By Rev. Dr. Daniel Brege

Read John 8:34 from our study text (located near the bottom of this page). Jesus gives double verification (“truly, truly”) to the fact that everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin. That makes everyone a slave of sin, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We need to be freed from this slavery. Read verse 36. Jesus concludes this section by declaring that if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. How are we freed from slavery to sin? Jesus sets us free from sin by giving us righteousness! Let us then consider this theme of God-given righteousness.

CIVIL RIGHTEOUSNESS

We usually think of righteousness as a behavior and an attitude in line with God’s law. This is not wrong. From a purely human perspective, a righteous person is one who is good and godly. In Luke 1:5-6 (ESV), Zechariah and Elizabeth are observed to be outwardly righteous: “… there was a priest named Zechariah … and he had a wife … and her name was Elizabeth. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” Zechariah and Elizabeth were each outwardly righteous. As Christians we realize that this outward “righteous” behavior makes for a stable civilization—even among non-Christians. We may refer to this as “civil righteousness.” (See also below, Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s sanctification-related righteousness.)

RIGHTEOUSNESS MAKING A CLAIM BEFORE GOD

At the time of the Reformation, Martin Luther wrestled with the loftiest righteousness, the righteousness that makes a claim to stand before God. Civil righteousness (as just identified with Zechariah and Elizabeth) cannot make a claim of righteousness before God. Luther, like Saint Paul centuries before, came to realize from Scripture that a righteousness that is derived from keeping God’s Law is totally insufficient in God’s presence. Those in Paul’s day who claimed that such a “good-works-righteousness” had merit before God were the Pharisees. In Luther’s day, it was the warped doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church that claimed our righteous works had merit before God. Scripture indicates that before God, our righteous deeds are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). We need God’s righteousness; we need a righteousness that is bestowed upon us by God.

“Justified” = “Declared Righteous”

Understand that in Scripture, when speaking of our relationship before God, the word “justify” means simply to “declare righteous.” In fact a literal translation of the Greek word for justify is “righteousify.” This is not an actual English word, yet it is much like the real English word “purify”— which identifies making something pure—so “righteousify” is to make someone righteous—to declare someone righteous. Thus, when the Bible speaks of someone being “justified,” we can replace that word with “declared righteous.”

CREATING OUR JUSTIFICATION

In order to declare us righteous, Christ had to remove the filthy robe of our sins. He did this by bearing our sins in His body on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). He then would clothe us with righteousness. Such righteous clothing is especially associated with His resurrection. Here, we see a two-sided coin identifying our righteousness: First, when our sins are removed, we must be, in a sense, righteous. Second, when we are raised to new life—as surely as Christ rose from the dead—then we are indeed made new, declared newly righteous! Christ accomplished this, setting us free from sin, by both His death and His resurrection—both bestowed on us in our Baptism.

JUSTIFICATION DRAWN FROM JESUS’ SINLESS LIFE

From another perspective, the righteousness given to us by faith is the righteousness performed by Christ in His perfect life. Unlike each of us, Jesus lived a completely righteous life, committing no sin! When we are in Christ by faith, God the Father sees Christ, and He then sees us as sinless righteous.

RIGHTEOUS WORKS FOLLOW JUSTIFICATION

Now, having been declared righteous (justified) by faith in Jesus, we are sanctified to live outwardly righteous lives. Such righteous living is sanctification, which is the result of being justified. Along with civil righteousness, Zechariah and Elizabeth had this sanctification-related righteousness. This righteous living counts nothing toward our salvation, but it is a righteousness that naturally flows from being saved.

This month’s study text:

The Truth Will Set You Free

31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” 33 They answered him, “We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, ‘You will become free’?”

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:31-36 (ESV)

Reflection Questions:

Relate civil righteousness to Romans 13:3-5. Should a Christian have such civil righteousness? Why?

Read Philippians 3:4b-9. Observe how Saint Paul relates having been a Pharisee. Instead of righteousness that comes from the Law (the teaching of Pharisees), what kind of righteousness did Paul make a claim to?

Read Romans 3:21-25. What in these verses shows the insufficiency of righteousness from good works? Realize that faith is not some “good work” we perform; it is a gift of the Holy Spirit whereby we cling to Christ.

How does such faith come into play in these verses? Note how these verses state that “the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” Paul is indicating here that to be declared righteous by faith is not a new thing, for the Old Testament (“the Law and the Prophets”) bear witness to it. Consider verses like Genesis 15:6 and Habakkuk 2:4 and note how Paul references these verses in Romans 1:16-17, Galatians 3:6-11, and Romans 4:2-3. Some are convinced that from Psalm 71 Luther realized that only God’s righteousness mattered, and thus our righteousness had to be given to us by Him, drawn from His righteousness. Read the Psalm and write the verses that magnify God’s righteousness.

Look up Galatians 2:15-16. Re-read these verses and replace the word “justified” with “declared righteous.”

In Romans 4:25 what did Jesus do to remove our trespasses—our unrighteousness? (Read also verses 22-24.) Then, according to this verse, what did He do to clothe us with righteousness (justify)? How does this relate to Baptism in Colossians 2:12-13, Romans 6:3-4, and Titus 3:4-7 (“washing” here is Baptism)?

How do 2 Corinthians 5:21 and 1 Peter 2:22 present the righteous life of Jesus, whose righteousness is then ours by faith?

Explain how 1 Peter 2:24, Romans 6:4, and Ephesians 2:9-10 describe the “righteous” life that flows from our justification.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, we unrighteous humans thank and praise You for creating a new righteousness for us by Your perfect life, death, and resurrection. We continually give You thanks that by faith in You through Your Word and Sacraments You have then declared us righteous. We now realize by faith alone that we have been totally freed from our slavery to sin. In Your Holy Name. Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Daniel Brege was a longtime pastor on “Worship for Shut-Ins.” Read more about him here in "Homecoming."