Righteousness: Part III

This morning I wondered how many times the word righteousness appears in the Bible. With the friend of nearly all these days; Google, and an article written by J. Hampton Keathley III, I found my answer rather quickly.

The word righteousness alone appears thirty-four times. In it's different definitional forms; including righteous and the actions of being morally justifiable, the numbers swells to sixty-four. Paul must have found the word itself, and its instruction thereof, critically important.

In Part I, I pointed out that it was mentioned in his final charge to Timothy. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."

Just a few verses later in 2 Timothy 4:7-8, Paul says, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day - and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing."

And just before, in his final charge at the end of his first letter to Timothy, we see "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith," 1 Timothy 6:11-12.

What I gather from just these 3 verses, is that gaining righteousness requires persistence. It is not easily obtained. He charges Timothy to pursue and train. We also see that the crown of righteousness is an obtainable reward that we can someday lay at the feet of the righteous Judge, Jesus Christ.

Galatians is where to start if you want to study righteousness in depth. We also see many verses in Romans, highly regarded as his greatest work. Paul many times throughout his letters speaks about his heart for Rome.

Studying Galatians gives us a picture of two things:  a combination of Jews and Gentiles confused about the process to come to Christianity, and a people to struggled with the conversion based on a long, running belief in the Mosaic Law. Legalists are a hard bunch to covert.

Three verses in Galatians seem to provide and foundation and preview by Paul which could, and eventually would, provide for radical change among the people of Galatia.

Galatians 2:15-16 says, "We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified."

Secondly, Galatians 3:10-14 recounts, "For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written:  "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because "the righteous will live by faith." The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, "The person who does these things will live by them."

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written:  "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

And finally, in Galatians 5:13-18, we see a summary of our freedom from the law which can be directed to the Spirit, in light of what Christ did on the cross; and then live by faith, accessing the power of the Holy Spirit.

It says, "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge in the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command:  "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

"So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

In these 3 verses, we see small steps required to be righteous, or displaying an air of righteousness in our acts and deeds among one another. A basic requirement - of course - is that we must believe in Christ Jesus, becoming Christians. We can then be redeemed by the Book of the Law, given to Abraham, accepting Jesus's death on the cross as substitution for our freedom. Finding life through faith in Christ allows us to harness that freedom, allowing us the opportunity to find righteousness with the help and assistance of the Holy Spirit.

We'll continue our study on righteousness by examining the "fruits of the Spirit," as a guide and guardrails for righteous works; not under the law, but gaining perspective for following the lead of Paul and Christ in our daily lives.