“FOR THEY BEING IGNORANT OF GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND GOING ABOUT TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS, HAVE NOT SUBMITTED THEMSELVES UNTO THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD.”
The phrase, “For they being ignorant of God’s Righteousness,” spells the story not only of ancient Israel, but almost the entirety of the world, and for all time.
WHAT IS GOD’S RIGHTEOUSNESS?
As Paul will say in the next verse, Christ is the Righteousness of God. In other words, God’s Righteousness is not a philosophy, a theory, a Church, or a Law. It is a Person. The Lord Jesus Christ.
The Righteousness of Christ is the only Righteousness that God will accept. As well, He makes the Righteousness of Christ available to all who have simple Faith in Him, admitting that they have no Righteousness of their own, and are totally dependent on God for everything. Believing in what Jesus did at Calvary and the Resurrection, affords one instant Righteousness, which is referred to as “Imputed Righteousness” (Eph. 2:8-9).
In other words, God imputes to the believing sinner that which he does not have, and which in no way he can have, at least within himself. It is a Free Gift, and must be freely received.
The phrase, “And going about to establish their own Righteousness,” presents Israel’s problem, and, actually, the problem of most of humanity.
HOW DID THEY ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH THEIR OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS?
“Establish” in the Greek Text is “histemi,” and means “to set up,” which indicates their pride in their endeavor. In effect, they would erect a Righteousness of their own as a monument to their own glory not to God’s.
“Going about” in the Greek is “zeteo,” and means “to seek,” in other words. To seek something which was not necessary to seek, and because it had already been provided.
“Their own” in the Greek is “idios,” and means “one’s own private, personal possession, in a class by itself, peculiarly one’s own.”
The Righteousness the Jews desired was a Righteousness that was in character their own, one tinged with their own endeavors, the product of their own efforts, one that would glorify themselves, not one characterized by what God is in His Glorious Person, not one handed to them as a gift for which they would feel obligated to thank Him (Wuest).
Their manner of doing this lay in their efforts to obtain Righteousness by keeping the Law of Moses.
First of all, it was proper that they make every effort to keep the Law, and in fact were commanded by God to do so (Deut. 28:15-68). So that within itself was not wrong, but rather right.
A TWOFOLD PROBLEM
Their problem was twofold: A. They claimed they were keeping the Law when they were not; and, B. They made a religion out of the effort. Consequently, if Ten Commandments were good, many, many Commandments would be even better, so, as stated, they added about 600 oral laws to the original Ten, even claiming that these man devised laws were of greater import than the original Ten. As a result, by the time of Christ the entirety of the Nation was literally swimming in religious laws of every nature.
As an example, one of those 600 odd laws was that a person could not drag a chair across the floor on the Sabbath, because some dust may be moved by the chair, which could be construed as plowing, which was forbidden on the Sabbbath in the original Law of Moses. As well, a woman could not comb her hair on the Sabbath, because a speck of dust might be moved, and she would be guilty of plowing, etc. When one begins to realize that there were approximately 600 laws like this, all man-devised, then one begins to get the general idea of them attempting to establish their own Righteousness.
There is something about all this religious effort that makes a man feel he is doing something to contribute toward his Salvation. Consequently, the more he becomes involved in religious effort, the more righteous he becomes, at least in his own eyes. In a sense religion is a narcotic.
This is at least one of the reasons they hated Jesus to such an extent. He ignored all of their man-devised laws, and even above that proclaimed the clarion call to all, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mat. 11:28).
Rest from what?
Rest from all this weary legalism, which never brought peace of mind, or instituted Righteousness whatsoever, at least that which God would accept.
SUBMISSION
The phrase, “Have not submitted themselves unto the Righteousness of God,” proclaims what must be done in order for one to be Saved.
“Submitted” in the Greek is “hupotasso,” and is a military word which means, “to arrange under, to subordinate, as soldiers in a battalion under a Commanding Officer, to put oneself under orders, to obey.”
This means that the appropriation by Faith of God’s Righteousness found only in Jesus Christ, involves not only the discarding of all dependence upon self and self-effort for Salvation, but also the heart’s submission or capitulation to Jesus as Saviour and Lord. This the Jews would not do, and this most of the world will not do!
Submitting oneself to the “Righteousness of God” involves only one thing, but actually in two parts:
1. To which we have already alluded, the sinner must submit himself to Jesus Christ, Who in effect, is the Righteousness of God, and to that which He did to redeem humanity. There is no other Saviour except Christ. In fact, regarding all the major religions of the world, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc., not one of the founders of these philosophies ever claimed to be God. However, Jesus Christ did claim to be God, and proved He was God in many ways, by the performing of an untold number of Miracles, as well His Resurrection from the Dead Certainly not being the least of such proof. So, it is Jesus with Whom man must deal.
If men attempt to circumvent the Plan of God in any way
Regarding Jesus Christ, they automatically forfeit their Salvation.
Because in the words of Simon Peter “Neither is there Salvation in
any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among
men, whereby we must be Saved” (Acts 4:12). So, as blunt as it
seems, submission must be to Christ, or there is no Salvation.
IT IS NOT CHRIST PLUS!
Also, submission must be to Christ Alone, without tacking anything
onto the condition of Faith. For example, when Catholics tack the Church or Mary onto Jesus regarding Salvation, that automatically forfeits this grand privilege. When Seventh Day Adventists tack on Saturday to Jesus, they have followed the same path. When certain Pentecostals tack on Tongues, the results are the same.
Anytime, anyone adds anything to Jesus Christ, such constitutes “works,” and nullifies Faith in Christ. God does not demand scholarship, morality, good works, money, education, or anything else for that matter, in order for a person to be Saved, only trust exclusively and totally in Jesus Christ and what He did at Calvary. The Lord does not even demand that the sinner understand very much about this great work, which in fact he doesn’t. The Lord only demands Faith, which simply says “I believe in Jesus Christ, and what He did at Calvary and the Resurrection and I give my life to Him.” If they mean it with all of their heart, irrespective as to whom they are, or where they are, at that moment that person is Saved (Jn. 3:16; Rom. 10:9-10,13) Then the Righteousness of God is instantly and freely imputed to the believing sinner.
THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD
2. The Word of God proclaims to all what the “Righteousness of God” actually is. Actually, that subject is the foundational study of the entirety of the Bible.
Man forfeited his Righteousness in the Garden of Eden, and God
set about immediately to restore that which was lost. That He did
this thing in Jesus Christ, is the story of the Bible. God’s dealings
with man is the portrayal of the “Righteousness of God.”
Man has no Righteousness within himself, cannot obtain
Righteousness within himself, cannot earn Righteousness
irrespective as to what he might do, but yet Righteousness is
Demanded by God. Consequently, the Lord made it possible
through His Son Jesus Christ that Righteousness could be
afforded to humanity, and that it be given upon simple Faith.
Nothing could be more fair, more honest, more equitable, or more
forthright. The condition is the same for all, whether rich or poor,
whether great or small, whether old or young, whether red, yellow,
brown, black, or white. The condition is Faith in Christ.
This means that the worst sinner in the world, whoever he or
she might be, can throw himself or herself at the Feet of the
World’s Redeemer, as soiled and polluted as is possible to be,
and in a few moments’ time arise totally Justified, and
Completely Righteous. Of course, Israel of old had problems with
that, and so does most of the world. They keep trying to earn this
which in fact cannot be earned, and can be obtained only as a
Free Gift from God. (JS Commentary)
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