Righteousness & self-righteousness

 

 

The words   righteous   and   righteousness
have the same basic meaning:

 

 

righteous  =

righteousness  =

right before God

the quality of being right before God.

 

 

So I treat both words alike,
what I say about one applies to the other.

 

 

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RIGHTEOUSNESS
&
SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

 

      Righteousness is:                                                               
                 God seeing us
                 as right.

      Self-righteousness is:
                 You seeing yourself
                 as God.

 

 

                 A self-righteous person sees all their own
                 judgments, assessments, and opinions,
                  as if they were God.
 
                 2 Cor c10 v12:
                 For we dare not
                       make ourselves of the number,
                       or compare ourselves with some
                       that commend themselves:
                 but they
                       measuring themselves by themselves,
                       and comparing themselves among themselves,
                 are not wise.   KJV

 

 

,                            Perhaps see earlier section: HUMILITY & PRIDE, , .

 

 

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SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS SCRIPTURES
IN THE FOUR GOSPELS

 

 

The New Testament
(& indeed the Old Testament)
does not contain the word ‘self-righteousness’.

And it contains very few phrases
that might mean self-righteousness.

But the concept is common enough:

 

 

Matt c6 v1-4:          Righteousness, or self-righteousness, when giving to the needy.   my abbn

Matt c6 v5-15:        Righteousness, or self-righteousness, when praying.   my abbreviation

Matt c6 v16-18:      Righteousness, or self-righteousness, when fasting.   my abbreviation

Matt c7 v1-5:          Righteousness, or self-righteousness, when ‘Judging’.   my abbreviation

Matt c23 v1-36:      Gross self-righteousness of the teachers of the Law, & Pharisees.  my abbn

 

 

Mark c12 v38-40:           Gross self-righteousness of the teachers of the Law.   my abbreviation

 

 

Luke c11 v37-52:           Gross self-righteousness of Pharisees & experts of the Law.   my abbn

Luke c15 v11-32:           The self-righteous are left outside the Kingdom of Heaven.   my abbn

Luke c16 v14-15:           Conning people that you are righteous
,,     ,,     ,,     ,,       ,,        is not the same as actually being righteous.   my abbreviation

Luke c18 v9-14:            Self-righteousness does not work – it leaves God unimpressed.   my abbn

Luke c20 v45-47:           Gross self-righteousness of the teachers of the Law.   my abbreviation

 

 

John c8 v31-47:            Self-righteousness: by relying on parental line.   my abbreviation

 

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THE THREE KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

 

 

Conceptually, there are three possible meanings
for the word righteous.

0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

A righteous person is someone who:

                 1)  Has humbly done
                 much right (good)
                 and little wrong (bad)
                 and so will go to Heaven.
,                            See left hand columns of earlier webpage:
,                            The two ways God sorts us: Judgment & Forgiveness, , , ,

 

 

      or:       2)  Has always had a good heart/spirit,
                 and so will go to Heaven.
,                            See earlier webpage:
,                            Jesus’ use of the words ‘heart’, ‘righteous’ and ‘wicked’. , , , ,

 

 

      or:       3)  Lived after 33ad
                 (when Jesus put all of us right with God)
                 and believes
                 that Jesus has put all of us right with God
                 and so will go to Heaven.
,                            See right hand columns of earlier webpage:
,                            The two ways God sorts us: Judgment & Forgiveness, , , ,

 

 

Most of this site is about righteousness being produced by:

                 3)  Belief that Jesus has put all of us right with God.

 

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Ironically, if you have a criminal record,
and you’re not self-delusional,
it can be easier for you, than for most people,
to become a Christian.

Easier for you to dump your own righteousness
and accept the righteousness that Jesus’ gave to all of us.

            You, God, and indeed everyone,
            know that, as soon as you start speaking about:
                       the good things you’ve done
                       and the good qualities you have,
            that you will also soon have to start on:
                       the bad things you’ve done 
                       and the bad qualities you used to have.

 

Conversely, people who were already good
when they became Christians
may find it hard to:
            see that they really needed salvation,
            see what God might find so wrong about them,
            see the their sins & God’s holiness
            and the contrast between them.

