In that day you will no longer ask me anything. Very truly I tell you, my Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask, and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (Jn 16:23-24)

Jesus is talking about a new relationship between the believer and God. Previously, people approached God through priests. After Jesus’ resurrection, any believer could approach God directly. A new day has dawned, and now all believers are priests (see 1 Pet 2:5), talking with God personally and directly. We approach God, not because of our merit, but because Jesus, our great High Priest, has made us acceptable to God.

Jesus would soon be facing the cross, where He would die for the sins of humanity. His disciples had relied on Christ’s close walk with His Father in heaven and knew that Jesus prayed to the Father for them. For example, He had prayed for Peter whom He knew would deny Him after His arrest: “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” (Lk 22:31) Clearly, they were aware of His intercession for them.

Further, He explains that they could go directly to the Father, in His name.

“In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.” (Jn 16:26-28)

Hebrews 7: 25 shines more light on how we are to pray — the method applied not to just the apostles, but to all believers. “He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” With belief in Jesus, we can draw near to God by faith in Him, directly without the assistance of priest or pastor in this world. Jesus is in heaven at the right hand of God leveraging our prayers to the Father, by additionally interceding for us as our high priest:

“Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful” (Heb 10:19-23)

You may ask, how can I be forgiven if not by confessing to an ordained man of the cloth? Scripture sets the record straight: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 Jo 1:9 ESV)

We are not limit praying for one another, or confessing to lay-elders, especially in the context of praying for the healing of a saint who is ill: “Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (Jm 5:16)

It is noteworthy that Paul, a great apostle chosen directly by Christ Himself, requested prayer for the Gospel work that he was conducting — asking the faithful Christians in the established churches of Christ to do so on his behalf for Christ’s glory. (see Col 4:3; 2 Cor 1:11).

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?” Lk 11:13

When Jesus taught his disciples – He made the point that the Holy Spirit, the gift of God’s ever-present indwelling personhood, was ready to live within them. How could they gain this advantage? By just desiring this close relationship and asking.

During Pentecost after Jesus had ascended to heaven, the Holy Spirit poured out on 120 believers in the upper room while worshiping with gratitude and praise. This empowerment of the church testified to the presence of the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus.

Jesus was the incarnate Son of God, who in John 8:12 called himself the Light of the world. Paul further stated: “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 2 Co 4:6

“Light” is a metaphor which means the divine revelation which clears out the darkness of sin and guilt in a man’s life by revealing the glory of God in the face of the man, Christ the Lord, who walked amongst them.

The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit of Christ, continues achieving this work on earth within believers. Here Paul notes that we are to let Christ abide in our heart via his Spirit, and emphasises – don’t let yourself drift away from this inner light of God as some have and will: “Some people once had God’s light. They experienced the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit.’ Heb 6:4 [God’s Word]

Jesus used a similar metaphor to reveal the presence of the Holy Spirt – the lamp’s light evidenced by the perception of the physical eye. Here He depicts the representative Christian walking in the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, using careful discernment to follow the Word of God and the promptings of God’s still small voice. (see Is 30:21)

Your eye is the lamp of the body. When your eye is good, your whole body is also full of light. But when it is bad, your body is also full of darkness. Take care then, that the light in you is not darkness. If therefore, your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, it will be entirely illuminated, as when a lamp shines its light on you. Lk 11:35-36 [HSCB]

Again, Jesus uses the eyes of man, as a metaphor of accepting the Gospel light via the Holy Spirit, contrasting a healed blind man’s acceptance of Christ, to the spiritually blind Pharisees who excommunicated him for being healed on the Sabbath:

Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him; he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshipped him. Jesus said, “For judgment, I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains. Jn 9:35-41

As Christians, we are offered the abiding presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, without whom we will walk in darkness. We must be careful if we believe that we walk in the light, abiding in Christ when we have an admixture of misguided ideology allowing lust, pride, legalism or any flagrant sin — thinking that we can still walk in the light of His loving presence. Without Christ we will be love’s kill-joy, our religion will be a hollow shadow of darkness. (see 1 Co 13)

It is Christ who calls us to walk in the revealed light of His Spirit, obedient to the revealed will of God. When doing so we will passively perceive His love. Our behaviour will actively echo His love for others.

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

The mindset of sin, which is living a life separate from God, will naturally result in a life of sinning — doing the opposite of God’s will. Actions that we call sin are only the result of a sinful condition, the effect of not having a true relationship with Christ.

If we get this backwards, we’ll think that doing wrong things is what separates us from God. The opposite is true: living apart from God is what leads us to do bad things. Sin (singular) leads to sins (plural).

