Sin and Righteousness
The Apostle John loved dichotomies. In his first epistle, readers are introduced to the two people groups prevalent throughout Scripture: the children of God and the children of the devil (1 Jn 3:10). The attributes and actions of both groups are highlighted by him. The two potent and diametrically opposed sources of influence upon people are sin and righteousness. The Christian must understand both groups, and why he has moved from sin to righteousness, and how he is to live in relationship to both groups.
The antithesis of righteousness is sin. Sin is lawlessness (1 Jn 3:4). The natural man is a sinner (1 Cor 2:14). He is a sinner by imputed inheritance from the first man, Adam (Rom 5:12–21). Man is a sinner by nature, also (Eph 2:3). He is a sinner in practice, too (Rom 3:23; 1 Jn 3:4). Sinners do not practice righteousness (1 Jn 3:10).
Sinners do not have right standing before God, the Judge of all the earth (Gen 18:36). The wrath of God is revealed against their ungodliness and unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). There is none righteous, not even one (Rom 3:10). It is the Law of righteousness that exposes sinners for what they are from conception (Ps 51:5). It was the Jews who were zealous to pursue a Law of righteousness, but they did not arrive with right standing before God (Rom 9:31).
Righteousness cannot come through the Law (Gal 2:21). Therefore, unrighteous men die under the Law because the Law cannot impart life (Gal 3:21). Men, dead in their trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), are waiting for the death of their bodies, so they can appear before the judgment throne of God (Ps 9:7; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 9:27; Rev 20:11).
Sin reigns in the natural man (Rom 6:6), and it manifests in his relationship with others (Ex 20; Dt 5). Cain killed his brother, Abel (Gen 4; 1 Jn 3:12) because he was controlled by sin. Sin produces evil deeds from a heart filled with hatred (Jn 15:18; Rom 1:30). Those who are controlled by sin are children of the devil, who sinned from the beginning (Jn 8:44; 1 Jn 3:8).
The one who is born again of the Spirit (1 Pet 1:3), born of God (1 Jn 3:9), is a child of God (1 Jn 3:10), by adoption (Rom 8:15, 23; Eph 1:5). A radical change has occurred in this adopted son. The catalyst for this change is the love of God, which has been poured out in his heart (Rom 5:5).
The child of God loves because God first loved him (1 Jn 4:19). God demonstrated His love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). The just One gave Himself for the unjust ones (1 Pet 3:18), bearing our sins in His body on the cross (1 Pet 2:24).
When God raised Jesus from the dead, the righteousness (right standing) of Christ was proved (Acts 17:31; Rom 3:25). God approved the meritorious works of Christ. When one is transferred from the domain of darkness and into the kingdom of God’s beloved Son (Col 1:13), he is said to be “in Christ.”
Righteousness is credited to those “in Christ,” by imputation. It is a gift of God (Rom 5:17); and no one who is justified before God has any merit of his own. Grace bestows righteousness to those who do not work (Rom 4:5; Eph 2:8–9). The natural man does not understand why he does not need to do anything, so he rejects this idea, in favor of what he thinks are good works he has done to merit salvation (Is 64:6). Earning salvation, by doing something (ie. baptism; church attendance; making a decision; financial giving; etc.), is an evil deed that denies Jesus Christ and the efficacy of His work on the cross (Rom 3:20).
Practicing sin versus practicing righteousness is the product of either the reign of sin or the reign of grace (Rom 5:21). Grace cannot sin because it is a work of God, who cannot sin (1 Jn 3:9). God is righteous (1 Jn 3:7), and those who have God’s indwelling Spirit (Rom 8:9, 11) practice righteousness because it is Christ in them (Gal 2:20), willing and doing His good pleasure (Phil 2:13). It is impossible for Christ to sin (1 Jn 3:9) because He is the Son of God (impeccability).
The Christian loves the brethren because the love of Christ controls him (2 Cor 5:14). The Christian does the good works prepared for him beforehand (Eph 2:10), as he walks on the path of righteousness (Ps 23:3). The Christian’s walk is powered by the indwelling Spirit (Gal 5:25), who is guiding him into all truth (Jn 16:13).
Because he retains his body of sinful flesh, the Christian does continue to sin, up until the point of his death (1 Jn 1:8). The difference between the slave of Christ and the slave of sin, who practices sin, is that the Christian has an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous (1 Jn 2:1). The Christian is forgiven of all his sins, by the blood of the everlasting covenant of grace (Jer 32:40; Mt 26:28; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:22; 1 Pet 1:19).
Sin does what sin dictates. Righteousness does what Christ dictates because He is the Lord our righteousness (Jer 23:6; 33:16). As our Lord Jesus taught, “You shall know them by their fruits (Mt 7:16, 20).” Sin produces sins. Righteousness (Christ) produces righteousness (good works). The Bible defines both love and good works, as they are perfectly seen in Jesus Christ. As we walk in Him, we walk in them.
We, the redeemed of the Lord, will be like Him, when we see Him as He is, at His second coming, in glory (1 Jn 3:2). The world did not know Jesus, at His first advent (Jn 1:5), and this is why the world does not know the children of God, who have the love of the Father (1 Jn 3:1), the love of the Son (Rom 5:8; 2 Cor 5:14; Eph 5:25), and the love of the Holy Spirit (Rom 5:5; Gal 4:6).
The world hated Jesus (Jn 7:7), and it hates those who belong to Him (Jn 15:18; 1 Cor 3:23). Christians are not to love the world (1 Jn 2:15–17), or be conformed to it (Rom 12:2) because we are not of the world, but we are of God (Jn 17:14, 16). The contrast between the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God is stark. Sin reigns in one realm and grace reigns in the other.
The world is earthy, natural, fleshly, and sinful. The kingdom of God is spiritual (1 Cor 2:15), marked by righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit (Rom 14:17). This world will end in the judgment of fire (2 Pet 3:10–12), while the new heavens and the new earth is where righteousness dwells (2 Pet 3:13). Very soon, all the saints will be with Him because we have been adopted by Him, and we are in Him, and His righteousness is in us, now and forever. Amen.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
December 15, 2020
