The Righteousness of God
“For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” -Romans 10:3 [KJV]
It is not for ignorance, as such, that the Jews were condemned. If that were so, a simple theology lesson would have brought them salvation. Rather, it was what their ignorance led them to do that sealed their doom: they would not submit to the righteousness of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
It
is certain that if a man is ignorant of the righteousness of God, he
cannot and will not submit to it. But it is also true that a man may
be fully aware of the righteousness of God as revealed in the Gospel
doctrine yet not submit to it. So subtle is Satan and so deceptive
the human heart that one may actually think that his acknowledgment
of the righteousness of God is his righteousness: he
may think that, because he believes the doctrine, and even publicly
defends it, God accepts him.
It
is one thing to submit to a doctrine, it
is another thing altogether to submit to Jesus Christ as one’s only
righteousness before God.
How can we know whether we have gone, not only from ignorance to
knowledge, but also from knowledge to submission? It is primarily
revealed in this: we
cease from establishing our own righteousness before God. We glory in
nothing other than Christ’s cross, soothe our conscience with
nothing but His blood, and rest our hope for favor with God on
nothing other than Christ’s acceptance before the Father.
-Gospel report by preacher Joe Terrell
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