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It never ceases to amaze me how sinful men have the audacity to tell God who is absolute righteousness, how to be righteous in their eyes toward His creation. We are sinners by nature and born this way. What do we know about righteousness? Of ourselves, we know nothing. But God has given us His perfect Law in the Ten Commandments and exposed our wretched condition (Romans 7:7-24). As a result, we know what right thinking and acting are supposed to look like, but even at our best we miss the mark (Romans 3:23).
The apostle Paul writes, "'There is none righteous, no, not one,'" (Romans 3:10, NKJV). This judgement of God Almighty includes all races, classes and groups of humanity. We are all unrighteous sinners whose righteousnesses in His sight "are like filthy rags," (Isaiah 64:6a, NKJV). Filthy rags refer to the dressings ancient women used during their menstrual cycle. The rags were impure and worthless after their use. So too, is the best of human righteousness before God. Our righteousness gains for us first Hades and then eternal torment in the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
One will ask, "Were we created unrighteous?" No! God created man and all the physical creation perfectly righteous and said of His finished work after checking it out, "it was very good," (Genesis 1:31, NKJV). But soon man who is the apex of God´s creation and represented by the first man, Adam, sinned against Him in disobedience. Immediately not only man, but this planet and the whole universe fell from their original righteous perfection and came under the curse of sin and death (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:17-19; Romans 8:20-21).
In addition, since man rejected God´s rule in disobedience, He has allowed him to be ruled over by that fallen, angelic usurper and deceiver, Satan (Genesis 3:1-5; John 14:30; 1 John 5:19). Therefore, satanically instigated evil such as calamity, mis-fortune, sickness, disease, corruption, wickedness, oppressions and violence daily plague and kill men. Very importantly also, sin inspired (and often satanically prompted) unrighteousness continueously flow out naturally from sinful human hearts including "evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witnesses, blasphemes," (Matthew 15:19, NKJV).
Someone will insist, "Surely the unborn and babies are innocent before God?" Again, we are sinners by nature. This nature comes into existence at the moment of conception as David lamented in Psalm 51:5. The sperm of the human father is the bearer of this inescapable inheritance from Adam after he sinned (Romans 5:12). Even so, we like David trust in the unsearchable riches of God´s mercy and His work of sin atonement in Jesus Christ to save these most helpless of all human beings (2 Samuel 12:14-23; Mark 10:13-16).
Someone else will say, "What about the widows, orphans, poor, oppressed, faultless targets of crime and persecuted? Are they not innocent before God and therefore, righteous? "Did not Paul say, ´"There is none righteous, no not one? "´However, God does have an especially merciful disposition toward these groups and even prisoners as seen in His Holy Word (Psalm 146:5-9; Isaiah 42:5-7).
God´s mercy does not bestow unqualified righteousness on these persons, but obtains for them His advocacy and gracious provision (Exodus 22:21-27; Psalm 68:5-6) as they suffer the hardships unique to their circumstances in this fallen world. At times, He calls them "innocent" not in terms of personal righteousness, but in that the evil of this world fell upon them without provocation or just due because of willful sin (Exodus 23:7; Psalm 10).
There is but one group of human beings that can enjoy innocence and righteousness before God. The fact that they largely come from among those who are weak, helpless and defenseless enough to be special objects of God´s mercy is not surprising. For they are forced to look to and depend upon Him because there is no one else (Matthew 5:1-6; 1 Corinthians 1:26-31). Nevertheless, all that have historically and will now put their faith in God He credits it to them for righteousness and considers them righteous (Habakkuk 2:4)!
This faith is not simply a belief that God exists. It is trust, confidence in and reliance upon Him as a Person and His Word! In the days of Abraham the father of the Jews and other nations, God made him a promise. Abraham believed in the Lord and His promise. God credited it to his account for righteousness (Genesis 15:1-6; Romans 4:1-8).
Beginning in the 1st century AD, apostles of God went forth from Jerusalem, Israel proclaiming the joyful news of His sin pardon, bestowal of righteousness and eternal life to all that will believe on His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, His atoning death on the cross, burial and resurrection. This Good News is for all humanity from the worst criminal offenders to the self-righteous who wrongly believe their good works can save them. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord in faith will be counted as righteous and saved (Romans 10:6-13).
God has done this out of His great love, mercy, grace and yes, righteousness because Christ died in our place (Romans 3:21-26). You must now decide whether this is just empty religious talk or is the living God speaking to you. Look at the world and your own life. Sin and its effects are very real. Why not God and His offer of righteousness and salvation? Decide wisely since none but the righteous shall escape Hell and see God in peace.
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