The Three Kinds of Righteousness (7)

The Problem with “Doing”

No free lunch in the world eh? True, in this world but not in His Kingdom.

Most non-believers stumble over the idea that you need do nothing, only believe in Jesus, to enter into eternal life. They think it is too good to be true. I wish to be able to report to you that the problem stops with the non-believers. But it is simply not true. Many believers today believe that after they are saved, they still need to do something to attain or maintain their righteousness.  They believe that they became righteous, and they recognize this is the greatest blessing, at the point when they received Jesus, but afterwards it’s up to their doing again to have righteousness and to be blessed by God. The Bible never teaches anything like that.

We cannot blame the world for thinking that nothing is free, because this is the system of the world. In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread (Gen 3:19, NKJV), this is the lot for the fallen world. The good news is that Christ has come to turn things around. Once you have Jesus, it shouldn’t be like the bad old days! But it’s not easy to do away with bad old habits: we want to do something so that we feel entitled for the good result. We want to merit our righteousness.

“What’s wrong if I want to do more? I can be more righteous because I have Christ and at the same time I also fulfill the Law,” some believers asked me.

Let’s see what the Apostle Paul has to say:

For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. (Rom 10:3-4, NKJV)

Certainly not all doings are bad, but all doings to make one feel more righteous are self-defeating. The problem is that, like the Jews who rejected Christ, many believers seek to establish their own righteousness. But every time they try to do something they are falling right back to the old system of Law; they are relying on their self-effort. To say that Christ alone is not enough is an insult to God!

To be fair, many are also confused over the different kinds of righteousness presented in the Bible, so are not able to make the right judgment. I sincerely hope that our meditation on the three kinds of righteousness can be helpful.