The Filthy Rags Myth

"All our righteous acts are like filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6)

Isaiah 64 is an obvious old covenant scripture when we read the whole chapter, yet we use part of a verse from it (above) for modern day evangelism. We take what one group of people said about themselves, it is not even God speaking, & apply it to all of humanity. It does not even say their view of themselves is accurate.

This does not refer to all of mankind. If God viewed all of mankind's righteous acts apart from Him as filthy rags He'd be unjust. On top of that this is never the way the Old Testament pictures God. There are countless places where God loves people's righteous acts in the Old Testament.

"How then can we be saved? All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags (garments); we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away." (Isaiah 64:5-6)

Why do we need clean garments of righteousness? Is it because God is a stickler & will murder anyone who doesn't meet His standards? No! No! NO!
"The devil holds the power of death" (Hebrews 2:14). "The devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour" (1 Peter 5:8). When people are unclean the devil catches their scent. In the old covenant there were many scent based offerings to throw Satan off. We need righteousness to protect us from death. Sin has earned us death (Romans 6:23) but righteousness earns us life (Proverbs 10:16).

We don't need righteousness to approach God. Jesus is God & even prostitutes approached Him. It wasn't God's choice to blind men because they failed to meet His high standards. Sin was what blinded mankind to God. Jesus came to restore sight to the blind. If He was the one who made them blind in the first place He is double-minded & cannot be trusted.

The universal truth of the opening verse is that we cannot, by our deeds, clean ourselves of unrighteousness. We cannot clean ourselves of unrighteousness at all. People's righteous acts are like filthy rags, NOT in the eyes of God, but because they cannot cleanse us, they just rub the dirt around. When we are saved our spirits are "cleansed of all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9) & Satan can no longer touch us (1 John 5:18).

The world view of "God demands we live up to a standard & you don't measure up" IS FALSE. Many people reject God because they can plainly see what Christians are really saying while the Christians have no clue. They reject Him because Christians have presented Him as a self-centered worship demanding maniac who will torture you if you don't join his side. He's pictured like a ruthless dictator who doesn't really care about human life at all, that he literally values nothing about us except what we can do for him! That he not only sees us as valueless but he sees even the best things we do as filthy as bloody menstrual rags! Where is the good news there? This is essentially what the "our righteousness is filthy rags" gospel says, "You make God want to barf but he'll slowly clean you up so he doesn't have to smell your rank butt for all eternity."

It is true that our deeds cannot clean us, they cannot save us. But please stop using this scripture to define how God views humanity. This is not right, especially after the cross! Righteousness is necessary for safety from sin, Satan, & death. God loves righteousness, even that done by those who don't know Him. On judgment day it says God will judge people by their deeds, it does not say He will judge them by their sins (Revelation 20:12).

If we truly believe that men choose death, rather than God condemns men for rejecting Him.. If we truly believe that God loves the whole world, God is love & love keeps no record of wrongs.. maybe we'd see things like this..

God "stores up wrath for the day of judgment" for the sake of justice (Romans 2:5) so that those who hate Him, even after He offers them one more chance on that judgment day, can justly have the second death (which is annihilation) that they have chosen. Why does Revelation 20:12 say God judges by deeds? Why oh, why wouldn't it say He judges them by sins? Because He has already taken the sinful deeds of the world away. "The sting of death is sin" (1 Corinthians 15:56). God wants to take away that sting as much as He can, even for those who reject Him! He judges them by their deeds to ease the sting of death that their sinful condition has earned them.

Long standing doctrines have caused us to be blind to the plain texts & contexts of scripture seeing only the details, assumptions, & interpretations of those doctrines when we read scripture. This is true for those who believe the doctrines & many of those who don't. Those who embrace the doctrines are blind to the truth. Those who reject the doctrines often reject the scriptures too. But there is truth in the scriptures & it is good news. The good news of freedom, salvation, love, & mercy.


Related Posts

God Never Wants His Children to Feel Shame (Looks at Isaiah 6)
For more posts on the second chance God gives mankind on judgment say see this page

Let's Share in the Satisfaction of His Sacrifice

"If anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world." (1 John 2:1-2)

Advocate is a bad word to use because it makes it seem as if the Father wants to kill or hurt us if Jesus doesn't convince Him not to, that Jesus must plead on our behalf to keep the Father's wrath at bay. The word would be better translated as "helper" or "comforter" as it is the same words used by Jesus for the Holy Spirit in John chapters 14-16. We have an advocate WITH the Father as in the Father is our helper too. They both help us. They both comfort us.
   
