The Righteous Requirement

I was recently reminded of this verse in James 5:16:  "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much."  Forgiveness by God is not earned through confession alone, nor should we credit particular words of a prayer for healing:  it is the righteous, holy and just God who forgives and heals.  Rather than seeking a person we view as righteous and placing our trust in their access to God, we ought to humble ourselves by obeying God who has spoken to us in His word, the LORD who hears and answers prayer.

The final verses of a chapter I read last night connected observance of the Law of Moses with righteousness in Deuteronomy 6:24-25:  "And the LORD commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. ²⁵ Then it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us."  While the Law is righteousness for all people who keep it, therein is the fatal flaw:  no man except Jesus Christ was able to keep or fulfill the Law.  God observed in mankind there were no righteous, no not one.  There was not a single person who understood God or continued without faltering in His righteous ways; all have gone astray.  Righteousness was like a carrot dangled in front of a donkey that could never be eaten by striving for it, for the stick was too long and the neck of the donkey too short.  Because human beings are born into sin, righteousness by the Law remains forever out of reach.

With the revelation of the Gospel, God held forth His remedy for our incorrigible sinfulness:  righteousenss imputed by God to all those who believe in Jesus Christ who has become righteousness for us through His sacrifice.  One purpose God gave the Law of Moses was to give knowledge of sin and objectively establish we are all sinners, having broken His laws.  By attempts to keep the Law no one can be justified in God's sight.  If righteousness could come from the Law of Moses, then Jesus died in vain (Gal. 2:21).  There is now no condemnation for those who trust in Jesus Christ, for the Spirit of Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death.  Paul wrote in Romans 8:3-4, "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴ that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."

Those who have been born again by faith in Jesus and declared righteous by grace through faith ought to walk righteously.  The inner spiritual transformation God has accomplished should be reflected in the way we live as we confess our sins, pray for one another, and walk according to the Holy Spirit.  Instead of our lives being marred by sinful works of the flesh, our Saviour causes fruit of the Spirit to be produced.  The righteousness of Christians is never earned by keeping the Law of Moses but can be lived out by heeding our righteous Saviour whose commands transcend laws He engraved on tablets of stone.  For instance, Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-22:  "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' ²² But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire."  God writes His laws upon our hearts under the new covenant, and Jesus is our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30-31).

Having been made righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, the earnest prayers of Christians are effective.  What is impossible for us becomes possible by God's grace, for we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Phil. 4:11-13).  We can learn to be content in Christ and rest in God's timing as we entrust ourselves and others into His sovereign care.  We can have all confidence when we pray according to God's will He hears us, and because He hears us our requests have been granted:  God will forgive and give eternal life to all who trust in Jesus.  Praise God!