For years and years, I’ve been trying to put together a simple “equation” that keeps me happy and safe. Here I am starting all over again. Perhaps a couple of items in that equation are:
@bob I really appreciate your heart here and your desire to anchor yourself in peace and safety. Seeking that security in God is so vital.
If I can offer one gentle point of reflection on your first statement, though? Biblically, repentance doesn’t make us deserving of glory. In fact, the beauty of the gospel is that none of us are deserving of glory, grace, or salvation, no matter how fully we repent Romans 3:23; Ephesians 2:8–9. Salvation and future glory are pure, unmerited gifts from God, not something we earn or become entitled to through our repentance. Repentance is simply turning back to Him with empty hands.
The incredible news is that our safety doesn’t rest on what we deserve, but on who Jesus is and what He accomplished for us. We are safe not because our repentance made us worthy, but because His grace is secure and His promises never fail Romans 8:1.
Keeping our eyes on His grace rather than our own deserving is what gives us true, unshakable peace!
Be blessed,
Peter
If you’ve repented of your sin, you are deserving of glory.
This reflects a works based approach. It is understandable and is often associated with Acts 2:38. However the “repent” aspect was said to those who had just realized that they had killed Jesus. So their change of mind (which is what the Greek word translated repent means) was to be maintained.
For Christians today faith (trust) is the requirement as can be seen as Paul summarized the gospel;
1Co 15:1 Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand,
1Co 15:2 by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.
1Co 15:3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
1Co 15:4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures;
The English word “believe” does not fully capture the sense of “trust in” or “rely on” that is in the Greek. It is less an act that we perform, but a result of a truth in which we trust.
I would re-phrase the statements as such;
Repent from my sins, in order to restore my relationship and intimacy with our Good Lord, and by extension, my neighbor.
Fear not.
( we are imperfect people, called to love imperfect people, perfectly)
We need to be able to hold our heads up. Can we do that if we don’t repent?
If we don’t repent, how can we hold our heads up? And besides, sinning gets us into trouble.
Can we be happy if we can’t hold our heads up, and can we hold our heads up if we aren’t living righteous lives?
Holding our heads up may appeal to the flesh (pride) but it is not exactly a biblical principle. The only righteousness we have is that of Christ whose blood covers our sins.
Righteous lives are the result of us surrendering the selfishness of the flesh to walk in the selfless love of Christ-likeness by the power of the holy Spirit. It is not a result of our accomplishments as this would feed the pride of the flesh.
In fact, a bowed head is my preferred position.
Humility and Meekness are two virtues that have become defects of character in this present age.
If you are too ashamed to look people square in the eyes, can you be happy?
Don’t you want to be able to look people square in the eyes? When I misbehaved as a child, my mother would say, “Look at me!”
I’m speaking metaphorically.
Of course, I look people in the eye when I speak to them.
I’m really not clear what your driving at. I think I’ve totally misunderstood your question(s)
I think the issue we are all looking at is whether or not we need to be righteous to be happy. I think we do.
I would substitute the word " happy " with the word " joy ".
Jesus was a man of suffering and sorrow.
There are times we are called to share in that suffering and sorrow.
I don’t believe, necessarily, that happiness is synonymous with righteousness.
I believe you need to be righteous to forever be happy or forever have joy.
You may right. I dare not declare myself righteous.
But, I am happy, and do experience moments of true joy.
Isaiah 53 a wonderful passage to study and check the dictionary between joy and happiness.
J.
Paul can speak of believers as “the righteousness of God in him” because of Christ:
“For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”
2 Corinthians 5:21
Abraham is the classic example:
“Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Romans 4:3
Paul likewise says:
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Romans 5:1
So a Christian can legitimately say, “I am righteous before God,” provided the meaning is “I have been justified and counted righteous by God through faith in Christ.”
But Scripture also forbids boasting as though that righteousness originated in ourselves:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith… not of works, lest any man should boast.”
Ephesians 2:8–9
And Paul is very careful about his own righteousness:
“And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ.”
Philippians 3:9
There is also an interesting distinction between positional righteousness and practical righteousness. Scripture repeatedly calls believers to live righteously (Titus 2:11–12; 1 John 3:7), while their standing before God rests upon what God has done for them in Christ.
So I would put it this way @Oakback
“I am righteous” - yes, if you mean God has justified me and counts me righteous in Christ.
“I am righteous because I am inherently good and have earned God’s acceptance” - no.
And there is a wonderful biblical basis for actually knowing this rather than merely hoping for it. Romans 5:1 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The believer’s righteousness is not a boast in himself. It is a declaration of what God has done in Christ.
J.
I don’t necessarily disagree, unless your suggesting that our righteousness is in any way, a function of obeying the letter of the old written law.
?
No, I am certainly not suggesting that our righteousness before God is a function of obeying the letter of the old written Law. Paul is emphatically clear on that point. “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Romans 3:20), and our righteousness is through faith in Christ, not through establishing our own righteousness by the Law (Philippians 3:9).
But I would make an important distinction. Rejecting righteousness by the Mosaic Law does not mean that righteousness has no relationship whatsoever to obedience. Scripture distinguishes between the ground of our justification and the righteousness that characterizes the life of someone who has been justified.
We are justified by faith, apart from works, because of what God has accomplished in Christ. But the same Scriptures that teach that also say, “If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him” (1 John 2:29). James likewise speaks of faith being demonstrated through works (James 2:18).
So I would not put “faith” and “obedience” into opposition as though Scripture does. Obedience is not the meritorious basis upon which God declares us righteous, but genuine faith does produce a life increasingly characterized by righteousness.
And that is precisely why I would rather let the Scriptures define the relationship than begin with either a Calvinist or Arminian formulation. The question is not whether we earn righteousness by keeping the old written Law. We do not. The question is what Scripture means when it declares a person righteous, how that righteousness is received, and what kind of life necessarily flows from having been made right with God.
1Jn_2:29
he is righteous – The antecedent of the pronoun “he” goes all the way to the word “Son” in 1Jn_2:24, and referring to Christ, 1Jn_2:22.
he who practices righteousness – The one who practices righteousness is imitating the “Son” (Christ, 1Jn_2:22; 1Jn_2:24). Here is the Jewish motif that one practicing something is called the “son of ..” that thing.
born of him – Reference to the believer’s rebirth. Being like our Father is part of our proof we are born of Him. Jesus said of his enemies, “Ye are of your father the Devil.”
born of him – This suggests the idea for the next paragraph in ch. 3, of being born of God. ( cf Joh_3:3-5)
Of him (ex autou). Plainly “of God” in 1Jn_2:9 and so apparently here in spite of dikaios referring to Christ. Doing righteousness is proof of the new birth.
Shalom.
J.