OT righteousness vs NT's

[tonychanyt]

Deuteronomy 6:

25 It will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.

This was human righteousness by works.

Ezekiel 18:

9 [If he] walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.

This OT righteousness was a shadow type of the true righteousness in Christ. Hebrews 10:

1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves.

Romans 10:

4 Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

There is a new kind of righteousness found in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:

21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

We are no longer talking about the righteousness of a human being as in the OT.

Paul spoke on this new righteousness in Galatians 2:

21 If righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose."

There was a shift from human righteousness by works in the OT to divine righteousness by grace and faith in Christ in the NT.

 

[fhansen]

Well, yes, but it’s righteousness nonetheless. Man is still obligated to be obedient and do the right thing under the new covenant but not by virtue of being under the law but by virtue of being under grace, with God now rather than on his own as if he could have any righteousness apart from Him.

 

[Soyeong]

Deuteronomy 6:


This was human righteousness by works.

Ezekiel 18:


This OT righteousness was a shadow type of the true righteousness in Christ. Hebrews 10:


Romans 10:


There is a new kind of righteousness found in Jesus.

2 Corinthians 5:


We are no longer talking about the righteousness of a human being as in the OT.

Paul spoke on this new righteousness in Galatians 2:


There was a shift from human righteousness by works in the OT to divine righteousness by grace and faith in Christ in the NT.

In Deuteronomy 6:21-25, their obedience to God was about having faith in God to defeat Pharaoh, faith in God to bring them out of Egypt, faith in God to bring them to the land that he swore to their fathers, faith in God that His commands are for our own good, and faith in God to preserve them, so it is speaking about righteousness by faith. In Psalms 119:29-30, he wanted to put false ways far from him, for God to be gracious to him by teaching him to obey His law, so this has always been the one and only way to become righteous by grace through faith. God's way is the way to know Him by being a doer of His character, such as in Genesis 18:19, God knew Abraham that he would teach his children and those of his household to walk in God's way by being a doer of righteousness and justice that the Lord may bring to him all that He has promised. In Exodus 33:13, Moses wanted God to be gracious to him by teaching him to walk in His way that he and Israel might know Him, and John 17:3, eternal life is knowing God and Jesus, which again is righteousness by grace through faith. In Genesis 6:8-9, Noah found grace in the eyes of God, he was a righteous man, and he walked with God, so God was gracious to him by teaching him to walk in in His way and he was righteous because he obeyed by faith, so he was declared righteous by grace through faith in the same one and only way as Abraham (Genesis 15:6) and everyone else.

Character traits are not something that are earn as the result of our works, but rather the only way for someone to attain a character trait is by believing that they ought to be a doer of that character trait, but becoming someone who has a character trait is not apart from becoming a doer of that trait. For example, there are no amount of courageous works that someone is required to have done first in order to earn becoming courageous as the result, but rather the only way to become courageous is through faith, and becoming courageous means becoming a doer of courageous works. The same is true for righteousness and ever other character trait, which is why the faith by which we are declared righteous apart from works does not abolish our need to be of doer of righteousness works in obedience to God's law, but rather our faith upholds it (Romans 3:27-31).