Before a Jew can receive Christ and walk in the Spirit he must understand he no longer is bound to obey the statutes of Moses. The atoning blood of the Lord Jesus has declared him righteous.

It is right at this point that the destructive error is made.

He has come out from the Law of Moses. But there is another law he must enter if he is to be considered righteous in the sight of God. He must—he absolutely must—follow the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God takes the place of the Law of Moses. If the believer does not follow the Spirit of God he does not remain without condemnation.

Abraham believed when God gave him a stupendous promise. God counted Abraham's belief as a righteous act. When God gives us a promise and we believe, God counts this as righteousness.

Whenever we respond in obedience to God, in love for God, in faith toward God, our obedience or love or faith is counted as righteousness.

The singling out of the response of belief, in the Book of Romans, is because of the blind adherence to the Law of Moses that was prevalent, not because mental belief is the only acceptable response to God. Paul was pressing the idea that the Jew could turn away from Moses and put his faith in Jesus Christ and still be counted righteous. But the major part of Paul's writings has to do with righteous behavior, not with the response of mental belief.

The reason I say "mental belief" is that true belief, which is a loving, faithful response to God, always is followed by behavior of some sort. It is a belief from the heart. "If you believe in your heart." True belief never remains as a static mental acceptance of facts God has stated.

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. (Romans 10:10—NIV)

Throughout the Bible we see that numerous responses make up faith, not just belief in Divine promises. Faith always is based on the Divine promise. But sooner or later the promise calls for more than static belief.

Can you see the awesome distinction here?

For example, God gave Abraham a staggering promise. There was nothing Abraham could do about it at the time except believe it. Therefore the appropriate response was belief. Appropriate responses to the living God always place righteousness to our account.

Later God spoke to Abraham:

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty; walk before me and be blameless." (Genesis 17:1—NIV)

Now the Lord was calling for blameless behavior on Abraham's part. In order to continue in a state of righteousness Abraham would have to live blamelessly.

Suppose Abraham had thought: "Since God credited me with righteousness because I believed His promise concerning my descendants, all I have to do is believe that God told me to live blamelessly. I do not actually have to behave blamelessly, just believe God said it."

Do you think God would issue righteousness to Abraham if he did not walk blamelessly before God, only believed that God had told him to walk blamelessly?

To be continued.