{"id":543,"date":"2015-12-06T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-12-06T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.hanoverbaptistchurch.org\/blogpastor\/?p=543"},"modified":"2015-12-05T22:12:18","modified_gmt":"2015-12-06T03:12:18","slug":"what-does-the-bible-say-about-self-righteousness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/2015\/what-does-the-bible-say-about-self-righteousness\/","title":{"rendered":"What does the Bible say about self-righteousness?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\u201cFor I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Matthew\u00a05:20<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This statement must have been quite a shock to the ears of our Lord\u2019s audience. The idea that anyone could hope to live with a righteousness that exceeds (shall abound still more than) that of the scribes and Pharisees must have been totally foreign to them. With all the codified rules, endless minutiae, hair-splitting and pomp, what average Joe could possibly outdo the religious elite? Our Lord was talking about the poverty of self-righteousness.<\/p>\n

Self-righteousness is an ugly thing. It is ugly to God because it is a display of spiritual ignorance. Paul addresses the problem of religious self-righteousness in Romans\u00a010:1ff, \u201cThey have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-righteousness is also ugly to men who highly value authenticity. Self-righteousness may be defined as righteous, moral, or proper in one\u2019s own opinion, emphasizing the letter but not the spirit of religious law, sanctimonious; pretending to be highly moral without actually being so. Self-righteousness is bedfellow to self-justification. It is particularly dangerous when the self-righteous man is blinded to his own spiritual poverty and thinks that by being self-righteous he has earned approval of God (John\u00a09:41, 2 Corinthians\u00a010:12).<\/p>\n

Self-righteousness is not the meaning of the biblical command that all men are called to live holy and godly lives. There is no doubt that God sets standards of behavior for men that are moral, just, and proper. It is the height of folly for Christians to stop behaving rightly for fear of being accused of self-righteousness. In fact, all who seek to live godly will run afoul of someone else\u2019s derisive remarks because godly actions will be misunderstood as \u201cholier than thou\u201d or misinterpreted as a condemnation of the other guy\u2019s own sense of license and entitlement. Job is a fine example of such false accusations.<\/p>\n

It is healthy for every believer to regularly test his motives to see if there is latent self-righteousness hidden away in the heart. Solomon roundly denounces insensate self-righteousness in all its forms. Proverbs\u00a012:15 states, \u201cThe way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but he who heeds counsel is wise.\u201d Proverbs\u00a016:2f reads, \u201cAll the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the spirits. Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established.\u201d Proverbs\u00a020:6ff declare, \u201cMost men will proclaim each his own goodness, but who can find a faithful [trustworthy] man? The righteous man walks in his integrity; his children are blessed after him\u2026Who can say, \u2018I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin\u2019?\u201d Finally, in Proverbs\u00a021:2 Solomon writes, \u201cEvery way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

How can a believer guard himself from self-righteousness? First, practice daily self-emptying of all spiritual pride. Examine your heart and see if you have any dependence upon self-righteousness. Isaiah\u00a064:6 reads, \u201cBut we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; we all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.\u201d Psalm\u00a0130:3f says, \u201cIf You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, own the fact that your righteousness is borrowed, not of your own making. This is key to defeating self-righteousness. It is also key to maintaining the right attitude when false accusations and misunderstanding are thrown your way. In Revelation\u00a03:17f, our Lord challenged the lukewarm Christians of Laodicea with these words, \u201cBecause you say, \u2018I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing\u2019\u2014and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked\u2014I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.\u201d In their poverty all they had to buy with was giving themselves fully to Him. May that be your daily commitment!<\/p>\n

Finally, make certain every righteous act of obedience is motivated out of inward, vital, and spiritual life rather than merely external, lifeless, and fleshly form. Several verses propound this thought. Romans\u00a02:28f says, \u201cFor he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God (Philippians\u00a03:3).\u201d<\/p>\n

Righteousness that exceeds the pharisaical is what our God desires. Isaiah\u00a057:15 declares, \u201cFor thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones (Luke\u00a010:25ff, 16:15, 18:9 and Isaiah\u00a066:2).\u201d Clothe yourself in the righteousness of God and faithfully serve Him (Isaiah\u00a061:10). Trust and obey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFor I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.\u201d Matthew\u00a05:20 This statement must have been quite a shock to the ears of our Lord\u2019s audience. The idea that anyone could hope to live with a righteousness that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hanoverbaptistchurch.dreamhosters.com\/blogpastor\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}