PAUL – CHAMPION OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Paul was passionate about righteousness. In his pre-faith days, he was obsessed with his own righteousness. The harder he tried to be righteous, and in his own eyes he was righteous, the more he failed.

After he came to faith in Jesus, the real struggle began. Romans 7 is part of Paul’s autobiography in a nutshell. His life became an unfolding saga of miserable failure…and, finally, the glorious realisation of a righteousness freely given to him, not his own, and real and lasting victory.

Romans 7:14-18, 22-24 NIV
[14] “We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. [15] I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. [16] And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. [17] As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. [18] For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out…
[22] For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; [23] but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. [24] What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?”

The power of sin, aroused by the law that said, “Don’t!”, was so strong in him that it pinned him down and kept him helpless in his fight to be righteous.

Only one thing could rescue him from this pitiful slavery to himself…death. To his great relief, he discovered that it was the death of Jesus, in his place, that saved him from his own eternal death.

Romans 7:24-25 NIV
[24] “What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death? [25] Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

Paul finally realised that Jesus’ death on the cross was not only a fact of history, but also a power at work in his own life. Jesus’ life and death were perfectly righteous, fully in line with the will of God in every detail. He was qualified, therefore, to credit His own righteousness to every believer who acknowledges guilt and receives the grace of forgiveness, cleansing, and a new life.

Romans 5:6-8 NIV
[6] “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. [7] Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. [8] But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Paul believed he had every reason to be confident in his own righteousness…until he saw himself as God saw him. “Filthy rags” was the best he could think of himself.

Philippians 3:5-6 NLT
[5] “I was circumcised when I was eight days old. I am a pure-blooded citizen of Israel and a member of the tribe of Benjamin—a real Hebrew if there ever was one! I was a member of the Pharisees, who demand the strictest obedience to the Jewish law. [6] I was so zealous that I harshly persecuted the church. And as for righteousness, I obeyed the law without fault.”

Once Paul had grasped this truth by faith, he abandoned his own efforts to be righteous and gratefully received God’s gift of Christ’s righteousness which covered everything he was, and gave him acceptance with God.

Philippians 3:7-9 NLT
[7] “I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. [8] Yes, everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ [9] and become one with him. I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through faith in Christ. For God’s way of making us right with himself depends on faith.”

The righteousness of Jesus, freely credited to Paul, gave him the motive and the energy to live it out in his everyday life. The old Paul was dead! Dead people don’t sin. Paul was a new person, made alive to God and His power in him. He was now dead in a different sense, dead to the old person he was, now in union with Jesus, and alive to God. So, he was no longer obliged to heed the demands of his old self.

Ephesians 2:1, 4-6 NLT
[1] “Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins…
[4] But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, [5] that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) [6] For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

Before Paul could pass on these truths as a prescription for life, he had to hammer them out in his own experience. So, his theology was a tried and tested way of life.

Romans 5:17 NLT
[17]”For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many. But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and his gift of righteousness, for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one man, Jesus Christ.”

This gift of Jesus’ righteousness attributed to us is one side of the coin. The other side is our response. What is the use of Jesus’ perfect righteousness covering us when we are still living sinful lives by giving in to fleshly desires?

Paul insisted, therefore, that we live our lives in obedience to Jesus to match our righteousness in Him. How do we do that? By considering ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

Romans 6:5-11 NLT
[5] “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. [6] We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. [7] For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin. [8] And since we died with Christ, we know we will also live with him. [9] We are sure of this because Christ was raised from the dead, and he will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. [10] When he died, he died once to break the power of sin. But now that he lives, he lives for the glory of God. [11] So you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Christ Jesus.”

Once again, the solution begins in the mind and is worked out in experience as we trust God’s Word. He will do what He promised when we act on His Word by faith.

However, what follows, in English, is a misunderstanding and misttamslation of one little Grtek word…

Philippians 3:10-11 NLT
[10]”I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, [11] so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!”

…Unfortunately, this translation, and many others, miss the point of Paul’s testimony. In context, Paul is not expressing his desire to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. He is stating the truth that the way to know Christ’s power at work in him….is BY FAITH.

Paul’s entire explanation of his new standing and relationship with Jesus rests on the Greek word, “hina”…

“Strong’s g2443

• Lexical: ἵνα
• Transliteration: hina
• Part of Speech: Conjunction
• Phonetic Spelling: hin’-ah
• Definition: in order that, that, so that.
• Origin: Probably from the same as the former part of heautou (through the demonstrative idea; compare ho); in order that (denoting the purpose or the result).
• Usage: albeit, because, to the intent (that), lest, so as, (so) that, (for) to. Compare hina me.
• Translated as (count): that (390), so that (262), in order that (11), so (2), – (1), in order (1), in that (1), that it (1), Thus (1), when (1).”

His righteous standing before God has a purpose,” hina”, so that he, Paul could know Jesus and experience His resurrection power. And he did!

If Paul were expressing a desire to know Jesus and His resurrection power, he would be contradicting the context of his conviction that he was righteous by faith. It was his righteous standing before God that gave him personal knowledge of Jesus and His resurrection power. Otherwise, how could he write, to the Ephesian Church?…

Ephesians 1:15-23 NLT
[15] “Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, [16] I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, [17] asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might GROW IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE of God. [18] I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. [19] I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power [20] that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. [21] Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. [22] God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. [23] And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.”

Why would Paul express a longing for what he already knew, by faith?

This mistranslation also contradicts Jesus’ own words in His high-priestly prayer.

John 17:3 NLT
[3]”And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

For Paul, then, it was a win-win situation. Since he was righteous through faith in Jesus, he knew Him and therefore had eternal life. Since he knew Jesus, he could experience His resurrection power that gave him victory over sin and death which confirmed his righteous standing before God, and by so doing, He would know Him better.

Righteousness, then, living out our faith in Jesus by doing what pleases Him, hinges on our righteous standing before God which is His gift of grace to us when we believed in Jesus. We have a standing in grace that enables us to live righteously.

Romans 5:1-2 NIV
[1] “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, [2] through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

A standing in grace! What can be better than that, a guarantee that, because we ARE righteous through Christ, we can BE righteous by faith in Him!