Righteousness

Righteousness with father God is both an attribute of father God's personality and an aspect of relationship with him. Like relationship, righteousness is multifaceted and applies to both individuals and nations. Righteousness can be manifested in a physical form and a spiritual form. Righteousness is non-gendered. Obedience and faith are important elements needed to become righteous with father God. With human to human relationships, interactive compromise or cooperation might take place. With father God this is replaced with obedience. Obedience is very convenient for us in that father God made it easy for us to attain righteousness by just obeying him. We don't have to figure everything out. He already has. Father God shares enough of his sovereign perspective to give us direction that will fulfill his will and mature us into his children. Obedience has the aspect of good conduct embedded in it which reflects our desire to obey father God's behavioral expectations. Our faith sources from our heart by love and manifests through our body as obedience, either in specific acts or overall behavior. There may be specific acts that we may be directed to do which doing will reflect our belief in father God and will work for our good..

On a much larger scale, being right with father God is a very big issue. Father God is the one that created everything. He has the ability to create, destroy and change things at will. Father God considers whatever he does to be right. He considers his own counsel and no one else's. Father God loves his creation. Father God looks at patterns of behavior and determines what is best for his creation. He promotes life and equality in his creation with himself as the head and all his human creations equal to each other. Father God mediates and moderates in our affairs and judges us according to how "right" we were. This is not necessarily an intellectual "righteousness". Usually it is a heart felt "righteousness". Father God designed us to be spiritual creatures with a mind that will help process what is in our spirit. What is in our spirit will strongly influence how we behave and what we believe and do. As an example, if we help someone in need we may walk away poorer and with warm fuzzies. Father God would consider this to be righteous over an intellectual response that would not provide any help. If we consider father God to be our source, we can just go to him for more of whatever we gave away. Since father God is always there, we were never at risk of losing anything anyway. He made what we first had and he can replace what we gave away. Father God wants us to believe him and trust him to be our source to meet his childrens needs. Agreeing with father God is very important to us and him. Our survival depends on it. Our family relationship with father God depends on it. Our bottom line is that we have to agree with father God and be in a right relationship with him. We have to bring father God's "rightness" into our lives so it applies to our lives.

Due to the fall of Adam in the garden our righteousness took a big hit. Where we used to be right with father God spiritually because we shared his spirit, we lost that spiritually righteous standing when our spiritual nature became damaged through sin. We lost the ability to have a right spirit flow out of us and inspire our mind to do a right thing. We were still in father God but he was no longer inside of us. Our light went proverbially out and we were left with a death oriented spirit that loved to sin and compel our minds to do that too. After that we were only able to simulate being spiritually righteous and our righteousness became more of an act of obedience. Sometimes people would take that leap of faith and impress father God with a spiritual act which usually was believing father God over some promise. Father God always loves that. It reflects what we were originally designed to do as his children. Seeing his children damaged left him with the heartbreak of the need to restore us spiritually so that we can again be righteous. After about 4000 years from mans inception, Jesus became the raised from the dead human spirit that father God calls righteous that can restore us. Jesus was righteous with father God before he came to earth. Jesus represents father God's righteousness to us. By coming to earth as a human and dieing with no sin on his soul, Jesus earned the extra property added to his nature and character of being a legally raised from the dead human spirit, that he can now share with us. Jesus was righteous when he went back to heaven and is still in right standing with father God. We can now individually join father God's family by taking Jesus and have father God back inside of us spiritually.

We will look at a few people in the old testament that were considered righteous with father God. Then we will look at how the concept of attaining righteousness changes from mental obedience and works to spiritual faith and works. In a way, the Mosaic law was written to teach people to treat others as themselves but it was also a small doorway for faith to believe in access to father God. Since the spiritual nature of the Hebrews under Moses' law was damaged, it was impossible for them to believe correctly to comply with the law. They could believe they had sinned. Most people never had direct access to father God until Jesus came. Now it is absolutely necessary that we approach father God by spiritual faith and works through Jesus and not damaged faith and mental obedience and works according to the Mosaic law.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. ⁷By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith. ⁸By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

Examples of Righteousness...

Father God had several high impact relationships with a few of us that were pivotal in our history. The righteousness of these people moved father God to include them in his plans. Let's look at Noah's righteousness.

...Noah

Genesis 6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. Genesis 6:5 And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
⁶And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. ⁷And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. ⁸But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. ⁹These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

It was 120 years from that time until the flood. Notice the Lord found one single individual he would extend grace to. Father God will extend grace to us individually also.

Genesis 6:13 And God said unto Noah, The end of all flesh is come before me; for the earth is filled with violence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
Genesis 6:17 And, behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under heaven; and every thing that is in the earth shall die. ¹⁸But with thee will I establish my covenant; and thou shalt come into the ark, thou, and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives with thee.
Genesis 6:22 Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Genesis 7:1 And the LORD said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Genesis 7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

Hebrews 11:7 By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

The Lord used the earth to destroy all the people that were violent and corrupt. Noah was obedient to the Lord because he believed the Lord and revered him. He inherited a right standing with the Lord because he believed the Lord and obeyed the Lord. It took 120 years for Noah to build the ark that was about 1000 feet long and had to survive floating for months with thousands of animals and lots of food on it. Noah "became heir of the righteousness which is by faith" and was the human channel that the Lord worked through to save, continue on and regenerate the human race. Only eight humans survived the flood. The Lord considered it enough that he had one person and a small family to work through. We may have to believe and obey the Lord while everyone else around us does not. Noah walked with God alone and his family followed him as he led them into making a huge ark and living on it for a year. Noah's righteousness was not that of family, but as an outsider from God's family, but still in the arena that father God had his attention. Noah is an heir of "righteousness by faith". Our relationship with the Lord is more important than our relationship with others. Our temporal and eternal survival depends on our relationship with the Lord. We don't want to be "second most righteous" but below the cut to where we didn't get selected to be on the ark.

...Abraham

Let's look at Abrahams righteousness.

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. ²And Abram said, Lord GOD, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? ³And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir. ⁴And, behold, the word of the LORD came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. ⁵And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. ⁶And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness.

Right here the Lord noticed one single individual believed in him and he counted that person righteous. Abram was about 85 years old when this promise was made to him.

Genesis 17:1 And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. ²And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. ³And Abram fell on his face: and God talked with him, saying, ⁴As for me, behold, my covenant is with thee, and thou shalt be a father of many nations. ⁵Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for a father of many nations have I made thee. ⁶And I will make thee exceeding fruitful, and I will make nations of thee, and kings shall come out of thee. ⁷And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.

Righteousness and righteous behavior is very important to the Lord. Abram, renamed Abraham, believed the Lord and the Lord made a covenant and honored it. Abraham had to do his part and walk upright so that the Lord was well represented by Abraham, who became a kind of spokesperson for the Lord.

Genesis 18:1 And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; ²And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, ³And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:
Genesis 18:9 And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent. ¹⁰And he said, I will certainly return unto thee according to the time of life; and, lo, Sarah thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent door, which was behind him. ¹¹Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age; and it ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. ¹²Therefore Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also? ¹³And the LORD said unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child, which am old? ¹⁴Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah shall have a son. ¹⁵Then Sarah denied, saying, I laughed not; for she was afraid. And he said, Nay; but thou didst laugh.

The name Isaac means laughter. As the Lord entrusts us with his resources he is watching that we act accordingly.

Genesis 18:19 For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD, to do justice and judgment; that the LORD may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.

The Lord was able to entrust Abraham with his miracle promise because Abraham was willing to do the works necessary to fulfill his end of the relationship. This promise had to last for generations so father God was watching that Abraham would pass along to his family the commandment to walk uprightly.

Genesis 21:1 And the LORD visited Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did unto Sarah as he had spoken. ²For Sarah conceived, and bare Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. ³And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac. ⁴And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac being eight days old, as God had commanded him. ⁵And Abraham was an hundred years old, when his son Isaac was born unto him. ⁶And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. ⁷And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age. ⁸And the child grew, and was weaned: and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.

Genesis 22:1 And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. ²And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. ³And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. ⁴Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. ⁵And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. ⁶And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together. ⁷And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? ⁸And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. ⁹And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. ¹⁰And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son. ¹¹And the angel of the LORD called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham: and he said, Here am I. ¹²And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. ¹³And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. ¹⁴And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it shall be seen. ¹⁵And the angel of the LORD called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, ¹⁶And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son: ¹⁷That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; ¹⁸And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.

Even though Abraham was considered righteous, he still did not have the "family" standing with father God that father God's children do. We can see a couple of references where Abraham was considered a friend of God but not family.

2 Chronicles 20:7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

James 2:23 And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.

The level of righteousness that Abraham attained was probably as high as he could go without being family, but there was nothing he could do about not being family since he was born with the spiritual nature of fallen Adam and Jesus had not yet earned becoming a raised from the dead human spirit.

Abraham became both the physical and spiritual father of what matured into Christianity. Abraham was first a pseudo-spiritual father in that he believed father God. This resulted in him physically fathering millions of people through his one son Isaac. Still, the spiritual sonship is the important aspect in the fatherhood theme. The fact that Abraham approached father God by faith is what made Abraham a friend of God. Anyone else that comes to father God by faith can be considered a sort of spiritual child of Abraham.

...Lot

Again there was a time when father God decided to remove a group of unrighteous people.

Genesis 18:20 And the LORD said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; ²¹I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it, which is come unto me; and if not, I will know. ²²And the men turned their faces from thence, and went toward Sodom: but Abraham stood yet before the LORD. ²³And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? ²⁴Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? ²⁵That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? ²⁶And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes. ²⁷And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes: ²⁸Peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty righteous: wilt thou destroy all the city for lack of five? And he said, If I find there forty and five, I will not destroy it. ²⁹And he spake unto him yet again, and said, Peradventure there shall be forty found there. And he said, I will not do it for forty's sake. ³⁰And he said unto him, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Peradventure there shall thirty be found there. And he said, I will not do it, if I find thirty there. ³¹And he said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord: Peradventure there shall be twenty found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for twenty's sake. ³²And he said, Oh let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak yet but this once: Peradventure ten shall be found there. And he said, I will not destroy it for ten's sake. ³³And the LORD went his way, as soon as he had left communing with Abraham: and Abraham returned unto his place.

The Lord agreed to not destroy tens or hundreds of thousands of people plus the city structures if there were 10 righteous people amongst them.

Genesis 19:1 And there came two angels to Sodom at even; and Lot sat in the gate of Sodom: and Lot seeing them rose up to meet them; and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground; ²And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways. And they said, Nay; but we will abide in the street all night. ³And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.

Well, the test did not go well for the inhabitants of the area. They were found wanting and the whole area was slated for destruction.

Genesis 19:12 And the men said unto Lot, Hast thou here any besides? son in law, and thy sons, and thy daughters, and whatsoever thou hast in the city, bring them out of this place: ¹³For we will destroy this place, because the cry of them is waxen great before the face of the LORD; and the LORD hath sent us to destroy it. ¹⁴And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city. But he seemed as one that mocked unto his sons in law. ¹⁵And when the morning arose, then the angels hastened Lot, saying, Arise, take thy wife, and thy two daughters, which are here; lest thou be consumed in the iniquity of the city. ¹⁶And while he lingered, the men laid hold upon his hand, and upon the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters; the LORD being merciful unto him: and they brought him forth, and set him without the city. ¹⁷And it came to pass, when they had brought them forth abroad, that he said, Escape for thy life; look not behind thee, neither stay thou in all the plain; escape to the mountain, lest thou be consumed. ¹⁸And Lot said unto them, Oh, not so, my Lord: ¹⁹Behold now, thy servant hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewed unto me in saving my life; and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil take me, and I die: ²⁰Behold now, this city is near to flee unto, and it is a little one: Oh, let me escape thither, (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live. ²¹And he said unto him, See, I have accepted thee concerning this thing also, that I will not overthrow this city, for the which thou hast spoken. ²²Haste thee, escape thither; for I cannot do any thing till thou be come thither. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar. ²³The sun was risen upon the earth when Lot entered into Zoar. ²⁴Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven; ²⁵And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. ²⁶But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt. ²⁷And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the LORD: ²⁸And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace. ²⁹And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when he overthrew the cities in the which Lot dwelt.

Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by high purity white sulfur that burned so hot that even the rocks were damaged until they would crumble like dust. In father God's opinion there were not the required minimum of 10 righteous people there to prevent the destruction of the cities. Instead, like with Noah, the righteous people were moved out of harms way. Because of Abrahams righteousness and the discussion that Abraham had with the Lord regarding the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels that went to destroy those places couldn't do so until Lot and his daughters and wife were out of there. Even the town Zoar was spared because Lot wanted to go there, even though it was slated to be destroyed by the Lords angels.

About 430 years after Abraham was given his covenant, his promised children had matured into the Hebrew people numbering about 2.5 million. Through Moses, father God introduced the "Law" or teaching to these people. This was still about 1500 years before Jesus, so anything that Moses was able to convey could not include the raised from the dead human spirit and true spiritual righteousness. The law was spiritual in intent and nature since it came from father God but had a physical manifestation. It had basic relationship training in it, like "love your neighbor as yourself" (or else...). Just like with Noah and Abraham who first moved by faith, the spiritual aspect of the law required faith up front to activate it. The law expected someone to first look for the faith inside them to, for example, love their neighbor as their self and then to manifest loving their neighbor as their self. The expectation of the law was that it would guide people to understanding the nature of father God by provoking the spiritual aspect of what would result in a particular manifestation. Since the actual faith to believe in this manner just as father God would want us to did not exist in the fallen Adam spirit, this was impossible pre-Jesus. They could believe they had sinned and needed to be forgiven. Nothing about the law could actually change the nature of the people that obeyed it, because nothing about physical manifestation can change our spiritual nature. The law at least guided people towards understanding right standing with father God so they could appreciate his spiritual nature of righteousness.

Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just (righteous) man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

As much as father God would love to see us all act like him, he could see that wasn't possible. He was able to give us limited guidance through his words/teachings/law.

Proverbs 2:1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; ²So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; ³Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; ⁴If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; ⁵Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God. ⁶For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. ⁷He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly. ⁸He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints. ⁹Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path. ¹⁰When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul; ¹¹Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:

We had to follow father God's words and seek and search for wisdom, knowledge and understanding in his words with our heart and soul in order to understand father God's righteousness. The law showed us our inherent inability to act righteously and our need for a savior whereby we could have that spiritual nature within us. Jesus was prophesied to come to us to restore what we lost in the garden.

The Nature of Old Covenant Righteousness...

Let's briefly look at what father God considers righteous. We should keep in mind that this is still not from a family perspective, but it is as close as father God can bring us at that point in time. A lot of this righteousness is by obedience because they don't have father God's spirit of faith. Their obedience was as much faith as they could express. They believed that God existed and gave them guidelines and that their obedience gave them right standing with father God.

...In God's Commandments

Deuteronomy 6:17 Ye shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies, and his statutes, which he hath commanded thee. ¹⁸And thou shalt do that which is right and good in the sight of the LORD: that it may be well with thee, and that thou mayest go in and possess the good land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, ¹⁹To cast out all thine enemies from before thee, as the LORD hath spoken.

Deuteronomy 6:24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as it is at this day. ²⁵And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Deuteronomy 13:17 And there shall cleave nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee, and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; ¹⁸When thou shalt hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.

Deuteronomy 32:3 Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. ⁴He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.

...In God's Judgment

Ezekiel 3:20 Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand. ²¹Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul.

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. ²¹But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. ²²All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live. ²³Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? ²⁴But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. ²⁵Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. Hear now, O house of Israel; Is not my way equal? are not your ways unequal? ²⁶When a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die. ²⁷Again, when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed, and doeth that which is lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive. ²⁸Because he considereth, and turneth away from all his transgressions that he hath committed, he shall surely live, he shall not die. ²⁹Yet saith the house of Israel, The way of the Lord is not equal. O house of Israel, are not my ways equal? are not your ways unequal? ³⁰Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. ³¹Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ³²For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.

Ezekiel 33:8 When I say unto the wicked, O wicked man, thou shalt surely die; if thou dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. ⁹Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul. ¹⁰Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; Thus ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live? ¹¹Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? ¹²Therefore, thou son of man, say unto the children of thy people, The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression: as for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth. ¹³When I shall say to the righteous, that he shall surely live; if he trust to his own righteousness, and commit iniquity, all his righteousnesses shall not be remembered; but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it. ¹⁴Again, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; if he turn from his sin, and do that which is lawful and right; ¹⁵If the wicked restore the pledge, give again that he had robbed, walk in the statutes of life, without committing iniquity; he shall surely live, he shall not die. ¹⁶None of his sins that he hath committed shall be mentioned unto him: he hath done that which is lawful and right; he shall surely live. ¹⁷Yet the children of thy people say, The way of the Lord is not equal: but as for them, their way is not equal. ¹⁸When the righteous turneth from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, he shall even die thereby. ¹⁹But if the wicked turn from his wickedness, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall live thereby. ²⁰Yet ye say, The way of the Lord is not equal. O ye house of Israel, I will judge you every one after his ways.

We will see this pattern of erasing someone's history, both good and bad, carry over into the new covenant. This is very generous in our favor if we are turning from bad to good. Instead of having to do, say, 5 good things for every bad thing we did, father God erases our bad history. The day we turn is the day we live. Otherwise, most people could never work themselves out of debt. Father God is interested in saving us. Likewise, it can be harsh if we turn to bad. We will lose all our good "credits" instantly if we take a turn for the worse. The day we turn is the day we die. Notice self righteousness is the same as sin. If we make up our own standard to live by we will still be judged by father God's standard. This would be self deceit. We only fooled ourselves. We have to use father God's standard and abide by his laws and use his righteousness. It is much easier this way. Again, father God has it all figured out. He tells us what his righteousness is and we can just do it.

Ezekiel 14:12 The word of the LORD came again to me, saying, ¹³Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out mine hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it: ¹⁴Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord GOD. ¹⁵If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: ¹⁶Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. ¹⁷Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: ¹⁸Though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. ¹⁹Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: ²⁰Though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord GOD, they shall deliver neither son nor daughter; they shall but deliver their own souls by their righteousness.

No one can deliver their sons or daughters or parents or anyone else but themselves. Everything about becoming righteous is applied directly to the person being righteous. This is good if we want to avoid having anyone else influencing our righteousness. No one else can influence our righteousness. We can be righteous and father God will give us, as an individual, full credits and if we are unrighteous, we will get full blame. No one can say "well, my parents wanted me to do such and such" or "well, my children wanted such and such". For example, if a child past the age of reasoning wants something wrong, the child will be judged for their unrighteousness. If the parent facilitates the bad thing in their child, the parent will be judged for their participation and enabling of the child. Regarding a younger child, at least the parent would be judged for misleading the child.

Prophecies of Jesus...

Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. ⁶In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Zechariah 9:9 Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.

Isaiah 53:11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Ezekiel 36:26 A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. ²⁷And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. ²⁸And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹I will also save you from all your uncleannesses: and I will call for the corn, and will increase it, and lay no famine upon you.

The title "The Lord Our Righteousness" is one of the special names of Jesus. It is Jehovah Tsidkanu (יהוה צדקנו). Jesus is called a righteous servant. The promise of a new spirit was quite literal. Father God's promise to put his spirit in us was exactly what he was after. He wanted to restore us to being part of his family. This is pure love for us. He wanted to clean us up and make us family again. He wants to express his righteous justice all over the whole earth. Before Jesus came to earth this was just a promise. No one could say he had this new spirit until Jesus earned becoming it and making it available.

The Person Jesus...

Let's see where and how Jesus comes into the picture.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ²Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ³Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; ⁴Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. ⁵For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? ⁶And again, when he bringeth in the firstbegotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him. ⁷And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire. ⁸But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. ⁹Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. ¹⁰And, Thou, Lord, in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thine hands: ¹¹They shall perish; but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment; ¹²And as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail. ¹³But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? ¹⁴Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Father God made Jesus as the image of himself. In that Jesus was begotten of father God, Jesus was the son of father God. It was by inheritance that Jesus obtained what he did from father God. Father God made the worlds by Jesus and appointed Jesus the heir of everything Jesus made by father God. Jesus loved righteousness and hated sin, so he was given a throne next to father God and a kingdom and a scepter of righteousness. Jesus inherits the name Jesus, which translates "God's salvation". Jesus is sent to us as father God's salvation. The angels that also existed are ministering spirits to those of us that will inherit father God's salvation. When we take Jesus we take father God's salvation and inherit father God and the spiritual righteousness of his nature. We inherit becoming a child of father God ourselves and share Jesus' inheritance. We have millions of angels ministering to us to help us inherit salvation.

Luke 1:67 And his (John the Baptist) father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Ghost, and prophesied, saying, ⁶⁸Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, ⁶⁹And hath raised up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; ⁷⁰As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: ⁷¹That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; ⁷²To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; ⁷³The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, ⁷⁴That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, ⁷⁵In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. ⁷⁶And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; ⁷⁷To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, ⁷⁸Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, ⁷⁹To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.

Father God had to redeem, or purchase his children in order to save them. According to a "law" of justice, he had to pay for the ability to forgive their sins and sin nature. This was a big act of mercy, or compassion, pity, sympathy and affection on the part of father God. Father God had intended for us to be his children, but due to the sin of Adam our nature was changed for the worse and we needed to be recovered. Father God had promised to rescue us. He told this to Abraham, for example. When the time came for Jesus to appear in human flesh on earth, father God had a few people waiting to help and prepare other people to be ready to take the offer of Jesus.

Part of the salvation that Zacharias prophesied about was protection from physical enemies that interfered with serving father God. The worldly people tend to hate the people that are willing to give up the other options in their life to instead follow father God. We, of course, inherit eternal life and not death. What we learn in Christianity has to last us forever. If we don't want it forever, we don't need to bother with it. However, starting in about 2 seconds in hell, the other life will be what we regret forever.

The New Covenant...

...Righteousness From Jesus' Perspective

We can see what Jesus taught others. Since he lives in heaven with father God, we can take what he says as being on good authority.

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

Father God's kingdom is filled with lots of righteousness for everybody that wants it. Father God blesses people who hunger and thirst after righteousness. That's positive reinforcement!

