Law and Righteousness
by Frank LeDoux

LAW AND RIGHTEOUSNESS

Law is an established rule of conduct; whereas, righteousness is being or acting in accordance with what is just and moral. A person who is being or acting in accordance with what is just and moral is said to be righteous. There are two primary rules of conduct in this world.

One is the law, which Man has established, and the other is the law, which God has established.

Men by their nature are incapable of complying with, or conforming to either Man’s Law, or God’s Law completely. Therefore, men by their very natures can neither attain to, nor possess self-righteousness. God who is absolutely righteous (or He would not be God) demands complete, and perfect compliance with, and conformity to His Law.

By His very Nature He cannot accept anything less than perfect obedience to His Law, or He would not be righteous. The question then is: How can man (who by nature is unrighteous) come into the presence of a Righteous God, or as Job asked, “How can a man be just with God?” The answer to this question is part of the Great Mystery, or Secret, that God revealed to the Apostle Paul many centuries after Job.

When God called Abraham from out of the human race, and gave him and his descendents many wonderful promises, it was not because of any personal righteousness that Abraham possessed. Later when God gave His Law (The Ten Commandments) to the children of Israel through Moses, it was not to help them establish their own righteousness.

When the Lord Jesus Christ came to this earth, He did not abolish the Law, but rather He intensified it. At Pentecost, Peter did not tell his hearers that they were under Grace, and not under the Law.
No, it was not until God saved Saul of Tarsus who became Paul the Apostle that God revealed the true purpose of the Law. Not before Paul’s epistles in the Scriptures, do we read why God gave His Law to man (Israel being Man’s representative before God, after He gave the Gentiles up) who by his very nature was incapable of keeping it.

For it is not until we come to the Epistles to the Romans that we read, “… for by the law is the knowledge of sin … for by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned … for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law … nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses …” (Rom. 3:20; 5:12-14).

This is the first time, in the Scriptures, that God revealed the purpose of the Law.
He tells us in plain words that He gave us the Law to reveal, or make known to us our sinful condition. He shows us through Adam (our first parent) how sin entered the world, and passed unto all men. He further reveals to us that though there was no law from Adam to Moses, death still reigned.

Yet, even today (almost two thousand years after God has revealed the purpose of the Law), men still go about trying to establish their own righteousness, either by partial obedience to God’s Law, or by partial obedience to their own law. But as stated above, a righteous God cannot accept partial obedience to His Law, and remain righteous Himself. For the law demands a just penalty for the violation of it, and that penalty is death.

This is why the Apostle Paul could say, “… I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ … for therein (the good news of Christ) is the righteousness of God revealed…” (Rom. 1:16-17). That good news being, that Jesus Christ came into this world, not to show sinners how to live right, but to pay the penalty the Law demanded for our sins, thereby removing the obstacle that barred our entrance into the presence of a Holy and Righteous God.

It was through the Apostle Paul alone, that God revealed this good news of how a man could be just with God. (Gal. 1:11,12; Eph. 3:1-3).

For not until we come to his epistles do we read of the death of our Lord Jesus Christ being the propitiation (just satisfaction) for our sins (Rom. 3:25). That His death was acceptable, God proved when he raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenlies. This is the Gospel, which Paul calls his gospel, whereby we are saved if we believe (I Cor. 15:1-4).

When we, by faith, receive this good news of God, concerning His Son’s death for our sins, and His resurrection as the proof that His death was the just satisfaction for our sins; God reckons, or imputes His, Jesus Christ’s, righteousness to us. This righteousness is a gift, and can only be received as such. Any effort on our part to pay or help attain this righteousness is unbelief. It is only after we have received this righteousness as a gift, that we are admonished to put on the breastplate of righteousness.

The breastplate of righteousness is concerned with our walk, as blood-bought and paid-for members of His Body. We who have received God’s gracious provision for us; therefore, are motivated to live lives pleasing to Him. This can only be done when we, by grace through faith, study His Word (recognizing that His word must be rightly divided), and apply the instructions we are given by Him in our lives.

Friend, if you have received God’s gift of righteousness, you know that though it cost you nothing; it cost Him the blood of His precious Son to purchase it for you. “Therefore, we beseech you as workers together with God, to offer your body as a living and holy sacrifice unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this evil age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.”

Friend, if you have not availed yourself of God’s gift of righteousness, do not hesitate to do so, for He loves you, and it is not His desire that your should perish. But, if you continue to go about trying to establish your own righteousness, instead of submitting yourself unto His, you will perish in your sins.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved!