Church Should Be Your Excuse for Missing Everything Else

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While I can understand a new or baby Christian not grasping the significance of ‘Church’ it is astonishing to me that so many otherwise elite theologians have no robust, biblical ecclesiology. While promoting much in the way of sound doctrine, saying many true things, their lives are not rooted and grounded in the life of a local church. There seems to be a fundamental disconnect between Christ as the Head of the Church and His Body (the church). Such should never be the case. Their view of ‘Church’ is not only unbiblical. It is anti-biblical! As to ecclesiology, many theologians are still babies.

The following is an excellent article by Grayson Gilbert concerning the place of the church in the life of the Christian. Original source: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/chorusinthechaos/church-your-excuse-for-missing-everything/

I am under the unwavering conviction that unless I am genuinely ill, people are in the throes of death, my legs are rendered inoperable, or we are trapped in our house, church attendance is mandatory. I will not miss it. Even when I’ve had to miss it under those circumstances, which is quite rare indeed, I have hated it. However, for the sake of being completely transparent, this was not always the case, especially early on in my faith. There was a point in my life where I consistently worked on Sundays. I was a Christian and had been for only a couple years at that point, yet I considered myself to be a faithful Christian who was stuck in between a rock and a hard place. I had no other means of income that I was bringing into the family at that time. My wife worked, but we needed both streams of income to make ends meet and care for our newborn—and yet there was a steadily growing conviction in my heart that I should be coming to church every single Sunday.

While the argument could be made that it was necessary for me to miss due to the circumstances I found myself in, the reality was that I needed to swallow my pride, get another job that could allow me to attend church on a weekly basis, and just be found faithful to come. At some point, the conviction came to me that church was a non-negotiable. What’s more than this is that I came to believe church attendance is a non-negotiable for every Christian. The reason this is so is that I believe the New Testament teaches that our time together as believers in formal, corporate worship, is to be one of the most precious things we partake in as Christians. I believe that regular attendance is so important that it reveals our hearts and priorities. It reveals much of what we treasure, and likewise, much of what we don’t. It especially reveals what we understand about the person of Christ and His saving work upon the cross. Right then and there is where I lost several of the readers.

This is one of those areas where many people have it settled in their minds that church attendance is optional. They can miss here and there without any large repercussions to their spiritual well-being, and their own families will not be any worse off either. However, the reality is that I have never known a casual attendee to thrive in any meaningful capacity. I have yet to meet another pastor/elder that can testify to the exemplary faith of the professing Christian who abdicates regular church attendance. I have witnessed seasons of growth from them, yet I have simultaneously witnessed a stunted growth because invariably, they are sporadically absent from the ordinary means God has given them for their maturity, encouragement, and perseverance in the Christian faith. More often than this stunted growth though is no growth at all, or worse, a “back-sliding” of sorts.

At the onset, I will clarify that there are extenuating circumstances that allow for people to miss church. There are always exceptions to the rule, but exceptions exist as exceptions because they are not the rule. Exceptions to the rule prove the rule. Often, people capitalize on the exceptions to the rule because they have no real intent to be found faithful to the rule itself. Thus, they can confidently assert there are valid reasons to miss church, and thereby assuage their conscience. I would argue that not only does this fundamentally misunderstand the point of why the body of Christ gathers together to worship corporately on Sundays, but the thing which garners their focus is the wrong thing. We ought not to be looking for all the reasons we can miss church. We ought to be looking for all the reasons we should come to church.

Instead of trying to find ways we can settle our conscience by neglecting the assembly of the brethren, we ought to highlight the very reasons that coming to church regularly is a benefit to our souls. We ought to find delight that we can be united in a local body that functions together in service to one another (1 Cor. 12:12-27). In this unique giftedness being exercised among the members of a local church, particularly through the gifting of teachers, we then come to grow in maturity as we attain to the unity of the faith and knowledge of the Son of God (Eph. 4:11-13). These teachers also equip us for works of service for the edification of that local church body (Eph. 4:12), which in particular is expressed through bearing one another’s burdens (Gal. 6:2), encouraging one another (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 5:11), building each other up in our most holy faith (Jd. 1:20), pushing one another on in perseverance to the end (Heb. 10:23-25), and pouring out compassion (Eph. 4:32), forgiveness (Col. 3:13), love (Jn. 13:34; 1 Jn. 4:7), brotherly devotion (Rom. 12:10)—and even simply putting up with one another (Eph. 4:2).

How can we be found to not only benefit from these things, but be a blessing to our brothers and sisters in Christ if we are regularly missing church? Can we be said to really understand the importance of these things if we are willing to miss out on these benefits in favor of other things, even if only every once in a while? The reality is that we cannot. You cannot even within the company of “two or more” other Christians, for very good reason. Not only does Matt. 18:15-20 have nothing to do with a bonafide definition of the church, God has not designed for these things to be worked out amongst only those whom we would like to be numbered among.

Beyond these “one-anothers” mentioned above, it cannot go without being stated that another key aspect to attending church regularly is being found in a position of submission to one’s elders (Heb. 13:17). The author of the book of Hebrews issues a straightforward command to obey your leaders, but to do so in an attitude of humility and genuine submission. The reason being: they give an account for your soul, and if you are a person who causes them grief in this task, it will be unprofitable for you. The idea here can be taken to mean that you give them joy by being found in obedience, but also, that you are quite literally just a joy to shepherd. Thus, the natural conclusion to this is that if you are difficult to shepherd, uncooperative, argumentative, negligent, complacent—or simply even non-existent, it doesn’t benefit you in any sense. Beyond this, we are called to consider the outcome of our leader’s lives and imitate their faith (Heb. 13:7); how can we do this if we are not among them on a weekly basis? How can your elders faithfully shepherd you if you are a fair-weather attendee?

There are numerous other, positive benefits to attending church—but at the heart of this post, I really want to address what I believe to be the fundamental issue behind why people treat church attendance as optional: they believe that the church exists to serve them and their felt needs. In other words, they are consumers. They believe the church exists for them and to serve them. They come to the church when it suits them and once they have had their fill, they either move on to another church, or, they simply come at their leisure as they feel some pressing need. In their minds, church is not a place where they can live out their faith in community. It is likewise not a place they feel any meaningful connection with, save for those times they feel a particular thirst for a “dose” of religion. They never move beyond a me-centered approach for why they come to church in the first place, which invariably leads to their departure for one reason or another.

I believe this to be the case because much in the same way, they have treated the Christian faith as a commodity to be consumed. In other words: they have not understood the fundamental principle that while the Christian faith is for them, it is certainly not about them. They have not grasped the truth that even their salvation was not about them. It was for them, but it was about Jesus Christ. It has always been about Jesus Christ; from Genesis to Revelation, the whole of the Scriptures testify—not to man and something winsome within him that merits God’s love—but of the great love of the Father which was demonstrated to the world through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ (1 Jn. 4:9-10). Once we understand this, not only will the whole of our Christian existence change rather radically—how we view the church will also differ. We will become Christ-centered and other-focused rather than me-centered. Our view of the universe will grow beyond the scope of our own nose as we see how we play a part in the grand drama that is playing out before our very eyes. We will become less and less preoccupied with meeting our own “felt needs” and grow more and more concerned with what we can do to meet the needs of others.

Part and parcel to this will be a fuller understanding of the importance of being part of a local manifestation of the body—not simply as we feel like it, but as often as we can, because we will grow more dissatisfied with yoking ourselves with this world in favor of the bride of Christ. In essence, we will begin to see the body of Christ as Scripture portrays her: the spotless bride of Jesus Christ, for whom He died. We will look upon her radiance and loveliness, see her clothed with the righteousness of Christ, and her dear union with her Bridegroom—and we will desire that same union for ourselves. Here then is the fullest reason why we do not abdicate the assembly of the brethren: we are to meet together and encourage one another all the more as we see that great Day coming (Heb. 10:25). In other words: together, as this corporate gathering, we look with great anticipation of the Day when Christ will return and we get to partake in the wedding feast of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-10).

