Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 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 10:1-3 KJV)


There are two kinds of righteousness every human being must be aware of. It is a must because failure to know this is catastrophic both in this world and in that to come. For they being ignorant of… and beating about the bush in fruitless effort to establish… friend, do not be ignorant.

After Job had been through hell and was yet undelivered, God responded to his foolish words. Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? (Job 38:1-2 KJV). So the Proverbs writer said: “Also, [that] the soul [be] without knowledge, [it is] not good;” (Proverbs 19:2 KJV). So every human being must know this: believers and unbelievers alike. Did God not say: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6 KJV)?


WHAT IS RIGHTEOUSNESS?

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Any of the under listed definitions are acceptable.
• The quality of having a right standing before God
• Being right all the time
• Being acceptable to God
• Being without fault or blame before God
• Being in conformance to God’s rules and commands

And take note: God must be the Assessor in issues of righteousness. We may only echo what He has declared. We cannot add to it or remove from it.

THE TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 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 10:1-3 KJV)

Two kinds of righteousness are mentioned there. What are they?
• God’s righteousness
• Their own righteousness


Let us begin to note some things from what we are told from the passage. First thing is that it’s a prayer of intercession for them to be saved. Who are the them that are desired to be saved? Them that are “ignorant of God’s righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God”

Hmm…

It therefore means that the “their own righteousness” is the kind found with them that are not yet saved. Correct? “yes!”
From this point, we shall call the “their own righteousness” SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS and the other one: God’s Righteouness.
So what are the two kinds of righteousness we have?

Forgotten ?

Alright,

1. Self righteousness (also called one’s own righteousness), and
2. God’s righteousness


ATTRIBUTES OF THE TWO KINDS OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

We are not through with the text.

Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 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 10:1-3 KJV)

We shall begin to see the attributes of the two kinds of righteousness from this portion of text. Remember we have learnt one attribute already. Can you recollect? Ooh!!!

Alright, we said it’s common to them that are not saved yet. Now you remember.

Attribute 1:
SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR THE UNSAVED, WHILE GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR THE SAVED

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We have seen that from the above text. Now some may ask, “do you mean a born again person cannot be self-righteous?”. The answer is “Yes”, even though he may not know (that is, except in his mind).

It is clear from the above text that God’s righteousness simply requires that they (unbelievers) have “submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” which a believer has done at salvation as it is seen in the latter verses of this Romans 10. Submit today unto God’s righteousness and receive it!

This takes us to attribute 2
Attribute 2:
GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS ONLY NEEDS A MAN’S SUBMISSION

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And… have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.

That is, the “self” in self righteousness, if submitted unto God, will be replaced by God to become God’s righteousness. Simple substitution of mathematics!

Humility is needed! Only submission is needed. No other requirement


Attribute 3:
YOU KEEP “GOING ABOUT” (BUSY) TO SUSTAIN SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS BUT GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS KEEPS YOU PRAISING

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and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God

you become a laborious man “going about to establish” your acclaimed righteousness. You must keep looking for what to do and what you must not do lest you lose the righteousness. But when you enjoy God's righteousness, you're rather thanking God

4
SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS KEEPS SEEKING TO BE ESTABLISHED, BUT GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS ROOTED IN THE UNFAILING GOD

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and going about to ESTABLISH their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God

huh! There is enough proof here that self righteousness is not “established”.
It is not firm.
It is so shaky.
It is not assuring, not enduring.
It has no guarantee.
It is not stable. You are righteous today, but next hour, it's gone.
Therefore the self righteous man must keep “going about” seeking to establish the righteousness, instead of submitting unto what is already built – Christ, the Cornerstone.

Don’t be deceived, sometimes these people are very zealous because Paul already said “I bear them record that they have a zeal of God” but their zeal is towards establishing their righteousness with God.
Do you see a man zealously striving to get God to accept him? Do you see a man trying all strength to get himself right with God, trying to maintain righteousness by striving to keep all of God’s law? You have seen a Pharisee in active service. He is not born again. And if he is, then he’s being self-righteous in his mind.

