Righteous or righteousness is a term used often in the church and hundreds of times in the Bible. It's one of those words that can be understood partially; simply from the context, but to really comprehend its meaning from God, we must study the way in which Jesus and the Apostles used the term. Before Jesus came and died for us, people lived by rules- think The Ten Commandments. Everything was rigid and under strict rule of law- this is actually called circumcision in the Bible. (More about that later in our series.) The problem is as humans were are destined to slip up, to fail, to fall short. We are not Holy. We do not have what it takes to be sin-free all day every day. If you believe that you are, you've probably got a lot of work to do, because there was only one perfect man to ever walk the Earth- Jesus himself.
So, what then is righteous if when we look up the word in the dictionary it says to be morally upright or justifiable or virtuous? This refers to another set of rules and do we get to decide what is justifiable? Is this what Paul was talking about in Roman 8:1-17 when he says the words righteous and righteousness several times? Is sin justifiable? Here's the thing, when we start defining things outside of what The Holy Spirit defines things as, things get confusing and we then get off track. Righteousness at its core really means to walk obediently WITH The Holy Spirit, wherever you. Outside of that, the rules are off. You know what God is telling you. You know what is right and wrong. It is not for me to tell you, but for Him to guide you. Go be #righteous. Paul quotes Jesus in Romans 1:17 d "The righteous will live by faith." Be careful not to confuse satan, or what you want to hear, with what The Holy Spirit is telling you. The Holy Spirit takes patience and perseverance.
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