Do not be OVERRIGHTEOUS

[tonychanyt]

NIV Ecclesiastes 7:

15In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness. 16Do not be overrighteous,

Do not be blindly righteous to the extreme so you will lose your life.

neither be overwise— why destroy yourself? 17Do not be overwicked, and do not be a fool— why die before your time? 18 It is good to grasp the one and not let go of the other. Whoever fears God will avoid all extremes.

Religious scrupulosity is an example of being overrighteous. Give yourself some slack; don't be so extreme. Relax a bit, as long as you fear God, you are doing okay.

As a Pharisee, Paul carried a sense of self-righteousness about himself egoistically. Philippians 3:

6 as to zeal, persecuting the church; as to righteousness in the law, faultless.

This is a lesson about humility.

Romans 12:

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you.

In order to be perfect, does that mean a person must be excessively righteous?

No. On the contrary, Isaiah warned un in 64:

6 all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.

Ultimately, we are saved by grace, Christ's righteousness:

Romans 3:24

and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

There is no need to be over-righteous on our own. We depend on the righteousness of Christ anyway.