The Christian teaching of today is unscriptural. We are using the arguments of Paul against the commandment-keeping Jews to mean we are saved by belief alone. Yet the New Testament teaches clearly in many passages that righteous behavior is the very essence of salvation. Then we say we believe in the full inspiration of the Bible. Are we not inconsistent?

There are a few explanations that seek to reconcile our belief in lawless grace with the warnings of the New Testament concerning sinful behavior. But they all add up to one thing: we are removing many verses of the New Testament, declaring they do not apply to Christians because we are "saved by grace."

We ought to know better. We have removed the power of righteousness from the Word of God. Consequently the moral condition of the United States of America, in time past regarded as a "Christian nation," is such that those of the Muslim religion regard us as "Satan." They have a basis for referring to us as Satan, because our nation reveals the person and works of Satan far, far more than it does the Person and works of Jesus of Nazareth.

Paul declared that Abraham was considered righteous on the basis of his belief in God's promise, apart from any actual works of righteous behavior. Paul was saying a Jew can be righteous by belief in God's promise through Jesus Christ apart from obeying the statutes of Moses.

The conclusion drawn by Gentiles is that we can be righteous apart from godly living; not apart from obeying the statutes of Moses but apart from godly living. There can be a difference in kind between godly living, as we Gentiles view godly living, and obeying the statutes of Moses concerning circumcision, the kosher laws, and observing the various feast days.

Have we drawn the correct conclusion? Obviously not, in view of the numerous exhortations to righteous behavior found in the New Testament.

Where is the problem located?

The problem, the area of misunderstanding, is located in what is meant by attaining righteousness by "works." More to the point, it has to do with our very approach to God.

The individual who is seeking righteousness by observing the Law of Moses is acting blindly, not in faith toward God. He is devout. He wants to be righteous. So he masters the points of the Law of Moses and sets out to obey them apart from a sensitivity to the immediate attitude or will of God. It is a blind earning of merit by obeying the kosher laws, the Sabbath, circumcision, the feast days, the purification bath, and so forth.

He is not living by faith. He is living by obeying a set of rules. Yet the righteous shall live by faith in God, not by a set of rules.

To be continued.