17 Jun 2011
Philippians 3:9
Philippians 3:9: “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”
This is an important point. Our righteousness doesn’t come from obeying the Ten Commandments; it comes from faith in Jesus Christ. He is our righteousness. Obeying God’s commandments does not make us more righteous and disobeying them does not make us less righteous.
Now, as Christians we should obey Him out of love and a desire to serve Him; our obedience should be motivated by love and gratitude. After all, Jesus told us that if we love Him we should demonstrate that love through obedience. A believer follows God out of love and gratitude, not out of fear that disobedience will result in the loss of salvation. But the key is to remember that this obedience (or lack of it) does not affect our righteous standing in the sight of God. We have been given righteousness; we did not earn it by our own actions, and we cannot lose it by our actions either.