One of the more contentious issues within the body of the Messiah is the issue of righteousness. Nobody has an issue with wanting to be seen as righteous. But the moment righteousness is defined to include obedience is the moment people start taking exception. And it's no wonder that this is done, since those who are governed by the flesh are hostile to Yahweh and are unable to obey Yahweh's commandments [Romans 8:6-8]. To be fair, it is good to challenge something if your motives are good. Such a challenge serves to prove how well the thing one is challenging holds up to examination, if one's motives are to examine the claim. But as we will see, this is not what is happening with the definition of righteousness when it is defined correctly.
In the New Testament, the Greek word "anomia" is the word for "lawlessness". It literally means "the practice of being without law". And the law that it always refers to is Torah. It may also be translated as "iniquity" or "unrighteousness". It is derived from "anomos", which literally means "without law". It can also be translated as "iniquity", "unrighteousness", "transgression", and "unlawful", among other things. They are all referring to the same thing: being or living without Torah, whether by living by a different law, or willfully living contrary to God's law. You might be able to see where I'm going with this.
There is a pervasive teaching going around the Body of the Messiah that I like to call "the lazy gospel". Others refer to it as "easy believism". I and others have also referred to it as "the lawless gospel". This false gospel disguises itself as the true Gospel that salvation is through faith in Yeshua (Jesus). But it frames faith itself as the fruit, rather than the thing that produces the fruit. When taken to its logical conclusion, this lawless gospel perverts the Gospel of grace into a license to commit any sin that one desires, free of all restraint.
This lazy gospel relies on two truths to perpetrate its deception: The first truth is that nobody can be righteous by obeying the law of Yahweh [Romans 3:19-20]. The second truth is that righteousness is by faith in the Lord Yeshua (Jesus) the Messiah [Romans 3:21-24]. Paul goes to extreme lengths to drive this point home in Galatians 3. So much so, that many assume that Paul is anti-Torah based on Galatians 3 alone. I intend to do a blog post specifically on Galatians in the near future, but that's beside the point. Those who teach the lazy gospel want to be righteous by faith without the fruit that goes with it, which is repentance. They conclude that since it's believing in Yeshua (Jesus) that is the fruit that makes us righteous, then living in accordance with God's law for any reason must make one "self-righteous".
John has some warnings concerning righteousness. One being a warning not to let anyone deceive you about what makes a person righteous: 1 John 3:7 says in no uncertain terms that it's the one who practices righteousness who is righteous. So what does that mean for the teaching that righteousness is by faith? Here's a hint: One can also say that righteousness "comes from", "is caused by", or "is because of" faith. So righteousness is the fruit that is produced by faith. But then how is it that nobody can be righteous by their works? Paul answered that in Romans 3:19-20: By our works, we are wicked. How then can faith apart from works result in righteousness? Paul answers this question as well in Colossians 2:14: The record of our debt is destroyed. The legal charge against us no longer stands. In other words, we have been forgiven of everything that makes us unrighteous, just by believing in Yeshua (Jesus).
If it's the one who practices righteousness who is righteous, having their slate wiped clean because of their faith in Jesus, then what does it mean to "practice righteousness"? Paul answers this as well in Romans 2:13, where he says that it is the doers of the law (Torah) who are righteous. So the one who practices obeying God's commandments is the one who is righteous, if they have first had their slate wiped clean by trusting the Lord Jesus.
What does this mean for "self-righteousness" then? Remember that "self-righteousness" is often defined by the Church as keeping God's law. Surely one cannot be both righteous and self-righteous at the same time, right? As it turns out, one can't. One can be righteous, or one can be self-righteous, but not both. Paul warns in Romans 10:3-4 against those who set up their own righteousness rather than submitting to God's righteousness. And this is after he spent Romans 6 and 7 saying that we are no longer under the power of sin, but are now slaves to righteousness (keeping God's law).
Yahweh himself, through the prophet Ezekiel, has also answered the question of self-righteousness. In Ezekiel 33:13, the prophet of God speaks of someone who is initially righteous, but then starts trusting his own righteousness and commits lawlessness. Ezekiel, speaking according to what God has commanded him to speak, warns that for such a person, their righteous deeds will not be remembered. And in verses 14-16 Yahweh says through Ezekiel that when a wicked person turns from their wickedness and does what is just, that person's wicked deeds will not be remembered.
So, self-righteousness is defined as doing what is contrary to God's law, and making up your own standard of righteousness. So is the one who is living according to Torah self-righteous? Absolutely not! On the contrary, such a person is submitting to God's righteousness by definition.
One objection raised to maintain the self-deception that living in obedience to God's law is self-righteousness is to claim that such people are trying to earn their salvation. In fact, these people are so desperate to avoid being convicted of sin that they are unable to understand that obedience to God's law itself is not "salvation by works". They themselves even teach a form of obedience (which is contrary to their own "lazy gospel"). But they never see their version of obedience as trying to earn salvation. What they fail to realize that neither is obedience to Torah. They also fail to see that their form of obedience is incomplete, and that obeying God's law from their heart is what makes one's obedience complete.
