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

GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS

God
(all three persons)
has never
sinned . .

To sin  =  to miss the moral target (as in archery).
Sources: Revival Today (site gone), and Wikipedia: Hamartia.

 

Perhaps see later section:
SINS ARE DIGITAL, NOT ANALOGUE, AND ARE GOD’S MEASURE, , , ,

. . so he is holy . .

completely separate from this sinful world

. . & righteous.

right – technically
see earlier section: GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG 


right – in his own eyes, before himself,
an integrated person.

.

PAUL’S TASK

In the Old Testament
& four gospels of New Testament:
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                 people have always been righteous
                 and stay that way
                 or:
            x)  have always been wicked, unrighteous,
                 and stay that way.

But in the rest of the Bible
(i.e. the rest of the New Testament):

                 people start wicked, unrighteous
                 but:
            y)   can become righteous
                 by believing in Jesus.   Rom c5 v17-19.

.

This shows that one of Paul’s tasks
had been to change the meaning of the word ‘righteous’:
            from  x)  to  y),
            from  fixed-core  to  changeable-core.

Perhaps see earlier section:
JESUS’ USE OF THE WORDS ‘RIGHTEOUS’ AND ‘WICKED’, , .

.

In earlier section: THE THREE KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS:
               x)  matches with  2)
               y)  matches with  3).

.

JESUS MADE A START
ON PAUL’S TASK
OF CHANGING THE MEANING OF THE WORD ‘RIGHTEOUS’

Jesus (as part of him preaching Forgiveness)
made a start on Paul’s task
of changing the meaning of the word ‘righteous’:

            from Old Testament’s & four gospels’ fixed-core meaning:
                       people have always been righteous
                       and stay that way
                       or:
                       have always been wicked, unrighteous,
                       and stay that way.

            to rest of New Testament’s changeable-core meaning:
                       people start wicked, unrighteous
                       but:
                       can become righteous
                       by believing in Jesus.

Jesus made a start by implying
that everyone (everyone other than himself)
begins wicked/unrighteous:

            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

            Jesus did not do this often,
            did not imply that we’re all wicked often.
            Indeed, these are the only two instances.

            And, in these two instances,
            Jesus used the concept ‘righteous’,
            not the word ‘righteous’.

            The word ‘righteous’ itself
            Jesus only ever used
            in the Old Testament way,
            the:
            people have always been righteous
            and stay that way
            or:
            have always been wicked, unrighteous,
            and stay that way.

               Perhaps again see earlier section:
               JESUS’ USE OF THE WORDS ‘RIGHTEOUS’ AND ‘WICKED’.


            So, it was only a start that Jesus made.

.

BUT PAUL THEN FINISHED THE TASK.

Paul then finished the task by clearly saying that:
            We are all wicked/unrighteous.
            And the only way to get righteousness
            is by Forgiveness.

Indeed, Paul used the word ‘righteousness’
much like the word ‘Forgiveness’.

Hence, in the following extract from Paul’s epistle to the Romans,
you could replace the word ‘righteousness’
with the word ‘Forgiveness’
without much change in meaning.

            Rom c3 v21-25:
            But now the righteousness of God
            without the law
            is manifested,
            being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
            even the righteousness of God
            which is by faith of Jesus Christ
            unto all and upon all them that believe:
            for there is no difference:
            for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
            being justified freely by his grace
            through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
            whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation
            through faith in his blood,
            to declare his righteousness
            for the remission of sins that are past,
            through the forbearance of God;   KJV

.

PAUL’S ARGUMENT IS BIBLICALLY WEAK

Peter, a Jew, was the apostle to the Jews.

And Paul, even though he too was a Jew, indeed an ex-Pharisee,
was the apostle to the gentiles.
A gentile is anyone who is not a Jew.

Being an ex-Pharisee caused Paul
to intuitively use the Old Testament
to change the meaning of the word ‘righteousness’.

The trouble is:

      About four hundred Old Testament scriptures:
                 support Jesus’ usual definition of righteousness,
                 the fixed-core definition.

      Only eleven Old Testament scriptures (next section, green text):
                 support Paul’s definition of righteousness,
                 the changeable-core definition.

                 And, of those eleven,
                 Paul successfully uses only eight.

                      If a scripture contains the actual word ‘righteousness’ . . . .  I put   r
                      If a scripture does not contain the word ‘righteousness’ . . .  I put   nr
                      If a scripture contains the word ‘righteousness’
                      but only in the NIV, not in the KJV,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  I put   NIV r

.

  THE ELEVEN
  OLD TESTAMENT
  SCRIPTURES
  THAT PAUL COULD
  HAVE USED

THE SIX
NEW TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES
WHERE PAUL SUCCESSFULLY USED
EIGHT OF THE ELEVEN
OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES

. nr Psalm 14 v1-3
. nr Psalm 53 v1-3
. NIV r Eccl c7 v20





r Rom c3 v10-12


N.B. All the Bible references
are hyperlinks.


.*Psalm 5 v9

            *duplication,

Rom c3 v13*   is not valid. ,
The scripture opposite is about only King David’s enemies
and not, as Paul implied, about all people.

.*Psalm 5 v9
. Psalm 140 v3
. Psalm 10 v7
. Psalm 36 v1

                      *duplication

 

Rom c3 v13*   and,
Rom c3 v14   and,
Rom c3 v18   are not valid. ,
The scriptures opposite support Jesus’ usual definition,
the Old Testament definition:
that people have always been either righteous or wicked.
They do not support Paul’s definition:
that we all start wicked.

 . nr Isa c59 v7-8
. NIV r Isa c59 v9
. NIV r Isa c59 v14

nr Rom c3 v15-17 .
I’ve put this here,
even though Paul doesn’t use the word ‘righteousness’,
because it’s part of Paul’s discourse about righteousness.
(All of Isa c59 v2-16 generally supports Paul.)

. r Gen c15 v6
. NIV r Hab c2 v4
. NIV r Job c9 v2
. NIV r Psalm 143 v2
. r Isa c64 v6-7

r Rom c4 v3     r Gal c3 v6 .
r Rom c1 v17     NIV r Gal c3 v11 .

.

CONCLUSION

Paul wanted to promote Forgiveness.

So, even though he was not much aware of Judgment,
he promoted Forgiveness over Judgment.

,,        ,,        Perhaps see earlier section:
,,        ,,        THE SECOND REASON PAUL PREACHED
,,       ,,        ONLY FORGIVENESS
,,       ,,        WAS THAT HE HAD HEARD SO LITTLE ABOUT JUDGMENT, , , ,

In doing this, Paul also changed
the meaning of the word ‘righteousness’.

.

PAUL’S EXCEPTIONS

Paul sometimes did the opposite,
sometimes promoted Judgment:

      Sometimes deliberately:

                 Rom c2 v5-16:
                 God will reward or punish us
                 according to what we’ve done,
                        whether Jew or gentile
                       have the law or not,
                 because – even people who don’t have the law
                 still have hearts & consciences.   my abbreviation

                 2 Cor c5 v10:
                 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ;
                 that every one may receive the things done in his body,
                 according to that he hath done,
                 whether it be good or bad.   KJV

      Sometimes accidentally:

                 When Paul absent-mindedly used
                 the word ‘righteous’ (or the word ‘just’)
                 in the Jesus, Old Testament, way:

                 Acts c24 v15:
                 and have hope toward God,
                 which they themselves also allow,
                 that there shall be a resurrection of the dead,
                 both of the just and unjust.   KJV

                  1 Tim c1 v9:
                 knowing this,
                 that the law is not made
                       for a righteous man,
                 but
                       for the lawless and disobedient,
                       for the un-Godly and for sinners,
                       for unholy and profane,
                       for murderers of fathers
                       and murderers of mothers,
                       for manslayers,   KJV

.

But, in total, Paul preached & taught:
            very little Judgment (above two cells)
            compared to Forgiveness (three big references below).

            Rom c1 – c15:
            Paul preached Forgiveness.   my abbreviation

            Gal c3 – c5:
            Paul preached Forgiveness.   my abbreviation

            Eph c1 – c6:
            Paul preached Forgiveness.   my abbreviation

.

OVERALL CONCLUSION

God did many miracles through Paul
to prove that it was his, God’s, will
for Paul to preach Forgiveness and not Judgment.

Preaching & teaching only Forgiveness, and never Judgment,
required a new meaning for the word ‘righteous’.

And that is what Paul supplied.

Paul supplied other things too, of course.

.

 


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