RIGHTEOUS

A Call to embrace

God's Person and Plan

A Call

to no compromise

 The Godly Man Series: Righteousness not Compromise

A Short Study of Righteousness

Let's then discover what the scriptures teach about that small reserved part of our 'own' lives. What does the New Testament say about righteous living? A search was made under four similar words: righteous, godly, holy and perfect. Their word usage is a bit different, but they all mutually confirm God's teaching.

  • The righteous man lives by God's righteous principles.
  • The godly man lives out his life in good and pious ways.
  • The holy man is set apart for God to live in God presence dedicated to doing God's work.
  • The perfect man focuses on the complete work of God being done in a person.

      Righteous =     God's standards
         Godly =         God's practice
            Holy =        God's possession
               Perfect = God's fullness

A few verses below are representative of the whole. A fuller selection of verses is for your study elsewhere. We are purposely using New Testament references to simplify the study. The Old Testament references would confirm these same conclusions.

God's people are called, commanded and expected to live righteous, holy, godly and perfect lives now on earth.

RIGHTEOUS

Luke 23:50
"And behold, a man named Joseph, who was a member of the Council, a good and righteous man."

Hebrews 10:38
"BUT MY RIGHTEOUS ONE SHALL LIVE BY FAITH; AND IF HE SHRINKS BACK, MY SOUL HAS NO PLEASURE IN HIM."
GODLY

1 Timothy 6:11
"But flee from these things, you man of God; and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance [and] gentleness."

2 Peter 3:11
"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,"
HOLY

1 Peter 1:16
"... because it is written, "YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY."

2 Peter 3:11
"Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness."
PERFECT

Matthew 5:48
"Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."

James 1:4
"And let endurance have [its] perfect result, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing."


From these verses we must conclude that God is calling His people now to live righteous, godly, holy and perfect lives. We were saved and called to live out God's standards and principles. Of course, our question is how can we do it?

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Biblical Foundations for Freedom


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