Righteousness: A Primer and A Review

Righteousness:   A  Primer, A   Review



      The Righteousness He Requires

        Is the Righteous His Righteousness

            Requires Him to Require 

               (quote by ? ? ?)



This "tricky" phrase is worth some thought.
Go ahead. Re-read it.... 

It contains some of the essential truths of the gospel.

To help you grasp it better, let’s study the subject of
Righteousness and His Righteous Requirement of Righteousness.



The Problem: God requires us to be righteous to have fellowship with Him.
To be righteous is to be in right standing with God,
to be morally upright, sinless.
None of us are righteous, not even one of us (Romans 2:11, 12; 3:10-18).
Our own efforts to be righteous are as filthy rags in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6).



So, an obvious question is:
 "How then can a man be righteous before God?
 How can one born of a woman be pure?" (Job 25:4).



The Solution: Since God is a holy and just Judge,
He cannot change or lower the standard and remain just (Romans 3:26).
Instead, God provided some one to meet the standard for us
(Isaiah 45:17, 24; Jeremiah 33:15-16; Matthew 3:15).

Jesus is our substitute, our vicar (Vicarious atonement).
God made Him become sin for us and has declared those who receive
Him righteous (Romans 3:21-30; 2 Corinthians 5:21).



The Gospel is the message of God’s righteousness available to man
by faith in Jesus (Romans 1:16, 17; 3:21-14; 4:1-8; Philippians 3:9).
Like Abraham, we can be declared righteous by God through faith.
This is a Righteousness given and not obtained by works of
the law (Romans 4:4-6; 5:6-11; 17:21; Galatians 2:15, 16; 3:6-14).



Having been declared righteous, we are to live a righteous life,
living consistent with who we are (Ephesians 4:1,2; I Peter 1:13-16).