Tag Archives: Breastplate of Righteousness

The Beauty of Righteousness

30 Monday Oct 2023

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman where, this week, I continue in my study of The Whole Armor of God.

I have not come close to exhausting the subject of righteousness but I have completed enough study that I am ready to move on to another piece of the armor.  Therefore, this will be my last post on the Breastplate of Righteousness. 

As I have studied the word “righteousness” in the English and the Greek and read through various scriptures wherein righteousness appears, I am convinced righteousness is not only a word of action but one of position and state of being.  A bit of review is necessary but taking another look at definitions will show what I mean.  The first definition of righteous in the New World Dictionary is: “Acting in a just, upright manner; doing what is right; virtuous [a righteous man]”. The second and third definitions are: “Morally right; fair and just [a righteous act] 3. Morally justifiable [full of righteous anger].”

Righteousness is derived from the Middle English “rightwise” which means, “on the right side, moving clockwise, rightly (correctly or justly), rightfully, by a rightward path”.  When I looked at the word “right” on its own, I found a meaning that isn’t widely used: right means “straight, not crooked.”  The Greek word translated as “righteousness” in Paul’s description of the Breastplate is dikaiosune (G1343) and means “equity of character or act: justification, righteousness”.  Looking up “equity” in the dictionary, I find it means “fairness, impartiality, justice.” We see here both action and position. There is a set standard, a correct path, and any actions are in accord with that standard.  

I have also found that, within the meaning of righteousness, there is contained the idea that our acts are determined to be righteous by Another.  The fourth definition in the dictionary defines righteous as “[Slang] good, excellent, satisfying, pleasant, authentic, etc.: a generalized term of approval”.  However, if we stop here, we are left with a serious question: who or what have we allowed to determine the standard?  I have spoken to some people who tell me they decide that standard for themselves.  They have their own moral code to which they adhere.  Others I’ve spoken with take solace in the certainty their actions are righteous because they correspond to the standard set by a set of particular religious or cultural tenets.  Still others are certain their actions are righteous because they adhere to the Law of God whether the Law ministered by Moses and preserved for us in the Old Testament or a new Law of believing in Jesus and proving it by actions.

Those of us who know we are in Christ and He is in us do not adhere to any of these standards.  Our standard is Jesus Christ Himself.  Now, this is not a standard we have no hope of ever adhering to imposed on us by a God who knew we were incapable of doing so.  Our lives are not lived with the sick certainty that we must ever fall short of God’s perfect standard because Jesus was sinless and we are not.  No!  Our certainty is 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 

In last week’s post, I mentioned Jonathan Mitchell using rightwise instead of righteousness in his New Testament.  I like the definitions of rightwise he includes.  Mr. Mitchell renders Ephesians 6:14 as, “and then, entering within (putting on; clothing yourself with) the breastplate armor (cuirass; corselet) of fair and equitable dealing of the eschatological deliverance (or: which is the rightwised relationships of the Way pointed out; the Righteousness; the Justice; also = covenant inclusion and participation)”.  Rightwise is also found in Mr. Mitchells’ rendering of James 2.  Verse 21 says, “made fair and equitable; put in right relationship; rightwised; made a just one; also: = placed in covenant” and  verse 24 says, “from time to time being placed in right relationship with the Way pointed out; progressively made fair and equitable; normally justified; = put in covenant”.

I have also been looking at Genesis 15:6.  The Hebrew word translated as “righteousness” in this passage is tsedaqah (H6666) and is comprised of the Hebrew letters Tzadi (צ), Dalet (ד), Qoph (ק), and Hey (ה).  Robert M. Haralick gives the following meanings to the Hebrew letters:

Tzadi = Righteousness and Humility,

Dalet = Physicality

Qoph = Growth and Holiness

Hey = Power of Being

I see all three components to the definition of righteousness here.  There is position, there is action, and there is being.  There is also a complete picture of who we are in Christ.  Our position is in Him, there is the action of His life being formed in us and our being conformed to His image, and there is our current state of being-as new creations in Christ-being manifested in us and through our actions.

