The difference between HOLINESS and RIGHTOUSNESS


    As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;
Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.1 Peter:1:14-16.

For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
Romans:5:19..

   Brethren. Holiness and righteousness are two different things in the Scripture.  
    Understanding what the Bible says about them will help you improve the quality of your spiritual life in Christ.
     The basic difference between
holiness and righteousness in the Bible is that HOLINESS is a state of CHARACTER, while RIGHTEOUSNESS is a state of POSITION.
    Holiness points to how you are, and righteousness points to where you are. Holy is more of what you make yourself; righteous is what God makes you. Get it clear  ,Holiness depends on you; righteousness depends on God.
     
Let's explain with definitions..
     To be "holy" means, in both Hebrew and Greek, to be clean, good, pure, godly, sacred, sanctified (set apart). In the general sense, a synonym for "holy" is "moral," and in the strictest, biblical sense it describes an attitude and corresponding behavior that's character that show reverence toward God and respect for His moral standards.
     In clear contrast, to be "righteous" in the Bible means, simply, to be in "right-standing with God." Synonyms might be "saved," "justified," "redeemed." In the proper biblical context, a "righteous" person is someone who has been justified before God, by God, upon the simple possession of true faith in what He's done for us in Jesus Christ.
      Righteousness has nothing to do with our morality or goodness. God justifies, or makes righteous. Every sinner who receives Christ, thus granting him or her eternal fellowship. That's position with Him in heaven.
   So then, every Christian is righteous, and every non-Christian is unrighteous.
    But then, is every Christian therefore automatically holy, and every non-Christian unholy? Not necessarily.
     In the Bible. God never tells believers to be righteous but, over and over again, to be holy. Holiness refers to a person's own moral character, Christian or not (this is generally speaking, since in the strictest biblical sense it also infers one's proper attitude toward God). Righteousness actually describes what a "Christian" is, holy or not.
  More so, Holiness is an endeavor of man. Righteousness is a gift from God. God desires to make the whole world righteous; but He expects believers, whom He has already made righteous, to therefore be holy.

    We can conclude then that.:

1) Holiness is not a prerequisite for righteousness but, rather, a subsequent requirement for the righteous.

2) All believers are equally righteous, but some believers can be, in truth, "holier than thou."

3) All non-believers are equally unrighteous; and, to keep it real, some non-believers act more "holy"  that is, moral than some believers.

4) Holiness is a required continual endeavor for every Christian, but righteousness is the Christian's immediate and continual grace that God-bestowed positional state for those that accepted Jesus.

    Holiness is what a Christian endeavors to be; righteous is what God makes a Christian to be.

5) You can be "holy"; that is, behave morally and still not be righteous (justified, saved, heaven-bound). Your so-called "holiness" does not make you righteous. Only Christ's work on the Cross does that not by your labour or hard work.

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46 Comments

Unknown said…
Well said and quite an eye opener. Most people do not know the difference. Glad you expounded on both. Now I know, God bless you always
Unknown said…
THANKS ALOT
Unknown said…
That's a wonderful msg,more Grace.
Unknown said…
Thanks a lot. I am blessed
Unknown said…
i loved the teaching
Chioma said…
Thank you for such teaching and God bless you
Unknown said…
Beautiful, thank you so much.
Unknown said…
Thanks so much it's such a nice teaching
Akpofure said…
Thank You so much for this insightful message. God bless you.
Unknown said…
May God continue to grant you grace as you shed light On these basic/profound biblical attributes. I have had An extremely major stroke (right side totally paralyzed and scrambled brain) As well as a brain injury And thus have a challenging time discerning on my own the difference between concepts.
Anonymous said…
Am grateful, more grace to ur ministry. Thanks for the enlightening me.
Anonymous said…
Thank you for the well structured explanation of these two terms. Was much help indeed.
Anonymous said…
Am blessed.
Unknown said…
May God bless ur ministry with more grace and anointing.
Now I know
Unknown said…
This question arose in my mind early this morning. The answer you gave was scripturally sound. Thank you Holy Spirit for "posing" the question, and thank you brother for "posting" the answer.
Unknown said…
I love dis teaching
Great, I like the teachings
Unknown said…
It is an eye opener. Well explained
Unknown said…
It is an eye opener. Well explained
nserdfhyjgf said…
Thank you. I was looking forward to more clarification.
Unknown said…
Well explained, may God grant you more wisdom
Unknown said…
Well done I pray you get more and give more through Christ Jesus
Anonymous said…
Richly blessed by this exposition. Thank you.
Bro Ifenna said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Bro Ifenna said…
Dear,

You wrote very clearly and concise and am so happy for your answers. However, there are few things am not really getting on it.
1: You said you can be holy and still cannot be righteous.

