Righteousness and Filthy Rags

Published in

The Flower Falls

6 min readAug 3, 2019

Isaiah 64 is filled with beautiful truths of God’s greatness, graciousness, holiness, power, and justice. It has much to teach us about ourselves and our God, but it’s perhaps best known for verse 6: “All our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” Some Calvinists claim this verse supports the idea that people are so incapable of doing anything good, but even John Piper recognizes that it doesn’t support such a view. In a devotional called Dirty Rags No More, he wrote, “…sometimes people are careless and speak disparagingly of all human righteousness, as if there were no such righteousness worked in us that pleased God. This is not helpful[1].

The Scriptures absolutely support the idea that no person can earn salvation by doing good or righteous deeds, but when taken out of context individual Scriptures can be used to say many things they don’t actually say. Isaiah 64:1–12 reveals Isaiah crying out to God for deliverance on behalf of the people of Jerusalem after they had rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit (Isaiah 63:10):

Oh, that You would rend the heavens and come down,
That the mountains might quake at Your presence —
As fire kindles the brushwood, as fire causes water to boil —

To make Your name known to Your adversaries,
That the nations may tremble at Your presence!
When You did awesome things which we did not expect,
You came down, the mountains quaked at Your presence.
For from days of old they have not heard or perceived by ear, Nor has the eye seen a God besides You, Who acts in behalf of the one who waits for Him.
You meet him who rejoices in doing righteousness,
Who remembers You in Your ways
Behold, You were angry, for we sinned,
We continued in them a long time;
And shall we be saved?
For all of us have become like one who is unclean,
And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment;
And all of us wither like a leaf,
And our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
There is no one who calls on Your name,
Who arouses himself to take hold of You;
For You have hidden Your face from us
And have delivered us into the power of our iniquities.

But now, O LORD, You are our Father,
We are the clay, and You our potter;
And all of us are the work of Your hand.
Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD,
Nor remember iniquity forever;
Behold, look now, all of us are Your people.
Your holy cities have become a wilderness,
Zion has become a wilderness,
Jerusalem a desolation.
Our holy and beautiful house,
Where our fathers praised You,
Has been burned by fire;
And all our precious things have become a ruin.
Will You restrain Yourself at these things, O LORD?
Will You keep silent and afflict us beyond measure?

This entire passage is often summarized as simply “All our righteousness is like filthy rags,” but did you notice the first part of the sentence? It reads: “For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” The word translated become is the Hebrew word used in Genesis 2:7 which speaks of man becoming a living being after God breathed into him. It is also used in Genesis 2:24 to speak of man and woman becoming one flesh after leaving their father and mother. In fact, hayah is used hundreds of times throughout the Old Testament, and each time it carries the idea of something “coming to pass” or “becoming.”

What does hayah mean in the context of Isaiah 64? Just as Adam was not a living being until God breathed life into him, and man and woman become one flesh in marriage, Isaiah 64:6 implies that, at some point, these people and their deeds were clean, and they became unclean. It seems that there was a time when their deeds were done in righteousness — or in faith, since it is by faith that righteousness is credited. Sadly, however, the people of Jerusalem turned their backs and rebelled against God, thus becoming unclean. This is consistent with Ezekiel 18 where God spoke of the possibility of righteous men turning from their righteousness. In both places we see that people can rebel, but God also revealed in both passages that it is possible for them to recognize their sins, acknowledge them, and cry out to him for deliverance. Consider his words in Ezekiel 18:21–24:

“But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. All his transgressions which he has committed will not be remembered against him; because of his righteousness which he has practiced, he will live. Do I have any pleasure in the death of the wicked” declares the Lord GOD, “rather than that he should turn from his ways and live?”

“But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die.”

These words are not only consistent with Isaiah 64, they are consistent with Joshua 24:23 where the people were told to turn away from foreign Gods and incline their heart toward God. They’re consistent with Jesus’ words in Luke 13:3 “…unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” They’re consistent with Peter’s words spoken on Pentecost morning that those who wanted to be saved should repent (Acts 2:38). And they’re consistent with Paul’s words to the men at the Areopagus that they were to repent (Acts 17) God provided himself as the way of salvation. People need only believe and repent.

Rather than supporting Tulip’s idea of Total Depravity, the context of Israel’s cry in Isaiah 64 reveals their understanding of God’s gracious nature. They seemed to instinctively know the truth of the truth of Ezekiel 18: 21–28 which speaks of the possibility of men turning from their sin and being proclaimed righteous.

Despite God speaking in Ezekiel 18 of the possibility of people turning from their sin and being proclaimed righteous, Calvinists look to Jeremiah 17:9 and claim that the wickedness of the human heart is so great that people are not able to repent unless God chose and predestined them to. And they look to Genesis 6:5 and claim that the thoughts of humankind are only evil continually.

Please consider whether the context of Isaiah 64 supports TULIP’s idea of Total Depravity. Then, if you’d like, join me here where we’ll consider what God said in Genesis 6 about the thoughts of humans, or here where we’ll see what Jeremiah 17 say about the condition of the human heart.

You can connect with me on Twitter, or email me at patti@theflowerfallsoff.com

To read more, return to the homepage or follow one of the links below.

Preface

Reformation Truth and Error

The Illusionary Truth of Calvinism

Context and the Simple Truths of Scripture

The Sovereignty and Will of God

Chosen and Predestined Ephesians 1

Pronouns and the Plain Sense

Redemption, Adoption, and the Seal of the Spirit- Ephesians

Romans 8- Foreknown and Predestined

Romans 8:33- A Charge Against God’s Elect