UMC20240204 - The righteous will live by faith¶
In my quiet times in the mornings, I have been enamoured with the book of Romans, rereading it over and over. One of the verses that sticks in my mind each time I read it: “The righteous will live by faith.” And these questions along with it: What does it mean to be righteous? What does it mean to live in faith?
In Romans 1 Paul states that "God's invisible qualities ... have been clearly seen" in the world and we are without excuse. And what are God's invisible qualities? Goodness, love, mercy. Whether people know God or not, we all can tell if that person is generally a good person or generally bad person. We can sense it. The knowledge of good and evil is built into us. Paul says those who live in blatant opposition to this knowledge of goodness, love, and mercy live in a state of believing that the world/God/universe is against them. They live with a "screw-it-all" mentality and follow a lustful, addictive way of living, pulling in others to do the same, all the while judging others for their way of living (even though they are the same or worse).
Paul writes over and over again that God is the God of Jews and Gentiles and that God does not judge whether you know the law or not. Those who know the law are judged by it, those who do not know the law will be judged apart from it. Being circumcised has nothing to do with it. He explains that circumcision is a state of the heart. Gentiles who live righteously have the law written on their hearts, their hearts are circumcised. Jews who live unrighteous lives may be circumcised outwardly but not inwardly. Abraham was declared righteous for living a life of faith before he was circumcised outwardly.
So these are my current ponderings on the two questions. Righteousness means you are living a life of moral and spiritual purity. That you know goodness, love, and mercy. If you are righteous, you are considered right or just in the eyes of God. Living by faith is seeing that goodness, love, and mercy are in the world and trusting in these qualities and the inherent goodness of humanity to always win eventually.
The righteous will live by faith.
Love,
Cliff