"Jesus himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins." Atoning/propitiation could be translated as satisfying, satisfaction, content, contentment.
   
Of course God is unsatisfied to not have a relationship with us. Jesus's sacrifice opened to us the door of that relationship. God is satisfied when we enter that door because He wants to know us but these scriptures don't picture God aiming to please Himself. It is God aiming to please us so that if sin ever comes to our mind we can be completely secure in the fact that He has taken care of it for us. Sin was our problem that God fixed not God's problem because He has issues with anger.

"Jesus himself is the satisfying sacrifice for our sins." That means WE CAN be satisfied with nothing else but His sacrifice concerning our sins. His sacrifice satisfies us concerning "sin" to where we can need nothing else; not our performance, behavior, emotions; to make us confident that we know God without barriers, are fully reconciled to God, & fully cleansed of sin/failure.

John is saying Jesus's sacrifice IS enough to assure us beyond doubt that our sins are taken away & forgotten forever. His sacrifice IS enough to make us content, satisfied, & fulfilled in regards to knowing that our relationship with God is secure. And yes it satisfied God to do this for us.
   
How distant is this from the typical interpretations which say, "God the Father hates us (gets offended) so much when we sin but Jesus will keep Him off our backs if we tell Him what we've done wrong. Jesus stepped in & appeased God's wrath for us because God really wanted to kill us all." That is the message that words like atonement & advocate convey. That God was so against us He just had to keep Himself from going nuts on us by killing His Son.

Jesus revealed that the Spirit is our comforter. Here John reveals that Jesus is also our comforter with the Father because the Father is our comforter too. They comfort us by reminding us that Jesus's sacrifice for the world can completely satisfy us & make us content with God because our sins are no more. 1 John 4:10 says, "This is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to give us contentment concerning our sins." That means no more worry or fear concerning sin EVER! It's true! It's true! I know it & I live it.

The Sins of the World Taken Away & The Wrath of God

Sins Taken Away
Behold Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world! (John 1:29)

2 Corinthians 5:18-19 says, "God gave us the good work of reconciliation. This work is to tell people that 'God was in Christ on the cross reconciling the world to Himself and He is not charging anyone with sin because of it.' He has given us this message of reconciliation. We beg you on behalf of Christ, 'Be reconciled to God.'" The message of reconciliation is for everyone. God has reconciled all people to Himself, however this scripture makes it clear that people must be reconciled to God. Mutual reconciliation is required for salvation.

This begs the question, "Why do people need to be reconciled to God if their sins are taken away and God is not charging (imputing) them with sin?" Sin is not the primary issue of salvation, relationship is. Jesus said "eternal life is knowing the Father and the Son whom He sent" (John 17:3). Before the cross sin was a barrier to knowing God and entering into a relationship with Him. Reconciled means God repaired His relationship with mankind & that He is making relationship with Himself fully available to all. God did everything He could to make mutual reconciliation possible. Our only part is to be reconciled to Him, which is to simply trust Jesus. People do not need to "turn from sin," as is falsely taught, to be saved. Sin is taken away. There is nothing to turn from. How can God require you to turn from something that is not there?

Jesus "took away the sins of THE WORLD" (John 1:29). "Jesus came to earth to take away sins" (1 John 3:5). "Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Notice that the last two talk about how Jesus came in the flesh, past tense, to take away sins and that sin was "put away" by "the sacrifice of Himself." It is obvious by those scriptures when He took away sin. He took away sin at the cross where He sacrificed Himself. Jesus taking away sin is not a future event but a past event. Any other explanation means Jesus did not "take away the sins of THE WORLD" because they still have sin now and they will have it later when they are judged. Thus sin was never at any point taken away for the world.

The world is the world. "God so loved the world" does not mean "God only loved those who would receive His love." No, He loves us all. Likewise He took away the sins of the world all at once on the cross when "God was in Christ" and Jesus "put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." I'm not saying people have salvation if they don't receive it. I am saying that God does not impute sin to anyone in this life. He reconciled the world to Himself, meaning He did everything He could do on His part. That was His loving & wise choice so people can have no spiritual barrier in receiving what He offers.

