Righteousness and Sin

Getting the Definitions Right

CHRISTIANITY

Christianity is based on the Bible, the Word of God. Its definition is not subject to individual preference but what the scriptures say it is. Valid and accurate Christianity is the demonstration and display of the virtues, excellences and perfections of Christ on earth (1 Peter 2:9 AMPC). Christianity isn’t a religion at all; it’s the outworking of the vital life of God in a recreated being born from the seed or sperm of God. Christianity is Christ alive in you; it’s a relationship. And just as your relationship with your earthly parents isn’t a religion, your relationship with God isn’t a religion. In Christianity, you have the divine life of God, and you’re in an everlasting fellowship with Him. Christianity is, in essence, a walk of righteousness.

NATURE VERSUS ACTIONS 

First, let us establish that there is a difference between actions (conduct) and nature. Actions flow out of nature. Righteousness and Sin have to do with nature and not primarily conduct or acts.

Some define sin primarily as acts such as adultery, masturbation, stealing, and other vices. They define righteousness as giving, attending church, reading your bible, praying in tongues, being kind, patient, longsuffering etc.  

This is incorrect. 

The Bible tells us that a child born just a second ago is a sinner because of Adam’s sin—the original sin. If so, how can a person who has committed no acts whatsoever be a sinner? Sin is thus innate. It’s a nature. 

To understand this, let’s define “nature”:

NATURE

Webster’s Dictionary define nature as 

The essence, essential qualities or attributes of a thing, which constitute it what it is; as the nature of the soul; the nature of blood; the nature of a fluid; the nature of plants, or of a metal; the nature of a circle or an angle. 

When we speak of the nature of man, we understand the peculiar constitution of his body or mind, or the qualities of the species which distinguish him from other animals. 

When we speak of the nature of a man, or an individual of the race, we mean his particular qualities or constitution; either the peculiar temperament of his body, or the affections of his mind, his natural appetites, passions, disposition or temper.

2Pe 1:4 (KJV) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

Definitions from Bible Dictionaries:

G5449   (Mounce)

φύσις

physis

14x: essence, Gal 4:8; native condition, birth, Rom 2:27; Rom 11:21; Rom 11:24; Gal 2:15; Eph 2:3; native species, kind, Jas 3:7; nature, natural frame, 2Pe 1:4; nature, native instinct, Rom 2:14; 1Co 11:14; nature, prescribed course of nature, Rom 1:26.

G5449   (Strong)

φύσις

phusis

foo’-sis

From G5453; growth (by germination or expansion), that is, (by implication) natural production (lineal descent); by extension a genus or sort; figuratively native disposition, constitution or usage: – ([man-]) kind, nature ([-al]).

Total KJV occurrences: 14

A person’s nature is their very essence. It informs their disposition, character, natural frame. Their nature is their specie, sort or genus. Your birth determines your nature. If a cat gave birth to you, you will not have the nature of a dog. You’ll naturally have the natural appetites, passions, disposition, qualities or constitution of what gave birth to you. Your nature is your kind. God made everything to reproduce after their kind. 

Gen 1:11 (KJV) And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

Here we see that the nature or the kind is connected to the seed/sperm that produced you. 

Gen 1:24 (KJV) And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

Humans, through their seed, produce other humans according to their kind. Goats produce goats, and plants also give birth after their kind. In like manner, when God decided to have children, He can only produce after His Kind because of His Seed that produces them. The nature of the seed creates/produces the nature of the offspring.

Act 17:29 states concerning born-again believers that “we are the offspring of God”. What nature, then, do the offspring of children of God have?

2Pe 1:4 (KJV) Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2Pe 1:4 (AMPC) By means of these He has bestowed on us His precious and exceedingly great promises, so that through them you may escape [by flight] from the moral decay (rottenness and corruption) that is in the world because of covetousness (lust and greed), and become sharers (partakers) of the divine nature.

2Pe 1:4 (TLB) And by that same mighty power he has given us all the other rich and wonderful blessings he promised; for instance, the promise to save us from the lust and rottenness all around us, and to give us his own character.

2Pe 1:4 (MSG) We were also given absolutely terrific promises to pass on to you—your tickets to participation in the life of God after you turned your back on a world corrupted by lust.

Different translations used different synonyms of the word nature, but they all concede that the offspring of God partake or share in His Divine Nature. 

The born-again saint has the nature of the seed that produced them.

1Pe 1:23 (AMPC) You have been regenerated (born again), not from a mortal origin (seed, sperm), but from one that is immortal by the ever living and lasting Word of God.

When a person does not understand this nature, as shown in the scriptures, they will live against their new nature—thinking they are still mere men or human. The scriptures were given to us as a spiritual mirror that shows us our new nature.

1Co 13:12 (AMPC) For now we are looking in a mirror that gives only a dim (blurred) reflection [of reality as in a riddle or enigma], but then [when perfection comes] we shall see in reality and face to face! Now I know in part (imperfectly), but then I shall know and understand fully and clearly, even in the same manner as I have been fully and clearly known and understood [by God].

2Co 3:18 (AMPC) And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.

No wonder when the Corinthians acted contrary to their nature, the Apostle stated:

1Co 3:3 (AMPC) For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses]. For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men?

If the divine nature could be summarized, it would be summarized as Righteousness—hence Christianity being defined as the walk of righteousness. The righteous walk by faith and not by sight. 

Hab 2:4 (AMPC) Look at the proud; his soul is not straight or right within him, but the [rigidly] just and the [uncompromisingly] righteous man shall live by his faith and in his faithfulness. [Rom 1:17; Gal 3:11]

RIGHTEOUSNESS

There are different kinds of righteousness, including what the scriptures define as: 

• the righteousness of the Law (requires works and goodness from the Law of Moses) and 
• the righteousness which is of faith (rests entirely on the riches of the kindness of God’s Grace)

Rom 4:5 (KJV) But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

The first one is earned by works, and the last one is by faith and a gift from God to those who accept His substitutionary work on their behalf.

