marks]

We will all be judged by OUR righteousness

You will be judged according to your works. You don't have righteousness of your own. God calls that sort of thing as if they were used menstrual clothes. Is that what you want to wave in front of God for acceptance? And if you are content with that, trying to make it on your own works, best of luck to you. but I know how it will end.

Only those born again, having received Jesus' righteous, they will not be thrown into the lake of fire. Those who rely on their own righteousness, it won't be enough to keep them from being tossed in like the rest.

 

[marks]

And you said nothing of God's good looks either!

Are you saying Jesus was a good looking guy?

More study is needed . . .

 

[marks]

I marvel at the comic book interpretations people put on the bible.

The robes that the saints wear in the future kingdom are they the righteousness of Christ or their own righteousness learned by Christ being formed in them?

Rev. 19:8 And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

Gee. This quote doesn't address your question.

Hm. What to think about that??