Matthew 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Being persecuted for righteousness itself here on earth leads to us inheriting the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven is not just available to us after we physically die. If we are regenerate, it is inside of us. We can access it any time. In fact, we are expected to live out of it while here on earth. Manifesting it while here on earth may get us persecuted by the other family that we left.

Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. ¹⁷Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. ¹⁸For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. ¹⁹Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

It is not about accomplishing a particular thing that father God is ultimately looking for. He is looking at who will become his children. That is more important than accomplishing something like becoming rich or famous. He is into inheriting and maturing children for himself. How we will behave in his kingdom forever is something he wants to know. Father God wants to see us be righteous and act righteous and do good things with his kingdom resources like he did when he created everything through Jesus. Righteousness is our doorway to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus fulfilled the law to be an example of human righteousness. We can't physically see Jesus doing any of this now because he is not in front of us, so the righteousness he accomplished has to apply to us in another way. It applies to us when we take his spirit into us to be our spirit. Then we are spiritually righteous enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven and obtain kingdom resources to do good works to glorify father God. Our spiritual nature will be changed by taking Jesus to where we will act righteously according to the new spiritual nature we have.

Matthew 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. ¹³But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Jesus is willing and wanting to show mercy on anyone who wants to repent, or change their mind, from sin and from being a sinner. The mercy from father God through Jesus is to heal us from the effects of sin, both physically and spiritually and to adopt us and bring us into sonship. People who believe they are righteous without father God's righteousness will not repent, or change their mind, from sin. They will not receive mercy and will not be spiritually healed. Self righteousness is rejected. We do not waltz into heaven on our own terms. That would be nice if it were so easy but it won't happen. We must utilize what is provided for us and submit to father God's righteousness.

Matthew 13:36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. ³⁷He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; ³⁸The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; ³⁹The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. ⁴⁰As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. ⁴¹The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; ⁴²And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

There are two different and opposing natures someone can have. Either good or evil. This parable points out that there are good natured people and bad natured people. People who are righteous in nature have father God as their father and will inherit father God's kingdom. Jesus will be making sure that there are only righteous people in fathers kingdom. People who are not regenerate and people who do sin will be removed.

Matthew 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone. ²⁴Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel. ²⁵Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. ²⁶Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. ²⁷Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. ²⁸Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Father God clearly knows what the inside nature of a person is. He knows if he is in there. No matter how righteous a person may appear on the outside, father God is still looking at the nature on the inside. So, we want to pursue a righteousness that applies to our inside. Once we are really cleaned on the inside, we will be able to naturally look righteous on the outside. When we take the raised from the dead human spirit that Jesus became, we look righteous on the inside. Our death oriented spirit is gone and we look like part of father God's family in our spirit.

When father God has enough righteous children that are his (his sheep), Jesus will separate them out from the tares, also called goats, and put the righteous people in their inheritance in the kingdom of father God. The theme never changes from being about adoption, maturation and inheritance.

Luke 10:25 And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? ²⁶He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou? ²⁷And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. ²⁸And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

This lawyer did not yet have available to him the raised from the dead human spirit. The best he could do was to follow the law. Jesus had not been resurrected yet. Still, the law taught us to love God and treat our neighbors like family. This doesn't change when we have the resurrected spirit. If all of our neighbors are in Jesus, we can still love God and treat our neighbors like family with our raised from the dead spirit.

John 16:7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. ⁸And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: ⁹Of sin, because they believe not on me; ¹⁰Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; ¹¹Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. ¹²I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. ¹³Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. ¹⁴He shall glorify me: for he shall receive (lambano - take) of mine, and shall shew it unto you. ¹⁵All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take (lambano - take) of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, doesn't need to glorify himself. He doesn't need anything for himself. He is available to us to glorify Jesus. Everything was given to Jesus in this realm. Jesus is the manifest person of father God, so father God transferred all authority and ownership to his physical form, Jesus. Father God has a physical presence at our level in the person of Jesus. To us God and Jesus are like father God and brother God. Jesus is the only person in the Elohim that manifested himself as a human and became a resurrected human spirit that he can share with us. If we believe in Jesus to be to us a raised from the dead human spirit, the Comforter will take what belongs to Jesus and is of Jesus and show it to us, in part, to teach us more about Jesus and what is available to us through Jesus. The Comforter will teach us the truth about Jesus and more about the righteousness we inherit in Jesus. The prince of this world is judged so everyone under that princes authority is also judged. If we are still under Adam we have the sin nature contracted from the serpent, also known as the devil.

...Jesus is God's Righteousness

Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; ²²Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: ²³For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; ²⁴Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: ²⁵Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; ²⁶To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. ²⁷Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith. ²⁸Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

Galatians 2:21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

Father God is making his righteousness available to us through Jesus. We do not need to attain father God's righteousness ourselves. We are just given it by father God if we take it by believing father God. Jesus paid for our sins in our past so we can enter father God's family with a clean record. We must use this righteousness so we don't sin and dirty our record. We will have to deal with any sins we commit once we become a part of father God's family.

...Righteousness by Faith

2 Peter 1:1 Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Now that Jesus has been resurrected, we can have access to a faith that wasn't previously available. This faith being available to us was the goal of father God when he founded the earth in its present form. This faith is obtainable through the grace of father God and Jesus. We must take advantage of father God's grace to correctly believe in the gift that father God is giving us to become redeemed, justified and made righteous.

Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. ¹⁷For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just (righteous) shall live by faith. ¹⁸For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; ¹⁹Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

We must live by the faith that is now available to us. If we are not manifesting righteousness with our faith then we are still manifesting unrighteousness. Father God is very angry at all unrighteousness he sees in his creation. Father God will get rid of all unrighteous people. We avoid this wrath by taking father God's free gift of the righteousness of Jesus.

Mark 11:22 And Jesus answering saith to them, `Have faith of God`;

This translates as "Have God's faith." Our lives appear righteous to father God when we are living by faith. We know that we can have God's faith if Jesus is in us. The faith that father God gives us enables us to believe things that reflect father God's nature and interests and will. We won't find faith to "rule the world" anywhere in any faith that father God gives us. Many times the faith challenges we get are to mature us.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: ¹³(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. ¹⁴Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. ¹⁵But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. ¹⁶And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. ¹⁷For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive (lambano - take) abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) ¹⁸Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. ¹⁹For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. ²⁰Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound: ²¹That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

We can have an abundance of grace to obtain eternal life and the gift of righteousness that requires that grace. Let's look at the statement "even so might grace reign" in verse 21. The verb for "might reign" is in the subjunctive mood. The subjunctive form expresses things that are contrary to fact that are conditional upon conditions being met. The expression "might reign" is a possibility but not a necessity. It has not happened but it can happen if the right conditions are met. Grace might reign through the channel of righteousness only if we invoke the righteousness that requires the grace. God's gift of grace will not reign through sin, hate and death under any circumstance. If we manifest sin we are under law and not under grace. We are not given grace to sin. It doesn't take grace to sin. We already do that with our sin nature. Our manifestation of sin is a manifestation of our inherited death nature. We need the grace by our faith to do good and not the grace to do bad. In order for grace from father God to reign, it must be manifested as righteousness. Righteousness is an attribute of Jesus' spiritual nature. If we attempt to manifest righteousness, this indicates we are using our faith in Jesus and attempting to manifest his spiritual nature. We can only manifest this attribute of righteousness by faith in the gift that we can now do that out of our spirit as part of our new nature. While with free will we can act any way we want, we must commit our will to using our faith to take the gift of righteousness, or the gift of now having the spiritual ability to act rightly or righteously out of our spirit. The potential to use our copy of Jesus' righteous spirit is always there. For every "left turn - right turn" decision we have, we need to look into our spirit with faith for the ability to be righteous. We have to be using the gift of righteousness all our lives to have the grace to obtain eternal life. If we stop living in the gift of righteousness we have stopped receiving grace to reign over sin that leads to death and we will die.

