July 13, 2025

“…for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Romans 10:10

The righteousness required for salvation is not obtained by repeatedly performing the works of God’s law, but by believing His promises.

This does not mean that Christians neglect good works—but simply, that our works do not make us righteous. As the Apostle Paul writes to the Philippians, “,,,and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith…”

Philippians 3:9

Or, as Paul writes to the Ephesians, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

Many professing believers approach God’s law in the same way that Old Testament Jews did under the curse of the law. They measure their spiritual standing by how strictly they adhere outwardly to God’s commandments. But Moses wrote, “Cursed is he who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.’ And all the people shall say, ‘Amen.’”

Deuteronomy 27:26

In contrast, the New Testament believer hears Paul say, “that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, ‘The righteous man shall live by faith.’”

Galatians 3:11

The law is not of faith (Galatians 3:13).

So it’s not that our way of life is irrelevant—rather, the key question is: How do we measure our righteousness? Do we look to the repetition of our righteous deeds, or do we rest in the righteous Christ, believing in Him as the ground of our justification and the measure of our Christianity?

As someone once said, “He is not righteous who does much, but he who, without work, believes much in Christ is.”