being righteous, living righteously

Is there a difference between being righteous (before God) and living righteously? 

Even though God, through Christ, legally grants us total righteousness (perfect standing) before Him, he still desires us to ²live righteously. 

It is only through ²righteous living we are most aligned and in tune with God practically and best put Him on display - i.e. honor and glorify Him - through loving Him and others.

He created us to be aligned with his will (design) in our everyday conduct, so we might 

1. experience more of Him and His love and 

2. best honor and glorify Him before others. 

These are the desired outcome of the good standing He has fully secured for us in Christ. 

God grants us right legal standing, so we might live right. Not to be more right with Him (this has already been settled in and by Christ), but to partake of Him more in our everyday lives. 

He wants us to live righteously so we might more fully partake of his love, life, and joy and pass it on to others more effectively. This brings more attention to Him, so others might be drawn to Him because of us and also find fullness of life in Him.

The idea of being made right to live right is expressed in several places but most often and clearly in Paul's letter to the Romans.

‭‭Romans 6:4 ESV‬‬

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

‭‭Romans 7:4 ESV‬‬

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. 

"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (i.e. we are perfectly right with God in Christ). For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us..." - Rom ‭8:1‭-‬5‬

Each of the above 3 passages shows that the desired outcome of God making us right with him is that we live righteously. 

In fact, in several of Paul's letters (Ephesians, Colossians, ³Hebrews and Romans) the first part of the letter lays out what God has done for us regarding our unrighteous state - i.e. He has made us righteous in and through Christ - and the remaining part of each letter deals with how we are to conduct ourselves in light of this.

This is clearest in the entire book of Romans, where the first 11 chapters elaborate on our alienation from God and what He has done for us in Christ, then from chapter 12 on it shifts to how we conduct ourselves in light of this. 

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, (i.e. in light of what I have said up to this point regarding our dilemma and God's solution) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Rom 12:1

Did only Paul bring this out? No, Peter, James, and John did as well.

"When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness i.e. in our everyday conduct..." - 1 Pet 2:23-24

This connection by multiple writers isn't a coincidence. Righteous living must always flow out of a righteous standing with God (because we could never meet the requirements of living a perfectly righteous life unaided) i.e. righteous living will always flow out of a righteous standing before God. If it does not - if there is no fruit of righteous living - the scriptures call us to make sure we are truly His child. This is clearly implied and stated explicitly in the above and other passages. So much so that scripture tells us if how we live has not changed since we came to Christ, we need to be sure we truly know Him. 

For a further discussion on being right vs living right click here

What is the good news? click here

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Footnotes: 

²What exactly is righteous living or living righteously? When our conduct is perfectly aligned with God's design and will. 

And what is God's design and will for us and all creation? That in everything we do and say we honor and glorify him. And in doing so, we also experience our own significance - glory. 

And how do we best honor and glorify him? By loving Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbors as ourselves. Love (i.e. relationship) is the driving force in carrying out these commandments and righteous living - i.e. treating others as we wish to be treated - is the result. 

God's love for us is first and our responding back to him in love is the result. We will not value or love God above all others until we experience his value or love for us. God is the initiator and source of love. If we are not plugged into Him we can never be loving as we were designed to be. When we see and experience his love we "light up" and become who we were created to be.  

God is the power supply, we are the conduits. He is the treasure, we are jars of clay. He is the vine, we are the branches.

Which comes first our valuing and loving Him or Him valuing and loving us? We love him because he first loved us.

³There is good reason to believe Paul dictated the book of Hebrews to Luke, who wrote it. The way the letter flows and unfolds - the thorough knowledge of the OT - is characteristic of other letters by Paul, not someone who is a Greek Gentile such as Luke. But the style and elegance of the Greek used in the book is indicative of Luke. So some suggest it was a collaboration between Paul and Luke. 

There are other reasons some believe Paul dictated it. Primarily because, as far as we know, all but one of Paul's letters (including Hebrews) was dictated. Possibly because of poor eyesight from his being blinded by beholding Christ on the road to Damascus.

Also Luke was a highly educated Greek national and medical doctor, fluent in "high" Greek. 

Hebrews was written with grammatical precision, using several words unique to the book of Hebrews. This was uncharacteristic of Paul's other letters but similar the gospel of Luke. For these reasons, some think Paul didn't write it but dictated it to Luke. Explaining why it has characteristics of both Paul and Luke. The fact that he considered himself the apostle to the Gentile adds even more credibility to this view. 

It is also believed Paul deliberately did not identify as the author since he was considered the apostle to the Gentiles and not looked upon favorably by the Judaizers from Jewish circles within the church. 

Some suggest he deliberately left his name off to avoid any resistance to the letters' reception and wide circulation within the Jewish community at large. After all, why would the apostle to the Gentiles be writing a letter to Hebrews?  

But Paul's love for his own people was clearly expressed in Romans chapter 9. Knowing this, it would make perfect sense that he still had an intense desire to reach his people even though God had called him to be an apostle to the Gentiles.