Can't I be a righteous man, live without God, and still enter the kingdom of heaven?
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God's wrath remains on him."[l]
Romans 3:22
22This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement,[i] through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— 26he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
But my relative counters
Matthew 5:10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
But If any righteous man can enter the kingdom of heaven, then what does that make of the Great commission?
That leads us to dissecting the Great commission
Matthew 28:19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
I would think that the text says quite clearly what we are to do. Is it enough that we show God's love to our neighbours? Is it enough that men do what is "right" without placing God at the centre of our lives?
Of course, it is not for us to judge. But I do think that Jesus is central to the spreading of the gospel. Not just through deeds and actions of love, but there comes a time when the explanation of our reasons for these works must be told.
2 comments:
Hey Kris! Very many people believe that living a 'righteous' life will please God. However, Isaiah 64:6 says that "all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment." Even if we try to be as good as possible, the fact is that we are trying to be our own saviour, and we refuse to submit our lives to God, the king of all things (see Romans 1:21).
Every good thing is of God, but when we perform good works for any reason other than glorifying him, we prostitute what he has made good and pervert it for our own reasons. Doing good is to point back to God, not at ourselves! =)
-phil
"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 5:20
I think it is important to define righteousness. Like no matter how many good works I do, I can't become righteous, because once I break a small part of the law, I break the entire law (James 2:10). Therefore, righteousness is given by faith in Christ, because He lived a sinless life.
Righteousness is like a declaration from God saying that we are righteous in His sight because He sees that the blood of Jesus has cleansed us from our sins. We are justified by faith.
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