Is. 5-6
“For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant planting; and He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!” (Is 5:7). There is a note in the Bible I am reading that says that in Hebrew, the word for “justice” sounds like the word for “bloodshed” and the word for “righteousness” sounds like the word for “outcry”. This is not by accident! What it says to me is that the people were operating under the guise of justice and righteousness, while their motivations and the end result were something different altogether.
This is what Jesus called out the Pharisees for in Matthew 15:3-7. He asked them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” (Matt 15:3b). They were pretending to be holy when they were really just haughty and self-righteous. And we all know that isn’t righteous at all. I pray that I would shed any such pretenses in my life and seek to put on the true righteousness of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
2 Cor. 13
“Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” (2 Cor 13:5a). Yep – what I just said about putting on the true righteousness of God. Interesting how the whole Bible speaks the same message, isn’t it? In Paul’s letters to the Corinthians, the way I gather it, we see that there are some who are living in sin while declaring to live in Christ. Also, there seem to be some who are questioning Paul’s authority to call out those false pretenses. Therefore they, too, are accepting something as righteous that isn’t. They are using the wrong standard.
As for Paul, he isn’t trying to lord it over anybody. His concern is for the people of the church and their relationship with God. When pointing out the sin, his hope is that the sinners’ eyes will be opened, their hearts will be humbled, and they will repent and restore right relationship with God. And if the sinners will not repent, why should the rest of the Church be turned away from God as well by accepting the sin as righteousness? So, in confronting those who question his authority, his hope is that he can open their eyes to the lie and point them back to the truth. As he said, “restoration is what we pray for.” (vs 9b). And restoration must always begin with God.