Last week, I went through some concepts/topics that are essential to purpose. The first one on the list was to live a clean life and to understand what it means to live a pure life; you must know what righteousness is, which is a requirement, not an option. You cannot be someone chasing after God if you are not living a righteous life, so today, I will explain what is righteous according to the Bible. Without further delay, let’s get started!
What is Righteousness According to the Bible?
There are tons of verses on righteousness in the Bible, but one I love to define righteousness is Romans 10:4, which reads, “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.” Well, what does this mean? It means that Jesus fulfilled the Law for righteousness, which I’ll explain, and He is the standard for righteousness.
The Law is God’s Commandments, and The Law keeps us from being sinful and keeps us blameless before The Lord. However, it is impossible for men to be blameless and sinless by themselves, but that is what is required to be righteous! So, how do we live a righteous life when it is impossible to do so alone? The answer is Jesus! He fulfilled the Law of righteousness, meaning He satisfied God’s standards and perfectly followed His commandments. So, when someone asks about righteousness, we must look to Jesus! He is the one that shows us how to live a righteous life, how to be free from sin, and be blameless before God. The Old Testament believers tried, but it was never good enough for God, which is why He sent Jesus for someone to show us how it’s done! Also, someone to give us the power to do it!
We are justified by our faith in Jesus, so we do not have to rely on our strength to be righteous; it’s all God! Galatians 2:20 says, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me.” So it is God doing the work, not us! Throughout Jesus’s life, He fulfilled the Law of righteousness, as He lived a sinless and blameless life, start to finish. As He did that, He also set the standard we must follow. He did everything perfectly when living out God’s commandments. So, a short answer to what righteousness is, righteousness is Jesus! And we must follow His example!
I already know that you may be thinking or have heard that none of us are righteous or holy, but that is a lie. When we are born again, we take the Spirit of Jesus, and He lives in us, making us holy! We are not righteous in our strength but in God’s! We can fulfill ALL of God’s commandments because His Spirit lives in us! So, don’t say again that you aren’t righteous; you are through Christ!
Righteousness, according to Romans 10:4, is living like Christ. Additionally, Romans 8:4 says, “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Righteousness is walking according to the Spirit, and that is what Jesus did His entire life, walked according to the Spirit, which is why He is our standard for righteousness.
To get more in-depth, we have to think about what Jesus did and did not do, and if you do these things, you will have to cut them out for the sake of your relationship with God and your purpose. Or if you don’t do these things, you may want to start.
Jesus Listened to God / Obeyed God
An essential part of remaining holy is following the leading of God. You cannot be righteous following your leading or the enemy’s; it’s impossible. We all know when it comes to Jesus, He had a tough task to complete on Earth: dying for our sins. And in His flesh, He did not want to do it, but He yielded anyways. In Matthew 26:42, Jesus says, “Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.” I choose this verse because it notes that this is Jesus’ second time praying this prayer. This shows that His flesh was fighting it, but we all know that He did not let this cup pass from Him; He fulfilled His purpose. Sometimes our purpose calls us to do things we absolutely do not want to do in the flesh, but God is calling us higher and is requiring more of us, so we must obey. Why? Because God has better for us when we answer our call. Though Jesus died, He was resurrected and exalted above all the Earth and sits at the right hand of God with all power and authority. God gave Him glory because of His sacrifice and obedience. God will do the same for you. As you obey and listen to God, He will reward you! Obedience is righteousness in God’s eyes, so pay attention to how often or sparingly you follow God if you strive for holiness.
Jesus Had Faith in God
Did you know that God sees faith as righteousness? Galatians 3:6 says, “just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” So, the more you trust and believe in God, the more righteous you are! Why? Remember, we defined righteousness as walking by the Spirit and not fulfilling the desires of the flesh. The more faith-focused you are, which is trusting and believing in God, the more you’re walking in the Spirit. You cannot walk in the Spirit without trusting and believing God, and that’s what faith is; trust in God and His Word! Therefore, faith is righteousness! Jesus had tons of faith in God, which is why He could perform all the miracles He did! This is also why He was able to obey God because He trusted that God’s will was best! Everything involves faith, which is why people who don’t have faith don’t tend to be righteous. They are depressed or alcoholics, drug addicts, etc., all due to a lack of faith in God, leading to a sinful, carnal life. If you’ve read the Gospels, you know that there are many times Jesus rebukes people for lack of faith; let’s not be those people. Let’s “Have faith in God,” as Mark 11:22 says, and move mountains and live a righteous and powerful life!
Jesus Did Not Engage in Sin
You cannot find anywhere in the Bible that says Jesus sinned. He was tempted (Luke 4) but never sinned. Some people think this is impossible not to sin, but it isn’t, and don’t say, “well, that was Jesus” as an excuse to be in sin. Does His Spirit live in you? You are a child of God, aren’t you? I John 4:13 says, “that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” So, according to the Bible, we have the Spirit of God and remember the verse in Galatians says Christ lives in me. So, since you have the Spirit of Jesus in you, you can do all things Jesus did! And one of those things is not sin!
Philippians 4:13 says, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” So, you have no excuse to live a sinful lifestyle as a Christian! Jesus gives you the strength to overcome it! How? By His Word! When Jesus was tempted, He started every rebuke with “it is written.” Jesus did not sin because He built Himself up with the Word and followed it! We must follow that example if we are striving for righteousness. If you feel caught up in sin, check how much you read the Word. The Bible cleanses us, and it can wash you! So, grid yourself with the Word like Jesus did, and be holy!
Jesus Fasted and Prayed
To get to another level of righteousness, where we can significantly increase our faith, grow our Spirit, and walk solely by the Spirit, we must fast and pray. When you fast and pray, it strengthens you like no other; you won’t even contemplate sinning anymore. Jesus fasted a couple of times in the Bible; He made it an essential practice of His. He fasted for 40 days, and in general, He would seclude Himself from others to fast and pray throughout His ministry. This was necessary for His purpose. In Matthew 17:21 Jesus says, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” There was a spirit that the disciples could not cast out, but Jesus could; why? Because Jesus built His Spirit through prayer and fasting and had more spiritual power than the disciples. The more you build up your Spirit, the easier it is to be righteous. During fasting and prayer you are pressing into God, killing from your flesh as you abstain from food, and take time to be in the Word and pray. You hear God’s voice more clearly, and get more direction and power from above! This is pivotal, not only to righteousness but to your purpose! Some strongholds will only come down by fasting and prayer, and some revelation and power needed to complete your purpose will only come with fasting and prayer. If you have difficulty giving up sin, I suggest fasting and praying; I promise it will reveal God to you in ways you’ve never experienced before. Jesus knew that He had to press in, and so do we! We are not exempt, so if you want more from God, you must fast and pray. This, without a doubt, will have you walking in Spirit more!
So, what did we learn? Jesus fulfilled the Law of righteousness from the way He lived and set the standard for it. We have the Spirit of Christ in us so we can be righteous too! Holiness is walking by the Holy Spirit and not the flesh; how do we do that? We do that by listening to and obeying God, abstaining from sin, having faith in God, and praying and fasting! There’s more, but next week, I’ll be going more into depth about Jesus’s life and righteousness because He is our standard! We are to imitate Christ! It is not impossible to live a sin-free and Spirit-led life; it is possible; we have to look to Jesus on how to do it, so see you next week!
One last verse I want to leave is I Thessalonians 3:12 “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” Being holy or righteousness includes love! So, love one another and to others so that you can be holy and blameless before God! I hope this helped, and God bless!
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