Is it possible for someone to try to earn their salvation by obeying God? Absolutely. Will it work? By no means. For the only way to earn salvation would be to have not sinned a single time, ever! And who has done that but Yeshua (Jesus) alone? But if a person has never, ever committed a single sin, then there is nothing for that person to be saved from. We need the Lord because we have sinned. We need salvation because we have transgressed God's righteous law of liberty and have become slaves to sin!
Since self-righteousness is making up your own standard of righteousness, it can take many forms. This includes selective obedience. This is most commonly in the form of arbitrarily labeling certain commandments the "moral law" and saying, "we must obey these", and labeling certain other commandments the "ceremonial law" and saying, "we do not have to obey these". Some even say that it is wrong to obey what they have arbitrarily labeled as the "ceremonial law". Self-righteousness can also be in the form of hedging God's commandments with your own (which Paul says are worthless [Colossians 2:20-23]). And it can be in the form of adding to God's commandments, which is a direct violation of Deuteronomy 4:2 and 12:32. Let's go over a few examples of self-righteousness.
The first example of self-righteousness comes from the Bible itself. In Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells a parable of a Pharisee who boasted about his own righteousness when he prayed to God. The Pharisee in this parable believed he was righteous because he fasted frequently and tithed all of his possessions. The former is not something that God commanded and the latter is a distortion of what God commanded. Matthew 15:1-9 and Mark 7:1-13 go into more detail about the heaps and heaps of traditions and human rules that the Pharisees believed made them righteous, all while either neglecting or even countermanding God's actual commandments. And while correctly teaching God's commandments when they sat on Moses's seat [Matthew 23:1-7]. By the Pharisees' own rules, a person is required to correctly teach Torah when they sit on Moses's seat.
Our second examples comes from James 2:1-13, when he is rebuking those showing partiality. Many viewed themselves as righteous while showing partiality in their dealings with the poor verses with the rich. Showing partiality either in favor of the poor or in favor of the rich is a direct violation of God's law, which is what makes such things a sin. He also gives an example of how abstaining from adultery while committing murder makes one a sinner [James 2:11], right after saying in James 2:10 that breaking any of God's commandments makes you a sinner (law breaker).
Many twist James 2:10, saying, "if you break one commandment, they you have broken every commandment", and "therefore, we should not be trying to keep any of the commandments". This, of course, is the opposite of the point James is making. If ignoring one commandment makes you a transgressor, then ignoring all of them makes you a transgressor all the more! And the people who do this somehow think doing this makes them righteous! By the way, nobody takes this teaching to its logical conclusion. Instead, they use it to justify their selective obedience, which is somehow also supposed to make them righteous. Ever heard of psychological projection? That's what those who say, "keeping God's law is self-righteousness" are doing.
For some more modern examples of self-righteousness, we have the Sunday Sabbath, a number of "holy days" that God never commanded (such as Christmas and Easter). Observing the Sabbath only counts towards righteousness when it is observed on the 7th day of the week (Saturday), per the 4th Commandment. Adopting holidays used by pagans to honor false gods always dishonors God regardless of one's intent, and so can never count towards righteousness. Extra celebrations such as Hanukkah and Purim also cannot count towards righteousness, as God never commanded them. And as per Leviticus 23:2, only the days declared as holy in Leviticus 23 (and other places in Torah) are holy. Anything else is merely a human tradition that should never be treated as holy (human traditions are not sinful of themselves).
Some other examples of self-righteousness would include abstaining from profanity, not judging others (when practiced consistently), women wearing dresses, women covering their bodies in order to "be modest" and "not tempt men into lust", and men averting their eyes from women who are "dressed immodestly" in order to "not lust after them". These are all matters of opinion and consideration for others. Following these rules does not contribute to righteousness, nor does not following them contribute to unrighteousness. See my post on Romans 14 for more details concerning matters of opinion.
Notice that the pattern of self-righteousness does not change. It always involves one or more of the following: (a) neglecting some of God's commandments, (b) hedging God's commandments, or (c) changing or refusing some of God's commandments. All while thinking that this is part of being righteous.
In summary, self-righteousness is establishing one's own standard of righteousness. This includes defining obedience to God's law as self-righteousness, and imposing your own standards of righteousness upon others. While the true righteousness that comes from faith in Yeshua (Jesus) is obeying God's commandments from your heart. And God has always wanted obedience to come from the heart. That is why he commanded us to love him with all our hearts [Deuteronomy 6:5]. Therefore, examine yourself to see if there are any human rules you are following, and what your motives are for following them. And use discernment when you consider dropping those rules. Also examine yourself to see if and where your obedience to God is incomplete. If through discernment, you find that it is incomplete, then begin to implement what you have learned. But do so out of love and by faith, not out of fear.
Remember, because of your faith in Yeshua (Jesus), you do not need to fear condemnation. Because you have a heart that desires to obey the one you believe in, God will show grace to you in your shortcomings. The only ones who have anything to fear are those who's hearts are inclined to disobey God.
