THE THEOLOGY OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Christine Lan

Christine Lan understands her role as an ambassador in God’s Kingdom. In her writing, she clearly communicates the Kingdom message and God’s original design for man. A proud graduate of United Graduate College and Seminary, she strongly supports education that inculcates a divine mind that transforms the world we live in.

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Last Friday, I attended a Christian concert/worship roadshow performed by a number of prominent artistes such as Mercy Me and Jeremy Camp. Bart Millard of Mercy Me spoke a very convincing message and I was thrilled that he was disseminating the message of righteousness through his sharing. He mentioned that he grew up in the Baptist church where as a youth leader, he would bash the people who attended church and when they left worse off than before, he and the church leaders would “high-five” one another and thought they had done a great service to Christendom. God’s revelatory grace through a renewed mind caused his songs and messages to point people to His love, righteousness and worth in Him.

“The cross is not the revealing of sin but the unveiling of your worth,” someone wrote anonymously on the first page of a prayer journal at a University chapel. I just had spent sometime playing on the chapel piano and was about to leave when the Holy Spirit spoke to me to write something on the journal, too. So, I wrote this,

“Father, I thank you that I can come boldly before the throne of grace. I am righteous

because you have redeemed me from the curse of the law. Thank you that once I have   embraced you as my Creator and Almighty Father, God and King, I am no longer a sinner but your son/daughter whom you are well-pleased. Amen.”

Throughout church history, men and women of God had to fight the supposed sacred truths upheld by the church of the day. Martin Luther through the revelation of the Holy Spirit opposed the holy church rites and propagandized the Scriptural Truth of Romans 1:17 which says, ‘For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith”’ (NIV).

Righteousness is the foundational theology or doctrine of God’s Kingdom. Simply stated, righteousness is synonymous with justification which most people understand is “just as if you have never sinned.”

Righteousness Consciousness

According to Funk & Wagnall’s New Standard Dictionary of the English Language, righteousness means “conformity to law or to right and justice; the state of acceptance and of harmony with God; specifically, the state of being justified and blessed because of the atonement of Christ and the faith that renders it available and effectual” or “the active and passive obedience of Christ regarded as the ground of the sinner’s justification.” The Greek word for “righteousness” is dikaiosune which means “equity (of character or act), specifically, justification, usually translated “righteousness” (Strong 1343).

In his book, The Two Kinds of Life, E. W. Kenyon noted that when Luther had limited revelation of one truth, justification by faith, he brought civilization to Germany. There was no “clear conception of a New Birth, of righteousness, of God as a Father, or of our place as sons and daughters of God.” (Kenyon 31). The church has been guilty of disseminating a gospel that is a blend of human philosophies and religions passed down from the Middle Ages. Galatians 4:4-7 specifically emphasizes our identity as God’s sons, ‘But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.’ (NKJV).

Noah and Abraham (the Father of Faith), were reckoned as righteous by God. They led morally virtuous lives powered from the realm of Heaven and were chosen by God to fulfill specific purposes. Noah helped save the remnant humankind from extinction. Abraham was reckoned righteous as he believed God and was made righteous by faith. “He believed the promise regarding the Heir (Christ) who was to come out of his bowels via Isaac who was as yet unborn; he believed that through this Heir, his (spiritual) seed would be in number like the stars of heaven” (Lenski 289).

When a person is born of the Spirit of God from above or Heaven, he is a new creation. He has the indwelt Holy Spirit of God and the baptism of the Holy Spirit with the evidence of speaking in tongues empowers him to walk in His will as God’s son. Jesus, the Perfect God-Man is sinless and spotless but He became sin on our behalf “that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (NKJV, 2 Corinthians 5.21). There is a powerful exchange transacted at calvary. Observing a set of rules to do good is subjecting one to the bondage of legalism and works mentality. Jesus has already fulfilled the law. There is no necessity to sacrifice animals, burn candles and incense to make one righteous. Paul says it aptly, “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.” (NKJV, Romans 6.14).

If you know your identity as righteous sons of God in His Kingdom, you will fulfill God’s purpose on Earth. You will proclaim His Name unashamedly everywhere you go. You know you bear God’s image and represent Him boldly. Righteousness, peace and joy, the fruit of the Holy Spirit will invariably be evident in your life. You will walk with integrity and purity before all man. You will display His glory as shining examples of supernatural creative kings, priests and sons.

“Works Cited”

Funk, Isaac K. Funk & Wagnall’s New Standard Dictionary of the English Language. New York:

       Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1952.

Kenyon, E. W. The Two Kinds of Life. Lynwood, Washington: Kenyon’s Gospel Publishing Society,

      2002.

Lenski, R. C. H. Interpretation of Romans. Minneapolis, Minnesota, Ausburg Publishing House,

      1936.

Maxwell, John C., Elmore, Tim. The Maxwell Leadership Bible. Nashville, Tennessee: Thomas

      Nelson, Inc., 2007.

Strong, James. Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance. McLean, Virginia: MacDonald Publishing

      Company, n.d.