Righteousness is our state of being.  And, it is not in any way a self-righteousness but is the very life of Christ made our very lives by the work inwrought by His Spirit dwelling in us.  Philippians 3:8-9 says, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.”

Our righteousness is His righteousness and it is our breastplate.  The breastplate protected the vital organs with the most crucial organ being the heart.  In Hebrew, heart is lebab (H3824) from the root leb (H3820) spelled Lamed (ל) Bet (ב).  Returning to Mr. Haralick’s book, the Lamed means “Learning, Teaching, Purpose,” and the Bet means “Container.”

Speaking not of the muscle that pumps our blood but of the HEART which sums up who we are, our hearts are the center of our being just as the Holy of Holies was in the center of the temple.  We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and was given to us by God (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20).  From the center of our being, He teaches and guides and instructs us and also convinces us of the reality that we are filled with the fullness of God.

We are the dwelling place of God.  I don’t want to make a rule out of it but we can look at our hearts as being the Holy of Holies where we commune with God.  Such a sacred place is worthy of vigilant guarding and protection and it is protected by the Breastplate of the Righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Hallelujah!  Amen.

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References  

Rightwise Definition & Meaning | YourDictionary

Holy of Holies | Temple Mount, Ark of Covenant, Tabernacle | Britannica

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1953, 1976

Haralick, Robert M., The Inner Meaning of the Hebrew Letters, Jason Aronson Inc., Northvale, New Jersey, 1995

Mitchell, Jonathan Paul, MA, The New Testament, 2019 Edition, Harper Brown Publishing, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, Page 479, 568

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

The Sound of His Voice

23 Monday Oct 2023

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

I have been studying the Whole Armor of God as described by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians specifically, for the last few posts at least, the Breastplate of Righteousness.  The scripture passage that immediately springs to mind when I think of “righteousness” is “And he (Abram) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6).  Perhaps the reason this passage is the one that springs to mind is because it is quoted by James in his letter and by Paul in his letter to the Romans (See James 2:23 and Romans 4:3).    

In my previous posts, I have looked at the meaning of righteousness, the relationship between belief and righteousness, and whether or not our belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is something we stir up or a work of God within us.  I looked at the Greek word pisteuo (G4100), which is translated as both “belief” and “faith” in the New Testament; and found it means “to persuade” or “be persuaded”.  The definition I found on Bible Hub stated the word could mean human persuasion or God persuasion depending on the context. 

I would suggest it is always God persuasion.  We are in glorious partnership with the Father, in the finished work of Jesus Christ the Son, and through the indwelling Holy Spirit.  The Spirit gives us the words to say to someone and it is the Spirit who both prepares the heart to receive the words and tends those words until they sprout, grow, and bear fruit.

The Apostle Paul has written a beautiful passage on righteousness in his letter to the Romans: it is found in Chapter 14.  Verse 14 and 15 of this passage says, “How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?  And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach unless they are sent?  As it is written: ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!’”  This is a passage I plan to return to when I begin studying “having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15).  For now, I am focused on the necessity of “hearing” in order to believe.

Abram, or Abraham as he became, did not one day decide to believe in a different God than the ones he’d grown up with.  A great deal of Abram’s early life can be surmised from Genesis 11: 26-32.  He was born in Ur of the Chaldeans which was a vibrant city of that day with a vital worship of gods decidedly NOT the Elohim we meet in Genesis 1.  I have no doubt there is a fabulous story as to why exactly Terah (Abram’s father) takes his son Abram, his grandson Lot, and his daughter-in-law Sarai out of Ur of the Chaldeans and into the Land of Canaan to dwell in Haran.  Haran is the name of Lot’s father, Abram’s brother, and, if they are listed oldest to youngest in Gen. 11:27, is Terah’s youngest son so perhaps there is a connection to be made there.

Verse 1 of Chapter 12 begins with, “Now the Lord had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.’” So perhaps the original removal from Ur to Canaan was at the command of the Lord.  Nahor and his family are left behind in Ur so and verse 7 of Chapter 15 would support this version of events: as I said, there is a fascinating story to be uncovered here. 

