Is all your righteousness really like filthy rags? I know the prophet Isaiah, said it, but is it really true? Don’t misunderstand the intent of that question. I am an orthodox Bible believing Christian. I am not suggesting we pick and choose which parts of the Bible we believe, but I wonder what exactly does Isaiah mean in this all-too-often-quoted passage. Can the Christian ever do anything “righteous”?
The passage in question is Isaiah 64:6. Here the prophet asserts:
6 We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.
The “filthy rags” concept is more than just some dirty scrub brush. The “polluted garment,” as the ESV translates it, is really suggestive of a woman’s menstrual rag. It is a highly disgusting image. Your “righteousness” is like a used tampon, Isaiah says. The graphic nature of the image makes it more than just revolting, it makes a clear theological point: you can’t be righteous! Anything we offer to God is rejected as outright impure. But what does Isaiah mean by “righteous,” that must be explained if we’re to properly use this passage.
Kevin DeYoung helps us understand the passage well. He writes:
The “righteous deeds” Isaiah has in mind are most likely the perfunctory rituals offered by Israel without sincere faith and without wholehearted obedience. In Isaiah 65:1-7 the Lord rejects Israel’s sinful sacrifices. They are an insult to the Lord, smoke in his nostrils, just like the ritual “obedience” of Isaiah 58 that did not impress the Lord because his people were oppressing the poor. Their “righteous deeds” were “filthy rags” (64:6, KJV) because they weren’t righteous at all. They looked good but were a sham, a literal smoke screen to cover up their unbelief and disobedience. (The Hole in Our Holiness, 68)
The idea, then, of filthy rags, are those which are insincere efforts to appease God, to get him off our backs, while we secretly attempt to keep our sinfulness. This, then, is a rather unique idea of “righteous deeds.”
What should we think, then, about the sincere (if still flawed) efforts of the believer. Are they too “filthy rags”? John Piper writes:
Sometimes people are careless and speak disparagingly of all human righteousness, as if there were no such thing that pleased God. They often cite Isaiah 64:6 which says our righteousness is as filthy rags. It is true – gloriously true – that none of God’s people before or after the cross, would be accepted by an immaculately holy God if the perfect righteousness of Christ were not imputed to us (Romans 5:19; 1 Corinthians 1:30; 2 Corinthians 5:21). But that does not mean that God doe snot produce in those “justified” people (before and after the cross) an experiential righteousness that is not “filthy rags.” In fact, he does; and this righteousness is precious to God and is required, not as the ground of our justification (which is the righteousness of christ only), but as an evidence of our being truly justified children of God. (Future Grace, 151)
Piper picks up here on an important distinction. There is a distinction between works aimed at earning God’s salvation, and works that reflect our being saved. If our good deeds are aimed at winning God’s favor then yes they are filthy rags; works were never designed to justify us. What makes works filthy is their function. But when our deeds are done from a sincere heart that desires to obey Jesus and seeks honor him with our lives then, even though they may be flawed, they are still righteous.
I have spent several weeks now considering the reality of sanctification and the nature of pleasing God. Three key principles stand out to me now in reflection: holiness is possible, God is not harsh, and righteous deeds are only filthy if they aim to earn salvation. If we keep this before us we may yet find not only can we rejoice in our spiritual growth, but it is more likely to happen. Spiritual defeatism isn’t honoring to God, or true. Kevin DeYoung has been the most useful to me in this short study, so I’ll let him have the last word. “We can think it’s a mark of spiritual sensitivity to consider everything we do as morally suspect. But this is not the way the Bible thinks about righteousness” (69). And holiness, friends, begins with agreeing with God.
Sparrow & Heart Soul Care 