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Scripture Reading: 1 John 2:28—3:10a
I. The fellowship of the divine life and the teaching of the divine anointing should have an issue — the expression of the righteous God — 1 John 2:29; 3:7.
II. The word righteous in 2:29 refers to the righteous God in 1:9 and to Jesus Christ the Righteous in 2:1:
А. The righteousness of God is what God is in His actions with respect to justice and righteousness — Rom. 1:17; 3:21-22; 10:3:
1. Righteousness is related to God’s actions and activities — Rev. 16:7; 19:2.
2. God is righteous in His ways — His governing principles by which He does things; righteousness is the nature of God’s acts — 15:3; Psa. 103:7.
3. God is righteous in the blood of Jesus His Son, which has fulfilled God’s righteous requirements so that He may forgive us our sins — 1 John 1:9.
B. In ascension Jesus Christ is the Righteous — 2:1:
1. As the ascended One in the heavens, Christ is working and ministering righteously.
2. As our Representative, or Attorney, in the heavenly court, Christ is the righteous One — v. 1.
III. There are two aspects of Christ being righteousness from God to the believers — 1 Cor. 1:30; Matt. 5:20:
А. The first aspect is that Christ is the believers’ righteousness for them to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ — Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
B. The second aspect is that Christ is the believers’ righteousness lived out of them as the manifestation of God, who is the righteousness in Christ given to the believers for them to be justified by God subjectively — Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8.
IV. To practice the divine righteousness is to do righteousness habitually, continually, and unintentionally as a way of life in our daily living — 1 John 2:29; 3:7:
А. With the divine birth as the basis and the divine life as the means, we can live a life that practices the divine righteousness — 2:25, 29; 3:9.
B. The practice of the divine righteousness is a spontaneous living that issues from the divine life within us, with which we have been begotten of the righteous God — 1:1-2; 2:29; 5:1.
C. The practice of the divine righteousness is a living expression of God, who is righteous in all His deeds and acts — Rev. 15:3.
D. The practice of the divine righteousness is not merely outward behavior but the manifestation of the inward life; it is not merely an act of purpose but the flow of life from within the divine nature, of which we partake — 2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 22:1-2:
1. We have a righteous nature within us, a nature that is of our new man — Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
2. As we obey the inner anointing, the moving of the Triune God within us, we will live habitually according to this righteous nature — 1 John 2:27.
E. As the result of being saturated with the Triune God, we become His expression; in particular, because God is righteous, when we express Him, we express His righteousness — 3:7.
F. Because we abide in the righteous God and He is saturating us with what He is, we express His righteousness by living a righteous life habitually and unintentionally — 2:29.
G. To practice the divine righteousness — to live a righteous life that is the expression of the righteous God — is to purify ourselves — 3:3:
1. Righteous in verse 7 equals pure in verse 3.
2. To be righteous is to be pure, without any stain of sin, lawlessness, and unrighteousness, even as Christ is.
H. To practice sin (lawlessness) is to live a life which is not under the ruling principle of God over man; to practice righteousness is to live rightly under the principle of God’s ruling — vv. 4, 7.
V. To practice the divine righteousness is to live out and express the righteousness of God in a full and complete way — Matt. 5:20; Rom. 8:4; 2 Cor. 3:9; 5:21; Phil. 3:9; Psa. 89:14; Rev. 19:7-8; 2 Pet. 3:13:
А. To practice the divine righteousness is to live a life that is right with God, persons, things, and matters before God according to His righteous and strict requirements — Matt. 5:20.
B. To practice the divine righteousness is to live out the subjective righteousness of God, which is actually God Himself in Christ lived out through us to become a daily living that is right with God and man — Phil. 3:9.
C. To practice the divine righteousness is to live Christ; if we live Christ, we will be the most righteous persons, for the Christ who lives within us will make us right in everything and with everyone — 1:20-21a.
D. To practice the divine righteousness is to have the righteousness that is the outward expression of the Christ who lives within us as the life-giving Spirit; as Christ lives in us as the life-giving Spirit and we live Him out, our living will express the divine righteousness — 1 Cor. 15:45b; 6:17; 2 Cor. 3:6, 9, 17-18.
E. To practice the divine righteousness is to express the image of God; the Spirit is the essence of God living, moving, and acting within us, and righteousness is the essence of God manifested outwardly as God’s image — Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10.
F. To practice the divine righteousness is to be right with God in our being; this is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear, that is in the mind and will of God, and that is the righteousness of God — 2 Cor. 5:21.
G. To practice the divine righteousness is to live in the reality of the kingdom of God and under the throne of God, which is established with righteousness as the foundation — Rom. 14:17; Psa. 89:14.
H. To practice the divine righteousness is to be clothed with righteousnesses to be the bride of Christ adorned with bright, shining righteousness — Rev. 19:7-8.
