Righteousness by Faith

A Righteousness Obtained by Grace through Faith

I first wrote this on July 7, 2019. I have changed little, but have added some new comments which are [bracketed]. There is so much more that could have been added to show how we are justified and made righteous by faith alone and not by works given to us under the New Covenant as a free gift by God's grace. Let me rephrase that, under the Old Covenant their righteousness was credited to them by their faith, today as a result of the sacrifice, death and resurrections of Jesus we are saved, by grace through faith. Ephesians 2:8.

My heart’s desire is to get back to that place where I was when God was in control of my life and I trusted Him for everything. That came by renewing my mind to the truth of the Bible, rightly divided and interpreted; that Jesus promised would set us free. John 8:32

That abundant zoe life, which is exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ask or imagine. John 10:10. [That is what Jesus came to teach us and sacrificed himself to give us. As such it is also my heart’s desire to see all entering into His rest and into all that He has already done and given us for all those who [believe and] are hungry for God. His works, we are told, were all finished or completed at the creation of the world. Genesis 2:2, Hebrews 4:3b

I experienced this wonderful freedom briefly as a babe in Christ, but when the honeymoon ended and I was ready to move on from the milk to the meat, that maturity or perfection promised, I couldn’t seem to find it anywhere. I got bits and pieces of it here and there, but never the fullness.

That said, thankfully I was blessed to have God bring solid people of faith into my life right after I was saved [that turned me onto Word/Faith teaching because ultimately, faith is the only Law that makes us right with God. It was faith and faith alone that credited God’s righteousness in the Old Testament and in the New!] [Faith, I believe, remains the] only stumbling block and why we labour to enter into His rest and cease from our own works. (Hebrews 4:10) Our doubt or wavering belief, faith, confidence, trust, hope or whatever label you choose apply to it. The way in which we overcome the world according 1 John 5:4 is our absolute unwavering, trust and faith in God’s provision alone, apart from ourselves. And what are the causes of our unbelief? Can they be the traditions and doctrines of men, as Jesus called them, still holding the body of Christ back from moving on to perfection? Is there a place where those looking to move on to maturity and perfection can go? Hebrews 6:1

These are just some of the questions that have arisen within me? I just think that there needs to be a place where those that are ready to move past the elementary principles and on to maturity or perfection as the Bible actually teaches us to do (Hebrews 6:1-2), and get down to the very root or core of the New Covenant, the same Covenant established with Abraham.

A Covenant based on nothing but Faith. An unwavering Faith and trust in God himself to provide [correction; what He has already provided] our every single need like any good Father would. Jesus said,

“What parent if their child asks for bread would give them a stone, or if they asked for a fish will give him a snake? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him”

Mat 7:9-11.

The truth is that nothing has changed; it has always been and still is a covenant based on nothing but Faith.

I must also point out the fact that God has never done anything in the earth without first making a covenant with some man at least to my limited knowledge. Adam, Noah, Abraham, Saul, David, Solomon just to name a few. But the ultimate and final covenant was made with God himself operating through a man, named Jesus of Nazareth. At the death of Jesus that Covenant or Contract became a Will and that Will, the Bible, lists all the promises [and benefits] available to us.

For this reason He (Jesus) is the Mediator of a new covenant, since a death has occurred for the redemption of the sins that were committed under the first covenant, so that those who are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. For where there is a will, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a will has force after men are dead, since it has no force at all while the testator lives. Hebrews 9:15-17



The Gospel, the Good News, is a Covenant, Testament, or contract between God and Mankind. A Testament is defined as; a person's will, especially the part relating to personal property.

And Merriam’s defines a Will as; a legal declaration of a person's wishes regarding the disposal of his or her property or estate after death especially: a written instrument legally executed by which a person makes disposition of his or her estate to take effect after death.

That written instrument is our Bible, with all its promises [and benefits] that lists not just believers but All of Humanity as a Beneficiary, contrary to some religious belief. The only real stumbling block is whether you know it or not and if you do, whether you choose to be a partaker or not. How? By Faith! [But not just any faith, it is what that faith is anchored in!]

For whoever enters His rest will also cease from his own works, as God did from His. Let us labor therefore to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same pattern of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:10-11

I believe we need to lay a foundation and in order to do that we need to go back to Genesis where the Covenant of Faith and our Righteousness was first was established with Abraham. A righteousness obtained [credited to us] by nothing more than Faith and Faith alone.

God told him to go to a land that He would show him and Abraham, he was Abram at the time, didn’t doubt, he just went.

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country, your family, and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken to him, and Lot went with him.
Genesis 12:1,4

If you take the time to read verse 2 and 3 you’ll see Abram’s obedience also came with a promise, that wasn’t just to him, but ALL the families of the earth. Gen 12:2-3

Flash forward 3 chapters where God establishes the Covenant of all Covenants called The Abrahamic Covenant, an everlasting Covenant.

After this the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying,
“Do not fear, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I am childless and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” Abram said, “Since You have not given me any children, my heir is a servant born in my house.” Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This man will not be your heir, but a son that is from your own body will be your heir.” He brought him outside and said, “Look up toward heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them.” And He said to him, “So will your descendants be.”
Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness. Genesis 15:1-6

He believed God and that was all it took for God to consider [credit] Abram [with His] righteousness. Nothing more, nothing less. [Actually God credited His righteousness to Abraham because of his faith]

As we discover in Chapter 16 though, Abram and more specifically his wife Sarai wavered in that belief initially when the child did [had] not arrive [d yet]and Sarah said,

The Lord has prevented me from having children. Genesis 16:2

I’m not sure about you but that sounds a little like, well, no, a whole lot like unwavering faith or unbelief. Sarai has declared that God has prevented her from having children when God has clearly promised a child through her. But Abram listens to his wife and [lies with and] bears a child through [Saria’s] maidservant [Hagar], hmmm, listen to his wife making God seem angry at him, where have we heard this story before?

Anyway I digress.

God comes back to visit Abram again in Chapter 17

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am Almighty God. Walk before Me and be blameless. And I will make My covenant between you and Me and will exceedingly multiply you.” Abram fell on his face and God said to him, “As for Me, My covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” Gen 17:1-7

Do you notice God says, I have made, past tense; He is not going to make him a father someday. Makes sense in light of the fact that God said His works were finished from the foundations of the world. He’s not adding anymore nor taking anything away from what He has already done. [We clearly cannot see it but He does, because He is outside time and space and has already written it in His Word]

"Then God said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you will not call her name Sarai, but her name will be Sarah. I will bless her and also give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her.” Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said in his heart, “Shall a child be born to a man that is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” Then God said, “No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call his name Isaac. I will establish My covenant with him as an everlasting covenant and with his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He will be the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation. But I will establish My covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” Then He stopped talking with Abraham, and God went up from him." Genesis 17:15-22

Here we see Abraham this time wavering in his faith or trust that God is able to do what He promised. He’s looking at natural circumstances, a man of ninety-nine and a wife that’s ninety bearing a child? By [all] natural standards it seems impossible, it is impossible, but with God ALL things are possible. Matthew 19:29b. That is why the Bible tells us we are to walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. Faith for God’s provision, the provision he made at the foundation of the world. I truly believe their only disobedience or sin, the Hebrew word, Chata’ which means, to miss the mark, to bear loss, to sin, miss the goal or path of right and duty, to miss oneself, lose oneself, wander from the way, was the sin of unbelief, NOT trusting that God was able to [and had already provide their every need!]

And I truly believe it is still the only sin, disobedience or stumbling block impeding humanity from entering into the fullness of all that God has for us [today]. The result of that doubt and unbelief is that we are missing the mark, losing out, because we’ve missed the path or goal, why? Because we’re lost, we’ve wandered from the way or the truth. The way, the truth and the Life Jesus promised us was found in Him, Him the Word of God. They did not trust or believe that what God had promised he was able also to deliver. But when Abraham did make the conscious decision to be fully persuaded that God could deliver, that is when the promise child arrived. It was Abraham’s faith ultimately that caused the promised child to be [come] manifest [from the invisible Spiritual realm to the visible Physical Realm.]

Paul tells of this in Romans when he says of Abraham;

"Against all hope, he believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations according to what was spoken, “So shall your descendants be.” And not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body to be dead (when he was about a hundred years old), nor yet the deadness of Sarah’s womb. He did not waver at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what God had promised, He was able to perform. Therefore “it was credited to him as righteousness.” Romans 4:18-22

[When you see the word “therefore”, stop and see why it’s” there for.] Because verse 22 is the result of what we just read back there in verse 18-20. His, Gods righteousness, was credited to him, Abraham, because he became fully persuaded, that God was able to perform what He had promised. The second thing that unwavering faith got Abraham beyond his righteous was his promised son. There is no doubt in my mind that if Abraham had not become fully persuaded there would have been no manifestation of his son. And just to let us know that we’re involved in this deal today Paul goes on to say;

"Now the words, “it was credited to him,” were not written for his sake only, but also for us, to whom it shall be credited if we believe in Him[God the Father] who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was delivered for our transgressions, and was raised for our justification." Romans 4:23-25



Faith is the only thing that pleases God [in the Bible according to] Hebrews 11:6. The word “pleases” in the Greek is the word, euarestéō which Strong’s defines as, to gratify entirely, please (well) with Thayer’s adding, to be well pleasing, to be pleased with a thing. God does not feel any emotion as we understand emotions or feelings. Emotions and feelings are subjective and therefore continually subject to change. While God’s nature never, ever changes.

"Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, streaming down from the Father of lights, who shines from the heavens with no hidden shadow or darkness and is never subject to change." James 1:17 TPT

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." – Heb 13:8

"God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent.
Has He spoken, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?" - Numbers 23:19

God just is, I Am, That I Am (Exodus 3:14), God is LOVE, God is Light. That’s the very nature or essence of God. It’s our Faith that pleases God because that is how we overcome the world.

