Forgiven?

In Psalm 18 David writes something a little unnerving.

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me. (Psa 18:20)

Wait a minute! "My righteousness"? Wasn't it David who wrote, "The LORD has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one" (Psa 14:2-3)? Wasn't it God who warned, "Do not say in your heart when the LORD your God has driven them out before you, 'Because of my righteousness the LORD has brought me in to possess this land'" (Deut 9:4)? What do you mean that He "rewarded me according to my righteousness"?

Christianity, at its core, is about divine forgiveness. We know that. We know the basic argument. All have sinned. Sin deserves death. We can have forgiveness from sin by faith in Christ. Easy.

It's true, but incomplete.

In a verse that really upsets pro-homosexual "Christians" Paul states quite clearly, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" (1 Cor 6:9) (It upsets them because Paul includes homosexual behavior in the list of "the unrighteous".) There is a problem here. Paul doesn't say that the unforgiven will not inherit the kingdom of God. He says the unrighteous. The problem with the notion that we can have forgiveness from sin by faith in Christ is not that it's not true, but that it's not enough. We not only need a clean slate. We need righteousness. We not only need to eliminate the debt. We need to have positive equity, so to speak.

As it turns out, the Old and New Testaments agree on this topic. There is a source for righteousness. And it's not you or me.

David wrote that part about "my righteousness", but he also wrote this one. "Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness! You have relieved me in my distress; Be gracious to me and hear my prayer." (Psa 4:1) Ah, see? There it is. Jeremiah wrote, "In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name by which He will be called, 'The LORD our righteousness.'" (Jer 23:6) There it is again! Perhaps Paul said it most clearly. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." (2 Cor 5:21)

Are you forgiven? Good. Good, but not enough. What you need is righteousness. And, unable to acquire that ourselves, God has made it possible in His Son. He granted forgiveness by grace through faith and He Himself is our righteousness. We are more than forgiven.