My point is “The Lord had said…” Whatever that looked like (an appearance in form? A bright light? A voice?), Abram had heard the voice of the Lord and recognized the speaker as God.  This hearing so changed him he departs Haran.  He’s a seventy-five year old man at this time so this hearing resulted in a belief so strong, he uproots his life and we see this repeated throughout Abram’s story.

Genesis 12:7-9: “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said…there he built an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him…and he moved from there…Abram journeyed, going on still toward the South”

Genesis 13: 14-18: “And the Lord said to Abram…arise, walk in the land…Then Abram moved his tent and went and dwelt…and built an altar there to the Lord”

Genesis 15:1-6: “After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision saying…and behold the word of the Lord came to him saying…then He brought him outside and said…he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”

 Abram’s belief was not the result of a personal decision.  He didn’t decide on his own to uproot his entire life and drag his family into a strange land.  The Lord revealed Himself to Abram and did so by speaking to him.  Abram heard and he believed. 

The Septuagint has episteusen in this passage which is the Aorist Active Indicative 3rd Person Singular Verb form of pisteuo.  It means “and the man believed the word.”  The word had to come to him first or else there would have been nothing for him to believe. 

I suppose Abram could have chosen not to believe.  I can’t imagine life in Ur of the Chaldeans was too bad.  It was familiar anyhow and was certainly a safer choice than packing up his family and wandering through Canaan.  There is nothing in Abram’s story to indicate The Lord ever pressured Abram or forced him to make a choice.  He spoke and it was up to Abram how he responded.  I can’t imagine Abram making any other choices because he heard the Voice of The Lord and the story makes clear there was no doubt the One he heard was real and was God.  He was persuaded, he trusted, he believed, and that belief was accounted to him as righteousness.

The story also makes clear Abram’s belief wasn’t always perfect.  The situation with Hagar and Ishmael occurs after God makes covenant with Abram and changes his name to Abraham.  Abraham also repeats with Abimelech, King of Gerar, the mistake he made with Egypt’s Pharaoh.  His belief was accounted to him for righteousness but not all of his subsequent actions could be called “righteous”.  Still, both James and Paul refer to Abraham as an example of righteousness.  I will quote James 2:23 again but this time from Jonathan Mitchell’s New Testament: “And thus the Scripture was made full, the one saying, “Now Abraham believed (or: put trust and confidence) in God (or: became persuaded by God; adhered to God), and he was counted into the way pointed out by Him (or: he was considered rightwised by Him he was reckoned fair, equitable and just in Him; alternately: so it was counted into right relation [= covenant inclusion] for him),” [Ex. 15:6] and later, he was called “God’s friend.” [Isa. 41:8].”

There is a great deal to be learned from the story of Abraham.  One is rest.  Abraham’s mistakes did not prevent him from being held up as an example of righteousness by Paul and James.  This should bring us to a place of rest because neither do our mistakes alter the truth: we have become the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Another is trust. 

We are in a state of being so far and beyond Abraham’s I don’t have words to express it.  The God who spoke to Abraham is the same God living IN US by His Spirit.  I can’t say that too many times.  We are now the dwelling place of God.  Our bodies, the one I am in as I write this and the one you are in as you read it, are the temple of the Holy Spirit.  These are not just words to be quoted out of a book on certain days of the week.  This is our reality right this zeptosecond. 

There isn’t any part of this Christian life that relies on us.  Our God reveals Himself: He has done so in Christ Jesus and it His goodness that leads us to metanoia.  He speaks and His voice is unique: we know His voice.  His Spirit is our Teacher and Guide: He leads us into all Truth.  Our righteousness is not of ourselves but is His: the very lives we live are no longer ours but are the life of Christ lived through us.  His righteousness is our breastplate which I plan to examine in more detail next week.

Until then, may we all give thanks to the Spirit of the Living God that He is opening our eyes to see all Jesus is and opening our ears to hear His voice saying only what The Father is saying.  When His word is confirmed to us, when we know we are included in His covenant and that we have been placed in right relationship with the Way pointed out, may we respond in the strength of our belief. 

