The doctrine of the church is that any kind of righteous works are repulsive to God. If you don’t believe the correct way like the Christians do, no amount of righteous works count in God’s eyes. If you don’t believe all the right things, confess all the right things and belong to the Christian religion, there is not enough good works that you could do to “get to heaven”. In fact, you could even be a good person all of your life and go to hell and be in anguishing constant unrelenting agony for an eternity!
They use this verse in Isaiah, out of context as usual, to back up their horrendous doctrine:
Isa 64:6 …all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…
However, most people don’t take the time to read all the text around this verse to get it into it’s proper context. We’ll look at that later. But they use this one phrase to back up their Pauline doctrines and all the many other passages that have to do with righteousness, they just ignore!
The whole point, they say, is that you can never do enough good works, or be good enough to “be saved” and “get to heaven”. If you don’t belong to Christianity or believe the way they do, then all your righteousness is like “filthy menstrous rags” and are worth nothing to God.
Of course, all this is based on the belief that Jesus is God, who only had one existence in which he was perfect and made the unversal sacrifice for all men of all time which was an atonement for the sins of all men.
Therefore, if you believe in Jesus as God, then no matter how many sins you have, or how bad you are, it’s not a problem. All your sins are “under the blood” of Jesus. You can just sin all you want and have a great time, you’re saved and going to heaven no matter what you do. Of course, you won’t get much reward, but what does it matter? You can have your cake and eat it too! All the blood Christ shed at Calvary covers all the bad you do and your sins are all forgiven.
But is all this really true??
First of all, Jesus was not God. Second, he was not perfect. Third, his sacrifice was not only for the redemption of the world, but also to put an end to the “bloody sacrifices and feasts of the past” (87:9).
Jesus did not do away with God’s law, but only repealed the parts of the law that were not of God, created by man. He did not come to bring a new law, but to revive an old one — the law of love. This law not only for man but all God’s creation, including the animals. That may sound ridiculous to you, but it’s really true.
It is not a question of what is clean or unclean, but what is righteous or unrighteous, right or wrong, done in love or out of cruelty.
Putting Isaiah 64:6 into its correct context to get the right meaning
Israel's righteousness was as filthy rags to God since their hearts were far from him.
Back to Isaiah and the “menstrous rags”. At the time the prophet was writing this Israel was unrighteous and full of iniquty and God was punishing Israel for this. It says: Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. (Isa 64:10) When he said, “our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” he was refering to God’s anger against their sins. Even Israel’s former righteousnesses God would not honor since they had become sinful and “unclean”.
The truth is that Israel was NOT righteous, and all their righteous works he likened to “filthy rags”, since they would not repent and make amends. Their righteous works were like filthy rags to God at that time. He was referring to their going through the motions without their heart being right towards God. Just like Jesus quoted Isaiah:
Mar 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
The prophet was not referring to our righteous works as filthy rags (unless our hearts are not right with God, which is the case with many Christians). In fact, “white” is the color of the “righteousness of the saints” (Rev 19.8). It doesn’t say that the saints have the righteousness of Jesus, as St Paul says:
Php 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 where Christians get this idea that their own “self-righteousness” is like “filthy rags”. It’s because Paul preached against keeping the law, and against righteous works and against the Jewish Christians and their leadership.
He literally created a new and different religion based on doctrines that were completely contradictory to Jesus’ and his disciples’ teachings and frequently spoke against the leadership of Jesus’ church. For this reason Paul was rejected from the churches in Asia and at Jerusalem and was forced to flee with the protection of Roman soldiers to Italy where he lived out the rest of his days.
So it’s not only about believing in Jesus, but also living a righteous life of righteous works that we do and our righteousness is not as “filthy rags” in the eyes of God when our hearts are right with God.
It is all about living a righteous life and having your heart right with God
75.11 “Not by shedding innocent blood (of Jesus), therefore, but by living a righteous life, shall you find the peace of God. You call me the Messiah of God and you say well, for I am the way, the truth and the life.”
75.12 “Walk in the way, and you shall find God. Seek you the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Live in the life, and you shall see no death. All things are alive in God, and the spirit of God fills all things.”
75:13 “Keep the commandments. Love your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. On these hang all the law and the prophets. And the sum of the law is this- Don’t do to others what you don’t want them to do to you. Do you to others, what you want others to do to you.”
