Since they are ignorant of the righteousness of God and attempted to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness. (CSB)

Ignorance is never a good place to be. Have you been there? Oblivious? Ignorant? Not seeing what may be obvious to others? Or maybe you have someone in your life who you would identify as always being the oblivious or ignorant one. They just don’t seem aware of what is obvious to everyone else in the room – whether it’s the mood, the tone of the conversation, or just what seems to be so clear to everyone around them.

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No one wants to be labeled ignorant. And yet, Paul is writing about people who are ignorant of the righteousness of God. In this verse, who is “they”? It’s important to remember that the chapter constraints that we now see in our Bibles were not part of the original letter to the Romans. So, looking back a few verses into chapter 9, we can see that Paul has been talking about the Jewish people – the people of Israel. In Romans 9:31 Paul writes, “But Israel, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith…” Continuing on into chapter 10, when Paul refers to “they,” he is referring to the people of Israel. Sadly, the Jewish people were religiously following the law but not by faith. They were bound by rules, and their hearts were not aligned with the righteousness of God. Paul says they were “ignorant of the righteousness of God.” As a result, they established their own version of righteousness.  

Let’s pause for a moment. How would you define righteousness? It’s a big word that is used often in church – but do we know what it really means and how it applies to us?

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God is righteous. He is holy, perfect, without sin, just. This is all encompassed within the term righteous. Righteousness is following in His ways – which we know is not achievable because of sin. The reality is that we cannot be righteous apart from Jesus. Paul says it this way in his letter to the church at Corinth, “God made [Jesus] who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21, NIV). In the Old Testament, the prophet Isaiah uses clothing imagery to help us understand more clearly what Christ has accomplished on our behalf: “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness” (Isa. 61:10). In both examples and throughout Scripture, there is clear teaching that Jesus and His sacrifice are the key to our righteousness.  

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So, back to Romans 10 and the people of Israel who tried to achieve God’s ways and His standards on their own through following rules and regulations. They tried to earn their way – ignoring His mercy and grace and the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. It’s easy to shake my head in wonder at their ignorance. But am I so far from that? What about you?  

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Do you ever try to earn God’s favor or work to do things “right”? Do you fall back into the mindset that Christianity is about rule following and making sure that you accomplish more of the Do’s and less of the Don’ts? Or what about self-righteousness? How easy is it in our society of relativism and judgmentalism to slip into thoughts such as “at least I’m doing better than s/he is,” or “well, I would never do that.” To be honest, I see myself in each of these scenarios, which means that I’m still acting and living as if I’m ignorant as well.

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I’m challenged, and hope you are too, to submit afresh to the righteousness of God -knowing that it’s all about Him and has nothing to do with me. I want to submit to His grace and mercy – confessing my sin and being confident that He is faithful and just and will forgive (1 Jn 1:9). Let’s walk in submissive freedom today!

Heavenly Father,  

You are holy and righteous. The amazing thing is that, though I’m so far from you in my sin, you choose to clothe me in Christ’s righteousness and bring me close. Thank you for your grace and mercy. Help me today to submit to your gift of grace and to your righteousness – not cheapening it with a law of righteousness of my own making. I want to grow more and more like you – as I’m clothed in Christ.

Amen.