Thread: How Righteous Must One Be?

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● Phil 2:12 . . So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling

Personal righteousness is an important ingredient in the recipe for associating with God.

● Gen 4:7 . . If you act rightly, you will be accepted;

● 1John 1:5-7 . . Now this is the message that we have heard from him and proclaim to you: God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say, "We have fellowship with him," while we continue to walk in darkness, we lie and do not act in truth. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, then we have fellowship with one another,

But personal righteousness, though important to fellowship, is not a high enough quality of righteousness to obtain salvation. For that; people need the righteousness of God.

● Rom 10:1-3 . . Brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for salvation. I testify with regard to them that they have zeal for God, but it is not discerning. For, in their unawareness of the righteousness that comes from God and their attempt to establish their own [righteousness], they did not submit to the righteousness of God.

The righteousness of God is humanly impossible to duplicate, which is why it's an imputed righteousness rather than a righteousness produced by effort. In other words: the righteousness of God is an endowment; viz: it's a gift free of charge with no strings attached..

● Rom 3:22 . . The righteousness of God is through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God. They are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus.

● Rom 3:9 . .And be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the Commandments,. but that which comes through faith in Christ; the righteousness from God.

Now, with all that under our belts, it's very easy to see that the common interpretation of Php 2:12 is in error because nobody, no matter how hard nor how long they work at it, will ever succeed at producing a personal righteousness equal to the righteousness of God.

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A big theme in the Bible is man letting go of his personal ego. He lets go of his ego, and is meek before God. He may seek out God, and ask to bring God Glory. To seek God's plan.

A man who lets go of his ego, may end up at ground zero with just about nothing. Joseph and Daniel are two men that were slaves or in jail. They may have had just about nothing, and turned to God. They ended up being built up in God towards God's purposes. As representatives of their people's, family, and God, they had to have a high degree of personal righteousness. They are ambassadors, or servants of God.

for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again, but the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. (Proverbs 24:16)

How much of the Spirit is someone? A man has to Tune his Thumos to God's Character. He needs to cultivate Godly characteristics like Fortitude and Goodness. God's definition of Goodness being different than Secular Humanist definition of Goodness. Goodness and kindness to a Secular Humanist may be to tolerate everything and "be nice." Kindness to a Watchman of God (Ezekiel 33) may be a slap in the face to wake someone up to the danger approaching the gates.

Is someone a White Horse of male Thumos like Jesus or Apostle Paul or a Dark Horse Katy Perry? http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/03/11/got-thumos/

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Were I the Devil, I would do my utmost best to disprove Jesus' bodily resurrection because his bodily crucifixion is only half enough to protect people from the wrath of God. Though his bodily crucifixion obtains forgiveness for people's sins, it doesn't gain people an acquittal; i.e. exoneration; viz: a verdict of innocence; which is a verdict rendered when there isn't enough evidence to convict.

● Rom 4:25 . . He was delivered over to death for our sins, and was raised to life for our justification.

The Greek word translated "justification" is dikaiosis (dik-ah'-yo-sis) whjich means acquittal; i.e. a verdict of innocence.

People merely forgiven still carry a load of guilt; viz: they have a criminal record. Christ's bodily resurrection deletes their record so that on the books, it's as though they've never done anything bad.

This exoneration that I'm talking about is obtained via the kindness and generosity of God through belief in the resurrection of Christ's crucified body. If the Devil can succeed in convincing people that Jesus' crucified body is still dead or, even better yet, make them question whether the man even existed at all; then they will fail to obtain an acquittal, and consequently end up put to death in brimstone because records are to be reviewed when people stand to face justice at the Great White Throne event depicted at Rev 20:11-15.

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YEP