Our response can only be; Hallelujah!  Amen!   

The title of this post was taken from one of my favorite hymns: In the Garden (I Come to the Garden Alone) – HymnSite.com – United Methodist Hymnal #314

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References  

Γένεσις (Genesis) 15 (LXX) – μετὰ δὲ τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα (blueletterbible.org)

Meet the zeptosecond, the shortest unit of time ever measured | Space

Gray, John, Near Eastern Mythology: Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, The Hamlyn Publishing Group Limited, London, New York, Sydney, Toronto, 1969

Lanier, Gregory R. and William Ross, Septuaginta: A Reader’s Edition, Volume One, Hendrickson Publishers, Peabody, Massachusetts, 2018

Mitchell, Jonathan Paul, MA, The New Testament, 2019 Edition, Harper Brown Publishing, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2019, Page 568

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1990

Help My Unbelief

16 Monday Oct 2023

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

You might be thinking the photo at the top of this post looks a bit sad.  Perhaps it does.  The tiny sprouts are the result of a project I was certain had failed but it had not!  I shouted for joy when I saw them.  There was an internet tip which said to lay tomato slices filled with seeds on the top of potting soil and then cover the whole lot with plastic, creating a terrarium.  I did so and then watched as nothing happened except the tomato slices molded, shriveled, and dried into rings.  I finally approached the pot with trowel in hand, intending to scrape the tomatoes and a good layer of dirt into my compost bin.  When I looked under the plastic, there were sprouts!  The project had not failed after all.  Despite how things looked, the process was working and some of those seeds had sprouted.

There are many lessons I think can be drawn from this especially in regards to my current study.  Then again, some of you might be wondering what tomato sprouts could possibly have to do with the Breastplate of Righteousness.  When I saw those slender green sprouts long after I had given up hope of their growth, I couldn’t help but to see them as another confirmation that what I’ve been seeing in my current study is the truth.  I’ve been looking at Genesis 15:6 “And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness” which is quoted in James 2:23.  I’ve also been looking at John 6:29 where Jesus says, “This is the word of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” and at Revelation 19:8 where we find this description of the wife of the Lamb: “And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”

I don’t think I deviate from accepted doctrine when I say the Christian life can be summed up in these four passages of scripture if we also take into account all of James 2.  Belief equates to righteousness and we do the work of God by believing/having faith in Jesus.  We prove our belief/faith is real by performing good works and then one day our works will transform into a fine linen garment.  But what if our belief is backwards?  What if Jesus was saying God does the work of belief in Him who He sent?  What if every part of our Christian life, especially the good works that have been prepared for us to do, are intended to flow out of the life of Christ within us, made our reality by the Indwelling Holy Spirit, and not a lifestyle of exhaustion and spiritual burnout?

If Jesus was saying belief in Him is a work God performs, it makes clear a passage of scripture I have never understood.

The passage is found in Mark 9.  There is a great multitude around the disciples and the scribes are there also, disputing with the disciples.  As Jesus approaches he asks the scribes what they are discussing with His disciples.  It is one of the crowd who answers that he has brought his son to Jesus.  The son has a mute spirit who, from childhood, not only seized the boy, threw him to the ground, and caused him to foam at the mouth and gnash his teeth; but had tried to destroy him by throwing the boy into the fire and into water.  The disciples could not cast the spirit out and the man hoped Jesus could do something.  Jesus answers, “If you can believe all things are possible to him who believes”.  The man answers, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” (Verses 14-24).

I have quoted from the New King James Version but Jesus’ reply is related a bit differently in other versions.  For example, the Berean Standard Bible casts a different light on this passage.  The man says, “But if You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.”  Jesus’ reply is, “If You can?” echoed Jesus.  “All things are possible to him who believes!”  Then the man cries, “I do believe; help my unbelief!”  The Amplified is similar in its wording: “Jesus said to him ‘[you say to Me,] “If You can?” All things are possible for the one who believes and trusts [in Me]!’  While the NKJV does translate the Greek here as “If you can believe…” there is a note included which states “NU-Text reads, ‘If You can! All things…” so there is good reason to accept Jesus is repeating the man’s words, not stating that all things are possible if you can believe.

