1469. We Know by Our Righteous Conduct
We Know by Our Righteous Conduct
"If ye know that He is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him" (1Jn_2:29).
There are two things set forth in the Epistle of John concerning righteousness.
1. We know He is righteous. The Lord Jesus Christ was the righteous One.
John says: "Let no one deceive you; He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous" (1Jn_3:7, \1911 Bible).
John also says: "And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin" (1Jn_3:5).
The Lord Jesus Christ stands before men and before God, unconvicted of sin. He is that "Holy One," who was born by the Holy Ghost of the virgin.
He is the Lamb without spot, and without blemish.
He is, and ever will remain, the sinless, impeccable, unimpeachable, righteous One.
2. "Ye know that he that doeth righteousness is born of Him" (1Jn_2:29). Here are two suggestions:
(1) The utter inability of the one not born of God, to do righteousness. This is a statement set forth everywhere in the Scriptures.
The evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit; the bitter fountain cannot bring forth sweet water.
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jer_17:9). It cannot serve God; it cannot bring forth the things which please God. In proof of this, the lusts of the flesh are everywhere manifest.
(2) The possibility of one who is born of God, to do righteousness. The new birth is a real, and a practical accomplishment. It puts within man the possibility of a righteous life.
This is true for two reasons:
(a) It is possible because the new man is begotten of God and therefore he "after God is created in righteousness and true holiness" (Eph_4:24).
We have here the exemplification of an unfailing law, which has been, and always will be the deathblow to the evolutionary theory.
The law is this: "Kind after its kind."
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (Joh_3:6).
That which is born of the flesh partakes of the nature of the flesh; that which is born of the Spirit partakes of the nature of the Spirit.
Those born of the Spirit are holy, because the Spirit who begat them is holy.
He that is created after God, is created in righteousness and the holiness of Truth; because God is righteous, and God is holy, and God is Truth. Kind begets its kind.
(b) It is possible because the new man, created in righteousness and true holiness, is enforced by the Holy Spirit.
The believer has two natures–the old and the new. The old nature is corrupt, according to deceitful lusts, and must therefore be put off or reckoned dead. The new man is holy, according to God, and should therefore be put on or reckoned alive.
What the believer needs is power in his life to make possible the subduing of the old man, to make the old man powerless. What he needs is power to make the new man powerful.
This is accomplished through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Thus it is that the fruit of the Spirit is "love, joy, peace," etc.
We are ready now for our conclusion:
We know we are born of God, if the new life, the righteousness of God, the fruit of the Spirit, is made manifest in our daily walk. This righteousness belongs exclusively to the new man and is utterly foreign to the old man and his deceitful lusts.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR