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Romans 1:17
For in the gospel a righteousness from God is
revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from
first to last, just as it is written: "The
righteous will live by faith."
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February 7
Righteousness From God
In Credited As Righteousness,
we saw that Abraham believed God and it was
credited to him as righteousness. In
Romans, Paul continues this teaching.
The righteousness that we have is not our own
but rather is given to us from God. We
don't earn it but instead it is given to us
because of our faith. Once we have been
given righteousness, we continue to live by
faith.
Many Christians mistakenly follow the Lord out
of duty because of the laws of God. We
can't live up to the standards of God though,
the Old Testament showed us this clearly.
That is the whole reason that Jesus had to come
to earth as a sacrifice for us.
Christians, the righteous in this case, live by
faith not out of duty but out of love. We
were given righteousness on account of our
faith. We don't continue to live by
faithful in order to maintain our righteousness
though. We continue to live by faith
because we have been made righteous.
Christians should want to follow the commands of
God, not feel duty bound to observe them.
Without a doubt, our sinful nature is going to
continue to rebel against God and we're not
always going to do what is right. We're
not even always going to want to do
what is right. But in the end we should
live by faith simply because we want to please
the Lord. |
