Php 3:9 A Righteousness by Faith

[bcbsr]

A Righteousness by Faith

Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

For "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Rom 3:20-22

There are two ways to attain a righteous standing before God. Righteousness by the law is a performance-based righteousness which requires a perfectly sinless behavior. But seeing as "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", there are none qualified. But God has provided another way to attain a righteous standing, that which God graciously provided in the redemptive work of Christ, that which is through the forgiveness of sins and through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. It is an imputed righteousness rather than one which is earned. It is not unconditional. It is conditioned upon faith in Christ - faith being an attitude of the heart and not a work.

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but believes God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." Rom 4:4-8

On the day of judgement, which kind of righteousness will you be relying upon to save you from His wrath?

 

[eleos1954]

A Righteousness by Faith

Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

For "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Rom 3:20-22

There are two ways to attain a righteous standing before God. Righteousness by the law is a performance-based righteousness which requires a perfectly sinless behavior. But seeing as "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", there are none qualified. But God has provided another way to attain a righteous standing, that which God graciously provided in the redemptive work of Christ, that which is through the forgiveness of sins and through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. It is an imputed righteousness rather than one which is earned. It is not unconditional. It is conditioned upon faith in Christ - faith being an attitude of the heart and not a work.

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but believes God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." Rom 4:4-8

On the day of judgement, which kind of righteousness will you be relying upon to save you from His wrath?

Faith is a gift from God. It is His righteousness that saves a person. We are covered by His righteousness. Faith is believing that God will do all that He said He would ... changing our thinking ... of which changes our doing ... this is His love working in the believer through the Holy Spirit.

I rely on Jesus and His righteousness.

 

[Soyeong]

A Righteousness by Faith

Php 3:9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ— the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.

For "no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe." Rom 3:20-22

There are two ways to attain a righteous standing before God. Righteousness by the law is a performance-based righteousness which requires a perfectly sinless behavior. But seeing as "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God", there are none qualified. But God has provided another way to attain a righteous standing, that which God graciously provided in the redemptive work of Christ, that which is through the forgiveness of sins and through the sanctifying work of the Spirit. It is an imputed righteousness rather than one which is earned. It is not unconditional. It is conditioned upon faith in Christ - faith being an attitude of the heart and not a work.

Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. However, to the man who does not work but believes God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits righteousness apart from works: "Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him." Rom 4:4-8

On the day of judgement, which kind of righteousness will you be relying upon to save you from His wrath?

If what you said was correct, then Romans 3:20-22 would have said the it is possible to be declared righteous by the law and that the Law and the Prophets testify that the righteousness of God comes through perfect sinless behavior, however, it denies that we are declared righteous by the law and states that the Law and the Prophets testify that the righteousness of God comes through faith in Christ for all who believe, so there has only ever been one way to become righteous that the Law and the Prophets testify about, which is why Paul said that he did not have a righteousness that came from the law. Likewise, Romans 4:4-5 denies that we can earn our righteousness as a wage through perfect obedience. Trying to earn our righteousness through our obedience to God's law has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of the law. In Romans 9:30-10:4, they had a zeal for God, but it was not based on knowledge of the goal of the law, so they failed to attain righteousness because they pursued the law as though righteous came through works in an effort to establish their own instead of pursuing the law as though righteousness is through faith in Christ, for Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith. In Matthew 7:23, Christ said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so again knowing Christ is the goal of the law, which should inform how we interpret Philippians 3:8 insofar as Paul was in the same boat where he had been keeping the law, without having a focus on knowing Christ, so he had been missing the whole goal of obeying the law and counted it all as rubbish.

 

[bcbsr]

If what you said was correct, then Romans 3:20-22 would have said the it is possible to be declared righteous by the law and that the Law and the Prophets testify that the righteousness of God comes through perfect sinless behavior, however, it denies that we are declared righteous by the law and states that the Law and the Prophets testify that the righteousness of God comes through faith in Christ for all who believe, so there has only ever been one way to become righteous that the Law and the Prophets testify about, which is why Paul said that he did not have a righteousness that came from the law. Likewise, Romans 4:4-5 denies that we can earn our righteousness as a wage through perfect obedience. Trying to earn our righteousness through our obedience to God's law has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of the law. In Romans 9:30-10:4, they had a zeal for God, but it was not based on knowledge of the goal of the law, so they failed to attain righteousness because they pursued the law as though righteous came through works in an effort to establish their own instead of pursuing the law as though righteousness is through faith in Christ, for Christ is the goal of the law for righteousness for everyone who has faith. In Matthew 7:23, Christ said that he would tell those who are workers of lawlessness to depart from him because he never knew them, so again knowing Christ is the goal of the law, which should inform how we interpret Philippians 3:8 insofar as Paul was in the same boat where he had been keeping the law, without having a focus on knowing Christ, so he had been missing the whole goal of obeying the law and counted it all as rubbish.

Apparently you must have misread what I wrote.

 

[Soyeong]

Apparently you must have misread what I wrote.

