In the Scriptures, a critical distinction is made between genuine righteousness and self-righteousness. The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18:9-14 highlights the danger of trusting in one's own moral achievements, rather than humbly acknowledging sin and seeking God's mercy. The apostle Paul warns against judging others, as in Romans 14:1, and emphasizes that true righteousness comes not from human effort, but from God's grace, as seen in Titus 3:5 and Romans 10:3. Furthermore, 1 John 4:19-21 reminds us that our love for God is demonstrated by our love for others, and that self-righteousness can actually hinder this love.
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To some who trusted in their own righteousness and viewed others with contempt, He also told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the other men—swindlers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and pay tithes of all that I acquire.’ But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven. Instead, he beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man, rather than the Pharisee, went home justified. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.
We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.
Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.
For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.
There is a generation of those who are pure in their own eyes and yet unwashed of their filth.
Each of us has become like something unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all wither like a leaf, and our iniquities carry us away like the wind.
know that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.
Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but leave room for God’s wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, says the Lord.”
And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.