Opus 2012-115, Filthy Rags Are Better Than None

In Christian circles there are two references that keep coming up when we talk about living moral lives and what God expects.  The first is from the Old Testament,

(Isaiah 64:6 KJV)  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

The second is Paul in the New Testament, quoting the Old Testament.

(Romans 3:10 KJV)  As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

These are glorious proof texts that are used to emphasize that we are dirty, rotten, no-good sinners and can do nothing right.  The implication is that since we all deserve hell, God is free to send us all there.  I can live with that.  The extension is what I have a problem with.  Some people extend this to say that only the elect, after the cross, have any hope because we are covered with the righteousness of Christ.  This would rule out any of the Old Testament saints and anyone in your circle of friends that felt they had trusted in Christ and were not one of the chosen.

The Bible refers to many people as if they were righteous.  In reality, none of the people picked would have thought of themselves as righteous.  They would have been doing a lot of repenting and mea culpa, browbeating and sackcloth and ashes.  They would be totally unaware that they were behaving as God would have them behave.

Remember John 3:16?  It does not say,

“For God so loved some of the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever He had already chosen and forced to believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

For those who have forgotten it goes like this:

(John 3:16 KJV)  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Someone once said, “God don’t make no junk.”  I tend to think He doesn’t make filthy rags either.

Have a righteous day.

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