BiblicalInsights.net

Have you ever heard someone say, “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere?”  This expression affirms self-righteousness.  It rejects God’s righteousness (Rom. 1:16-17).  God’s righteousness is the way God makes men righteous through the gospel of Christ.  If we reject God’s way of making men righteous, then, we are left with some form of self-righteousness.  Self-righteousness cannot save.
Self-Righteousness Fails to Obtain the Goal of Salvation
Consider Romans 10:1-3.  Paul addresses the brethren at Rome.  New Testament Christians constitute the true spiritual Israel.  Paul addresses, “Israel” which refers to physical Israel or Paul’s own countrymen (Paul was a Jew, but He had become a Christian (Acts 9).  Paul’s desire or his heartfelt longing was for them to be saved.  Paul’s prayer was also for their salvation.  The greatest expression of love for another person is to desire, work and pray for his/her salvation.  This indicates that Paul did not believe that many of his own countrymen were saved.  They were “under the Law of Moses” but, they were not saved.  The law (covenant) had changed when Jesus died on the cross (Col. 2:14, Rom. 7:1-4).  Salvation is in Christ and results when one follows Jesus not Moses.
They were zealous and sincere, but, they were not saved.  When Paul persecuted the Lord’s church, he was zealous for the Law of Moses and sincere (lived in all good conscience, Acts 23:1).  Later, he admits that he was in ignorance and unbelief when he persecuted the Lord’s church and was injurious and blasphemed (I Tim. 1:13-14).  Ignorance, unbelief, and disobedience to God adds up to being eternally lost rather than saved.  Paul was acting self-righteously when he rejected God’s righteousness.  The phrase, “it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere” is a false concept and must be rejected.
The Righteousness of God
Jesus Christ is the end (aim) of the law of Moses.  Jesus fulfills the law (Matt. 5:17).  When the law changed from the Mosaical law to the Law of Christ, the details of how God makes men righteous also changed.  Under the Law of Moses, thousands upon thousands of animal sacrifices were made and none of them provided for absolute atonement for sin (Heb. 10:4).  The blood of bulls and goats could not take away sin.  Under the law of Christ, we have absolute atonement (forgiveness of sin) through the power of the blood of Christ (Eph. 1:7; I Pet. 1:18-19).  Through the blood of Jesus was have justification.  To be justified is to be pronounced not guilty and so we stand before God as if we have never sinned.  We are justified by faith in Christ Jesus (Rom. 5:1) when we obey the commands the Lord has given to us in the gospel (Rom. 10:16).  God’s word was nigh unto Paul’s countrymen.  It was in their ears and hearts through the preaching of the gospel.  But, it was not mixed with faith in those who heard it (Rom. 10:6-8; 16-17).  If they would confess the Lord Jesus and believe in their heart that God had raised Him from the dead, they could be saved (Rom. 10:9-10).  This confession is a verbal statement of the faith that is in the heart.  When faith is absent, no confession is made and the result is a lost condition.  Faith, confession and baptism (Rom. 6:3-4) are involved in the salvation of the human soul under the law of Christ.  The gospel was and is a universal message that all people must hear and obey (Rom. 10:13).  Calling on the name of the Lord is illustrated in Paul’s own obedience.  Paul’s sins were washed away in baptism (Acts 22:16).  “And now why tarriest thou? arise, and be baptized and wash away thy sins, calling on the name of the Lord.”  Paul’s desire for his countrymen was that they would obey the gospel just as he had done and be saved from past sins.  This is God’s righteousness as it is revealed in the law of Christ.
All people are saved in the same way.  They are saved by faith in Jesus Christ.  They are saved by loving God supremely (Mark 12:29-31).  They are saved by repenting of all sin and making the great confession that Jesus is God’s Son.  Finally, they are saved by being baptized into Christ.  When they undergo the New Birth (John 3:3-5), they become the children of God.  The New Testament redefines what constitutes a child of God (Gal. 3:26-29).  The righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of Christ.  By following Jesus and His teaching, we can be saved.  If we reject God’s righteousness, we are left with some form of self-righteousness which cannot save.