RIGHTEOUS NOW OR LATER?

“For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith” Galatians 5:5.

“What?”, you say, “I thought the Reformation said we obtained a righteousness immediately upon faith in Jesus Christ? Isn’t the doctrine of justification by faith alone the doctrine upon with the church stands or falls? Isn’t that the doctrine that moved men to die upon racks and wage wars and stand before emperors?”

Indeed it was. Yet Paul, the apostle who most clearly explained the doctrine of justification by faith alone, seems to be contradicting himself here. In this text he is saying that believers are eagerly waiting for the hope of righteousness. So is Paul saying that righteousness is something we must wait for? Is he hinting that no person can know if he is saved until the final bell rings? Are believers in doubt as to the fate of their soul right up till the end? Is salvation a lottery, a chance event for which we hold our breath as the hand of fate thrusts itself into the bin to pick out the winning number? Is Paul a closet Catholic, secretly hoping he was saved but never quite sure?

Well that’s what the text says, isn’t it? “We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.”

The answer to this seeming contradiction is wrapped up in the way we view the concept of righteousness. The word finds itself used in three related but distinct biblical contexts. The first is in the way Luther & Co. primarily used it during the Reformation. This use of the word righteousness is capsulized in Romans 4:5. Let me quote it for you. “But to him who does not work but believes in Him who justifies (declares righteous) the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.” Here righteousness means the legal status before a judge. It has nothing to do with a person’s behavior. This is evident by Paul’s disclaimer that it is given to the one who “does not work.” This is a righteousness that is freely bestowed upon a guilty criminal by a merciful judge. We see that poor, disheveled man standing before the bench. The judge looks down and with pity in his eyes says, “I declare you to be innocent. Your record is now clean. All charges have been dropped. You may leave this courtroom.” For Christ’s sake, God declares condemned sinners like you and me to be innocent. This is a righteousness we need above all others. We must be clean before the bar of heaven. This form of righteousness is clearly - and blessedly - taught in the Bible.

But in our Galatians passage this is not at all the nuance Paul is placing on the term “righteousness.” Now we must understand that these Galatian churches had no problem believing that one was declared righteous before the judge upon profession of faith in Jesus Christ. It was what happened thereafter that caused them to fall out with the apostle. The Galatians were beginning to believe that after a man was declared righteous he must then go out and sustain his righteous standing by his good works. It would be like that same judge saying to the criminal, “You are innocent before the court; now go and sustain your innocent status by doing good to everyone you see.” In this scenario righteousness would be conditional, conditional on the condemned man’s further participation in good deeds. Paul gets quite worked up by anyone who would promote such a doctrine. Paul, in fact, goes so far as to say that this view of righteousness was a denial of the gospel and that if the Galatians believed it, they had truly fallen from grace.

So what does Paul mean that believers must “wait for the hope of righteousness?” Paul’s point in the entire book of Galatians is that the the declaration of righteousness by God to the sinner will always lead to a progression in experiential righteousness but ONLY in the power of the Spirit of God. In other words there is a righteousness that issues forth from the initial declaration, a righteousness that evidences itself in an increasing conformity of the believer into the image of Christ. We call it sanctification. And it is as much the work of God as the initial declaration of righteousness. It is this meaning behind the term righteousness that Paul is speaking of here. He is telling the Galatians that God will most surely give them a progressive participation in righteous living over the course of their lives. But this change will not be a human righteousness; it will not come from the exertion of the Galatians’ wills. It will only come “through the Spirit.” Earlier in the book Paul had chastised the Galatians for believing they could attain this practical righteousness on their own. “Are you so foolish?” he asks, “Having begun in the Spirit are you now being made perfect in the flesh?” No, no! the apostle says. This is impossible! The man who is declared righteous by the sole word of God can only be made righteous by the sole power of God. Unlike the first kind of righteousness, this incremental righteousness in the power of the Spirit is never fully attained in this life. But it is a righteousness. So as saints of God we become more and more righteous by degrees but we never get to the point of righteous perfection. Some churches have believed this and are patently wrong.

The third use of righteousness and by far the one used the least, is the righteousness of the eternal state whereby glorified saints will be completely holy in thought, word and deed. This righteousness is a perfect righteousness in every sense. Saints in heaven will no longer have any sin. They shall have perfect bodies, perfect minds and shall live in a perfect place with a perfect and glorious Savior. This sense of the word righteousness is found in Revelation 22:11; “Let him who is righteous be righteous still.” This verse means that in eternity the status of all men is permanently set. Those once declared righteous by God and progressively made righteous by the Spirit, will be forever righteous in glory. This is the final righteousness. It is where the Bible has been headed from the beginning. God has always been about the business of redeeming men. To do this He must first declare them to be free from the penalty of sin. That is righteousness. Then He must work in them to become increasingly like Him. That too is righteousness. And someday God will permanently make His people righteous both in status and in person, and that forever. That is the final righteousness. Just think: someday all of us who have believed in Jesus Christ as our Savior will stand before God in a spotless robe of righteousness. We shall have no tendency to sin. What a day that will be. But don’t let pride begin to seep in. Your righteousness in heaven will still be sustained by the work of God who will continually uphold you in your righteousness as He looks at you through wounds of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.