© 23 Colin Melbourne
Q: Galatians 5:5 appears to imply believers are waiting and hoping for righteousness rather than having it now, or am I wrong? What does this mean?
A: Thank you for asking. Yes you’ve got hold of the wrong end of the stick, seek the LORD for revelation as you read this.
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Holy Bible Galatians 5:5 KJV
No Need To Wait For What We Have
Firstly, we know you’ve misunderstood, because believers are not waiting for righteousness, we are righteous in Christ now, as many Scriptures teach, and is a basic fact of the revelation of redemption throughout Paul’s epistles.
My favourite is Romans 3:21-26 KJV;
But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.
See also; Rom. 10:4, 10:10, 1 Cor. 1:30, 2 Cor. 5:21, 6:14, 9:10, Gal. 5:5, Eph. 6:14, Phil. 3:9, 1 Pe. 2:24, 3:12.
Shout From The Rooftops
If you’re not believing and declaring your righteousness in Christ today, tonight, and tomorrow:.. that’s evidence you’re spiritually blind to the point of Christ’s Substitution in your stead.
Father drew Saul of Tarsus, the most religious Jew He could find; set him free from religion, transformed him into a believer, and then used him to enunciate the meaning of Christ’s Sacrifice for our redemption.
<< E.W. Kenyon was the first modern preacher to understand the spiritual significance of Christ’s Substitution for you and me.
By the grace of God I believe the precious Blood of Christ has made me perfectly righteous now, and forever, Halleluia!
Father’s written word declares it, I know it on the inside by The Witness of the Holy Ghost, and I make sure the Devil knows I’m the righteousness of God eternally in Christ Jesus, Poor Devil!
Tremble every religious demon, for you’ll never experience what it is to be made the righteousness of God in Christ, and will be tormented in the Lake of Fire forever. Amen.
Hope is For The Future
Secondly, believers are not hoping for righteousness, to do so would contradict the many scriptures that tell us we are righteous now through the Faith of Christ.
Understand that hope is for the future, not the present.
You don’t hope for what you already have, Rom. 8:23-25 KJV;
And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.
For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.
You can only hope for what you don’t presently possess.
Clothed in His Righteousness
If you don’t possess God’s righteousness right now, you are still naked in your sins, and need to be Born of God and Made Righteous in Him.
So you’re interpretation of Gal. 5:5 cannot possibly be correct for God never contradicts Himself
Beware of Judaizers
Here’s what it means.
The context is; the Holy Ghost rebuking backslidden gentile Galatians, for listening to Judaizers teaching them they need to get circumcised, to make their salvation sure.
Religious Jews are still trying to get Christians to follow Old Covenant rites in order to be justified.
Father hates such demonic “return to your Jewish roots” agitprop.
Righteous By Faith and Waiting In Hope
Let’s hear Him again,
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Now answer this question, (I’ve added punctuation to make it clearer.)
“What is the hope of; righteousness-by-faith?”
Not that believers will one day be righteous by faith, but that those who are already righteous by faith (born again believers in Christ) are hoping for some future state.
What is that future state?
Righteousness? No it can’t be, because scripture teaches believers we’re already made righteous by faith.
So what are we waiting in hope for?
The Blessed Hope!
For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Titus 2:11-14 KJV
The Rapture of The Saints
The Appearing of our LORD at the Rapture is when those who’ve died in Christ will be resurrected, and believers will be caught up, and in the twinkling of an eye translated with glorious bodies to meet Christ in mid-air and attend the Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Is that your hope today?
It’s mine, and ought to be the present hope of every believer.
My body isn’t glorified yet, is yours?
That’s what we’re waiting in hope for, to meet Christ in the air, and after the Marriage Supper, to return in Glory with Him to defeat God’s enemies at Armageddon, to reign with Him, and then the Great White Throne Judgment.
Read it again with that understanding, and it will make perfect scriptural sense;
For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
The hope of righteousness by faith is that believers will be with Christ in glory eternally.
Praise God for the Holy Ghost who always leads us in wisdom, peace, and truth.
Amen
© 23 Colin Melbourne
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