King Solomon began his reign with his heart trusting God, in a unified, trustful relationship, that in time faltered. “For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods; and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David, his father.” (1 Kings 11:4). Solomon’s sin began by replacing his relationship with Yahweh, by the outward worship of other gods, to satisfy the multicultural customs of his many foreign wives.

Did Eve fall because she ate the apple? No. She ate the apple after she fell — after tempted to distrust God — to rely instead on her secret perceptions of reality (preferring to know both good and evil), apart from spiritual unity and trusted guidance. Reaching for the fruit was only the result of a disconnect with her God. This resulted in spiritual death, disunity from God.

It took some time for Solomon to begin living apart from God in rampant sinning, whereas for Eve, this occurred with one flirtatious temptation. Minds unified with Christ’s mind is the conditional reality of a mature outward life, flowing from an inner spiritual life of unity.

Though we are seeking to know Christ, we may not yet know Him as intimately as we are privileged to know Him. Thus there may be times when we turn our eyes from Him. Dependent on ourselves without His Spirit leading, we will fail.

Here is a lesson: When a married man and woman separate, they no longer know each other straight from the heart, of the mind, intimately in conjoined reality. The New Testament uses the metaphor of marriage, to define our relationship with Christ as His bride.

If we continue to seek to know Him, to trust in our relationship with Him leading, our hearts and behaviour will be right as we grow into trusted union with Him. “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” (John 17:3 ESV) We will know Christ increasingly, insofar as we follow His Spirit’s lead and trustingly obey.

If you are not doing anything wrong, it does not mean that you are good. Doing the right thing by not doing a bad thing is not necessarily being good.

I am not arguing that if you’re doing wrong, you’re doing right, or that it’s all right to do wrong. Many act right on the outside, yet live life terribly on the inside. You can only do right if you lovingly respond to Christ’s love for you – living right depends on expressing gratitude genuinely on the inside, expressed joyfully on the outside confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s witness.

Think of the Pharisees, looking the prudent part of the good guys’ club. Jesus spoke some firm words to the Pharisees in Matthew 23:27, 28: “Listen, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites? You are like painted tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, yet are full of dead men’s bones. You think you’ve got it made by appearing righteous to men, but within you are lifeless – full of hypocrisy and corruption.”

Most agree that the goal for the Christian is to be good both on the inside and on the outside. If you’re not good on the inside, aren’t you better off at least being socially acceptable on the outside?

Jesus said that the religion of the Pharisee never measured up to truly loving God and our fellow man sufficient for eternal life. “Except your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:20. If you think external goodness is recognisably real, it’s no good for the divine inspection.

We may presume to serve God while relying upon our efforts to obey His law, to form a right character, and secure salvation. However, cold and hardened hearts are not moved by any deep sense of the love of Christ. They seek only to perform the duties of the Christian life on the outside to get on the inside with God.

In Revelation 3 is a metaphoric message to the church for the time just before Jesus comes again. “I know your works. They’re lukewarm! – Not hot or cold – so I will vomit you out of my mouth!” (Verses 15, 16). External goodness is a bad tradeoff – a fake mask – it’s worse in God’s estimation than no goodness at all! He prefers cold hearts to show-and-tell righteousness, to a dog and pony Christianity – it’s as sickening as slaking an unrefrigerated Fresca after a day hiking in the sun.

External appearance alone is repulsive to God. Prodigals have a better chance of realising their need as sinners and repenting – are more easily reached with the mercy of the Gospel than the one who feels no need.

Must Christ fill the church with prestigious people who are classy enough to display required pretentious behaviour? Or politically or theologically correct sufficient to keep a church worker’s priestly pension safe. Pride is a barrier limiting any personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We can’t guarantee righteousness by checking off public achievements to gain God’s high five.

Let’s stop trying to do what is right, by setting time aside for devotion and contemplating Christ’s love-based Principles as we allow Him to out-express His life in us via the Holy Spirit.

Instead, we can swap out the fake; put in time and energy and effort toward seeking Him. He will then come and live His life in us. Only Christ’s right doing through you will make you good – and the bonus, you’ll be right with God.

“So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Rom 7:12)

There are three attributes of the moral law of God, taught by Paul. The law is holy, it is righteous, and it is good. Since God Himself can only designate these three attributes, the law is an expression of God’s character. It follows that to live a life led by the Holy Spirit; we live a life designed and motivated by the abiding love of Jesus Christ, which when so responding, our hearts sing within.