If I could put it even more clearly: we gather with the saints each Sunday, not simply out of obedience, nor even because of all the wondrous benefits found therein. We convene with the local church each weekend because we are betrothed, not as individuals, but as a body, to our Lord, Jesus Christ. We assemble together because He has assembled us together. We gather while it is still called “today” because we will be gathered together in His great halls with the believers of all time. If you can’t stomach meeting with believers today, while they too groan as they await the day of their redemption, in what possible reality can you say with earnestness that you will be united with them at the end of all days? When we get down to it, if you understand the importance of why we gather together each week—church should become the “excuse” you use to miss everything else that conflicts with it—not the other way around.

Assessing Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology Book

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There are many things worthy of commendation about Dr. Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology book and its 2nd edition, recently published. However, I cannot recommend it to others. Craig Carter explains some of the reasons why in this essay: https://credomag.com/article/how-then-shall-we-theologize/

Here are some quotes:

”I am ruthlessly murdering one of the sacred cows of the Enlightenment, which insisted that, above all, the cardinal rule of biblical interpretation is that one must never, under any conditions, approach the text from a position in which the creeds and dogmas of the church shape our hermeneutical presuppositions. They command: ‘Thou must not read churchly dogma into the Bible.’ But this is exactly what we do in the ‘second exegesis.’ And we do so because this ‘churchly dogma’ came from the Bible in the first place and this is what it means to affirm that the Bible is ‘self-interpreting.‘ We take the second step in systematic theology by studying the Bible from the perspective of the creedal confession of the historic Church.”

“I want to suggest that [Grudem’s] method is biblicist, as opposed to contemplative, insofar as he confuses the economy with theology in such a way as to read creatureliness back into God’s eternal being. Historically, orthodox theology struggled to avoid this kind of mistake by means of carefully contemplating what we learn about the being of God from the study of his economic actions before deciding what can legitimately be said about the being of God based on the contemplation of God’s actions in history.”“By rushing in where the fathers feared to tread, Grudem unwittingly attributes creatureliness to God and thus risks lowering God to our level.”

“Grudem’s work [in its methodology] is thus a very conservative example of the liberal project.”

Once again, Craig Carter’s essay can be found here: https://credomag.com/article/how-then-shall-we-theologize/

Thankful for R.C.

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Those who have visited our home may have noticed two of Dr. Sproul’s letters to me framed and displayed on a wall in my home, both of which were very encouraging endorsements concerning the two books I have written. I was very privileged to have a number of meaningful interactions with R.C., one of these was in 2003 at a Ligonier Conference in Colorado Springs. Wishing to let Dr. Sproul know just how God had used him in my life, and knowing that it might be impossible to have enough time alone with him at the Conference with hundreds of people around, I determined ahead of time to write out what I wished him to know in a letter and include it in a card for him, along with the gift of a hundred dollar bill. In the card I wrote, “I thank God for you, sir. Please use this gift towards having an evening meal at a nice restaurant with Vesta.” I signed the card simply as “John Samson” without providing an address.

Before one of the sessions was about to start, I quickly walked over to where Dr. Sproul was seated (on the front row) and handed him the card and with a tear in my eye said, “Dr. Sproul, God has used you greatly in my life and I just wanted to let you know how.” The meeting was about to start so all he could do was smile and thank me, and I then walked back to my seat.

A couple of weeks later, I was more than surprised to receive a letter from Dr. Sproul, thanking me both for sharing the story of his impact on my life and ministry and informing me that he had in fact had used the gift to have a wonderful meal with Vesta at a French restaurant and that they thanked God for using him as He did in my life.

Dr. Sproul had taken the time to track me down by finding my address somehow, and wrote a personal note.

On R.C.’s gravestone the following words can be found, “He was a kind man redeemed by a kinder Savior.” How true that is!

