In this thought-provoking episode, dive deep into the intricate teachings of Paul as we explore his views on righteousness both in the book of Philippians and Romans. Understand how Paul sees himself navigating between the realms of human law and divine faith. The episode unravels the seeming contradictions in Paul’s writing, providing insights into his personal journey from a strict adherent to the law to someone who finds righteousness through Christ.
As you know, we’re starting up on the book of Romans again. But before we get into it verse by verse, I want to share and have been sharing a few insights with you and background thoughts about Paul and the book of Romans. And one of the remarkable perspectives we have is how Paul sees righteousness, righteousness for himself and in himself. I want to share with you in this regard two seemingly contradictory passages of Scripture. One is Paul’s description of himself in the book of Philippians. He says, Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. For me to write the same things to you is not tedious, but for you it is safe. Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the mutilation, that is the circumcision party. For we are the circumcision, who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I also might have confidence in the flesh. If anyone else thinks he may have confidence in the flesh, I more so. Circumcised the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, concerning the law, a Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is in the law, blameless. Wow! Just think what he said here. He says, if I were to have confidence in my human nature, in the flesh, in my natural humanity, I would have more confidence than anybody else. a member of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, concerning the law of Pharisee, concerning zeal, persecuting the church. Why, look, I’m full of energy and I was full of strength and I went after the opposers of Judaism more than anybody else. I was a Hebrew of Hebrews concerning zeal, persecuting the church, concerning the righteousness which is of the law, blameless. And you know that the Jewish people, the Pharisees, kept 613 laws every day. all these rituals that they kept. One of them was to not wear a handkerchief, not carry a handkerchief inside your belt. If you had a cold or something, you would not carry a handkerchief in your belt on this Sabbath day because that was like carrying a burden. And if you washed your hands, you had to let the water run down your middle finger. These rituals were just astonishing, and yet Paul says he was blameless. Now then, listen to what he says in Romans 7. He’s talking about the law, and he says this. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice, but what I hate, that I do. If then I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. but now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, nothing good dwells, for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do. but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? This is a remarkable contradiction, seeming contradiction here. Paul wrote the letter of Ephesians about Philippians, rather, three years before he wrote the letter to the Romans. and about 57 verses 80-60, and we see this contradiction. It’s not, though, because there are three years difference. It’s because of the way he now sees himself in relation to Jesus Christ. He kept the Ten Commandments, and he kept all the laws of the ritualistic laws. The laws that he kept were so stringent that very, very few would ever keep them. But Paul was blameless in that regard. So what’s the contradiction? How is it resolved between… this seeming blamelessness of Paul, and then Romans 7, where he speaks of himself as doing things which he doesn’t want to do, and the things he wants to do, he doesn’t do. Well, of course, he’s talking about behaviour, external behaviour, and the internal state of the mind. When Paul is talking about being blameless to the law, he’s talking about legalism. He’s talking about conforming exactly to all the principles and rituals that the law called for and that the traditions called for, because those 613 laws that he kept were mainly and principally traditions. But what explanation do we have then? We have this, that on the outward side, in regard to performances and rituals, Paul kept every one of them. He was compliant in every detail. But he must have known that there was something wrong inside him. He must have known that he was not happy. He must have known that he was not at peace. He must have known stress and anxiety and perhaps darkness and depression. Jesus himself, when he met him on the road, you remember, in Syria there, said to him, I am Jesus and it is hard for you to kick against the pricks. That’s referring to a goad, a stick with a pin on the end of it that the rider of a donkey would occasionally prod into the donkey to get it moving. Jesus was saying, it is hard for you to kick against the pricks of your conscience. So then, even though Paul, when he was Saul, before he was converted, was a legally righteous man, a blameless and perfect man, he was not at peace within his own heart. And that he describes in Romans 7. We’ll talk about this when we get there in Romans 7, of course, but this isn’t about pre-conversion or post-conversion. It’s about the nature of being human, whether we are blameless in regard to the law and the rituals and all the things we should be doing in society or not. Inwardly we are not at peace. Inwardly we find this contradiction within our hearts, that we want to do certain things and we ought to do them but we don’t do them, or we ought not to do certain things and yet we do them, this contradiction between conscience and actions. Paul gives an explanation of it, or brings a harmony to it, when he says in Philippians, after having said that he was blameless in regard to the law, concerning the law blameless, he said, Yet, but what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. What was the gain? The gain was being a perfect human being according to the law, so that he had a fantastic reputation among the Jewish people and among the Pharisees and in the Sanhedrin, of which he was a member, and in the synagogue. Yet indeed, yes indeed, yet indeed, I also count all things lost for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things. I told you yesterday, he lost his ministry, he lost his reputation, he lost his social security, he lost everything. And I count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ and be found in him. not having my own righteousness. Now here you see, in his heart and mind, he renounces all of the legal righteousness, all the outward performance according to the law. He renounces it all. I am being found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith. that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death, if by any means I may attain to resurrection from the dead. So do you see then the difference Paul is talking about between legal righteousness and the righteousness that comes to us is accounted to us by faith in Christ? there is a wonderful link that we can make between these two seeming contradictions, and it’s in Galatians chapter 2, verse 20. He says, I have been, well, let’s read verse 19, for I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God. How come? What does that mean? I, through the law, died to the law. He means by keeping it perfectly perfect. I realized once I knew Christ that I could not keep it perfectly, that I was keeping it outwardly, but inwardly I was full of dead man’s bones. Inwardly I had stress, I had anxiety, I had worry, I had depression, I had all of these things that did not call for peace. The inward man was not a righteous man, Paul’s implying, at all. That is then, through the law, through attempting to keep the law, I became more aware of the inward darkness and lawlessness of my own soul. So now he says, I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain. What a revelation this is! All the morality of the world is as rubbish, according to Paul. Because that is the morality of the law. Mind you, there’s not much morality in law-keeping these days, is there, in the lawless societies in which we live. But all that righteousness of the law is rubbish. But the righteousness that comes through faith in Christ is acknowledging that I have no righteousness of my own and that Christ is my righteousness. And so I’m crucified with him. I identify with him. What he did on the cross was what he did for me and on my behalf. and therefore I have faith in him who gives me access to the Father. And so the righteousness of Christ is not about a law, it is about a person. It is about loving fellowship with him through faith, which brings us into the very heart of God. Thank you for joining me today, everyone. Colin Cook here and How It Happens, this broadcast that you can hear any time of the day or night on your smartphone. Simply download an app, soundcloud.com or podbean.com and key in How It Happens with Colin Cook when you get there. Please consider a donation at this beginning of the month. It’s a listener-supported radio, costs $39 per 15 minutes program. You can make your donation online at faithquestradio.com or send your donation to Faith Quest, P.O. Box 366, Littleton, Colorado, 80160. Thank you so much for all your support. See you next time. Cheerio and God bless.
