RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD

Philippians 3:9says 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

What is the definition of righteousness? According to 1 John 3:7 (NIV), righteousness is doing the right things. The reason why God counted Abraham’s faith in Him as righteousness was because it was the right thing to do. It is the right thing to have faith in the One who the bible says with Him nothing is impossible (Luke 1:37). Righteousness is simple doing the right thing. It is righteousness to obey one’s parents (physically or spiritually) because the bible says in Ephesians 6:2-3: honor your father and mother that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth. It is also righteousness for wives to submit to their husbands just like the church submits to Jesus and the husbands to love their wives to the extent they are willing to die for them just as Christ gave up His life for the church (Ephesians 5:22-25) . Just like it is the right thing to work hard, it is the right thing to attend services on time and pay out tithes. This is why we all need to go to God from time to time to ask for forgiveness and the grace to be righteous because James 4:17 says therefore to him that knows to do good and does it not ,to him it is sin.

Many of us misunderstood Paul in Philippians 3:9 when he talks of the righteousness which is of God by faith. By this we assume that once we are Christians we are righteous and no matter what we do it is not a sin. This is the big lie! What Paul meant was the justification we received through the atonement made by Christ not justification received as a result of following the Law of Moses. If it was so that once we receive Christ as our personal Lord and savior we are righteous and whatever we do is not counted as sin, Paul would not have asked the believers in Rome that shall we continue in sin and ask for grace to abound – Romans 6:1. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new. The old things include love of sin, their sensuality, pride, vanity, levity to mention a few. The new things are a new course of life, both of faith and holiness, a new way of serving God through Christ by spirit. We cannot do what is not right and say our righteousness is of God .Righteous in God means we are made right through our faith in Jesus .Prior to our conversion, all our righteous is as a filthy rag according to Isaiah 64:6 because we are unclean but once we accept Jesus, we are washed with the blood of Jesus and we are made clean from all uncleanness. From that day, our righteousness becomes of God. Remember 1 John 3:7 says He that does what is right is righteous. Anyone who claims to have giving his life to Christ and still indulges in sin is not righteous.1 Peters 1:17 says be ye holy for i am holy.

PRAYER POINT: Father, please help that my obedience to your word is total.