1 JOHN 3:7 “Dear children, don’t let anyone deceive you about this: When people do what is right, it shows that they are righteous, even as Christ is righteous.”
Righteousness has gotten a bum rap! For this reason... righteousness is generally acquainted with self-righteousness in the minds of many. They’ve been burnt by self-righteous behavior and they want nothing to do with it. And who can blame them.
Righteousness is characterized by justice or fairness and impartiality toward those involved. It is to be holy... not holier than thou but holy in action, word, and thought. It never needs to be “announced,” just lived and spoken.
Self-righteousness is believing in one’s own virtue: sure of the moral superiority and personal beliefs and actions, usually to an irritating degree.
As you can see by definition the two (righteousness vs self-righteousness) are worlds apart. As Christians we are to be “right” in God’s sight not in our own opinion of ourselves. Isaiah 64:6 “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.” Only Jesus can clothe us in true righteousness. Isaiah 61:10 “I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God! For he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and draped me in a robe of righteousness...”
The difference comes from the inside. When the heart is pure, clean and right on the inside then motives, attitudes, actions, and words will be pure, clean and right. That equals a righteousness given by God. If our heart has a self-promotional motive, bragging words, a holier-than-thou attitude, and condescending action, then my righteousness is self-generated and ugly in the sight of both God and man.
The only way a person can rightly judge his inner state is to be brutally honest with himself and forgo the judgment of others. We cannot see motives and attitudes parse... It is not our responsibility to judge others but it is our responsibility to consider ourselves. 1 Corinthians 11:27-28 “So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. That is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup.” 2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves to see if your faith is genuine. Test yourselves. Surely you know that Jesus Christ is among you; if not, you have failed the test of genuine faith.”
One must be careful in the examination of oneself. If it is to consult only within ourselves we will only affirm our “rightness.” But if we examine ourselves before the Lord, in prayer and in the reading of the His word, we will be corrected correctly. If we pray and read the word only on occasion it is perhaps because we do not wish to be corrected. That in itself is self-righteous.
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