Because Dr. R. C. Sproul has impacted my life so greatly, this interview at the recent Ligonier Conference was especially meaningful to me. Vesta, Buck Parsons and Stephen Nichols reminisce about the man and his message: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUHp1GVtny0

‘According to My Righteousness’

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Do the Psalms teach justification by works

Article by Christopher Ash, writer-in-residence at Tyndale House, Cambridge, and a former pastor and Director of the Cornhill Training Course in London. He has written three books on Psalms, including Bible Delight. He is also writing a three-volume commentary on the Psalms, exploring how we appropriate them as the church of Christ. Original source – https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/according-to-my-righteousness

We meet “the congregation of the righteous” and are promised that “the Lord knows the way of the righteous” right at the start of the Psalter (Psalm 1:5–6). But who are the righteous? We shall never make friends with the Psalms, let alone begin to enjoy and appropriate them in our devotions, until we know. They appear again and again, especially in book 1 (Psalms 1–41), often in contrast to “the wicked.”

So many promises are attached to these people. Not only does the covenant Lord know (watch over) their way and guide their steps (Psalm 1:6), but he blesses and protects them (Psalm 5:12), he is with them and terrifies their enemies (Psalm 14:5), he surrounds them with steadfast love (Psalm 32:10–11), he watches them with his eyes and listens for their cry with his ears (Psalm 34:15, 17), he upholds them (Psalm 37:17), and he gives them the new creation, which is the fulfillment of the Promised Land (Psalm 37:29), so that they will flourish in his presence for ever (Psalm 92:12–13). These people — and it is important to remember that, in the Old Testament, these were real flesh-and-blood people — are showered with blessing.

It matters deeply to know who they are, not least so that you and I can make sure we belong among them, inherit their promises, and sing their psalms.1

Who Are the Righteous?

Two large and closely related problems raise their heads. First, we struggle to know what to make of it when psalmists claim to be righteous, sometimes in quite strong terms. For example, the prayer “judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness and according to the integrity that is in me” (Psalm 7:8) rather alarms us. If I were to pray that, what if the Lord did judge me according to my righteousness and found it severely wanting, as he surely must — must he not? Dare I pray this?

Second, we have to grapple with the apparent contradiction that the psalmists who claim to possess righteousness also admit that it is not possible to be righteous before God (e.g., Psalm 143:2). How can both be true at the same time? How can I possess righteousness if I have no righteousness?

There is a simple, superficially attractive, and yet deeply problematic “solution.” This is to conclude that claims to righteousness in the Psalms are actually professions of self-righteousness that anticipate the later self-righteousness of the Pharisees so roundly condemned by the Lord Jesus (e.g., Luke 18:9–14).2 This is unsatisfactory, first, because it supposes that some of the words of the psalmists are flawed expressions of merely human convictions. Many do hold this opinion, but we have no warrant to suppose that the Psalms contain a mixture of truth and error (unlike the speeches of Job’s three comforters, whose words God explicitly tells us are not entirely trustworthy, Job 42:7).

It is also unsatisfactory because it does not reflect the portrayal of the righteous in the Psalms themselves, to which we turn. While it would be possible to read back New Testament expositions of righteousness, especially in the apostle Paul, we shall focus on building up a picture from the Psalms themselves. I shall do this under seven heads, before considering how these people compare with those accounted righteous by grace under the new covenant.

These headlines are based on a fairly comprehensive study of the words righteous and righteousness in the Psalms. There are more than 120 verses in which one or more of these occur, in about 60 different psalms. A full study would consider each of these in context.

Who are these people? What do they look like, not in terms of their outward appearance, of course, but in their heart, their spirit? What gets them out of bed in the morning — what are their longings, their pleasures, their hopes, their fears?

As we consider them, it is worth remembering that a word study of righteous or righteousness3 will miss the parallel descriptions, in which these people are often referred to as “upright” or “upright of heart,” meaning straightforwardly moral in their lives (e.g., Psalm 11:7; 32:11; 33:1; 36:10; 37:37; 94:15; 97:11); as “blameless,” having integrity, the opposite of hypocrisy (e.g., Psalm 15:2; 18:25; 37:18, 37; 64:4; 101:2, 6; 119:1); and on one occasion as “the living” (Psalm 69:28) since they live in the sight of God. These are all the same people, whose prayers and praises are expressed in the Psalms and whose contours are there delineated.