Wrath Now?
Storing Up Wrath
Romans 2:4 says, "the kindness of God leads you to changing your mind (repentance)." God isn't pouring out His wrath on the lost but instead He is pouring out His kindness so that they might change their minds about Him and trust Him. It is those with hard hearts who refuse to change their minds to trust Christ who store up future wrath for themselves (Romans 2:5). People store up wrath for the day of judgement. It does not say God is bringing wrath to them currently. He wants all to come to trust Jesus and He draws them with His grace which is His loving-kindness.

1 Thessalonians 2:15-16 speaks of the Jews who "killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets," who "are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men," who "drove Paul and His co-workers out, preventing them from speaking the gospel to Gentiles." Because of these people's perpetual rejection of Jesus and their opposition to others hearing of the good news about Him the scripture says, "The wrath did come upon them for the end." The wrath is "the wrath to come" earlier spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 1:10. In other words "they stored up wrath for themselves for the day of judgment (the end)." Referring to this approaching future day of wrath Revelation 11:18 says, "The Lord's wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged."

"He who trusts in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not trust the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36). John said this before the cross when mankind was still under the law. God charged people with sin and poured out wrath while the law was in effect. On the cross God abolished the law and reconciled the world to Himself. Alternately the word "abides" is sometimes translated as "waits." Considering that most of the references of God's wrath in the New Testament speaks of "the wrath to come," it can be fair to translate this as "the wrath of God waits on him." Coupling this with what Romans 2 says we can potentially take this to mean that the wrath of God waits, is stored up, for those who reject Jesus.

God's wrath regarding mankind is past tense & future tense. He expressed wrath before the cross, He expressed wrath on the cross, and He will express wrath at the judgment. He stores up wrath for those who have yet to trust Him. In His kindness He attempts to draw people to Himself so they will be spared from the wrath to come. "The Lord is patient, not wishing for anyone to perish but for all to change their minds to trusting Him" (2 Peter 3:9).

Children of Wrath?
The term "children of wrath" in Ephesians 2:3 doesn't mean children of God's wrath. The scripture was talking about how they "indulged in the desires of the flesh and of the mind." In doing those things they produced wrath (anger, destructive & harmful behavior). Ephesians 5:6 & Colossians 3:6 say "the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience." Jesus spoke similarly in John 8:44, "You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father." Likewise children of wrath/sons of disobedience do the desires of their "father," wrath. They are harmful and destructive, they have no respect for God. Romans 2:8 also talks about those who "obey wrath." His wrath is coming and will arrive at judgment for those who reject Him as Father.

God's Wrath Against The Unrighteousness of Men
"For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Romans 1:18). Notice this does not say His wrath is against the men but against that which the men produce (ungodliness and unrighteousness). God seeks to deliver the abused and the abusers from harmful actions. Acts 3:26 tells us, "God raised up Jesus and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways." Paul is a perfect example of this, he suppressed the truth but he was rescued from the wrath to come by Jesus (1 Thessalonians 1:10).

Summary
"Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Jesus put sin away for everyone. He does not count sins against anyone in this life in order to make relationship with Himself fully available to everyone. Those who trust Jesus have their sin taken away permanently and God will never be angry at them (Isaiah 54:9-10). God will never have anger or wrath towards His children. Those who reject Jesus have God's wrath "stored up for them" & their sins are taken back out at judgment. "Blessed are the people whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin" (Romans 4:8), those people are His beloved children.


Related Posts
The Truth About Sin- A brief post that summarizes what I talk about here.
Judgment In Light of Sins Taken Away- Looks specifically at the judgment scene in Revelation 20.
Psalm 5 in the Light of The Messiah- Speaks about the way God looks at the world after the cross

The Truth About Sin

If You, Lord, kept a record of sins, who could stand? (Psalm 130:3)

Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Hebrews 9:26).

God does not count sins against anyone in the world during this age. (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Those who refuse to trust Jesus store up wrath for themselves for the day of judgement in the next age. The sins that Jesus "put away" are returned to them. (Romans 2:5)

Those who trust Jesus enter into an eternal covenant of peace with Him that He made through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:20, Matthew 26:28, Isaiah 54:9-10)

To those who trust Him God says, "I will never remember your sins and lawless deeds" (Hebrews 10:17, 8:12). God takes their sins away forever (Romans 11:27, Psalm 103:12), freeing them from sin (Romans 6:6,7,18,22, 8:2), cleansing and purifying them from their sins forever (Hebrews 1:3, 13:11-12, 1 John 1:7,9).

