Righteous

                                                                                                                                        

Aloha Dearest Family,

Recently, I heard a pastor teach that "the more we study the Bible, the more we see how sinful we are and that we will see how much we really need him". I have thought much about this sermon in this past week and I have come to the conclusion that this pastor's viewpoint is not unlike the viewpoint held by much of the Church today. It is the viewpoint that no matter what we do or how hard we try, we will always remain sinners in the eyes of God; how God is holy and we are not (and never will be). This is the reason why many Christian's have a hard time having a personal relationship with God and His son Jesus Christ. Because even after all that Jesus Christ accomplished for us, we are still seen as sinners.

Many times, when people have taught on this subject, they like to quote Romans 3:23, 

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" 

People have used this verse to show that we all have fallen short of God's glory because we sin and there will always be a separation between us and God because we will always remain sinful. But this verse seems to contradict other scriptures that say that we are "free from sin". So, what is the answer? What is this verse really saying?

To understand Romans 3:23, we need to understand this verse in the context. We cannot just take out one verse of scripture and teach on it without first considering the context of what the scripture passage means and "to whom" it is written.

In this chapter, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Jewish believers who were thinking that they were better than the Gentile believers because they were "God's chosen people" and therefore favored by God because they followed the law. Paul points out that they were really no better than the Gentiles because both groups of people had sinned.

"What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written..." 

At this point, Paul uses the Old Testament scriptures themselves to prove his point and show them that by their own works they could never measure up.

v.10 "There is none righteous, no, not one." (Ecclesiastes 7:20)

v. 11 and 12 "There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one" Psalm 14:2-3)

v. 13 "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:" (Psalm 5:9)

v. 14 "Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:" (Psalm 10:7)

v. 15-17 "Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery is in their ways, and the way of peace have they not known" (Isaiah 59:7-8)

v.18 "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Psalm 36:1)                        

 There wasn't anyone, Jew or Gentile, who could stand righteous before God upon their own merits. These Jewish believers that Paul is writing to in this passage, were claiming that they could be righteous by following the law, but Paul was teaching them that only by faith could a person be justified and made righteous before God. (Romans 3: 19-22)

Romans 3:23 now becomes much clearer in this context. But you can't read verse 23 without also reading verse 24. Paul had already proven that by our own works and merits we all fall short of the glory of God, but justification is only through Christ Jesus. 

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:" (Romans 3:23 and 24)

The law was given so that Israel would always be reminded of their sin nature and that they could never measure up to God's standards. Through the work of Jesus Christ, we are no longer under the Law of Moses. We are free from it. We are no longer held to it's impossible standard.

If we look up the word "sinners" in any Bible concordance, we will find that it is never in reference to the church. The Body of Christ is never referred to as "sinners". In fact, in the church epistles, the church is referred to as righteous, justified, sanctified, redeemed, accepted, chosen, holy, without spot nor blemish, anointed, sealed with holy spirit, ambassadors, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (just to name a few). God calls us these things in His Word because this is who we really are. He will never view us in any other way. Sure will sometimes sin. But all we have to do is confess our sin to God and it says that He forgives us and He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9) Then we can get back on our feet and continue walking with Him(and He never condemns us for past mistakes). We now have a new nature. The nature of Jesus Christ.

 Whenever we hear anyone refer to the church as "sinners", it is a lie. I think that the majority in the church do not fully comprehend the meaning of II Corinthians 5:21, 

"For He (God) hath made him (Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 

Jesus took our sin in his own body and died with them. When he died, our sin died also. Our sin is gone forever. If our sin is gone, then God does not see us as sinners. We are now the righteousness of God. Right Now! We are not righteous because of anything we have done. We are righteous because Jesus took our sins and washed us clean. This is how God sees us. And if this is how God sees us, who are we to say that He is wrong?

Our sins are gone and God has made us forever righteous. What if we lived each day with these kind of thoughts in our heads? We would walk with a new spring in our step and a joyful song on our lips.

Love Always, Ray the Righteous

"Having been declared righteous, then, by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ," (Romans 5:1 Young's Literal Translation)