What is real righteousness? It is the nature of God, and the scripture states of the Christian that S/he is the righteousness of God. 

2Co 5:21 (KJV) 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.

This is why Apostle Paul taught his followers to:

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

He wanted them to understand and live in line with their new nature. 

DEFINING RIGHTEOUSNESS

Righteousness is the nature of God that defines His character and ways of doing things. 

It is the rightness of God, His attribute of always being right. 

This nature and attribute of God when imparted to the human spirit at the new birth gives him right-standing with God. 

Right-standing refers to the right or ability to stand in the presence of God without sin, death, guilt, fear, inferiority, or condemnation. Now, you can talk to the Lord in fellowship and even ask Him questions; you’re bold in His presence. 

Righteousness is God’s character, ability and attribute of being right and perfect. How He thinks, what He says, and what He does is always right, because He’s God, and He could never be wrong.

When Adam sinned, why was he driven from the presence of God? He lost his standing before God. He fell from the nature of God. Why did Jesus come? To restore broken fellowship and right standing before God—and to give God his dream of a family.

Righteousness and The Two Testaments

As stated, prior there are two types of righteousness spoken of in the Pauline epistles, namely—the righteousness which is of the law of Moses found in the Old Covenant or Old Testament, and then there is the righteousness which is of faith prophesied and attested by the law and the prophets—but realized in the New Testament after Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. 

What is a Testament? According to Webster’s 1828 dictionary, a testament is defined thus: “A solemn authentic instrument in writing, by which a person declares his will as to the disposal of his estate and effects after his death. This is otherwise called a Will.”

This is why the New Testament was inaugurated only when its testator died—the Lord Jesus. 

Heb 9:16-17 (KJV)

16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

17 For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Heb 9:18-22 (AMPC)

18 So even the [old] first covenant (God’s will) was not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without the shedding of blood.

19 For when every command of the Law had been read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of slain calves and goats, together with water and scarlet wool and with a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself and all the people,

20 Saying these words: This is the blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the testament, the covenant) which God commanded [me to deliver to] you. [Exo 24:6-8]

Heb 9:15 (AMPC) [Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance—since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the [old] first agreement.

Testaments are legal documents that show heirs what belongs to them. They also contain definitions of terms.

For example, the law of Moses is based on works, while the New Testament is based on faith. So in the law of Moses, sin is simply defined as breaking any of the laws—not matching up when it comes to works. However, in the NT, Apostle Paul defines sin differently. He describes it as:

Rom 14:23 (KJV) And he that doubteth is damned if he eat, because he eateth not of faith: for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.

Gal 5:6 (KJV) For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Here we see the centrality of faith in this New Testament. Sin in the NT, thus, is anything done independently and apart from faith. Why? Because in the NT, the righteous walk by faith, not sight or sensory perception. Faith always works by love. So whatever we do that is not motivated by love and done in faith is sin. The definitions take into account the spirit of the testament in which it is situated. 

Just as the definition of righteousness in the OT is based on works, so is that testament’s definition of sin based on works. As the definition of righteousness in the NT is based on faith, so is the definition of sin in the NT based on the absence of faith. Another distinguishing factor is in the OT, righteousness is earned, but in the NT, it’s a gift. In the OT, sin comes upon all men because of the original sin or disobedience of the first Adam. Likewise, in the NT, righteousness comes upon all on the basis of the obedience of the Last Adam Jesus Christ. 

Rom 5:12-21 (AMPC)

12 Therefore, as sin came into the world through one man, and death as the result of sin, so death spread to all men, [no one being able to stop it or to escape its power] because all men sinned.

15 But God’s free gift is not at all to be compared to the trespass [His grace is out of all proportion to the fall of man]. For if many died through one man’s falling away (his lapse, his offense), much more profusely did God’s grace and the free gift [that comes] through the undeserved favor of the one Man Jesus Christ abound and overflow to and for [the benefit of] many.

16 Nor is the free gift at all to be compared to the effect of that one [man’s] sin. For the sentence [following the trespass] of one [man] brought condemnation, whereas the free gift [following] many transgressions brings justification (an act of righteousness).

17 For if because of one man’s trespass (lapse, offense) death reigned through that one, much more surely will those who receive [God’s] overflowing grace (unmerited favor) and the free gift of righteousness [putting them into right standing with Himself] reign as kings in life through the one Man Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One).

18 Well then, as one man’s trespass [one man’s false step and falling away led] to condemnation for all men, so one Man’s act of righteousness [leads] to acquittal and right standing with God and life for all men.

19 For just as by one man’s disobedience (failing to hear, heedlessness, and carelessness) the many were constituted sinners, so by one Man’s obedience the many will be constituted righteous(made acceptable to God, brought into right standing with Him).

20 But then Law came in, [only] to expand and increase the trespass [making 21 So that, [just] as sin has reigned in death, [so] grace (His unearned and undeserved favor) might reign also through righteousness (right standing with God) which issues in eternal life through Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One) our Lord.

Sin produces death, but righteousness produces the life consistent with the nature of God. God’s nature is life. 

2Ti 1:10-11 (AMPC)

10 [It is that purpose and grace] which He now has made known and has fully disclosed and made real [to us] through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, Who annulled death and made it of no effect and brought life and immortality (immunity from eternal death) to light through the Gospel.

11 For [the proclaiming of] this [Gospel] I was appointed a herald (preacher) and an apostle (special messenger) and a teacher of the Gentiles.

Paul was appointed to announce to the world what is now available in the New Testament through Jesus Christ. Now what remains is who will believe this Gospel?