"You see, every child of God overcomes [continually conquers] the world [system], for our faith is the victorious power that triumphs over the world." 1 John 5:4

The mountains, the trees, the sicknesses, the lack, the wind and the waves and the storms of life, are all overcome, not by asking God to do something for us but rather [acting on and proclaiming] by our Faith, [in what He has already provided in Jesus the Word]. Yet I witness countless believers that are not overcoming the world today. [including myself. Yet I know without a doubt that this is the truth]

"No in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Romans 8:37

All of it is by faith operating through Love. Galatians 5:6, His love in us.



This is the very essence of the Gospel at its core I believe. We are to live by faith; we are to walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7. The righteous shall live by their faith. Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38, we are saved by faith. Ephesians 2:8

Nothing more, nothing less, not by works or how we act or by following rules or regulations, making vows, confessing sins, obeying some 600 + Mosaic Laws or Ten Commandments, none of it is relevant to God as far as making us right with Him. The only thing relevant is do you believe in ME to meet all your needs. [We put our full faith, trust and confidence in what He has already done for us through Jesus Christ our Lord. ]

Let me qualify that by saying I don’t mean to say that works, integrity, acts of kindness, a gentle spirit, appropriate actions, and behaviour are irrelevant. They should all be the natural outcome of someone fully understanding who they are in Christ. God wants us to enter into His rest and cease from our [own works]. [That doesn’t mean we just sit around on our tush and do nothing, unless that nothing is time spent worshiping or spending time with Him.] Hebrews 4:1-11. Stop trying to get righteous. Quit trying to obtain it through laws, rules, regulations, traditions or through trusting in some thing or someone else, in other words by works or the doctrines of men as Paul states in Colossians 2:20-23

"Therefore, if you died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you subject yourself to legalistic rules? “Do not touch! Do not taste! Do not handle!” These all are to perish with use and are aligned with the commandments and doctrines of men. These things have indeed a show of wisdom in self-imposed worship and humility and neglecting of the body, but are worthless against the indulgence of the flesh."

How do we crucify the indulgences of the flesh? Paul says in Galatians 5:16-18 that we are to;

"Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh. These are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law."

The only stumbling block, sin or disobedience that held back the Israelites from entering into God’s Promised Land, flowing with milk and honey, was their unbelief. Hebrews 3:7-19. God didn’t have a thing in the world to do their suffering, lack or entering into the Promised Land. It was their unbelief in God’s provision and protection. They had the same Gospel preached to them as we have today (Hebrews 4:2), but, they were not fully persuaded as their Father Abraham was, in spite of seeing God’s miracles for forty years in the desert.

Moses sent the twelve spies into the land to spy it out and upon their return;

They reported to him (Moses) and said, “We came to the land where you sent us, and surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it." - Numbers 13:27

Yep, it’s just like God said it was but…….

"The people are strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are fortified and very great, and also we saw the children of Anak there. We saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come from the giants, and in our eyes we were like grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes." - Numbers 13:28,33

They were, walking by sight when God has commanded us to walk by Faith 2 Corinthians 5:7

Just as Abraham doubted God, that a man of 99 with a wife of 90 could bear a child, so the 10 spies are looking with their eyes, seeing giants and saying, “ there’s no way we can take the land. Heck, there’s giants over there and we, in our own eyes, (not trusting God), are like grasshoppers in their sight.

But thank God there were two believers out of the twelve, Caleb and Joshua, the only two from that generation by the way that entered into the Promised Land. Although they had to wait another 40 years while that unbelieving generation died, they did eventually get to lead the next generation into the Promised Land. They had been the only two that believed that God would give the land into their hands.

And they spoke (Joshua & Caleb) to all the assembly of the children of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to explore it is a very, very good land. If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel (waver) against the Lord, nor fear (the opposite of faith) the people of the land because they are bread for us. Their defense is gone from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.” - Numbers 14:7-9

What did Caleb and Joshua bring to the table, that the other ten didn’t, unwavering faith and trust that God was well able to accomplish what he had promised. They were not swayed nor concerned by circumstances, not in what they saw, or any bad report, but rather, who and what they believed and put their trust in, God. And we have a better Covenant today, in the light of Jesus. All that is required for us to enter that Rest or Promised Land which still remains (Hebrews 4:9) is to GO, trusting God to lead the way and that can only come by faith.

Just as our Father Abraham, trusting as he did that God, would provide the means and the way according to His Promise, so today we have  a better promise

"For by grace you have been saved by faith. Nothing you did could ever earn this salvation, for it was the love gift from God that brought us to Christ! So no one will ever be able to boast, for salvation is never a reward for good works or human striving." Ephesians 2:8-9 - TPT

As a believer today that has put their faith, hope and trust in Jesus as your Savior, do you truly believe that you are justified and righteous and that God no longer see your sin? Or are you uncertain and or feel that you have to do more to earn that justification and righteousness beyond your faith in Him?