What is a righteous man?

A righteous man is one who follows the Lord with his whole heart. He is not perfect, but he seeks the Lord's will and is repentant when he sins.

Only Christ is righteous (Romans 3:10, Matthew 6:33, 1 John 2:1); the ungodly are made righteous by grace through faith: Romans 1:17, Romans 3:21-22, Romans 4:3, Romans 4:5-6; Ephesians 2:8, Romans 5:2: so a righteous man is one who is in Christ, under grace.

From what I have seen, there are some whose prayers are of great effect. These tend to focus on God, make Him the center of everything, and at all costs seek to follow Him. They have outward appearance of righteousness because those who love God follow His commandments, and so hate sin and so strive (with God's help) not to commit overt sins - yet they do not see themselves as "righteous" because, looking to God, even all of our "good works" are as filthy rags, so any close to Him tend to be highly conscious of their own sinful state.

But one who walks with God, seeks Him in everything, and prays out of a heart of love for all (another effect of following Him closely) tend to have effectual prayers, from what I have seen.

John Hyperspace said:

Only Christ is righteous (Romans 3:10, Matthew 6:33, 1 John 2:1); the ungodly are made righteous by grace through faith: Romans 1:17, Romans 3:21-22, Romans 4:3, Romans 4:5-6; Ephesians 2:8, Romans 5:2: so a righteous man is one who is in Christ, under grace.

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Matthew 1:19 states that Joseph was a righteous man.
Noah is also described as a righteous man, as is Simeon and Joseph of Arimathea.

Chickfula1 said:

“Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”
‭‭James‬ ‭5:16‬ ‭ESV‬‬

What does it mean to be righteous? Are all Christians righteous people? Are all of our prayers "working "?

Please explain and thank you so much!

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A righteous man is one who by faith obeys God's instructions about how to do what is righteous. However, we do not become righteous or more righteous by obeying God's commands, but rather we become righteous by grace through faith, and that same faith leads us to obey God's commands. We need to have the faith of our father Abraham, who trusted what God said above everything else in this world. So while all believers are righteous, not everyone has the faith of of father Abraham.

prodromos said:

Matthew 1:19 states that Joseph was a righteous man.
Noah is also described as a righteous man, as is Simeon and Joseph of Arimathea.

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Yes. And Abraham's faith was counted to him as righteousness, as well: Romans 4:11-13, Thus all hoped in Christ: Romans 8:24. Remember the righteousness of Abraham was by faith in the Word of God: Romans 4:3-5, Romans 10:17 And so we have this said of them: Hebrews 11:1-2, Hebrews 11:13, Hebrews 11:39-40 and so Romans 1:17