| E-MAIL SERVICE | Sign me up to receive the daily Word of Righteousness free via my E-mail address! ( ONLY AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH ) | |
| ARCHIVES | I want to check out the daily Words of Righteousness for any of the last fourteen days or from previous weeks. ( ENGLISH ONLY ) | |
| FEEDBACK | I have a question or comment about today's Word of Righteousness. ( ENGLISH AND SPANISH ONLY ) | |
| BOOK LIST | I would like to see the complete book list of the Words of Righteousness author Robert B. Thompson. (SOME SPANISH TITLES AVAILABLE ) |
The Daily Word of Righteousness
Five Kinds of Righteousness
Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.) (Revelation 19:7,8—NIV)
A righteous personality and righteous behavior are those that are pleasing to God.
There are several kinds of righteousness. There is religious self-righteousness. There is the righteousness of ordinary people. There is the righteousness that is ascribed to us when we turn from the Law of Moses and put our faith in Christ. Finally there is the righteousness that is of the Kingdom of God. The righteousness that is of the Kingdom of God includes the righteous personality and behavior of the person who, through the Spirit of God, is obeying the commandments of Christ and His Apostles and in whom Christ is being formed and is dwelling.
The righteousness that is of the Kingdom of God may be viewed in two aspects. There is the beginning righteousness of the Christian who seeks, through the Lord's help to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. Then there is the final, ultimate righteousness when Christ has been formed in us and the Father and the Son are dwelling in Their eternal rest in the new creation that has been formed in us.
Religious self-righteousness.
The righteousness of the ordinary person.
The righteousness of Christ ascribed to us.
Beginning Kingdom righteousness as we seek, with the Lord's help, to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
Eternal righteousness of being and behavior as Christ is formed in us and the Father and the Son dwell in the new creation that has been formed in us.
The Christian ministry has done a good job of emphasizing imputed righteousness, except that today imputed righteousness is just about the only righteousness that is preached. Imputed righteousness has overshadowed the main topic of the New Testament, which is actual righteousness of personality and behavior. This overemphasis, of course, wrecks the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God is the actual doing of God's will in the earth as it is in Heaven.
The fourth and fifth kinds of righteousness, actual righteousness of personality and behavior have not been preached and taught nearly as well as has imputed righteousness. There may be a reason for this, having to do with God's timing as He prepares His Kingdom.
Another problem in current preaching and teaching is the confusing of ordinary human righteousness with religious self-righteousness. In our haste to get across the point that religious self-righteousness is as filthy rags we do not always distinguish it from the righteousness of the adamic nature, which is esteemed by the Lord.
I know the Scripture says there is none righteous, no not one. But the Scripture also has a great deal to say about righteous people. And these were not people who were righteous because of imputed righteousness through Christ, or who had been born again.
Notice how the Lord esteemed the righteous behavior of Cornelius.
Cornelius stared at him in fear. "What is it, Lord?" he asked.
The angel answered, "Your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God." (Acts 10:4—NIV)
To be continued.