75.14 “Blessed are they who keep this law, for God is manifested in all creatures. All creatures live in God, and God is hidden in them.” (Gospel of the Nazirenes)
But God does in no way consider our righteous works as “filthy rags”. This is a travesty of the truth. When you read the whole bible, you find it is just full of the promises that God has to those who are just and righteous.
Our righteousness is not like filthy rags to God
Here are a few verses, just from the book of Isaiah itself to show all the promises to the righteous:
Isa 3:10 Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.
Isa 24:16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous.
Isa 26:2 Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.
Isa 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.
Isa 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Isa 60:21 Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
Pro 12:28 In the way of righteousness is life; and in the pathway thereof there is no death.
What did Jesus have to say about living righteously?
Mat 5:6 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness‘ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:20 For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 6:33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Mat 13:43 Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
Really? You really think you can earn God’s approval. What a load of Bull. Seriously. You can earn the approval of a holy, mighty, magnificent, awe-inspiring God? You are either a delusional lunatic or your “god” is way way to small. I don’t want to worship a God whose love I can earn by what I eat and which minial laws I keep. Really? The Good News is that we are free from the law. We live morally in response to God’s free grace. You are free. Why would you restrict and imprision yourself to an old dirty law. You are a whitewashed tomb full of death. Pretty on the outside, full of nothing but death inside. Let go of your pride and accept Jesus’ free gift.
No kidding. You have to earn God’s approval by keeping God’s commandments — Jesus even said so. (No matter what Paul said)
When a man asked Jesus what he should do to inherit eternal life (Mat 19), did Jesus say “all you have to do is believe in me and you will inherit everlasting life”? No. He told the man to keep the commandments of the law if you want to have eternal life.
When Jesus established what it meant to be one of the righteous that would enter into the kingdom of Heaven did he say, “It’s not by works of righteousness of keeping the law, but it is a free gift”? No. He made a list of types of good works that mean should do to become righteous.
But it is our righteousness (good works) that that we have done to others (Mat 25:34-40,46) that gets us into “life eternal”.
.
That’s just too easy. Like they say, “If it’s too good to be true, it probably is”.
I wish it were just my pride that I could let go of. Problem is Jesus had a lot to say that was contradictory to what Paul taught.
Dear Doug Brown,
I truly appreciate your thoroughness in thinking and writing this out, but I have to say I disagree with you on certain things you have written here. Indeed, we are to be righteous in this world. Jesus even said that we ought to have our light shine before men that they may praise our Father in heaven. However, I believe that these righteous deeds are merely the result of us conforming to the likeness of Jesus.
Ephesians 2:8-10 put these issues into perspective. We are saved by grace through our faith in Christ. And this salvation ought to compel us to do the good works that God had in mind for us to do. Even James in James 2:14-17 agrees that faith without works is dead. As important as having our hearts right with God, we should never think that our works can bring us salvation.
Have you considered John 14:6? I mean, Jesus wouldn’t say that we can only approach the Father through Him alone if we could have gained our salvation just by having our hearts right with God. Don’t you think so?
Believing something doesn’t make it true. What Jesus did say, to be exact, was that it is the “righteous” that enter into life eternal. He gives examples of what being righteous is in Mat 25 which are all works of righteousness.
Unfortunately, most Christians have the wrong idea of what “salvation” really means. No one really knows what that word really means, and there are so many different definitions of salvation. Jesus himself rarely used this expression, I suppose, because it had so many different connotations. But he more frequently used the expressions “eternal life” or “enter the kingdom of heaven”, since these expressed in a more perfect way what he wished to convey. I don’t go by what Paul said on “salvation” since he contradicted Jesus so often.
But what did Jesus tell the man who asked him what he should do to inherit eternal life? He told him to keep the commandments. But Jesus was not referring to all of men’s traditions etc., but the spirit of the law. And this was summed up in 2 things, “Love God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself”.
Even Paul said we are judged according to our works:
Jesus said you will give account of every idle word:
Actually James was disagreeing with Paul in James 2:14-17. He said: “What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?” The obvious answer is “no” and he even goes on to give an example of a work of righteousness that is needed.
And finally:
Here Jesus is being explicit in showing that believing alone is not enough, but doing God’s will is required to “enter into the kingdom of heaven”.
Now whether “entering into the kingdom of heaven” and being “saved” are the same things, I’m not sure. But most Christians think it is…
About Joh 14:6. This verse is so wrongly interpreted and used to “prove” that only through him we can approach God. This is so false. If this were true, Jesus would be contradicting himself.
