|
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.
|
|
|
.
|
|
|
PEOPLE OR GOD?
|
|
|
Righteousness is:
what God thinks of you,
being right in God’s eyes.
Righteousness is not:
what others think of you,
being right in their eyes.
|
|
|
It’s God
who will send people to Heaven or Hell:
Some people may feel
in a position of power
by withholding their
forgiveness from you.
But God will, consequently,
not Forgive them.
Matt c6 v12 v14-15 c18 v21-35 c21 v21-22,
Mark c11 v25 Luke c6 v37 Luke c11 v4:
Heavenly Father:
Forgive us for all our
wrongs against you.
But only if we forgive
everyone who has wronged us. my abbreviation
|
|
|
.
|
|
|
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, , .
|
|
|
.
|
|
|
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
|
|
.
|
|
|
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.
|
|
.
|
|
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.
|
.
|
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.
|
|
.
|
|
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 in
through the front
door of your mind.
Renewing your
thinking
to be like Jesus’
thinking
(stopping
doing what’s wrong,
doing
what’s right,
forgiving
everyone,
etc,)
lets the Holy
Spirit in
to every room of
your mind.
|
|
.
|
|
Home page
|
Next webpage:
God,
through Paul, changed the meaning
of the word ‘righteousness’.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|