A Vessel Unto Honour

Do you ever wonder what righteousness actually means? Does it seem like an elusive, constantly shifting concept?

Scripture promises that if we listen to wisdom and guard its instructions, we will understand righteousness.

Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

Proverbs 2:9

Yet, a massive contradiction plagues modern faith.

If the definition of righteousness changed after Jesus came, then how are the Old and New Testaments actually words that belong to only one God? Two different definitions imply two different authors, or two different Gods.

True righteousness, holiness, and cleanness are permanently anchored in the original Scriptures.

To understand how God’s standard remains completely unchanged, we have to look at the continuity of His law through three distinct lenses:

The Witness of Jesus and His Apostles

Jesus did not come to alter the definitions of good and evil. When asked how to inherit eternal life, He pointed directly backward, stating that there is “only one that is good and that is God,” and commanded, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments (Matthew 19:17).”

Jesus explicitly warned us not to misunderstand His mission: “Think not that I came to destroy the law or the prophets, I came not to destroy, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17-18).” Heaven and earth won’t pass away until everything is accomplished- a timeline that stretches all the way to the final battle and fulfillment in Revelation 19:11-20:15.

Later, Peter explicity echoes the original law by quoting Leviticus 11:44: “Be ye holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:16). The New Testament writers did not invent a new holiness; they demanded adherence to the original one.

The Eternal Temple and The Levitical Priesthood

Many assume the Old Testament laws were temporary, but prophecy reveals they outlast our current physical world.

Scripture shows that even after the creation of the new heaven and the new earth, God’s laws, calendar, and community continue to revolve around His Holy Temple.

In Ezekial Chapters 40-48, we see the Levitical priests are still actively engaged with Temple service in the future era. God even named the specific lineage- the sons of Zadok- stating that they alone shall enter His Sanctuary and keep His charge.

If these laws were permanently abolished or altered by Jesus, the prophetic future outlined in Ezekial becomes impossible. God’s definition of holiness remains constant.

The Danger of Profaning the Sacred

This brings us back to the question: Who defines righteousness and holiness?

If the God of Israel defined what is holy, what is clean and unclean, and if Jesus commanded us to, “Be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt 5:48), then the original Scriptures remain the ultimate authority. Jesus Himself is documented keeping the commandments and the biblical holidays.

According to God’s Word, a holy thing cannot come into contact with the profane. When we ignore the things that Jesus identified as holy, or when we continue to partake in what God explicitly labeled as unclean, we face a terrifying theological reality: How are we not defiling His holy blood?

To treat what is unclean as acceptable is an abomination to the God of Israel (Proverbs 28:9); it profanes the very sacrifice meant to set us apart and makes Him refuse the one who offers the sacrifice (Leviticus 22:25).

Conclusion

Righteousness is not an elusive, evolving concept adapted to life after the resurrection of Christ. It was defined at the beginning, validated by Jesus, and will be enforced in the world to come. If we want to walk in true righteousness, we must return to the original authority that defines it.