1. Their Delight

At the heart of the question lies the heart of the righteous. In what, or in whom, do they most deeply delight? Had they been incipient Pharisees, the answer would have been, for each, “I delight in myself. I thank God that I am who I am. I praise myself, and I want others to praise me.”

That the praise and delight of the righteous is focused intensely on the covenant Lord gives perhaps the clearest indication that they belong to this covenant Lord by grace. Repeatedly, we are told that their joy and exultation is found in the Lord (e.g., Psalm 33:1; 64:10; 68:3; 97:12). It is — to put it in colloquial terms — the covenant Lord who puts a spring in their step, who gets them out of bed in the morning, who energizes them and delights their hearts.

2. Their Desire

Closely tied to the delight of the righteous is the question of their desire, their hope, their longing, their aspiration. For what do they hope? The answer, which follows necessarily, logically, and experientially from their delight, is that they desire to see the face of the covenant Lord God. Nothing is more precious to them than to have the face (the personal, beneficent presence) of the Lord turned toward them, both in this life (in part) and in eternity (in full). This is a most precious promise (e.g., Psalm 11:7). Not to have it is the most painful experience on earth (e.g., Psalm 13:1–2; 88:14). Him they seek (Psalm 24:6; 27:8–9), and for him they thirst (e.g., Psalm 42:1–2; 143:6–7). Far from being satisfied in themselves and with themselves, their desire is passionately and intensely directed upward to the Lord.

3. Their Repentance

The third facet of the righteous is of a rather different kind: their penitence. Far from being self-confident, the truly righteous person knows deeply his own sinfulness and urgent need of repentance. We see this most clearly in Psalm 32, in which David celebrates, and tells the story of, his rediscovery of the blessing of confession of sin, repentance, and forgiveness. At the end of the psalm, he exhorts all who walk this way of repentance, “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous” (Psalm 32:11). This congregation of the righteous (cf. Psalm 1:5) consists of men and women who have learned, and continue to learn, the necessity and the blessing of confession and repentance. Here in anticipation we see the tax collector, rather than the Pharisee, of Jesus’s parable (Luke 18:9–14).

We see this spirit again at the start of Psalm 143, in which David leads those who have no natural righteousness (v. 2) in pleading for covenant mercy (v. 1), that God in his righteousness will answer him, and them, with steadfast love (v. 8).

4. Their Refuge

The fourth facet is perhaps the one that most clearly indicates the presence of faith or trust. It asks and answers the question, Whither or to whom do the righteous flee when under pressure or threat?

Again and again, we hear and see the righteous fleeing to the covenant Lord as their refuge, the only safe place in the face of the assaults of their enemies and ultimately in the face of the righteous judgment of God. To him they cry for help in troubles, and he delivers them (Psalm 34:15, 17, 19, 21). They commit their way to him, trust in him, confident that he will bring into the open the righteousness (or vindication) that he will give them (Psalm 37:5–6). For him they wait and hope (e.g., Psalm 37:7), for “he is their stronghold in the time of trouble” (Psalm 37:39). They cast their burden upon him, trusting that “he will never permit the righteous to be moved” (Psalm 55:22). Repeatedly, they take refuge in him (e.g., Psalm 64:10). One of the psalms where we see this most intensely is Psalm 71 (e.g., vv. 2, 3, 15, 16, 19, 24).

5. Their Assurance and Covenant Head

We come now to consider the occasions when the psalmists speak about their own righteousness (e.g., Psalm 4:1; 7:8; 18:20–24). What do they mean by this? This is arguably the most significant part of our study, and most needful of careful thought. Two observations need to be made before we can make progress.

First, it is abundantly clear in the Psalms that the source of all righteousness is the God who is righteous in himself (e.g., Psalm 11:7), whose law is righteous (e.g., Psalm 19:9), who does, or works, righteousness as the expression of his covenant faithfulness and love (e.g., Psalm 22:31; 36:6; 48:10; 103:6, 17), and who will judge the world in righteousness (Psalm 9:8; 96:13; 98:9). No human being has righteousness by nature; this is the preserve of the covenant Lord.

