SABBATH THOUGHT 2026-02-14—RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD REVEALED
May God bless you on His Sabbath day!
When it comes to discussing the Law of God and sin, Paul is the preeminent authority among the apostles. Regarding sin, he had a global condemnation:
ROMANS 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Interestingly, apparently not quite everyone has sinned:
[NET 2.1] DEUTERONOMY 1:39 Also, your infants, who you thought would die on the way, and your children, who as yet do not know good from [evil], will go there; I will give them the land and they will possess it.
ROMANS 9:11 (for the children [of Isaac and Rebecca] not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls),
David, in his tearful repentance, said, “I was guilty of sin from birth, a sinner the moment my mother conceived me” (Net 2.1; Ps. 51:5). This was most likely hyperbole from the distress of his repentance because Scripture clearly says that infants in the womb have not done evil so they are born sinless, not KNOWING good or evil. Would God ascribe sin to anyone, especially helpless babies, who do not know good from evil? Would it have been sin to Adam and Eve if God did not tell them it was forbidden to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil? Unlikely.
There is one preacher who claims that everyone is born with a genetic inheritance of the “law of sin and death.”[1] He is clearly wrong. First of all, instead of being born with some form of genetically transmitted sin, Scripture says babies are born sinless and this was also true of Jesus Christ:
ISAIAH 7:15-16 “Curds [sour milk] and honey He [Jesus Christ] shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 “For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.
Even though all have sinned, infants do not have the capacity or ability to sin—they are born truly innocent. Moreover, the Bible says that “death spread to all men” (Rom. 5:12)—nowhere does it say that people were BORN with sin. So, aside from babies and infants, how have all have sinned? What was the origin of sin?
ROMANS 5:12 Therefore, just as through one man [Adam] sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned–
But how, exactly, did all sin? First of all, notice that the Law of God is eternal and has authority and preeminence over every living being:
MATTHEW 5:18 “For assuredly, I [Jesus Christ] say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.
[NET 2.1] ACTS 5:29 But Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than people.”
The Law of God existed even before mankind; therefore, everyone is under the authority of the Law of God, which DEFINES sin:
[NET 2.1] ROMANS 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I [Paul] would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.”
The Law of God is the instruction by which all people “know good and evil,” so the Law of God caused sin to come upon everyone:
ROMANS 7:8-10 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me [Paul] all manner of evil desire. For apart [without] from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without [apart] the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death.
But what was the sin that came upon the whole world? Notice what Satan told Eve in the Garden in Eden:
GENESIS 3:5 “For God knows that in the day you eat of it [the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil] your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
This deception of Satan is how Eve fell into sin:
1 TIMOTHY 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman [Eve] being deceived, fell into transgression.
But Adam’s sin was different:
ROMANS 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.
If Adam was not deceived, what was his sin? Moreover, what are sins that are not “according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam?” When Adam came into existence, the first living being he saw was God. He also witnessed the creation of Eve by God who made her out of his own body. Both Adam and Eve knew that God was their Creator that He was the Teacher of wisdom. When Eve was deceived, it seems she had a sincere desire to be wise:
GENESIS 3:6 So when the woman [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband [Adam] with her, and he ate.
Instead of appearing sinister and poisonous, Satan pointed out that the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil looked delicious. He also played upon her desires that it was a source of wisdom, similar to God’s. She “fell into transgression” and sinned by Satan’s deception. The wording suggests she did not intend to rebel against God. She simply wanted to be wise like God. What is wrong with that? Adam, however, clearly did not have innocent motives because he “was not deceived.” It was not a matter of desiring wisdom; Adam rebelled against God and ate the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good & Evil.
So there is the sin of Eve and the sin of Adam. Eve was deceived into sin but Adam sinned by rebellion. Sins like those of Eve are sins by deception, which are called “sins of ignorance” or “unintentional sins.”[2] Sins that are “according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam” are sins of rebellion. So, all have sinned either by sins of deception like Eve or sins of rebellion like Adam. Paul said he sinned because he was deceived:
ROMANS 7:11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me [Paul], and by it killed me.
Specifically, Paul was deceived into thinking he could be righteous under the Law of God through strict adherence to it. This is why Paul said, “I was alive once without [apart] the law but when the commandment [Law of God] came, sin revived and I died.” But why did he say sin revived WHEN the commandment CAME? It has to do with something Jesus Christ said:
JOHN 15:22 “If I [Jesus Christ] had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
When Jesus Christ came as flesh and blood, He said something that carried such weight that it took away the excuses of mankind for their sins. What did Jesus Christ say?
ROMANS 1:17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
This actually fulfilled a prophecy of Isaiah: “Thus says the LORD: “Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.”[3] Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of God[4] by revealing the righteousness of GOD. How did that cause all to come under sin, especially those like Paul who said “concerning the righteousness which is in the law, [I am] blameless?”[5] Jesus revealed that the righteousness of men falls far short of the righteousness of God:
ROMANS 8:7-8 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please [be in agreement with] God.
No matter how well-intentioned, the righteousness of mankind falls far short of the righteousness of God. That is why all have sinned and death has passed onto all flesh. Some sinned through rebellion while others were deceived into sin. Paul was deceived into believing that his obedience to the Law was perfect before God. Why? Because the Law of Moses allowed forgiveness of sin through animal sacrifices. Paul believed that his works of righteousness were acceptable to God. Sadly, the reality is that “our righteousnesses are like filthy rags”[6] to God. Once Paul understood his righteousness was not perfect before God, he said, “when the commandment came [was revealed], sin revived and I died.” The whole time Paul was deceived into believing he was being righteous, he was actually “sold under [or enslaved to] sin”[7] by the Law of God:
GALATIANS 3:19, 21-23 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. … 21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has [concluded] all [mankind] under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.
Once the righteousness of God was revealed to him, Paul realized that he went from being alive by his own righteousness to being dead according to the righteousness of God. In contrast, the scribes and Pharisees hated Jesus when He told them their righteousness was not pleasing to God. Even though He was the Son of God, they rejected any notion that THEIR righteousness was “filthy rags.” Even though they were deceived, they rebelled when Jesus showed them with their sins. Jesus utterly condemned the scribes and Pharisees for this and John the Baptist warned them of the “wrath to come”[8]:
ROMANS 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, 19 because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
This is why Jesus said this about the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees:
MATTHEW 5:20 “For I [Jesus Christ] say to you [the people], that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the Law of God by revealing that the righteousness of God far surpasses any amount of righteous works by mankind. They are NOT in agreement with God nor are they pleasing to Him. The righteous works of mankind are sin and death and that is how all have sinned, even those who sincerely try to obey the Law of God. For this reason, God had to provide another means for salvation—Jesus Christ! And THAT is what the Passover is all about.
May God’s grace and peace be upon you!
Steven Greene
https://sabbathreflections.org