Understanding Our Righteousness
- Thread starter Albert Finch
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We understand that the sacrifice upon Calvary was a fulfilment of OT types and shadows correct? Thus in the OT sanctuary service the sacrifice was made outside the door to the tabernacle, just as our Saviors death took place outside the gates to Jerusalem. However, the shedding of blood for the OT Israelite was not enough, because the priest had to take the blood into the sanctuary and sprinkle it before the veil in the first apartment. Then, once a year, the High Priest had to enter the second apartment to "cleanse the sanctuary of all the uncleanness of the children of Israel" that had been transferred there throughout the previous 12 months. It was only on that Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) that the Israelite was made free of all his past sins...yet he had to go through the same the following year, and the year after that, etc etc.
Now though the Christian does not need to repeat the sacrifices as of old, yet if the sacrifice was but the first stage of redemption for Israel, why should the Christian believe that Calvary was all that was required knowing Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister as High Priest there?
Now though the Christian does not need to repeat the sacrifices as of old, yet if the sacrifice was but the first stage of redemption for Israel, why should the Christian believe that Calvary was all that was required knowing Jesus entered the heavenly sanctuary to minister as High Priest there?
John 10:10 (NIV) - "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."
John 10:10 gives us a current perspective for a supernatural shift out of a performance mentality and legalistic thinking.
The thief in the garden is the same as the thief that we battle today. When we are engaging in legalism we are referring to believing that we are righteous because of what we do rather than focusing on what Christ accomplished at the Cross.
We know, as Christians, that Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins – being the Lamb of God crucified. And yet, somehow, we have been deceived into believing that His sacrifice was not enough to make us righteous – as if we have to jump through hoops to keep our salvation which has already been bought through the shed Blood of Christ. (This is where the thief comes into play.)
John 10:10 gives us a current perspective for a supernatural shift out of a performance mentality and legalistic thinking.
The thief in the garden is the same as the thief that we battle today. When we are engaging in legalism we are referring to believing that we are righteous because of what we do rather than focusing on what Christ accomplished at the Cross.
We know, as Christians, that Jesus Christ became the ultimate sacrifice for our sins – being the Lamb of God crucified. And yet, somehow, we have been deceived into believing that His sacrifice was not enough to make us righteous – as if we have to jump through hoops to keep our salvation which has already been bought through the shed Blood of Christ. (This is where the thief comes into play.)
I agree that God requires nothing of us that we might be justified before Him. But to believe that the cross alone was sufficient without taking cognizance of the Biblical fact that Jesus is now ministering as our High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary on our behalf, in like manner as the OT priests ministered to complete the atonement for the children of Israel, is to believe only a part of the gospel. Yes, the shedding of blood was essential, for without it there is no remission, but what happened to that blood once it was shed?
I don't believe the act of imputation is 'pretending'. We are made righteous in that the righteousness we have is not ours but Christ's. Correct? It is the righteousness that God sees.Mungo said:
Our righteousness is as filthy rags.
Stranger
Amen Stranger!
Albert Finch, I hope you are not saying that since Christ shed his blood for us on the cross for forgiveness of sins, that we can now go on deliberately sinning without any consequences? because there are consequences for sin...
Bless ya!
Albert Finch, I hope you are not saying that since Christ shed his blood for us on the cross for forgiveness of sins, that we can now go on deliberately sinning without any consequences? because there are consequences for sin...
Bless ya!
Born_Again
Well-Known Member
Do we posses actual righteousness or not?Stranger said:
I presume you are referring to Isaiah 64:6
“But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” (KJV), though I prefer to use the RSV
“We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment”
However when we take other verses instead of snipping out just a time but we read in verse 5-7:
“Thou meetest him that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways. Behold, thou wast angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved? We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. There is no one that calls upon thy name, that bestirs himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast delivered* us into the hand of our iniquities.”
Isaiah is referring to two types of people:
1. Those “that joyfully works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways”
and
2. Those who have “become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”
Those that remember God in his ways can work righteous works (joyfully).
It is those who have become unclean whose deeds are like polluted garments.
When God justifies us; when he renews us, does he not make us actually righteous since we are no longer unclean?
When we remember God in his way can we not joyfully do righteous works?
Ez 18:20 says:
“the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.”
So the righteous can have righteousness. But it then says in vs 24
“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity and does the same abominable things that the wicked man does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds which he has done shall be remembered.”
It is when we commit iniquity and do abominable things that our righteous deeds become as polluted garments.
We posses it to the degree that it has been imputed. Just like Christ had sin imputed to Him.Mungo said:
Yes I was thinking of Is.64:6.
We who are 'righteous' who have Christ's righteousness imputed to us, can do good works, righteous works. But they are the result of an imputed righteousness, not our own righteousness. If we do something from our own righteousness, it is as filthy rags.
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."
Romans 3:10 " As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: "
Romans 3:22 " Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe:...
The righteousness of Christ that has been imputed to the Christian, can never be made sinful.
Stranger
Then you are saying that we do not actually become righteous. Yet the scriptures I gave say we can truly be righteous.Stranger said:
And none of your quotes say we have righteousness imputed to us.
Scriptures describe many righteous people but say nothing about that righteousness being imputed:
Joseph - Mt 1:19, Zechariah & Elizabeth - Lk 1:6, Simeon - Lk 2:25, John - Mk 6:20).
Were they not truly righteous?
I am saying the righteousness we have been covered in is the righteousness of Christ. It is not of ourselves, but of Christ. It is ours through imputation.Mungo said:
If anyone is righteous before God it is because that righteousness was imputed to him just as with Abraham.
Rom.4:22-24 " And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead ".
Stranger
As I understand it you are using the word imputed as a synonym for pretend. For example you said earlier:Stranger said:
“We posses it to the degree that it has been imputed. Just like Christ had sin imputed to Him.”
(Incidentally, where does scripture say that Christ had sin imputed to him?)
However that is not the meaning of the Greek logozomai (Strong 3049)
According to Strong it means
“Middle voice from G3056; to take an inventory, that is, estimate (literally or figuratively):—conclude, (ac-) count (of), + despise, esteem, impute, lay, number, reason, reckon, suppose, think (on).”
It means a mental calculation, estimate reckoning, conclusion of something that actually [SIZE=14pt]is[/SIZE].
Thus a more correct rendering of Rom 4:22-24 is given by the RSV
“That is why his faith was "reckoned to him as righteousness." But the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him that raised from the dead Jesus our Lord,” .
If God reckoned Abraham as righteous then it was because Abraham was righteous.
If God reckons us a righteous it is because we actually are righteous.
The words impute, reckon, or count are used to denote the same action.Mungo said:
1. IMPUTE --Rom. 4:6-8 " Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works Saying, blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."
2. RECKON--Rom.4:9-10 "Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.
3. COUNT--Rom.2:25-26 For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou keep the law:but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy circumcision is made uncircumcision. Therefore if the uncircumcision keep the righteousness of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be counted for circumcision?
How do you make the circumcised, uncircumcised? Yet God counts it so. Reckons it so. Imputes it so.
Concerning the imputation of Adams sin to Christ, the word imputation is not used but the action it involves is.
Is. 53:6 "...hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. "
2 Cor. 5:21 " For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."
It is the sin of Adam that is imputed to the whole human race.
Rom. 5:12-14 " Wherefore as by one man sin entered...(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law). Nevertheless death reigned...."
And in like manner the same action was done by Christ.
Rom. 5:18 " Therefore as by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life."
As I said before, I do not consider imputation as pretending. And neither does God. It is His way of establishing our salvation. The righteousness we have is Christs. Not ours. We have it by imputation. As a result of this great work of God, He "...calleth those things which be not as though they were". (Rom. 4:17) If you want to call that pretending, then I guess I'm a pretender.
Stranger
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