Let’s look at “belief”:

The Greek word translated as “belief” in this passage is pisteuo (G4100) which is the verb form of pistis, the word translated as “faith” in Galatians 2:20 and James 2.  Pisteuo is also the word appearing in John 6:9 and John 16:5-10: “But now I go to him that sent me; and none of you asketh me, Whither goest thou?  But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow had filled your heart.  Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.  And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.  Of sin, because they believe not on me; Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged” (KJV).

Pisteuo means “persuade, be persuaded” and the full definition of the word mentions two different types of persuading: “4100 pisteuo (from 4102 pistis, “faith” derived from 3982 peitho, “persuade, be persuaded”) believe (affirm, have confidence); used of persuading oneself (=human believing) and with the sacred significance of being persuaded by the Lord (=faith-believing).  Only the context indicates whether 4100/pisteuo (believe) is self-serving (without sacred meaning), or the believing that leads to/proceeds from god’s inbirthing of faith”.

The word “unbelief” in the passage from Mark is apistia and I find this definition: “570; form of 4103 pistos “faithful” properly, without (divine) persuasion”.  I think the context of this passage supports a conclusion that both definitions of persuasion are meant.  The man was convinced that, if anything could be done for his son, Jesus was the one who could do it.  “If you can…”  He needed something more than he could find in himself to come into a place of rest and trust that not only could Jesus, but that Jesus would.

What about John 6:29?  What definition does the context support?  The entire chapter is full of signs and wonders only God could do.  Jesus feeds a great multitude with 5 barley loaves and 2 small fish and then walks on the water.  When the people follow Jesus to the other side of the sea, He says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw the signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.  Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.”  The people ask Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” Then comes Jesus’ reply: “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent” (John 6:1-40).

If we continue on in Chapter 6, Jesus appears to be stressing his point: Moses did not give the bread of heaven, it is the Father who gives the true bread, Jesus Himself is the true bread, etc.  I find the context to be clear that the definition of pisteuo intended is that of divine persuasion: “This is the work of God, to persuade you…”

This brings me such joy and peace when it comes to sharing the Gospel of Jesus with others.  There have been many who have asked me questions about Jesus and then have rejected outright what I have said.  The few who do not reject it outright don’t appear to make any sort of response.  What do I expect when I answer a question?  There is another passage in Mark that perfectly describes my expectations and brings me back to the picture of the surprise tomato sprouts.  It’s found in Chapter 4 verses 26-29: And He said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how.  For the earth yields crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain in the head.  But when the grain ripens, immediately he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

My work is not to try and get more faith or try really hard to believe in Jesus.  I can read and study and listen to various Bible Teachers to persuade myself about Jesus but learning about Jesus is the best I will get.  It takes the Holy Spirit, the very Spirit of the Living God, dwelling and working inside of me to reveal to me the nature of God.  I can only know Jesus and know the Father through the Holy Spirit.  In Acts 1:8, Jesus says, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me…”  The disciples were to wait for the Holy Spirit for, without Him, they would have poured out their lives to no avail.

The Holy Spirit makes our Christian life.  He brings us into union with the risen and ascended Jesus Christ without whom we can do nothing.  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation and it is His working in us which enables us to be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks the reason for our hope (See 1 Peter 3:15-16).  When we speak as the Spirit gives us utterance, we can trust that the words we speak are a seed planted in the heart-ground of those around us.  No matter how impossible it looks, the Spirit will nurture and water that seed until it sprouts and grows though we know not how.

It is truly the work of God that we all believe in Him whom He has sent!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/james/2.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/galatians/2.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/john/16.htm

https://biblehub.com/kjvs/mark/9.htm

https://biblehub.com/greek/4100.htm

https://biblehub.com/greek/570.htm

Nothing But Work Work Work!