Hebrews 11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, ¹⁸Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: ¹⁹Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.

Abraham was tested with a trial that paralleled what father God had to experience with his own son Jesus. This is an example of father God bringing us as close to his faith as he can. Abraham had to be able to believe father God could raise Isaac from the dead just like father God was intending to raise Jesus from the dead.

Romans 4:1 What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? ²For if Abraham were justified (made righteous) by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. ³For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. ⁴Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. ⁵But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. ⁶Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, ⁷Saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. ⁸Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin. ⁹Cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only, or upon the uncircumcision also? for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness. ¹⁰How was it then reckoned? when he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. ¹¹And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet being uncircumcised: that he might be the father of all them that believe, though they be not circumcised; that righteousness might be imputed unto them also: ¹²And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham, which he had being yet uncircumcised. ¹³For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect:
Romans 4:22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. ²³Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; ²⁴But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; ²⁵Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

We can not glory before father God if we are using father God's faith to become "break even minimum" righteous. If our works represented us then different people might have an advantage. Father God keeps the playing field completely even by making it so that only faith is needed and only faith will work to make us righteous. At the same time...

James 2:14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?
James 2:17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. ¹⁸Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. ¹⁹Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. ²⁰But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? ²¹Was not Abraham our father justified (rendered righteous) by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? ²²Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? ²³And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God. ²⁴Ye see then how that by works a man is justified (rendered righteous), and not by faith only. ²⁵Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified (rendered righteous) by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Abraham had faith first and then took action based on that faith. If Abraham had believed father God but not taken any action, would he still be considered righteous? No. The evidence that Abraham believed father God is that Abraham offered up Isaac. So, if we have the faith of father God, we must use the faith of father God. We are still only potentially righteous if we don't manifest this righteousness that is available to us. Our works will show that we have invoked father God's faith. Our works would not have been able to be done without invoking father God's faith. Our works will be a complete giveaway that we are using father God's faith. Therefore our works will show that we are indeed alive because we did our works by father God's faith.

Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you? ²This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ³Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? ⁴Have ye suffered so many things in vain? if it be yet in vain. ⁵He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? ⁶Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. ⁷Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. ⁸And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. ⁹So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. ¹⁰For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. ¹¹But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. ¹²And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them. ¹³Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: ¹⁴That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. ¹⁵Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannulleth, or addeth thereto. ¹⁶Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. ¹⁷And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect. ¹⁸For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise. ¹⁹Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. ²⁰Now a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one. ²¹Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. ²²But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. ²³But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. ²⁴Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. ²⁶For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: ²By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

The law was given to us through a mediator, which was Moses. The mediation is between us and father God. The Mosaic law was a mechanical representation of father God's righteousness. The text version does not manifest from our spirit outward. At best it manifests from our soul, or mind, outward. Jesus is the spiritual representation of father God's righteousness. He is the real spiritual thing and not a text description. He is the spiritual mediator between us and father God. We can now use our faith to access our copy of Jesus' spirit rather than use our mind to access the text version of mechanical law. Before Jesus came, the faith option didn't exist. Now, that faith option has come and we can use it.

Galatians 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. ⁵For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. ⁶For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

We must consider the hope of attaining righteousness and eternal life by mechanically fulfilling the written law to be a dead option to us. The offer that was available to people before Jesus is withdrawn. It is no longer an option. We only have the grace option. Our righteousness is only available to us as a gift. Is that good or bad? If we take and use the gift, we are righteous. How hard is it to take a gift? We may have to make room for it! We may not understand it. We might be living by our peptides and not be willing to renew our mind. We might not be willing to switch spirits. Our decision to change our spirit and become resurrected requires our faith that our new life we are going towards is good. If we approach father God and his offer with love, it is easier to believe him and trust him. Our faith will work in love. Our mental, mechanical law didn't require faith but the spiritual law of righteousness requires faith which works by love.

Acts 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; ²⁵Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; ²⁶And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; ²⁷That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: ²⁸For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. ²⁹Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. ³⁰And the times of this ignorance God winked at (overlooked); but now commandeth all men every where to repent: ³¹Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

We must repent from our sin nature and become righteous by taking father God's free gift of Jesus' righteous resurrected human spirit. Under the Mosaic law we don't even have any personal relationship with father God. We just perform the mechanics of the law with a priest as a mediator and that is as close to "finding God" as we can get. Under Jesus we not only can, but we have to be closer to father God. We are that temple not made with hands. Father God is near to everyone on the earth and is willing to resurrect us if we repent of our sin nature. Father God will judge the entire world according to his righteous standard. We want to be a spiritual son of father God by taking the spirit of the son of father God.

...A New Creature

Galatians 6:15 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Ephesians 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind, ¹⁸Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: ¹⁹Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. ²⁰But ye have not so learned Christ; ²¹If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²²That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; ²³And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; ²⁴And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. ²⁵Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

We must realize we are becoming a new creature with a very different spiritual nature. Our old nature reflected that we had a blind heart, a death oriented spirit. We lived more out of our mind than our spirit. Our new man is spiritual and created in the image of father God's righteousness. Now we live more out of our spirit and need to renew our mind. We are entering a corporate spiritual person based on Jesus rather than the fallen Adam.

...Righteousness Obtainable but not Guaranteed

2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

hath made: ποιέω, poieō, poy-eh'-o, Apparently a prolonged form of an obsolete primary; to make or do (in a very wide application, more or less direct).

Jesus in the past tense was made for us sin.

might be made: γίνομαι, ginomai, ghin'-om-ahee, A prolonged and middle form of a primary verb; to cause to be (“gen” -erate), that is, (reflexively) to become (come into being), used with great latitude (literally, figuratively, intensively, etc.).

For the term "might be made" we have to look at some other English we might use today. The word is closer to "become" than "made". The tense of the verb is the present tense which indicates continuous ongoing action. The verb is in the sneaky yet subtle subjunctive mood indicating it is a possibility but not something occurring. The subjunctive mood is not a statement of fact. It expresses things that are contrary to fact that are conditional upon conditions being met. A possibility. The translators often used "might be" to indicate the possibility rather than the definite. We need to watch for that. So we can see that the verse is saying:

"For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we may become, upon conditions being met, the righteousness of God in him."

We have to meet these conditions in order for us to become the righteousness of God. The verse is not saying we have been made the righteousness of God in Jesus. We have some work to do to attain this righteousness.

Entering the New Covenant...

...Things we must do - milk

Matthew 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Jesus made it very easy for us to know where to start when we want to "find God". We should seek father God's kingdom and father God's righteousness. Father God wants everyone to understand his kingdom, his rulership and his domain. He wants everyone to understand how to be right with him in his kingdom. When we have access to father God through righteousness we can access the kingdom resources. Notice father God isn't being shy about offering "all these things" to us once we clear the hurdle of being in right relationship with him.

Romans 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; ⁹That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. ¹⁰For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. ¹¹For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. ¹²For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. ¹³For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

2 Timothy 3:14 But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them; ¹⁵And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. ¹⁶All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: ¹⁷That the man of God may be perfect (complete), throughly furnished unto all good works.

1 Peter 2:1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, ²As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: ³If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

1 Corinthians 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. ²I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. ³For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?

