In Old Testament times it was simply thought by many that there were good and bad people in the world. Jesus revealed to us that actually, only God is good. “Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” (Mark 10:18)
Still, it is good for us to consider righteous vs wicked actions and behavior, and that’s where the book of Proverbs comes in. Proverbs paints a picture contrasting good and evil. The wicked are those who have no concept of God’s power, holiness, and character. They refuse to acknowledge God’s sovereignty over their lives, acting out of self-interest and prioritizing their own agendas without regard for others. In Proverbs 15:6 the Hebrew word we translate into “wicked” is “rasha” which means “guilty of sin.” In contrast, the righteous have right standing before God, and a right view of God. They recognize His sovereignty and approach Him, and others, with proper humility. They strive to be just and lawful, seeking to obey and please God.
Today, with our knowledge of Jesus and what he taught, we know sin is wickedness, that all of us sin (1 John 1:18), and therefore all of us could be considered wicked. 1 Peter 3:18 calls us all “unrighteous” needing to be saved by Him the “righteous” one: “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God.” So when we read the Proverbs about the righteous, it should challenge us all to aim even higher, not think we have achieved it. And when we read about the wicked, it serves to warn us about our own sin. As believers, before we make judgments about evil in the world, we examine ourselves. We are declared righteous only by grace through faith in Jesus, not because of anything we think or do. The thief on the cross went from unrighteous to righteous in a moment of faith.
When we compare ourselves to others, we can always find someone worse than us, but when we compare ourselves to Jesus, we see we are all wicked because of sin. Believers now do works of righteousness because they have been freed to do so by God’s grace, who gave us his own righteousness standing, and made us into a new creation. As new creatures we desire to do good, though we all still fall very short of His holy standard.
Here are some scriptures for further study:
- Titus 3:3-5: “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another. But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”
- Isaiah 64:6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away.”
- Ephesians 2:1-3: “As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.”
- Romans 3:10-12: “As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.'”
- 1 Corinthians 6:9-11: “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
- Philippians 3:9: “And be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
- Romans 3:21-22: “But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
- Romans 4:5: “However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness.“
- 1 Corinthians 1:30: “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”
- Romans 5:17: “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!”
- Romans 10:4: “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.“
- 2 Corinthians 5:21: For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Adorn the Gospel 