Understanding God's Righteousness

Paul continues to express through his prayer to God his desire that his homeland Israel would be saved. Paul’s concern is that you may know God and even profess to love God but your salvation is not secured through the law. If fact, the law has no built-in capability that secures your place in heaven. Yes the law was given by God and yes the law served a purpose as a reminder of the importance to have a relationship with God. And yes those who believed and lived their life for God before the presence of Jesus Christ on the scene will find heaven. That dynamic has changed the moment Jesus Christ was born. God knows how convoluted the law became with little to no success of the Israelite’s fulfilling every aspect of the law.

Most Jewish people are zealous for God but the zeal Paul is describing here is called Torah obedience and not enlightened zeal. The difference in this zeal as described in this section is not the uprightness that comes from God through Christ. Paul’s statement is very direct in that you can have zeal for God, but if you refuse to receive the knowledge of Jesus Christ and His role in securing your place in heaven then you are ignorant to God’s righteousness.

Paul uses the Greek word knowledge (ἐπίγνωσις, epignōsis) - the content of what is definitely known—‘what is known, definite knowledge, full knowledge, knowledge.’ to point out the knowledge they possess from the law is used as a mechanism to live a better life, to get closer to God but is no longer required to get into heaven. Paul stresses to the Israelite’s Jesus Christ is the only way now. After the birth, death and resurrection Jesus is the only way you can receive the final gift from God. That gift is heaven. Believing and following Jesus becomes a major stumbling block for the Israelite’s from the first century and beyond.

The problem that Paul is addressing in the first century still exists today. It does not matter if you are a non-messianic Jew or a non-believing gentile, the outcome is going to be the same. The bible teaches us that your place in heaven is not secured because of your disbelief in Jesus Christ. Scripture is very clear in John 14:6 Jesus is the way the truth and the life, that no one will come to the Father except through Me.

There are many people in society that do not accept the reality from scripture that Jesus is the only way into heaven. It is through God’s word that we embrace the promise of eternal life that is fulfilled with our relationship with Jesus Christ. When our relationship with God grows stronger we better understand that relationship must also include a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. To live for God is also to live for Christ. To live a life allowing God and Jesus through the Holy Spirit to guide us and remind us when we sin. To teach us what God wants us to know so we may share His word and His love to those we meet, to those we know and to those who God puts in our path. Jesus has become the mediator for us to His heavenly Father and through our faith in Jesus all things are possible through prayer and supplication.

My prayer is that we would examine the type of relationship we have with Jesus Christ and look for ways to improve our relationship with Him. I pray that we would want to read the bible more and more every day. I pray that we would hear the Holy Spirit speaking to us and that we would want to make the changes in our lives that best represent our strong personal relationship we have with Jesus Christ. I pray that we will find peace and comfort in Christ and we will live each and every day for Christ so we may live with Christ for eternity. In Jesus Mighty Names I pray Amen! Amen!