The Congregation of the Righteous

“Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.” Ps. 1:5. “If the righteous one is scarcely saved, where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?” 1 Pet. 4:18. “If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.” 1 John 2:29. “Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God . . . .” 1 John 3:10.

There is therefore something called the “congregation of the righteous,” consisting of people who are righteous, who live righteously; where sinners, if they should attempt it, would not remain standing.

This is not in agreement with the commonly-held understanding that the church consists of pardoned sinners. Being a sinner is the direct opposite of being righteous. The situation is often so bad in religious assemblies that people even boast of being sinners. Then they usually point to the incident of the Pharisee and the tax collector, completely misunderstanding and misusing this parable. This word is applicable to us when we come to God to be converted, but not when it concerns the life in Christ. It is not that we were “condemned sinners” before and now we are “pardoned sinners,” or we were “unsaved sinners” before and now we are “saved sinners,” in the sense that we are still sinners.

On the contrary! Before we were sinners, but now we are born again by the Just One and are therefore necessarily (according to our new nature) righteous just as He is righteous. We are only “pardoned sinners” in the sense that we who were sinners before, are pardoned from having to suffer eternal death and have received eternal life instead. However, we have also received such powerful grace that we now, by faith, live righteously in this unrighteous world. Therefore one of our honorable names is not “The congregation of the pardoned,” but as the Scriptures say already from time immemorial, “The congregation of the righteous.” Blessed is everyone who has received such grace.

Elias Aslaksen