Hebrews 5:13 For every one that useth milk is unskilful (inexperienced) in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. ¹⁴But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

How do we seek God's righteousness? Through his word. Through both his written and living word. We must believe in Jesus and confess Jesus, the living word. Jesus promises to be rich to all that call upon him. We have to put off our old nature and absorb father God's word of righteousness and manifest it by faith as part of our character. Father God gives us his word to explain his righteousness to us and how to be righteous with him. We learn father God's word to be able to discern between good and evil. If we are unskillful, or inexperienced, in using father God's word of righteousness we will not be able to discern between good and evil. We must have the habit of using father God's word of righteousness to be considered "of full age", or complete in our mental and moral character maturation. If we are still a babe we are not yet righteous. We are still carnal and not yet spiritual. We should think of father God's written word that describes him and Jesus as being about us also. If we have taken Jesus into ourselves to become raised from the dead then this written word is also a description of us. What we read describes who we are spiritually as much as it describes father God and Jesus. It is like our family album. We become living instances of father God's written word.

John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. ⁴Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? ⁵Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. ⁶That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

If we are not born into father God's family we cannot possibly enter into the kingdom of God. We must be born into father God's family. This is a spiritual birth. This affects the spirit part of us. It does not affect the mind or body yet.

...Things we must do - mature

Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? ²God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? ³Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? ⁴Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

By being spiritually resurrected we become "born" into father God's family. Once we are born into father God's family we are expected to walk in this new life. We have to look for how we are dead to sin.

Romans 8:10 And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

This life spirit we get from Jesus is life to us because it is righteous with father God. It is one aspect of God's righteousness coming to us through Jesus in the form of a new spirit to replace the fallen Adam spirit. Our body is not resurrected yet but it can be controlled by our spirit. Our body is still dead because of the sin it inherited. This leaves us in a very awkward yet well documented and very typical situation. This dilemma is experienced by everyone in the Christian family. We can feel our body wanting to go in one direction while our spirit wants to go in another.

Romans 7:15 For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. ¹⁶If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. ¹⁷Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. ¹⁸For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. ¹⁹For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. ²⁰Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. ²¹I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. ²²For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: ²³But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. ²⁴O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? ²⁵I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

We have to realize that death is forever and life is forever. Death is not sterile. It is dynamic. It has a nature but that nature is opposite of life. Our flesh wants to serve the law of sin. This means the law of sin rules over our flesh. We can willfully make our mind serve the law of God. Notice this is "serve" and not control. We cannot redefine the law of God. We can be obedient to the law of father God with our mind so that our mind is not serving sin. We can see these "laws" are bigger than we are and we have to serve one or the other. Father God makes it possible for us to serve his law with our mind. Our minds closest access to father God's law is our new resurrected spirit.

Romans 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. ⁶For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. ⁷Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. ⁸So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. ⁹But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ¹⁰And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ¹²Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. ¹³For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. ¹⁴For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. ¹⁵For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. ¹⁶The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

1 Thessalonians 5:19 Quench not the Spirit.

If we use our free will to focus our mind on our flesh and its inputs we are not able to take in input from our spirit. As if we could only choose one thing for our mind to focus on, we can listen to our flesh or outside input and not our spirit and overall we will be carnal. If we focus on our spirit and the input from there we are being spiritual. Being spiritually minded is life and peace. If we are carnally minded we are quenching our new raised from the dead spirit. This appears as though we are not serious about being part of father God's family. We took on a new spirit because we alleged we wanted to be part of father God's family and live forever rather than be dead forever but if we don't use it we are still more dead than alive. Father God will assume we prefer death and that's what we will inherit eternally.

2 Corinthians 10:5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

Since Jesus is our new spirit, we can expect we will not live out of our old mind schema as well as not believe anything that is not out of father God's word. We will cast out of our mind anything that conflicts with our resurrected spirit that we are inheriting from father God. We will believe father God's word over what we see so that by our faith we are creating an instance of father God's word in the natural. We use father God's word to supercede the existing natural circumstance and we create a new natural circumstance. We want our mind to obey our new spirit. Our mind may challenge us and remind us we told it to value a certain thing some time in our past. We have to reprogram it to adopt our new values.

Romans 6:11 Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. ¹²Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. ¹³Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. ¹⁴For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. ¹⁵What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid. ¹⁶Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness? ¹⁷But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. ¹⁸Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. ¹⁹I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. ²⁰For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. ²¹What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death. ²²But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. ²³For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Fortunately the life of God we can have through Jesus is able to dominate the death we started with. This is part of the authority that Jesus attained when he was resurrected. To the extent that he is resurrected from the dead he has dominion over death. Now that Jesus is resurrected, father God can give us the grace to become resurrected and yield ourselves to righteousness. Before Jesus earned this dominion we could only serve sin and death. It wasn't even possible to yield ourselves to righteousness because the resurrected human spirit didn't exist anywhere in the universe and therefore wasn't available to humans. Not one instance of a resurrected human spirit existed anywhere. Not even Lazarus was spiritually resurrected. He was just physically resurrected. We now have a choice and can be free from sin if we yield ourselves to serving righteousness. We already read where Jesus loved righteousness and father God loved him for it. Jesus served righteousness. Father God always expresses himself as righteousness. In a way he serves righteousness too. We can join the family and serve righteousness. When we serve righteousness it leads to holiness and eternal life rather than uncleanness, iniquity and eternal death. We have to obey from our heart the doctrine of righteousness we learn from father God's word.

1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him. ²⁸And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming. ²⁹If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that (continuously) doeth righteousness is born of him.

Jesus is our one and only access to a righteous human spirit. We have to be born with Jesus' spirit in order to be righteous with father God. If we are born, or reborn, with Jesus' spirit we will continuously want to do righteousness.

1 John 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law. ⁵And ye know that he (Jesus) was manifested to take away our sins; and in him (Jesus) is no sin. ⁶Whosoever abideth in him (continuously) sinneth not: whosoever (continuously) sinneth hath not seen him (Jesus), neither known him (Jesus). ⁷Little children, let no man deceive you: he that (continuously) doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he (Jesus) is righteous. ⁸He that (continuously) committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. ⁹Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. ¹⁰In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever (continuously) doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

Sin is lawlessness. If we behave lawlessly we are sinning. We are not manifesting righteousness. We must be continuously manifesting righteousness to be righteous. We cannot be able to manifest righteousness but then not manifest it. We should not be deceived by any of mans doctrines that tell us anything differently. We can't just "say a prayer" and then not diligently pursue manifesting righteousness. We would be deceived and our real father would still be the devil. In father God's kingdom we don't hate each other. Anyone who is our spiritual brother is someone we should love out of our spirit. We should think it the most common thing to want to love someone. This is a manifestation of the eternal life that is in us.

1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

When we come to know father God we will know how important righteousness is to him. As we become more familiar with his family and its nature we will feel good about not sinning. It will seem right to us and we will like it. We will not feel like an orphan who is "out there" on our own with no connection to father God.

Galatians 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. ¹⁴For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. ¹⁵But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. ¹⁶This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. ¹⁷For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. ¹⁸But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. ¹⁹Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, ²⁰Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, ²¹Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, ²³Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. ²⁴And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. ²⁵If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

We are called to liberty from sin. As much as there is a law of sin there is a law of liberty. This "law" did not exist before Jesus conquered sin. He created this new opportunity for us. He didn't need it for himself. He created it for us to be able to become father God's children. We can only access the nature of this law of liberty by our spirit. We can use our spirit to supercede our flesh and the law of sin that still resides in it. There is no law against the manifestations or fruit of the spirit.

1 John 3:15 Whosoever (continuously) hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.

Matthew 6:14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: ¹⁵But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

On that same line, we have to forgive each other of our/their trespasses against us so everything can move forward in a positive manner. Remember, we will live forever. We want to adopt father God's kingdom policies that will express life forever. We want to put life into everything.

...Walking in Righteousness

The general rules for forgetting and remembering the deeds of a righteous person in the new covenant are the same as for the old covenant.

Hebrews 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Hebrews 10:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; ¹⁷And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Father God's desire is to be merciful to our state of having inherited death under Adam and to restore us to a living status. He wants to put behind us any sins we committed so we can move on to eternal life.

Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ²And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. ⁷Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. ⁹But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. ¹⁰And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ¹¹Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ¹²But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. ¹³Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

This age is about collecting children out of the earth to be part of father God's family. In the kingdom of heaven, if we don't have our own oil we will not be known by the bridegroom. We want to be wise in our walk so we are ready to make it into the marriage.

Matthew 25:14 For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. ¹⁵And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey. ¹⁶Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. ¹⁷And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. ¹⁸But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money. ¹⁹After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them. ²⁰And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. ²¹His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ²²He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. ²³His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. ²⁴Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed: ²⁵And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine. ²⁶His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed: ²⁷Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. ²⁸Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. ²⁹For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. ³⁰And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

We have to use the raised from the dead spirit that father God gives us to bear fruit in this age.

Matthew 25:31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: ³²And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: ³³And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: ³⁶Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. ³⁷Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee ? ³⁸When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? ³⁹Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? ⁴⁰And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. ⁴¹Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴²For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: ⁴³I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. ⁴⁴Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? ⁴⁵Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. ⁴⁶And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

The same Jesus that is offering us the free gift of his raised from the dead spirit today will be judging us as to how we used his offer. If we did not contribute to his body we will be rejected. We must be considered righteous in order to inherit eternal life. With the thought of "love your neighbor as yourself" in mind, we can see it is easy to be righteous, isn't it?

Matthew 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that (continuously) work iniquity (lawlessness).

Some people may have been involved with Christianity but drifted from it or never fully gave up their old life. Father God will put our sins behind us if we are serious about joining his family. We must be serious about not sinning. This is lawlessness. We have to use the grace to not sin so that we are not under the law of sin and death. Just because we might have seen that we were becoming part of father God's family does not mean that we have "arrived". We might see some manifestations of being in the family but we can't stop and relax and slip back into sin or we will become unknown as quickly as we were allowed in. Remember, the day we turn (to good) is the day we live and the day we turn (to bad) is the day we die.

2 Corinthians 11:12 But what I do, that I will do, that I may cut off occasion from them which desire occasion; that wherein they glory, they may be found even as we. ¹³For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. ¹⁴And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. ¹⁵Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

While it would be nice if everyone that presented themselves as spiritual family really were family, there are those who intentionally are deceptive. These are the ravening wolves that Jesus talked about. The best place for Satan to attack the body of Jesus is from the inside. If he can attack from the inside he doesn't need to attack from the outside. If he can misdirect us then we will self destruct by following a wrong path. We will be our own worst enemy if we are deceived by a false family member.

Matthew 7:15 Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. ¹⁶Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? ¹⁷Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. ²⁰Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.

Our deeds that we do by faith represent us. Our deeds are our manifestation of our righteousness. To the extent that we walked by faith and manifested works by God's faith we have righteousness. Unrighteous people will be destroyed. Their whole person and everything about them will be burned by father God.

2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. ²⁰But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. ²¹If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. ²²Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

We must do the work of purging ourselves of unrighteousness and we must follow righteousness. Father God has made available the raised from the dead human spirit but we must invoke it and use it. This gift is not forced upon us. It is offered to us. If we want to be a vessel of honor we must look into our solar plexus for our raised from the dead spirit and follow righteousness.

...Self Righteousness

Romans 9:30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith. ³¹But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. ³²Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone; ³³As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. ²For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ³For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. ⁴For Christ is the end goal of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

Hosea 10:12 Sow for yourselves in righteousness, Reap according to loving-kindness, Till for yourselves tillage of knowledge, To seek Jehovah, Till he come and shew righteousness to you. ¹³Ye have ploughed wickedness, Perversity ye have reaped, Ye have eaten the fruit of lying, For thou hast trusted in thy way, In the abundance of thy might.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Some of us might be inclined to try and change the rules a bit. We might be inclined to create our own concept of righteousness. Father God is totally onto us. He has watched for thousands of years and seen millions of people die trying to do that. We must submit ourselves to the righteousness of father God. It is available to us. We must know what it is. We will miserably fail at trying to enter the kingdom of heaven according to our own righteousness. We will reap death. Father God will deny us. We must approach "righteousness by faith" in exactly that order. "Righteousness - by - Faith". Faith used to attain and express righteousness. Faith first. Faith applied to manifesting through us the raised from the dead spirit in us as righteousness. Just like the written law is a mechanical law, the law of righteousness is a spiritual law. The law of righteousness must be invoked spiritually. If we just do a work out of our mind in a mechanical approach we won't be walking by faith. Father God wants us to invoke our faith for every act we do. Israel was given the written law as a pointer to what constituted righteousness. They became robotic about doing the mechanical aspects of the law. They didn't pick up on the spiritual first step that gave value to the mechanics. Father God wants us to stir up our faith first before we do something. Jesus was and is the end goal of the law that pointed to righteousness. If we believe in Jesus' righteousness and express this belief out of our spirit we will do righteousness from our spirit. In one way this should be the easiest thing in the world. It is just being a normal human being. Since we didn't start our lives this way (through no fault of our own) it will seem like a change. Also, since we inherit sin in our bodies (through no fault of our own) we have competition against our spirit. We see here that righteousness leads to loving kindness. In father God's world if we sow righteousness we reap loving kindness. This may not be the result we get from the world, but that is part of the value of surrounding ourselves with other believers.

Luke 18:9 And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: ¹⁰Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. ¹¹The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. ¹²I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. ¹³And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. ¹⁴I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

We can not rely on ourselves to become righteous with father God. We get as a gift from father God any righteousness that we have. We must treat others that have taken that same offer of righteousness from father God exactly the same as we treat ourselves. Any works that we can do as a result of having taken Jesus' spirit into ourselves do not reflect who we were before we took Jesus. They reflect Jesus working in us. Being self righteous is a lie we don't want to fall for. We might make up any standard for ourselves but father God will not regard it. We can feed the poor, but they will still die without being resurrected. We can make money, but when we die it will belong to someone else.

Philippians 3:3 For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. ⁴Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: ⁵Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; ⁶Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. ⁷But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. ⁸Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, ⁹And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith: ¹⁰That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; ¹¹If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. ¹²Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.

Paul, the writer here, was zealous about being perfect under the Mosaic law. He threw his whole heart into it. But he too came to realize the folly of that compared to taking the raised from the dead human spirit. He abandoned trying to be mechanically perfect and opted for having righteousness through faith in Jesus. Then he threw his whole heart into that. We too can throw our whole heart into believing in righteousness by faith in Jesus.

Titus 3:1 Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, ²To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, shewing all meekness unto all men. ³For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. ⁴But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, ⁵Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; ⁶Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; ⁷That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. ⁸This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.

Here Paul was again reminding us that we are saved by the kindness and love of father God and not by works of righteousness that we can do. We must go through the washing of regeneration and the renewing. We must actually become a new spiritual person and not just try to act differently. In almost the same breath, Paul reminds us to maintain good, righteous works. These works don't redeem us or regenerate us but they are valuable to us. They add to the "Godly Goodness" level in our lives.

Aspects of Righteousness...

...Available to All

Romans 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. ²But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. ³And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? ⁴Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? ⁵But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; ⁶Who will render to every man according to his deeds: ⁷To them who by patient continuance (hupomone - enduring constancy) in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: ⁸But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, ⁹Tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; ¹⁰But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile: ¹¹For there is no respect of persons with God.

Acts 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: ³⁵But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. ³⁶The word which God sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ: (he is Lord of all:)

Since father God wants every human to be on the same level, we should avoid judging others in different states of development. If we are keeping a hard and unrepentant heart we are treasuring up for ourselves wrath from father God when he judges us according to righteousness. Faith works by love. A hard heart will obstruct faith. We cannot say one thing and do another. Father God does not want us to be double minded. We must first repent of our own errors. We can look for the goodness of father God to apply to others as well as us as much as to us as well as others. If others can have father God's goodness, so can we. If we can have father God's goodness, so can others.

...Righteousness Cleanses Us

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: ⁷But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. ⁸If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. ⁹If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just (righteous) to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: ²And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

Our dad has no darkness in him. We have to let Jesus' blood cleanse us from all sin. Then we can walk in the light also. When we first take the resurrected human spirit we are given a clean record. If we sin after this we must re-clean our record through Jesus. We have to willfully walk in the light when we can, as much as we can. We should not deceive ourselves. We can tell the truth about our sin because father God wants to clean us up. Let's let him do that. Then when all our unrighteousness is gone we are righteous. Our maturity shows by our discernment of every sin and every kind of sin that we can identify and avoid.

...Righteousness Makes Us Family

2 Corinthians 6:14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ¹⁵And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? ¹⁶And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. ¹⁷Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, ¹⁸And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, ²Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. ⁴Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin. ⁵And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: ⁶For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. ⁷If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ⁸But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. ⁹Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. ¹¹Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. ¹²Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees; ¹³And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.

Ahhhh. Finally. The family we were looking for. We can stay separate from unrighteous people because they are not part of our family. We, as the temple of the living God, don't need to seek out idols to fulfill our lives. Anything that is an idol is below us. We have a higher standing than any idol. We would have to lower ourselves to be at the level of any idol. If we are righteous we can see father God as "father" and not just a god that is out there somewhere. We can expect to be worked over to mature us. Father God will correct us at times. We can consider this bad because we are being corrected or we can consider it good that we are not being left orphans. Father God uses his correction for our profit so we can appreciate and partake of his holiness.

...Righteousness Clothes Us

Revelation 19:6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. ⁷Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. ⁸And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

We want our clothing to be clean and white. We want to be as righteous according to father God as we can be.

...Righteousness Wins In The End

2 Peter 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. ¹¹Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, ¹²Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? ¹³Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. ¹⁴Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.

Righteousness will be the norm in the next age. Practicing righteousness is only a prelude for the next age and eternity. We aren't doing it now just to get by. We are doing it now as though we have already entered eternity.

More Examples of Righteousness and Unrighteousness...

Let's look at some more examples of righteousness and unrighteousness.

Ephesians 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. ⁷Be not ye therefore partakers with them. ⁸For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: ⁹(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;) ¹⁰Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord. ¹¹And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. ¹²For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. ¹³But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. ¹⁴Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. ¹⁵See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, ¹⁶Redeeming the time, because the days are evil.

Not being deceived is righteous. We have inside of us the spiritual ability to discern truth. We don't need to believe garbage from the outside. Not sharing with the children of disobedience is righteous. Walking circumspectly as a wise child of light and manifesting the fruit of the spirit is righteous. Reproving works of darkness is righteous. Redeeming the time is righteous.

Philippians 1:9 And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment; ¹⁰That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ; ¹¹Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.

Making our love abound, approving good things and being sincere and offenseless is righteous. Being filled with fruits of righteousness is righteous.

Proverbs 20:22 Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.

Romans 12:17 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. ¹⁸If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. ¹⁹Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. ¹⁸Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. ¹⁹Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: ²⁰For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.

1 Peter 2:19 For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. ²⁰For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. ²¹For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: ²²Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: ²³Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously: ²⁴Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. ²⁵For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.

1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: ⁹Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. ¹⁰For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: ¹¹Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it. ¹²For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.

Vengeance is unrighteous. If someone does something evil, father God can replace or restore it if we really need it. We don't need to be angry or worried about keeping the world in righteous balance. Father God will do that. Father God is constantly judging people and influencing people and their lives. Just like he did for us, he is probably trying to maximize grace for others rather than judgment. We should remain in peace. We want to inherit a blessing, so we should not return evil for evil.

2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the love of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; ⁴So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience (hupomone - enduring constancy) and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: ⁵Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: ⁶Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you;

2 Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: ⁴(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) ⁵Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; ⁶And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Father God considers it a righteous thing to put tribulation onto people who put tribulation onto us. This clearly falls under his "love your neighbor as yourself - or else" law. Father God will consider us to be worthy of this protection when we aren't part of the problem. We must be righteous first to be protected from unrighteous people. We should consider that life is spiritual and that problem people are probably under the influence of unclean spirits working out their own agenda and using humans as their pawns. Any warring we will do will be spiritual using father God's resources, which means father God will be the mediator. He can and will test all spiritual commands or requests for righteousness.

2 Corinthians 9:7 Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: ⁹(As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he hath given to the poor: his righteousness remaineth for ever. ¹⁰Now he that ministereth seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) ¹¹Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. ⁷For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. ⁸And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. ⁹But they that will to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. ¹⁰For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows. ¹¹But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. ¹²Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. >

Being a cheerful giver out of our heart is righteous. People who will to be rich out of a love of money are unrighteous. Money is a man made thing and does not express spiritual Godliness. In father God's kingdom our needs are met by father God. We can focus on our spiritual Godliness so we can attain eternal life.

Deuteronomy 25:13 Thou shalt not have in thy bag divers weights, a great and a small. ¹⁴Thou shalt not have in thine house divers measures, a great and a small. ¹⁵But thou shalt have a perfect and just (righteous) weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. ¹⁶For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God.

Proverbs 11:1 A false balance is abomination to the LORD: but a just weight is his delight.

Proverbs 16:11 A just weight and balance are the LORD'S: all the weights of the bag are his work.

Proverbs 20:23 Divers weights are an abomination unto the LORD; and a false balance is not good.

Our lives will be lengthened if we have righteous dealings with people. Father God wants everything perfectly meted out and perfectly balanced. He wants fairness for everybody.

Proverbs 16:12 It is an abomination to kings to commit wickedness: for the throne is established by righteousness. ¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings; and they love him that speaketh right.

Father God only wants righteous authorities.

John 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

2 Timothy 4:8 Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.

Psalm 7:8 The LORD shall judge the people: judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness, and according to mine integrity that is in me. ⁹Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins. ¹⁰My defence is of God, which saveth the upright in heart. ¹¹God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.

1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? ¹⁸And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Father God wants righteous judgment. Father God is judging righteously. Our God given righteousness will protect us. This isn't self righteousness. It has to be father God's righteousness that we have taken and applied to ourselves.

For many more examples and illustrations of righteousness we can read the psalms and proverbs. King David wrote most of the psalms out of his experiences with father God and other people. King Solomon was Davids son and he wrote the proverbs. Almost every other "lesson to be learned" involves righteousness. They heavily refer to father God's involvement and judgment of mens affairs and showing of preference towards the righteous and righteousness. Righteousness transcended from a mechanical righteousness in the torah, or law, to a spiritual righteousness. We went from being dead in our spirit under Adam and quenching that spirit with the written, mechanical law to having a new resurrected spirit that we can live out of and rely on to bring us into father God's family and share and enjoy the nature of father God. Father God's goal always was and is to bring us to sonship and eternal life.