Trumpet Ministries Two Kinds of Righteousness
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The subject of righteousness is found throughout the Bible. God is righteous and requires righteousness of all who would walk with Him.
There is a form of righteousness found in the writings of the Apostle Paul that does not appear in any of the other covenants God has made with man. It is referred to as imputed righteousness (ascribed righteousness). The concept is that the Lord Jesus Christ kept the Law of Moses perfectly and then died as though He were a sinner.
On this basis, God is willing to impute or ascribe to any individual who will receive Christ the same righteousness that would be true if the believer had kept the Law of Moses perfectly.
However, there is a proviso, as mentioned in the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans. The perfect righteousness of the Law of Moses will be ascribed to us provided we turn aside from our sinful desires and follow the Spirit of God.
Because we humans have such a struggle with our sinful nature we have forgotten the proviso. The Christian salvation now is preached as though the new covenant consists almost exclusively of imputed, ascribed righteousness.
No more deadly misunderstanding of the new covenant would be possible. The result of the adoption of imputed righteousness as though it is the primary righteousness of the new covenant, or the only righteousness of the new covenant, has destroyed the testimony of the Christian Church throughout the centuries.
We do have a religion to which a person can subscribe and receive forgiveness of sins. But the power of Divinely-inspired morality is largely absent from our midst. In fact, Christians vigorously resist the thought that true salvation always results in moral transformation. They will have none of it. The only righteousness there is under the new covenant is that which is imputed, they insist. Let no one dare talk about a necessity for righteous behavior. We are saved by faith alone, not by a faith that lives in works of righteousness as Pastor James claims.
So now we have a Kingdom of God which is no kingdom at all. It is a house of cards. We humans always will be miserable sinners. But God keeps on imputing righteousness to us because we profess faith in Christ. What a disaster!
When the Bible commands us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness it is not referring to imputed righteousness but to actual righteousness. The new covenant makes us righteous in thought, word, and deed if we diligently follow the Holy Spirit.
The purpose of ascribed righteousness is to give us a clear conscience so we can turn away from the Law of Moses and follow the Spirit of God. If we do not understand this, but instead regard imputed righteousness as a new way in which God has chosen to relate to man, we have invented the worst of all possible religions.
In fact, it appears every other religion of the world understands what righteousness is—all except the Christian religion.
Ask a Christian of your acquaintance what he thinks righteousness is. He most likely will respond: "I am not righteous, only Christ is righteous. God sees the righteousness of Christ in me."
If you said Christ commanded us to let the light of good works shine in us he would not believe you. He probably would become very confused and accuse you of legalism.
There are two different forms of righteousness. One is the righteousness that is ascribed to us because we have placed our faith in Him who justifies the ungodly. The other is the actual righteousness of the new covenant in which we become a new creation. The eternal moral law of God is written on our mind and heart.
God wants us to cease attempting to create our own righteousness by following the Law of Moses or any other moral code. God desires that we seek Christ each moment of each day, obeying the Spirit of God, until the fruit of the moral character of Christ is revealed in our life.
God wants us to seek Christ each moment of each day, obeying the Spirit of God, until the fruit of the moral Character of Christ is revealed in our life.
If there is no transformation of character, if there is no new righteous creation coming forth, then we may be a member of a Christian assembly but we certainly are not abiding in Christ. We are a member of the Christian religion but not a disciple of Jesus.
It is no wonder the Muslims call America "the great Satan." They know America contains many Christians. Yet moral filth pours forth from Hollywood. And while numerous Christians deplore the moral filth coming from Hollywood, they themselves have not been transformed morally because of unscriptural doctrine. They are trusting in imputed righteousness but are filled with worldliness, malice, slander, hatred, unforgiveness, stubbornness, self-will, lying, stealing, immorality, drunkenness, pride, haughtiness, meanness, selfishness, witchcraft, bitterness, and every other behavior that will never be accepted in the Kingdom of God. Because of this lack of Christian morality, Hollywood and the secular government have no moral light to guide them.
The leaders of our government that do profess to be Christians are trusting in grace to bring them to Heaven. Meanwhile our government seems to have more than its share of fraud and corruption. The Christianity is in name only.
This is the condition of the United States of America as we enter the third millennium. God is not waiting for more spiritual babies clothed in the diapers of imputed righteousness. He is looking for a people strong in righteous behavior, set in battle array, who are prepared for the age of moral horrors we are entering.
In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, (Romans 3:21,22)
In order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit. (Romans 8:4)
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (II Corinthians 3:18)
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