Second, the king in David’s line holds a unique position in the Psalms. When studying the Psalms, it is striking how often there is an interplay between a singular leading character (most often the king) and a plurality or congregation of the righteous. Because the Lord saves the king, the king’s people experience blessing in him (e.g., Psalm 3:8).

David calls the Lord the “God of my righteousness” (Psalm 4:1), which appears to mean the God from whom my righteousness, and my hope of vindication, proceeds. In both Psalms 17 and 18, the king professes a righteousness on which his hope is built. In the drama of Psalm 18, he is rescued because of this righteousness (see vv. 20–24). For David himself, this poses a problem, for we find ourselves asking about Bathsheba and Uriah the Hittite (2 Samuel 11); how can the David who sinned (or would later sin) so grievously claim such righteousness? The answer, hinted at in the Psalms and blazing forth with the full light of day in the New Testament, is that his righteousness is given to him, ultimately because of the flawless righteousness of “great David’s greater Son” (cf. Romans 5:12–21). The Lord in his righteousness leads David, and all the little anticipatory “messiahs” in David’s line, “in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake” (Psalm 23:3), because there will be a true Messiah who will walk those paths without slipping or sliding into moral failure of any kind. Having said this, there is a real visible measure of actual lived righteousness of life evident in the life of any old-covenant believer who is truly justified by faith (see section 6 below).

The interplay between the righteousness of the covenant Lord and the righteousness of the king is clearly seen in Psalm 35:24–28. In verse 24, David the king pleads for God to vindicate him “according to your righteousness” (that is, in fulfillment of his covenant promises). In verse 27, there is reference to the assembly or congregation of the king’s people, “who delight in my [that is, the king’s] righteousness,” a righteousness given to the king and possessed by the king on behalf of his people. These people will be glad because their king is righteous and therefore they are blessed. And then in verse 28, the king’s tongue tells “of your [that is, God’s] righteousness.”

We see the movement from the righteousness of the king to the righteousness received by the people in Psalm 72. In verses 1–3, God is petitioned to give righteousness to his king. When this happens, the king’s people (ultimately all who are “in Christ”) will be called “righteous” and will “flourish” under the rule of their king (v. 7).

In the light of the New Testament, this focus on the righteousness possessed by the king may be understood to be fulfilled in the righteousness of Christ the King. When David (like Abraham or any Old Testament saint) spoke of his righteousness, he meant, first and foremost, a righteousness given to him by God. When old-covenant believers who were neither patriarchs nor Davidic kings echoed this language, their righteousness likewise was found ultimately in the king, their covenant head. This federal headship of the king is fulfilled when Christ lives a righteous life and dies a sin-bearing death as the representative head and substitute propitiatory sacrifice for his people.

6. Their Life

A pen portrait of the righteous in the Psalms would be woefully incomplete if it did not include a mention of their visible life. I have deliberately held over discussion of this until now, because their life is the fruit, and not the root, of their existence as believers in the covenant God. It would be a mistake to begin with a consideration of their lives of right living. Nevertheless, their lives are inseparable from their identity and closely tied to their blessing and assurance. The covenant Lord does not give to his king and people a righteousness of status simply that they may enjoy it while continuing to live evil lives, for he “is righteous” and “loves righteous deeds” (Psalm 11:7; cf. Psalm 33:5). It is very clear (e.g., in Psalms 15 and 24) that authentic righteousness of life is the necessary marker of the genuine Messiah and of his people. Jesus is the fulfillment of Psalms 15 and 24, as he is of all the descriptions of human righteousness in the Psalms.

Sometimes the righteousness claimed by a psalmist may focus particularly on innocence with respect to a particular accusation (e.g., Psalm 7:8). Under these circumstances, he not infrequently pleads with God for vindication. Often, however, this particular righteousness overflows into a broader whole-life righteousness that, albeit partial, is nevertheless real.

Those who are truly righteous, by virtue of their membership of the covenant people under the king, their covenant head, and who are genuinely righteous because they trust the covenant promises (fulfilled in Christ), will live upright, blameless, and righteous lives. Perhaps the clearest exposition of this in the Psalms is in Psalm 111 followed by Psalm 112. Psalm 111 celebrates the righteousness of the covenant Lord. Then Psalm 112 (with close echoes) declares a blessing on those who exhibit those same qualities in the generosity (cf. Psalm 37:21) and righteousness of their lives. These people act and speak (cf. Psalm 37:30) in ways that demonstrate the fruit of their hearts of faith. Paul will later call this “the obedience of faith” (Romans 1:5; 16:26), and the letter of James will expound it forcefully.

7. Their Enemies

The final facet is of a very different kind. The enemies of the righteous, by their polar contrast to the righteous, shine a paradoxical light on the identity of the righteous. Here is a brief pen portrait of who the righteous are not. Most often described as “the wicked” (but also, for example, as “evildoers”), I want to mention just two characteristics that are thematic of their portrait in the Psalms.

The first is their consistent, bitter, implacable hostility toward the righteous (e.g., Psalm 94:21). Here is the fruit of Cain’s unbelieving hatred of Abel, who was righteous by faith. We see this as a consistent theme in, for example, Psalm 37, and also in Psalms 9, 10, and 11.

The second facet of their portrait is that, in polar contrast to those who are righteous by faith, the wicked naturally trust in themselves and their own resources. We see this clearly in the portrait of Doeg, the Edomite, in Psalm 52:1–7. Especially in verse 7, he will not make God his refuge but trusts in his own riches and resources.

Nothing is more obnoxious to the hardened wicked, who trust in themselves, than the presence on earth of the Righteous One, who trusts his Father, and the people of the Righteous One, who share his faith.

Psalms and New-Covenant Righteousness

If we ask, “Are the righteous in the Psalms the same as those who are righteous by grace alone through faith alone under the new covenant?” the answer must be “yes and no.” Overwhelmingly, the answer is yes. We who are new-covenant believers, who belong to Christ, share with them their delight in God, their desire to see the face of God, their penitence, their fleeing to God for refuge from both troubles and judgment, their assurance of forgiveness because of their covenant head, the outworking of their faith in righteousness of life, and the presence in our world, as in theirs, of hostility to Christ and his people (cf. John 15:18–16:4).

But there is, I think, one significant difference between these righteous old-covenant believers and believers in Christ under the new covenant: under the new covenant, we enjoy a deeper assurance and the riches of a definitively cleansed conscience, and this is a blessing known only in anticipation and shadow under the old covenant (see Hebrews 8–10).4

So, when we come across the righteous in the Psalms, as we do in about 40 percent of the Psalms, we recognize in them people who trusted in the Christ to come. By believing and living in the obedience of faith in the covenant promises, they believed implicitly in the Christ who would fulfill those promises. They did not know as clearly as we do the fullness of that magnificent Christ nor the grandeur of those gospel promises. But that apart, we recognize in them people very like us today in Christ. This transforms the way we read the Psalms.

  1. Some other discussions of this question are to be found in Geoffrey Grogan, Prayer, Praise and Prophecy (Fearn, UK: Christian Focus, 2001), 122–26; Hans-Joachim Kraus, Theology of the Psalms, trans. Keith Krim (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1986), 154–62; Dietrich Bonhoeffer Works, ed. Geffrey B. Kelly, vol. 5, Life Together; Prayerbook of the Bible (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2005), 155–77. ↩
  2. C.S. Lewis wrongly refers to “the self-righteousness in many of the Psalms” (Reflections on the Psalms [London: Fount Paperbacks, 1977], 34). ↩
  3. The three most important Hebrew words are the noun “righteous (person)” (tsadiq), the adjective “righteousness” (tsedaqah), and the abstract noun “righteousness” (tsedeq). ↩
  4. See Christopher Ash, Discovering the Joy of a Clear Conscience (Philipsburg NJ: P&R, 2014), 128–48