Blessed is the person whose sin the Lord will never take into account! He will never charge that person with sin! (Romans 4:8)

My post The Sins of the World Taken Away & The Wrath of God goes into more detail.

Holy

God is Holy
Holy means pure, unmixed, or set apart. When speaking of God it refers to His purity, that there is no evil found in Him. It also means God is set apart, not in the physical sense but that He is special & unique, there is no one like Him. God is special, wonderful and to be highly favored. Sometimes holy refers to God's trustworthiness, that He is unmixed with falsehood & deceit. God's "holy name" refers to the pure goodness and trustworthiness of His character. In these meanings we can see how calling God "holy" is a form of praise.

“Who is like You among the gods, O Lord? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in praises, working wonders?" (Exodus 15:11)

God Called Things Holy
Many times holy means special to God, something He holds dear or as important. In the old covenant there were many inanimate objects, animals, gatherings, and places that were holy (set apart, special, purified for use). What God considers special is important because He is wise and kind. God set apart certain things and practices as holy in the old covenant because they are symbols of the holy man Jesus the Messiah, His beloved Son.

Jesus is Holy
Holy and Messiah (Christ) are actually similar terms. The Father, David, Peter, Paul, John, & even demons called Jesus "The Holy One of God” (Mark 1:24, Acts 2:27, 1 John 2:20). Messiah literally means "The Anointed One" which is "The Chosen One." He is The Chosen King, The Chosen Priest, The Chosen Spokesman, The Chosen Mediator between God and mankind. Jesus is special & unique. Jesus the Messiah is, in regards to living beings, the "Holy of Holies," "The Most Holy Being."

The Holy Spirit
The Holy Spirit is The Unique Spirit of God, The Pure Spirit of God. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God but He is also the first born among many children, God has many sons and daughters. Likewise The Holy Spirit is the Unique Spirit of God even though all of God's children have holy spirits themselves. We are united with God and one with Him yet, like a married couple, He is still uniquely God and we are still uniquely us.

Saints are The Holy People of God

God calls His children "saints" which simply means "holy people." 2 Thessalonians 1:10 tells us that "God's holy people" are all those who have trusted Him. We are holy and dearly loved (Colossians 3:12) & He calls us His holy temple (1 Corinthians 3:17). We are God's spiritual children, born by His spirit when we trust Jesus. Our spirit is born holy. We are "created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness" (Ephesians 4:24).

God Alone is Holy?
Revelation 15:4 says, "God alone is holy" but the bible calls other people holy, including all of God's children. How is this possible? One simple word, "in." God's people are "in God" they are "in Christ." Colossians 3:3 says we are "hidden with Christ in God." Jesus' prayer recorded in John 17 came true, we are "one in the Father and the Son," "He is in us and we are in Him." Christ is a body, Jesus is the head of that body, those who trust Him are the rest of that body. Just as my hand is me and a part of me so too are we parts of the body of Christ and we are Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12). We are "one body and one Spirit" with God (Ephesians 4:4).

The Holy Bible
The scriptures are called holy in Romans 1:2. This indicates that they are special, unique, and pure.

God's Holiness and Anger
So many people speak of God's holiness as if it were His reason for offense, anger, and wrath. I've even heard people contrast His holiness with His love! God is love. His holiness is not separate from His love. Holy does not mean 'quick to anger' or 'easily offended' as so many teach.

God is not an immature religious nut who considers himself so "pure" that He gets angry at the sight of something just because He doesn't like it. God is love. Scripture defines love as selfless (1 Corinthians 13:5). God is not irrationally bias towards things. He has reasons. He sees and knows if there is something ultimately harmful in something. He opposes things that will drive people away from Him or make them feel farther from Him than they are. God's holiness does not get offended but His compassion burns to protect those He loves like any good father's would.

Offend means "to cause anger in." While there are times where God gets angry and severe in scripture nowhere does scripture say "God was offended" or that God's holiness was offended. Scripture never uses the word "offended" to describe God at all. It only says that we are the ones who get offended at Him! (See Matthew 13:57 & Mark 6:3) Jesus said, "Blessed is he who does not take offense at Me” (Matthew 11:6, Luke 7:23).