In fact, no man can even come to Jesus unless God draws him. How can God draw a man to Jesus if he doesn’t hear his prayers or sees his heart?
http://truthorheresy.com/christian-exclusivity
http://truthorheresy.com/what-does-saved-mean-2
http://truthorheresy.com/essays/no-man-can-come-to-the-father
John 3:10-21
10 “You are Israel’s teacher,” said Jesus, “and do you not understand these things? 11 Very truly I tell you, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. 12 I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man.[e] 14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,[f] 15 that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.”[g]
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. 21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.
And what is your point?
My point is, verse 14, 15, and 16 would not be there if salvation is possible by just having our hearts right with God. AND my point is, Jesus clearly said it Himself.
1) This is all conditional. “should not perish”, “might be saved”.
2) Most people don’t have the right idea of what salvation really is.
“Saved”. Saved from what? Most people assume that being saved means not going to hell and having passage to go to heaven. Sorry, but you can’t enter the kingdom of God unless you’re born again. Being born again is NOT the same as being “saved”. And being born again does not mean merely “believing in Jesus and accepting him as personal savior”.
Sorry to pop your bubble. If you want the real truth, stop listening to the people who are feeding you all this. Forsake everything that you ever thought you knew about the truth and sincerely pray and ask God to show you the REAL Truth. Don’t take it for granted that everything that your pastor tells you is the truth. Sorry to say, it isn’t!
I’m glad to be able to find the common ground here-that is we are out for the truth. Besides that, I am also unhappy about how many people whom call themselves as Christians but live like they are not. And it is true that I can’t just listen everything that my pastor taught and take it as truth, but I too need to search it out for myself. I agree with you on that.
Yet, I am still not convinced with your arguments. And more importantly, you are leaving out a portion of scriptures to justify what you are trying to prove. If Paul is wrong, then a whole portion of the New Testament is wrong. If that’s the case, then whole new testament is screwed up and there’s no more point in searching truth in it. At the same time, if the bible is not the basis of our faith, I am afraid that the truth you are seeking may not be from God but rather the Deceiver.
I do confess that I do not know much and I am still young sir, but based on what I have experienced and read in the Bible, I still have the notion that we are saved by grace through faith. And this sincere and genuine faith in Christ would lead me to obey God, because those who love Him will obey Him. But that’s where I am thus far.
Thank you for your thoroughness in researching and thinking through these things. But I do pray that as you search on these things, you too would one day arrive at the truth that God wants you to. For the Word of God does not go out void.
What “portion” of scriptures do you refer to?
I don’t believe the whole new testament is screwed up, but there are portions of it that have been seriously corrupted by evil men. Obviously, lots that has been left out and forgeries that have been added. We don’t know who really wrote much of it or even when and where it was written. We only have copies of copies of copies… There are absolutely no original manuscripts to compare it with (only other copies) since they were all destroyed.
The fortunate thing is that the bible is not our only source of truth. It is fortunate because dishonest men can change what God has had honest men to write down. This is because of the free-will that God has given, but they will pay dearly for their lies!
God said,
“ye shall seek me and ye shall find me when you seek for me with all your heart”.
Also,
“Call unto me and I will answer thee and show then great and mighty things which thou knowest not”
Jesus said, “and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free”.
Also
Joh 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
Jas 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
So even though they corrupt God’s word and men try to deceive us, God is ever-present to show us the real truth since he is in our hearts. All we need to do is look to him in our hearts and not outward to evil, deceiving men, and he himself will show us the truth — that’s his promise.
Doug
Compare the ‘all our righteousness is as filthy rags’ verse to Isaiah chapter 1 where Isaiah opposes ceremonial righteousness (or sacrificial righteousness) in order to establish moral righteousness. The ‘our’ is referring to Isaiah’s generation. They were plagued by the false view that they could live however immorally they wanted so long as they offered sacrifices — and so Isaiah says ‘all our righteousness is as filthy rags’ — that is ‘all our righteousness is as filthy rags [because it is sacrificial not real righteousness]‘ — the same applies to the fake righteousness — the sacrificial righteousness — of a godman sacrifice.
Speaking of the god-man sacrifice. I wonder, why would God refuse to kill Abraham’s son and prefer to kill his own, especially seeing how He was against animal sacrifice and human sacrifice? This is a great contradiction. Doesn’t it say that God never changes?