02 Monday Oct 2023

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Image by su mx from Pixabay

Hello Readers!  Welcome to a new week and a new post on Renaissance Woman!

In last week’s post, I started looking at the Breastplate of Righteousness.  That post contained a series of scriptures one of which was John 6:29: “Then Jesus answered and said to them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent’.”

While conducting the study and writing last week’s post, I had also started reading Frances Ridley Havergal’s Kept For The Master’s Use.  I had no sooner scheduled last week’s post then I read, “What a long time it takes us to come down to the conviction, and still more to the realization of the fact that without Him we can do nothing, but that He must work all our works in us!  This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He has sent.  And no less must it be the work of God that we go on believing, and that we go on trusting.  Then, dear friends, who are longing to trust Him with unbroken and unwavering trust, cease the effort and drop the burden, and now entrust your trust to Him!”

I wondered if I shouldn’t add this quote to last week’s post but, since I do try to keep these posts from growing too long, I decided to wait until this week.  As so, I am still looking at the Breastplate of Righteousness but am asking this week, just what do we think the Bible is saying when it speaks of ‘works’?  Reading John 6:29 it does appear that Jesus is saying our doing the work of God means believing.  I also quoted Genesis 15:6 last week which says, “And he (Abram) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness”.  This scripture also appears to be saying Abram (or Abraham as he was named by God) did something-He believed-and it was his believing that was accounted unto Him as righteousness.

There are passages in Revelation that stress the importance of our committing righteous acts.  Revelation 19:8 says, “And to her (the wife of the Lamb) is was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 20:12 says, “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened.  And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.  And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.”  James 2:26 does appear to be the final word on the necessity of Christians performing works for it says, “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” Strong words!

But then, there are other passages of scripture that seem to be saying something contradictory.  There’s Romans 3:21-28: “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.  For there is no difference: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.  Where is boasting then?  It is excluded.  By what law?  Of works?  No, but by the law of faith.  Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law.”

Paul writes in his Epistle to the Ephesians “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).  The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews has this to say about works: “For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Heb. 4:10).

To work or not to work, which is it?  Perhaps it’s the type of works.  Galatians 2:16 says, “knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”  Here, as in the passage I quoted from Romans, it is works (or deeds) of the law that are the problem.  We Christians don’t do works of the law: our works are keeping His commandments to prove we love Jesus, have faith in Him, and believe He is the son of God.

But then I run into another problem: is belief enough?  Going back to James’ letter: in the midst of his passage on faith and works, I find; “You believe that there is one God.  You do well.  Even the demons believe-and tremble!” So even our belief in God isn’t enough.  We have to believe in Jesus and prove we believe in Him by doing works.  That this is what is believed by a great number of Christians was brought home to me as I was listening to a Christian radio station and a well-known believer said it didn’t matter how long the lifespan; what mattered is what we did for Jesus during that lifespan.  Is this the truth?  Is that what matters?  Is it the sheer number of our works that equate to righteousness?  Is it the type of our works that equate to righteousness?

I would say none of the above.  I would say it is the source of our works that reveal the righteousness of Christ in us.  Are we working to prove the life of Christ resides in us or do our works flow out of His life within us?  As I return to John 6:29, I find a little Greek word that is often overlooked.  That word is tou and it means “of this person: his”.  It is the word chosen to relate Jesus’ words to us: “…this is the work of God”.  How do we read this?  Are we reading it as we are the ones doing God’s work or should it be read as His work as in “this is the work God does”?

I believe the latter.  I believe it because of scriptures like Hebrews 4:10.  I believe it because, when I continue on from Ephesians 2 verse 9, I read; “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (verse 10).  I believe it because we are crucified with Christ and it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  Every work then flows out of His life and, like our Forerunner, we do only what we see the Father doing.  The righteous acts with which we are clothed are only righteous if they flow out if His life and are energized by His Spirit.  Anything else is the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

This is too massive a subject to be covered in one or two posts so I plan to pick this up next week.  Until then, I leave you with another quote from Kept For The Master’s Use: “If we look at any Old Testament text about consecration, we shall see that the marginal reading of the word is ‘fill the hand’ (e.g. Ex. xxviii 41; 1 Chron. xxix 5).  Now, if our hands are full of ‘other things’ they cannot be filled with ‘the things that are Jesus Christ’s’. There must emptying before there can be any true filling.  So if we are sorrowfully seeing that our hands have not been kept for Jesus, let us humbly begin at the beginning, and ask Him to empty them thoroughly, that He may fill them completely.”

To which I say “Amen!”

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Green, Jay P. Sr., The Interlinear Bible: Hebrew Greek English, Volume 4, Authors For Christ, Inc., Lafayette, IN, 1976, 1985

Havergal, Frances Ridley, Kept For The Master’s Use, Scriptura Press, New York, New York, 2015

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990

A Straight Path

25 Monday Sep 2023

Posted by in Studies, Whole Armor of God

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Hello Readers and welcome-or welcome back-to Renaissance Woman!

I am continuing my study on the Whole Armor of God and the passage of scripture I am using is Ephesians 6:10-18a.  We are to put on and take up the Whole Armor of God so that we might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil and withstand in the evil day.  I want to spend some time studying “the wiles of the devil” and “the evil day” but, first, am going to look at the Armor piece by piece.  While “girding your waist with truth” is mentioned first, I have not been able to draw my attention away from the Breastplate of Righteousness.  The word ‘righteousness’ has been echoing in my mind for weeks now.  It is a fascinating word and is the subject of this week’s post.

What do we mean when we use the word ‘righteousness’?  An online search resulted in this definition for righteous: “1. (of a person or conduct) morally right or justifiable; virtuous; 2. very good, excellent.”  My New World Dictionary agrees, defining righteous as: “1. Acting in a just, upright manner; doing what is right; virtuous [a righteous man] 2. morally right; fair and just [a righteous act] 2. morally justifiable [full of righteous anger], 4. [Slang] good, excellent, satisfying, pleasant, authentic, etc.; a generalized term of approval.”

I can’t disagree with anything here.  My personal definition of righteousness has been those things pertaining to acts or conduct which would lead to approval.  Specific to Believers, we are “righteous” if we do the Will of God and keep His commandments: doing the right things lead to His approval of us.  This belief appears to be rooted in the Bible because Revelation 19:8 speaks of the wife of the Lamb clothed in fine linen which is the righteous acts of the saints.  One of the most quoted scriptures on righteousness is Genesis 15:6: “And he (Abram) believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.”  I don’t know that any believer would say Abram or Abraham as he became, possessed righteousness but he did something-he believed-and his act of believing was credited to him as righteousness thus indicating God’s approval. 

Our belief being a work is reinforced by the words of Jesus.  John 6:29 quotes Him saying; “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.”  The same chapter declares the will of God to be that Jesus lose nothing of what the Father has given Him and that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life.  We do the work of believing and this belief is not only proof of our righteousness but our ticket to everlasting life and being raised on the last day (see John 6:38-40).

I would be curious to know how many of you reading this believe what I’ve written in the last paragraphs.  It is certainly what I’ve been taught from various pulpits.  There is no denying it appears to be backed by scripture and thus forms the picture of how I spent a great deal of my Christian life.  There is certainly a finished work of the cross.  There is no Jesus+.  Eternal life is the free gift of God in Jesus Christ but there is no escaping the fact that I must do my part.  I must believe and if I am not living victoriously then I have not believed hard enough and have to take care lest I lose my garment, be made to walk naked, and have my shame exposed (see Revelation 16:15).  If I fail to properly do the work, I lose God’s approval and risk spending an eternity separate from Him.   

However, is the meaning of righteous and righteousness moral conduct and right acts?  The word “righteous” comes from the Old English righwis (rightwise).  The first definition of “right” in the New World Dictionary is “not curved; straight;” and the dictionary states that definition is now only used in mathematics.  When I read down to the third and fourth entries, I find: “in accordance with justice, law, morality…fact reason, some set standard” which is how I find “right” is usually defined.  “Wise”in the Old English meant “manner, state, condition”.  So then being righteous or right wise was being morally correct and acceptable in one’s manner, state, or condition.