To help them with this problem, Jesus said:

            Matt c5 v21-22:
            Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
                  Thou shalt not kill;
                  and whosoever shall kill
                 shall be in danger of the judgment:
            But I say unto you,
                  That whosoever is angry with his brother
                 without a cause
                  shall be in danger of the judgment:
                  and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,
                  shall be in danger of the council:
                  but whosoever shall say, Thou fool,
                  shall be in danger of hell fire.   KJV

            Matt c5 v27-28:
            Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time,
                  Thou shalt not commit adultery:
            But I say unto you,
                  That whosoever looketh on a woman
                 to lust after her
                  hath committed adultery with her already
                 in his heart.   KJV 

 

            It’s also why I draw my diagrams:
                       Showing all of us as shades of grey, however pale.
                       But showing God as white.

            It’s also why I wrote, in my Gospel leaflet:
                       Heaven would not be Heaven for many of us
                       if the rest of us went there remaining as we are here.

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GODLY SELF-CONFIDENCE

 

When you look at some confident Christians
you might think that their Godly self-confidence
is, in fact, self-righteousness.

 

But, with self-righteousness:
      you think you are God,
      you feel as if you are God.

Whereas, with Godly self-confidence:
      You know there’s a God
      and that you are not him.  See Acts c3, notice v12.
      But you are reassured & self-confident
      because you have renewed your
      thinking, knowledge, & feelings
      so that they are the same as
      God’s thinking, knowledge, & feelings.

 

      You have God’s Spirit in your heart/spirit & mind.
      And, with God’s Spirit, comes authority & power.
      And, with authority & power, comes Godly self-confidence.

      Godly self-confidence is a confidence
      not in your self, but in God:
            a)   In Jesus having been willingly crucified in our place.
            b)  In God’s powerful Spirit, who is now in you:
                       because you believe a)
                       and have renewed your mind.
            c)   In the promises Jesus made, to all of us, in the gospels.
            d)  In the continued love of the Father, to & through us.

 

      This authority, power,
      & subsequent Godly self-confidence,
      are all about serving:

            When you have joined the Father
            as his adopted child
            at the bottom of the upturned pyramid, at the point,
,                  Perhaps see earlier section: MORE KINGDOMS.

            you have absolute authority & power
,                  Perhaps see earlier section: GOD THE SPIRIT.


            But it’s God’s kind of authority & power.
            Not the world’s kind of authority & power.
,                  Perhaps see first five lines
,                  of tenth cell (starting This kind of obedience)
,                  of later section: HOW TO RENEW YOUR MIND.

            Acts c6:
            Stephen, who was a food distributor, a servant by nature,
            turned out to be
            one of the greatest doers of miracles.   my abbreviation

            Eph c1 v19-23    &    1 Cor c12 – c14    combined:
            Jesus is now the head.
            And you, the church, are now the body.
            Hence you, like Jesus, have been given the Spirit
            so that you too can have the gifts of the Spirit
            including doing miracles.   my abbn
,                  See earlier section: CONTINUING THE SON’S WORK.


            A believer will often need Godly self-confidence
            in this godless, yet self-confident, world,
            to take authority over sickness & demons in patients.

,                  See tenth cell (starting So, while a man’s forcefulness)
,                  of later section: PRAYING & FASTING.

 

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To conclude:

An unbeliever will say:
            “God speaks to you?
             And you can, in Jesus’ name, do miracles?
,,        ,,        ‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV.  (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,

             Who do you think you are?”
because they think that someone’s got to be good enough
to hear from God & do miracles.
 

            They see
            that no-one is good enough.

 

            But they don’t believe
            that Jesus’ crucifixion made all of us good enough.

                       Believing this
                                   lets the Holy Spirit through the front door
                                   and into the hallway of your mind.

                       Renewing your mind
                                   to be like Jesus’ mind,
                                    your thinking
                                    to be like Jesus’ thinking,
                                   lets the Holy Spirit in
                                   to every room of your mind.

 

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God, through Paul, changed the meaning
of the word ‘righteousness’.