God seeks to protect His holy name (reputation of His purely good character) because anything said against His good character would cause people to not trust Him. Those who don't trust Him cannot experience His love or be aware of His goodness. He seeks to protect His name for our sake. He is "jealous for His holy name" (Ezekiel 39:25) because He is the only true God. Knowing Him is the best thing for everyone. Serving fake gods or living without Him is of no benefit and is in fact the worst thing for anyone.

God, as love, does not take into account wrongs suffered (1 Corinthians 13:5). God does not count sins against anyone (2 Corinthians 5:19). One amazing thing about God's love is that He seeks to save the abused and the abusers. He protects His friends and loves His enemies into friendships. Paul is a perfect example of this. He went from being a murderer of God's people to a lover and helper of God's people. God said in Hosea 11:9, perhaps foreshadowing Jesus who said He did not come to condemn the world but to save it (John 3:17),  "I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath."

"Jesus came in the flesh to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself" (Hebrews 9:26). Jesus put sin away for everyone. He does not count sins against anyone in this life in order to make relationship with Himself fully available to everyone. Those who trust Jesus have their sin taken away permanently and God will never be angry at them (Isaiah 54:9-10). God will never have anger or wrath towards His children. Those who reject Jesus have God's wrath "stored up for them" & their sins are taken back out at judgment. "Blessed are the people whom the Lord will by no means charge with sin" (Romans 4:8), those people are His children, His holy children.

God is so holy that He passes His holiness onto His children. He takes those who were ordinary & filthy and makes them pure & perfect forever (Hebrews 10:14).


Scriptures Showing the Various Meanings of Holy

• Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy (special/pure) ground” (Exodus 3:5).
  • God's manifested presence is what makes the ground holy.
• Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy (pure, specially set apart). (Exodus 20:8)
• “You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, ‘ Holy (specially set apart) to the Lord.’ (Exodus 28:36)
• The Lord spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.’” (Leviticus 10:3)
  • God is special, wonderful and to be highly favored.
• “You shall not profane (pollute) My holy (pure) name, but I will be sanctified (spoken of as pure) among the sons of Israel; I am the Lord who sanctifies you (sets you apart and purifies) (Leviticus 22:32)
• Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank. But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “ Because you have not trusted Me, to treat Me as holy (special/pure/trustworthy- unmixed with falsehood & deceit) in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:11-12)
• For you are a holy (special/set apart) people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. (Deuteronomy 7:6)
• There is no one holy (unique) like the Lord (1 Samuel 2:2)
• For our heart rejoices in Him, because we trust in His holy name (trustworthy character). (Psalm 33:21)

Psalm 6 in the Light of The Messiah

O Lord, do not correct me in Your anger, Nor discipline me in Your wrath. (v1)
The blood of Christ spilt on the cross allows us to enter into a covenant of permanent peace with God (Matthew 26:28, Colossians 1:20). In this covenant God swears to never be angry with His children (Isaiah 54:9-10). He will never have wrath for them. His kindness is what leads us to change our minds for the better (Romans 2:4).

Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am weak; Heal me, O Lord, because I am terrified (v2-3)
You never need to beg God for His favor, graciousness, grace, or healing. Because of Jesus God has given you everything you need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) & has already blessed you with every spiritual blessing that exists (Ephesians 1:3). As we grow to understand all the things He has provided for us through our loving Lord & Savior Jesus Christ His perfect love will deliver us from all our fears (1 John 4:18). We will also see the power of His love compensate for and counteract our weaknesses (2 Corinthians 12:9).

“O Lord, you will not correct me in your anger, nor will you discipline me in Your wrath.

You have been gracious to me, O Lord, your strength fills in the holes of my weaknesses and builds strong towers upon them.
You are here Lord. You heal me and deliver me from my fears. You have rescued me and saved me because of your lovingkindness.
I will make mention of your death and give thanks to you so others may live because of you.

I rest in you and you comfort me in my tears no matter how plentiful they become.
Your truth brings youthful life to my eyes so that I may see the elaborate niceties of your love.

You hear my prayers, you keep me safe, and you offer grace even to those who desire to harm me.
You seek to deliver them from their shame and to turn them from their hurtful ways.”

Part 5 in a Series