You claimed that there are two ways to attain a righteous standing before God and I made the case that there has only ever been one way.

 

[bcbsr]

You claimed that there are two ways to attain a righteous standing before God and I made the case that there has only ever been one way.

Apparently you didn't exercise basic reading comprehension skills. I stated the the righteousness which comes from the law is unattainable due to the fact that all have sinned. To attain to that righteousness you would have to persistently be good, as Paul says in Rom 2:7 "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."

Are you saying you disagree with the apostle Paul? Take it up with him. The Bible wasn't written to be interpreted by idiots.

 

[Soyeong]

Apparently you didn't exercise basic reading comprehension skills. I stated the the righteousness which comes from the law is unattainable due to the fact that all have sinned.

Even if someone managed to to live in perfect obedience to God's law, then they still would not earn their righteousness because the law was never given as a means of doing that (Romans 4:4-5), so the fact that all of sinned has nothing to do with the reason why we can't earn our righteousness by obeying God's law. Trying to earn our righteousness has always been a fundamental misunderstanding of the goal of why we should obey the law, and it is precisely that misunderstanding that caused the Israelites to fail to attain righteousness (Romans 9:30-10:4). While Paul denied that we can earn our justification, he also said only doers of the law will be justified (Romans 2:13), so there must be a reason why our justification requires our obedience to God's law other than in order to earn it, namely it is our faith that upholds God's law (Romans 3:31).

In John 6:40, those who believe in Jesus will have eternal life, and in Matthew 19:17, Jesus said that they way to enter eternal life is by obeying God's commandments, so obedience to God's commandments is the way to believe in Jesus. In Matthew 23:23, faith is one of the weightier matters of the law, in John 3:36, it equates believing in Jesus with obeying him, in Revelation 14:12, those who kept faith in Jesus are the same as those who kept God's commandments, in Hebrews 11, every example of faith is also an example of obedience to God's will, and there are many other verses that connect our faith in God with our obedience to Him.

To attain to that righteousness you would have to persistently be good, as Paul says in Rom 2:7 "To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life."

Are you saying you disagree with the apostle Paul? Take it up with him. The Bible wasn't written to be interpreted by idiots.

I see nothing in Romans 2:6-11 that mentions anything about needing to have perfect obedience in order to earn righteousness or eternal life, so my disagreement is not with that verse, but with what you are reading into it. It would make sense to interpret Romans 2:7 as referring to a group of people of which no one belongs, but rather Paul was describing how God will render each according to their works depending on whether or not they obey the truth, regardless of whether they are Jew or Greek.

 

[bcbsr]

Lk 10:25-28 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Apparently you don't believe what Jesus said.

 

[Soyeong]

Lk 10:25-28 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" "What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?" He answered: "’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’" "You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

Apparently you don't believe what Jesus said.

I completely agree with what Jesus said and have said nothing contrary to it, nor should any of the verses that I cited be interpreted as being contrary to what he said. The expert in the law notably did not ask Jesus what he had to do to earn eternal life and Jesus notably said nothing about earning eternal life as a wage by obeying the greatest two commandments. Furthermore, nothing in the passage suggests that it is impossible for someone to inherit eternal life by obeying the greatest two commandments, but rather Jesus proceeded to give an example of the Good Samaritan loving his neighbor, and instructed the teacher of the law to go and do likewise. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the law, so he spoke about obedience to it, you should consider him to be speaking about acting in faith, not about trying to earn eternal life.

 

[bcbsr]

I completely agree with what Jesus said and have said nothing contrary to it, nor should any of the verses that I cited be interpreted as being contrary to what he said. The expert in the law notably did not ask Jesus what he had to do to earn eternal life and Jesus notably said nothing about earning eternal life as a wage by obeying the greatest two commandments. Furthermore, nothing in the passage suggests that it is impossible for someone to inherit eternal life by obeying the greatest two commandments, but rather Jesus proceeded to give an example of the Good Samaritan loving his neighbor, and instructed the teacher of the law to go and do likewise. In Matthew 23:23, Jesus said that faith is one of the weightier matters of the law, so he spoke about obedience to it, you should consider him to be speaking about acting in faith, not about trying to earn eternal life.

Wow, you're really incapable of exercising basic reading comprehension skills. No matter how clearly the Bible states it you just simply refuse to listen.

 

[Soyeong]

Wow, you're really incapable of exercising basic reading comprehension skills. No matter how clearly the Bible states it you just simply refuse to listen.

The issue is that there can be any number of reasons that someone might have for choosing to obey God's commandments, such as because they love Him, they trust Him, they want a relationship with Him, they want to appear pius to others, they are afraid of being punished if they don't, they don't want to be separated from God, or they want to try to earn their salvation. So Jesus saying that those who obey God's commandments will have life in itself does not imply anything about the motivation for obedience and you are unjustifiably assuming that the motivation is in order earn our righteousness through perfect obedience in spite of the surrounding context saying nothing to suggest that motivation, and in spite of the broader context repeatedly denying that we can earn our righteousness.