“The Gift Of Righteousness”

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Scriptures like 1 Kings 8:46, Ecc 7:20, Isa 64:6-7, Psalm 14:3, Prov 20:9, Rom 3:23, 1 Jn 1:8, Rom 5:12, Isa 41:26, and Rom 3:10-12 all say that there is no one righteous, just, or without sin.  But what about Noah (Gen 7:1), Job (Job 1:1), Zacharias & Elizabeth (Lk 1:5-6), Abel (Matt 23:35), Joseph (Matt 1:19), and Cornelius (Acts 10:22)?  The Bible seems to say that these people were just and righteous.  And also verses like 2 Sam 22: 21-27, Ecc 9:1, Jas 5:16, Ps 24:3-4, Lk 6:45, Matt 13:47-48, and Jhn 5:29 seem to say that there were, and maybe are today, good people on this planet.  So what are the passages that I mentioned first talking about?

Sincerely,
Justified Confusion

Dear Justified Confusion,

The first set of verses you mentioned are addressing the fact that all of us have fallen short (Rom 3:23), and no man has a right to boast before God that he has earned his salvation (Rom 3:27).  No one is righteous without God’s help.  Abraham sinned, but God counted him as righteous because of Abraham’s faith (Gen 15:6).  Nobody is righteous based upon his or her own merits.  However, God, through Christ’s blood, reconciles the faithful to Him, so we can be righteous through faith (Col 1:20).

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