Looking at the Greek word translated as “righteousness” throughout the New Testament (Hebrews 1:8 is the exception), I found another definition that serves to expand the meaning a bit more.  The word is dikaiosune (G1343) and the Strong’s defines it as “equity (of character or act) justification, righteous.”  Dikaioma (G1345) meaning “an equitable deed” and dikaios (G1346) meaning “equitably” are both used in the New Testament as well and all three words are related to dikaios (G1342) meaning “equitable, holy, innocent, just” and come from the root dike (die-kay, G1349) meaning “right (as self-evident) justice (the principle, a decision, or its execution):-judgment, punish, vengeance”.  In turn, dike is related back to deiknuo (G1166) which means “to show”. 

I thought ‘equity’ and ‘equitable’ were worth looking up.  The meaning is “fair, just, impartial” and that fairness, justness, and impartiality pertains to laws or, in other words, a set standard which I feel brings me full circle.  I don’t find that my heading down this path has changed all that much how I define ‘righteousness’ or ‘righteous’.  For a believer, our set standard is Jesus Himself and therefore ‘righteousness’ is being aligned with and acting in accord with all He has revealed Himself to be which is shown in how we conduct ourselves day to day.  Which is impossible.

Bless religion’s heart but it has tried to make righteous conduct possible.  Various denominations all have their set standards of what righteous behavior looks like and it is presented to the congregation as rules to be followed.  If the congregation breaks the rules (which we inevitably must), there are various other acts we can perform to show not only how sorry we are but to work our way back into God’s good graces.  Wherein lies the rub: all of these rules of conduct and acts of repentance are built on the foundation that God the Father is disapproving and must be appeased.  We please Him by doing our work of believing but, if we should falter one iota in our belief, then we have doubted.  Our doubting does NOT please God and we should not expect to receive anything from Him (see James 1:6-8). 

Are you exhausted?  Burdened?  Heavy laden?  Are you hopeless?  Does the Bible itself increase your feelings of hopelessness?  Do you read a passage like Matthew 5: 20 where Jesus says, “For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” and know such a requirement is not possible?  When you read Isaiah 64:6 which states, “all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags” are you struck with the fear that God’s expectations are too extreme, that He knew we could not attain them, and that He just might not be equitable Himself?

This is too massive a subject to be dealt with in one post so I plan to continue looking at righteousness in the upcoming weeks.  I would urge you to see that the foundation of the Father being angry with you is an illusion.  When you see that, everything built on it crumbles to dust.  The foundation that can never crumble is Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God who is the very image and expression of The Father.  There is no difference in their characters.  Jesus is the one who knew no sin yet was made to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.  We are In Christ and therefore our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees as far as the east is from the west because our righteousness is His!  It is not just our manner but our condition and state of being that now is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

In Jesus Christ we can rest in our rightwiseness.  The conduct of our lives will show His righteousness because it is no longer us who live but Christ who lives in us.  Christ in us and us in Him is the will of the Father.  Paul opens His letter to the Ephesians with this: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.”   

This is what our Heavenly Father willed before we walked this earth and before we ever committed a sin.  He will carry the work He has begun in us on to completion and He will do so because He is equitable and acts in accord with the only set standard that could apply to the I AM: His own character which is agape.  That first definition of ‘right’ is “straight, not curved”.  He makes our paths straight.  He does so because of His goodness and not because we have worked so hard at believing that He is pleased enough to ease our way a little.  He leads us in paths of righteousness for His Name’s Sake!

Unless noted otherwise, all Scriptures are quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee, 1982

References

Guralnik, David B., Webster’s New World Dictionary of the American Language, Second College Edition, William Collins + World Publishing Co., Inc., Cleveland • New York, 1953, 1976

Strong, James, LL.D., S.T.D., The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible, Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville Tennessee, 1990