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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Righteousness, continued
But ye have not so learned Christ; if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: that ye put off concerning the former conversation [former way of living] the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
The doctrine of assigned righteousness, the foundation of being saved by faith in Christ, is based by Paul on Genesis 15:6.
Abram and Sarai had no children. One night God pointed Abram toward the stars of heaven and promised him that his Seed would be as great as the stars in number. Abram believed God. God counted Abram's faith as righteousness.
And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness. (Genesis 15:6)
Paul bases his argument for assigned righteousness on this incident. The Law of Moses was not given until several hundred years later. Therefore, Paul reasons, Abraham received righteousness, not by the works of the Law of Moses but by faith in what God had promised to him concerning the great number of descendants that were to be his.
To conclude from this episode that we are brought into the Kingdom of God on a statement of belief concerning Christ and it no longer is expected of us that we will begin to make substantial progress in righteous behavior is to depart from the life of Abraham, and also to contradict the major portion of Paul's teachings concerning the Kingdom of God.
First of all, Abraham was a man who conducted himself in a righteous manner, as was true also of all the Apostles of the Lamb. God said to Abraham, "I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect" (Genesis 17:1). God did not say to him, "Now that you have been given righteousness, Abraham, it no longer is important how you behave."
When reflecting on Abraham's righteousness, God did not speak of his belief but of his deeds:
Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. (Genesis 26:5)
Although Abraham did not always fulfill the laws of righteousness (Genesis 20:2), yet his obedience to God in the matter of Isaac stands as one of the highest mountain peaks of righteous behavior in the history of mankind, James himself bearing witness:
Was not Abraham our father justified [declared to be righteous] by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? (James 2:21)
"Justified by works"!
When Paul compared grace and works as the basis for obtaining righteousness (justification; acceptability to God), he was not contrasting assigned righteousness and righteous behavior. Paul was not teaching that God desires to regard us as righteous and cares little for the manner in which we behave ourselves.
It is not possible to prefer assigned righteousness over righteous behavior because it is by righteous behavior that we bring the Kingdom of God into the earth. The Kingdom of God is righteous behavior, not assigned righteousness.
To be continued.