The law is the unchanging guideline of His holiness. Christ died so that “the just requirement of the law would be fully satisfied for us, who no longer follow our sinful nature but instead follow the Spirit” (Rom 8:4 NLT)

Disciples on the road to Emmaus listened to Christ use scripture to explain why He had to die, to fulfil the Word of God, to initiate the new covenant of grace. Later they admitted the experience as heart-warming. (Luke chapter 24)

Do the characteristics of God change? No, he remains holy, righteous and good just as a life of Godliness — of loving God and loving others reflects Christ, who fulfilled the letter of the law by dying for you and me.

Jesus made it clear that the law of God continues. (Matt. 5:17–19). To keep the law is evidence of being faithful to loving God and loving others.

Most Christians understand that the law can never save us. The law was never our way to salvation, though if revealed our need for Christ to save us from our own rule-based method of salvation, determined by works.

To live a Spirit-filled life means that we live following two primary laws of God, upon which predicates the law of God — both principles of love — for our Creator, and for the creation of man. (Matt 22:36-40)

Try viewing the law, as the pair of shoes in which you walk fulfilling loving God first, then loving your fellow sentient beings. Only in Christ’s love can we love — our love then walks and expresses itself in all areas of our life. In contradistinction, Jesus warned when “lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold” (Matt. 24:12 ESV).

Love perishes when the law of God depreciates as the standard of true love which reflects the character of Jesus Christ — who expressed the exact image of God as a man. Paul worked tirelessly with the churches teaching that our character is to be reformed — changed into the likeness of Christ: “My children, with whom I am again in labour until Christ is formed in you”. While Christ recreates our character in His image, will we not reflect God as loving, which will naturally be holy, righteous, and good, fulfilling the law?

Read Romans 13:10 and Matthew 22:37–40 to find out why love is the fulfilment of the law.

Morality can never make you righteous, but righteousness will make you moral.

You cannot counterfeit morality for righteousness. Would a man give plastic roses to his wife for their anniversary as a sign of his love or real ones? Refined morality is as cold as ice.

Morality is the effect or righteousness, not the cause. It is fine adorning attribute; in fact, God demands excellent morals. Moral rectitude can keep you from indecent exposure in public, flirting with a married spouse, over-dubbing social dialogues, or from causing a rude embarrassment to your family. However, morality can never make you righteous. [1]

Without submitting by faith to Christ and without being led by his Spirit, we cannot achieve righteous standing before God. In Christ’s day, the Pharisees thought obedience to a self-regulated rule of moral law would offer sufficient righteousness before God: “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.” (Rom 10:3) The problem with this is that our self-prescribed righteousness is muddied with our agenda because we all have and all will sin against the glory of God, thus our need to rely on God to help us overcome daily. (Rom 3:23-27; Isa 64.4,6)

Righteousness is a gift we can only receive by faith in Christ. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”(2 Cor 5:21) When we exercise faith in Christ, His righteousness becomes imputed to us, as Paul notes, “so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.” (Rom 5:18-19)

The only hope of being found right-doing with God is to “…be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own…but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith—that I may know him” (Phil 3:9-10)

The words are clear, righteousness is not the effect of moral behaviour, but rather it is dependent on faith, when we know Christ, enjoying a personal walk with Him. By abiding in Him, we can with sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s guidance, discern and “…approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” (Phil 1:10-11 ESV) Right living reveals a moral life when you live by His principles of love.

In the parable of the wedding garment, we find a man of moral confidence, who wears his best citizen’s suit to the king’s wedding feast, instead of the wedding garment provided by the king, metaphoric of Christ’s offered righteousness. The man was condemned for his self-sufficient righteousness. (Matt 22:1-4)

The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector is another example of the emptiness of refined moral behaviour. The Pharisee lived by a prescribed checklist of rules and adjudged himself as righteous. Self-righteousness is no substitute for Christ’s righteousness when imputed to a man’s record. The tax collector was a sinner yet he obtained acquittal of all his sins. His faith, evidenced by his humble confession, before God, brought the verdict — justified, a theological term meaning forgiven. The man stood clothed in the glory of Christ’s righteousness. (see Luke 18:9-14)

Morality alone without Christ will not make you righteous. It is a dangerous delusion that bars you from true spirituality. (See Gal 2:21) Thomas Mertin noted in the New Seeds of Contemplation:

“it is more than just a moral union or an agreement of hearts. The union of the Christian and Christ is not just a similarity of inclination and feeling, a mutual consent of minds and wills…it is a mystical union in which Christ himself becomes the source and principle of divine life in me.”

Our righteousness is a gift through our faith in Jesus Christ. Christ is our righteousness, as He displays His glory in a Spirit-led life. “This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe”. (Rom 3:22)

[1] Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics have helped many form a life of good conduct, of renowned civic character. Thomas Aquinas and many church fathers have been influenced and perhaps some misled by an over-appreciation of Aristotle.