Filthy Rags Verse Explained and Refuted


Many times you will hear religious people say ... all your righteousness is as filthy rags to God and that is the reason for this article. I want to clear up this false teaching and correct it for God's glory. When they say this they are quoting Isaiah 64:6
"But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" 

 It is so often used to tell people that they do not have and should not strive to have any righteousness before God. 

 Is that really true? 

 Or does God command us to have righteousness and it in fact, it does please Him? 

 I am going to offer up many scriptures to you to PROVE that we are to have righteousness and it DOES please God. I will also show you it is heretical man made doctrines that NEED to drive this verse home in a twisted way to make their ill beliefs work but they do not work when you study all of God's Word in full.

 The Hebrew word for righteous In Isaiah 64:6 is tsedaqah and it means to be right, morally correct and in justice. 

 The Greek Word for righteous is dikaiosune and it means to be right, pure, acceptable to God and virtuous. 

 Note: Both the Hebrew and Greek mean it is to be right with God by keeping His ways and Holy Law. 

 Now that we know what is means to be righteous, lets move on.

 Note: I want to make a clear statement. We do not teach works/self righteousness for salvation!!!  We DO need Christ's shed blood that acts on our behalf for our righteousness "unto salvation". We CANNOT be granted eternal life without His perfect righteousness as we are imperfect beings that have all sinned. These verses clearly show the need for His blood and resurrection work for salvation:

 Romans 5:19
For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
1 Corinthians 1:30
But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
2 Corinthians 5:21
For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

 Praise God for the gift of His Son who redeems repentive people! 

 Having said that, I will prove to you that Isaiah 64:6 does not mean we are not to strive for righteousness as we serve Christ. In fact the rest of God's Word COMMANDS we be righteous in our lives for the Lord in many many places. ( not righteous for our salvation though, get that straight! ) 

 Satan and Man's Lies

 Most all of man made evangelical Sunday religion has this very wrong due to the demonic doctrine of Calvinism that teaches for 500 years now that you are depraved and can never do any good or righteous acts. They have lied about Isaiah 64:6 for their ill gain and their claims are simply a bold face lie per God's Word. This causes men to not even strive for holiness and obedience ( as they are just hand picked by God for salvation per calvinism and can do nothing good themselves ) yet God's Word commands over its pages His people are to obey Him and His Word.  

 See Calvinism exposed here with many articles:
http://spiritandtruthdiscernment.blogspot.com/search/label/Calvinism

Moving on, the first place to start is to look at the context of this  Isaiah 64:6 verse as that is always a key to good bible study. In this passage the prophet is talking to Israel ( not all believers throughout time )  and their condition is one of idolatry and sinfulness even as they do religious acts. Read the chapters before and after chapter 64 ( Isaiah 58 is all about Israel's hypocrisy ) and you will see that Isaiah is scolding Israel for its stiff neck way towards God. Isaiah1:14 even starts with this:
Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.

 Clearly we can see from Isaiah this is all about a hypocritical nation that was mocking God and not living in biblical righteousness and it angered the Lord. So why is it applied to us gentiles today after Christ has come and redeemed those born of His spirit and given us the power to live for Him?

 Even in the very section of scripture that men claim shows you cant have or do righteous acts that God desires, they ignore altogether verse 5 that comes right before their favored verse!

 "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved".

*** You can see for yourself it talks about those who worketh righteousness. So how can it be no man can be righteous? Of course we can have righteousness and live in a righteous way for the Lord! By rightly dividing the Word we can see the truth vs just cherry picking verses we like to twist out of content. 

Need more proof you and I can have righteousness before God?

Many men in the bible were viewed as righteous by actions and faith. In fact, over 200 times it talks about people who were righteous before God so how can that be if ALL our righteousness are a filthy rags to God? The answer is it cannot be true as God desires and wants us to act righteously. 

 Here are just a few verses that show righteous people who walked with God:

 Genesis 6:9
These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.

 Job 1:1
There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

 Luke 1:6
And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless

 Philippians 3:6
Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

 Clearly these people had a righteous standing before God, so why can't you and I today? 

 Jesus Himself speaks of righteousness of men:
Matthew 25:31-40
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
42 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
43 I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
45 Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

 Jesus Christ clearly tells us men can indeed have righteousness via obeying God's Word!

 If all of this is not enough for you, let me give you even more verses from God's Holy Word that deal with righteousness of born again true Christians:

 1 John 3:7
Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.

 1 John 2:29
If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that every one that doeth righteousness is born of him.

 Ephesians 5:27
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

 Acts 10:35
But in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him.

 Romans 14:16-17
Let not then your good be evil spoken of:
17 For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

 1 Peter 1:22
Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:

 2 Peter 1:1-11
Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:
2 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,
3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
5 And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;
6 And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;
7 And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.
8 For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.
10 Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
11 For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.


You cannot read God's Word and not see that as Christians we are called to live righteous, holy obedient lives and that pleases God.
Here are verses that show we please God in that:

 1 John 3:22
And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

 Hebrews 13:16
But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

 Colossians 1:10
That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;

 Lastly, not only are we to have righteous acts but the Word of God says we will be rewarded for them!

 Matthew 10:42
He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward.
42 And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
Luke 14:12-14
Then said he also to him that bade him, When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompence be made thee.
13 But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind:
14 And thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.

 Also see Matthew 25:34-40 / that I quoted above....

 In closing, we cannot use our righteousness alone and expect salvation. No that comes by the gospel alone through Jesus Christ and what He has done! (See the gospel below) But in this article I have clearly shown you that those who are born of God ( not Sunday pew sitters ) can, will, should and are commanded to do and have righteous acts ( fruit ) of their own that pleases the Father and also will bring rewards. Do not be fooled by false teachers and ill theology ( calvinism ) that tell you it is impossible to do and have righteous ways. They are lying to you! 

 What righteousness comes down to is simply obedience to God/Christ and His Word and works to show we have a saving faith in us.

 Hebrews 5:9
And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

 Do you know Christ via new life and the gospel and are you as fruit striving for righteousness for the glory of God?
See our resources below that will help you in the biblical faith.
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