Is it wrong for a Christian to desire to be obedient to God? of course! That is the emblem of christianity before the world. Righteous by God’s standard, and living godly in this present world (Titus2:12). But when he wants to attain it by his strength or wants to sustain the credit he did not acquired by strength, he is being self righteous.
for by strength shall no man prevail. (1samuel 2:9)

Attribute 5
KNOWLEDGE IS THE WAY OUT OF SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS, NOT A WORK-YOUR-WAY-OUT THING

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that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to KNOWLEDGE. For they being IGNORANT…

the difference between the saved and the unsaved is knowledge and the product of knowledge. Quitting self righteousness, the man must first be aware that there is another establish-free, busy-free, praise-full, sure righteousness he only needs to submit to.

This is because there are many laws of Moses to be kept, and “of making many books [there is] no end; and much study [is] a weariness of the flesh.” (Eccl 12:12) such that the reader could easily “drift away” and continue to go about to establish his own righteousness, and not submit to God’s righteouness.


Hmm... don’t go away, there is more you need to know about these two kinds of righteousness so you can make a more informed decision as to where you wish to stand.

As we wrap up...

Let me do a simple test for you to know how well you’ve been following this article.

Look at this verse very well

And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:25 KJV)

Now, what kind of righteousness is being talked about in the verse you just read?

Thinking…

And it shall be OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS…

Hmmm…

Alright, the answer? Hmm…

and going about to establish THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS… hmmm

definitely, this is self righteousness.

It cannot be God’s righteousness if it is myself that went about to establish it. Is God a thief? Why will He claim what I laboured for? And it shall be our righteousness, IF we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us. (Deuteronomy 6:25 KJV)

number two reason is that it is not a stable cornerstone righteousness because it is only IF we observe to do ALL.

Number 3: I must establish it because it is not assured. A must do ALL, which means I must have a zeal of God though it is not according to knowledge
.
Hey! Hope this does not catch you in a hard way? If it does, you have been ignorant of God’s righteousness so you never see it n this fashion. Thank God you didn’t pass this article by this time. Let’s move on and you’ll understand more. Glory to Jesus!

Now, someone may ask or think “are you saying that righteousness can come without keeping any of the commandments?”

yes, but not me, but bible.

Does it mean we should be lawless? No

We can be righteous but our righteousness is not according to how much of the commandments we have kept. Faith in Christ makes you righteous in God's eyes

It's three.


One is on Nairaland.


Beware of anyone luring you to contact them for prayers. You can always pray to God directly. Little wonders Jesus taught us to pray, and what to pray for. Prayers from others about us aren't any different from ours...of course, it differs when you pay for it, or tip the “prayer warriorpreneur.”


Beware of anyone telling you they need to deliver you. That is totally rubbish. You only spend.



Beware of anyone speaking in tongues. They are taught to do it. It's part of the pastorship package to gain congregants. Perhaps, mumbling some words wasn't what was done by early Christians.

Beware of prosperity promisers.



I hope I made sense.

chatinent:
It's three.


One is on Nairaland.

Thanks for stopping by at least

Insightful!

God bless you

kayuseful:


1. Self righteousness (also called one’s own righteousness), and
2. God’s righteousness
We shall begin to see the attributes of the two kinds of righteousness from this portion of text. Remember we have learnt one attribute already. Can you recollect? Ooh!!! undecided

Alright, we said it’s common to them that are not saved yet. Now you remember. smiley

Attribute 1:
SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR THE UNSAVED, WHILE GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FOR THE SAVED

We have seen that from the above text. Now some may ask, “do you mean a born again person cannot be self-righteous?”. The answer is “Yes”, even though he may not know (that is, except in his mind).

It is clear from the above text that God’s righteousness simply requires that they (unbelievers) have “submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.” which a believer has done at salvation as it is seen in the latter verses of this Romans 10. Submit today unto God’s righteousness and receive it!

Common to them that are not saved? What about Self-righteousness where it applies to those who are saved?
You suggest that a Born again person cannot choose to obey His will over the Will of God?