Monday

Related Verses
1 John 1:7, 9-10
7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin.
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.

2 Cor. 3:8-9
8 How shall the ministry of the Spirit not be more in glory?
9 For if there is glory with the ministry of condemnation, much more the ministry of righteousness abounds with glory.

Rev. 15:3
3 And they sing the song of Moses, the slave of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and wonderful are Your works, Lord God the Almighty! Righteous and true are Your ways, O King of the nations!

Rom. 1:16-17
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one who believes, both to Jew first and to Greek.
17 For the righteousness of God is revealed in it out of faith to faith, as it is written, “But the righteous shall have life and live by faith.”

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that every one who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

Psa. 89:14
14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before Your face.

Related Reading
God is righteous as well as holy. Whereas holiness is related to God’s inward nature, righteousness is related to God’s outward acts, ways, actions, and activities. Everything God does is righteous. 

The righteousness of God is what God is in His action with respect to justice and righteousness…Whatever God is in His justice and righteousness constitutes His righteousness. 

Our experience of Christ rests on the foundation of God’s righteousness. The foundation is not our fervency or victory; it is God’s righteousness, the unshakable foundation of God’s throne (Psa. 89:14). God has shown forth His righteousness by forgiving us of our sins. In this way God has proved that He is righteous. Now such righteousness of God is our solid foundation. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 87, 90) 

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In 2 Corinthians Paul does not speak of gifts or miracles, but he does say that the Spirit gives life…He does not say a word about speaking in tongues. The emphasis in this book is on the Spirit as the life supply. The ministry of the new covenant is a matter of the Spirit as the supply inwardly and of righteousness as God’s expression outwardly…In 3:8 Paul speaks of the ministry of the Spirit, and in verse 9, of the ministry of righteousness. 

If we would understand what the ministry of righteousness is, we must first have a proper understanding of righteousness. Righteousness is a matter of being right. When we have the Spirit living, moving, and acting within us in a way that is real and substantial, we are automatically right with God, with others, and with ourselves. This understanding of righteousness is correct, but it is not adequate. Hence, we must go on to see something further regarding righteousness. 

In 1 Corinthians 15:34 Paul says, “Awake from the drunken stupor righteously and do not sin, for some of you are ignorant of God.”…What does it mean to awake from a drunken stupor righteously? It means to become sober in such a way that we are right with God, with others, and with ourselves. A believer who is sober righteously will be right with his wife, with his children, with his neighbors, with all the saints, with the church, and also with himself. Those who are not right in all these ways are in a drunken stupor. 

If we did not have the new covenant ministry, we would not have the Spirit, and we would not have righteousness…Many of us can testify that after coming into the church life, we began to realize that there is something within us that is living, real, and substantial. This is the Spirit within us working and making us joyful, peaceful, and restful. This is the Spirit of life ministered into us as the life supply by the ministry in the Lord’s recovery. 

Before you experienced the Spirit in this way, it may have been very easy for you to argue with your wife or husband. But if you experience the Spirit as your life supply, something within restrains you when you want to argue. For example, a sister may be tempted to blame her husband, but deep within she realizes that she should go into her room and pray. This experience comes from the Spirit as the life supply that is ministered into us through the new covenant ministry. 

Perhaps in a church meeting not a word is spoken concerning the Spirit as the life supply…Although nothing is said concerning this, it is nevertheless a fact that in the meeting the Spirit is ministered to you. There is a ministry in the recovery that inscribes the processed Triune God as the life-giving Spirit into our being. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 236-239) 

Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 9