This is contradictory. This holiness in question is not holiness attained by a carnal man. You rightly pointed out that God wants us to attain to holiness (Heb 12:14). So I do not agree that this godly holiness can be attained without having been righteous by acceptance of Christ Jesus. Phil 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me. Once we are born again we receive power become sons of God (John 1:12), so endeavouring to live right is only possibly through the grace of God through Christ Jesus. And it comes by hearing the truth and desiring, praying it into your life and seeing that the old man is destroyed and a new man is installed in all area of your life.
Romans 12:1-2 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Unknown said…
Nice one, more Grace, but am not clear in the area where u said u can b holy and not be righteous, I was even thinking u will say u can be righteous and not be holy.
Unknown said…
Thanks for the clarification. For simplicity sake I will like to say Holiness for the purpose of our Christian faith you can consciously attain by following God's commandments. But righteousness is the gift God gave us all by inviting him into our lives.
King said…
Well holiness in English means purity or something close ,yes . But what is righteousness and on what basis are we declared righteous or justified . But really righteous should mean we have been given the right to enjoy the benefit of the sacrifice of Jesus through his death and resurrection . And what else is better than this , what then is the essence of Holyness if we are already made justified . So therefore our righteousness is our Legal right to Dominion in Christ if we really wanna use it . Meaning our deeds physically, wrong or right doesn't really matter, why because the physical realm is nolonger a prerequisite for our judgement if we are saved , But what matters is that the accuser of the brethren ( Satan) makes us think we are not worthy because of what we had tampered ourselves with physically .So he makes us think it is by our power and might ,and not from a spiritual standpoint . That is why people prefer to be holy ( avoid anything , weakness that Satan can use against you) than making a mistake and then try to convince yourself that your still in Faith . That's why holiness is relevant else it is not. Because if the owner of the house said I have declared you righteous,I think the next question is righteous or justified in what aspect . And if he says and in everything , then so be it . Why because the realm of the spirit don't know what adultery, stealing , pride is. Because those things don't exist in that realm , angels don't lie , even some demons tell you the truth but in another manipulative way . So God through Jesus has come to deal with us with that perspective of Eden before the fall . But outside Eden the devil tell you hey , you are not worthy , because you just lied . But as Christians should we then lie ? no ,But instead we should focus on God , if we focus on God lieing would be automatically nolonger a factor , you'll just be getting perfect automatically without your own natural effort or approval . But some people prefer to heed to their parents warning which quild them in life . But what about others that are from a family of Wrong doers . You don't stop your wrong doing by putting measure in place by yourself , but all you do is just to keep on the word . Ignore your weakness though you still fall for it . But do as if it doesn't bother you . But what should bother us at this time should be ,have I prayed today , have I read the word today ? etc . Then leave the rest . If you read the word and pray genuinly and oftenly , for the next 4 years or 3 keeping that Pace or increasing it . Even at the end you'll have forgotten that you ever had a weakness . Leave holiness , leave righteous , meditate and be up to date in the word and prayer , then every other thing you want or desire would be added and some subtracted automatically . So Holyness is stressed in the Bible because we know that the devil would still continue to lie to some imature believers who seldomly fall to some form of uncleanliness , the devil even go to the extent of telling them that hey because of this your mistake hey , if you die today you be in hell . But since the spiritual realm is about " having what you believe of fear for "then you've ignoralty signed your hell ticket . Was that not what Adam fell for . Was Adam supposed to run from the Lord , no , he should have gone back to God and say , Daddy me and my wife have done this please forgive us . But instead they thought they knew God enough that " God reaps where he Doesn't Sow" or that God is a wicked and unforgiving father". So they had what they believed. Thanks
Unknown said…
Thank you. You have perfectly put Cornelius in perspective. He was a holy man because of what he was doing but God had not justified him because he hadn't accepted jesus christ as his savoir. God was impressed by his holiness and wanted to help him attain righteousness. So he gave him that vision to go to Peter.ACTS 10
Unknown said…
I was bless with the explanation



Unknown said…
Glory to JESUS CHRIST our Lord! Thank You Father for your Word. Am so blessed. Thank you Church.
Emmanuel Asante said…
God bless you for this message
Unknown said…
Great explanation with insightfulness.Thanks
Unknown said…
I celebrate every one who have commented on this subject matter and most especially our resource person. God bless you all. Indeed as far as this subject is concern we have the human factor and God Factor. And will help us on daily basis to live for him in Jesus name Amen
Unknown said…
I love the teaching
Unknown said…
Thanks that's it. B blessed
Unknown said…
Beautifully said
Unknown said…
In view of this topic, I might say therefore that, holiness is integrity of moral character. While righteousness is a free gift from God through Christ Jesus.
Amen
Elder uka-Life said…
Thanks for the clarification, more grace.
Unknown said…
Amen and God Speed!
Unknown said…
I am grateful to you for sharpening my understanding.
Unknown said…
Wow the understanding is so clear to my hearing.more oil
Susan said…
Thank you so much servant of God for endeavoring to elaborate on Righteous and Holiness. This knowledge has cleared my confusion. Blessings
Laitan Olaleye said…

Thank you. I however believe it’s the other way round. The state of HOLINESS is only attainable by those who Jesus Christ has impacted HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS on through SALVATION by His blood as they grow in CONSECRATION to the Lord. That righteousness is called RIGHTEOUSNESS CORAM DEO, it’s from JESUS. However , there’s another type of righteousness that is about our natural goodness and morals, anybody can have that….called RIGHTEOUSNESS CORAM MUNDO. That’s why an unsaved person can have very good character that endears people to him or her. An unbeliever can have better relationships and even be a good leader because of this type of righteousness . Everyone should desire both types of righteousness for a good life here on earth and assurance of eternity with God. I have been meditating on the word RIGHTEOUSNESS for more than a year now as a word that the world desperately needs to function well at a time like we are now.
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