I did not come to save the righteous...

A familiar passage is "that there is none who are righteous, no not one".

Then Jesus said he came to save sinners not the righteous.

So, who were the righteous?

Those who don't think that they are sinners in need of a Savior.

In Christ,

Ron

Even Paul referred to himself as "chief of sinners."
None are righteous, but the humble sinner who acknowledges his need of a savior will be credited to him righteousness through faith in Christ (Phil 3:9).

Interesting words of Jesus, "if I had not come and done among them the works that no one else had done, they would not have sin. But now they have hated both Me and My Father." John 15:24

He holds out that the potential for righteousness is always there, that those who sin do so willingly. (My opinion, not everyone agrees!)

TMK,
We were all sinners before we came to The Lord.

But The Lord planted His Seed,..The Word,..within our heart,and it began to grow.Where before,we only had 'our word,...our will,...our old dirty,..raged,
garments.

An entrance has been made for us,through His precious Blood,
to cleanse us ,...to unclothe us, so that He might clothe upon us in his righteous, Way...

His Word,...Will,..through The Power of His Spirit.He gives us ears to hear what The Spirit (Draws) us to do away with in our old lives,in order that we might go in the Way of righteousness,...His leading.( Grace)

Lovingly,

elizabeth

1Jn.3:7,.."Little children,let no man deceive you;he that doeth righteousness,is righteous,even as He is righteous. "

Sidewalk,
That is a very interesting verse of Scripture that you have given.

"If I had not come and done among them the works,"....

Didn't Jesus say, It is The Father did the works in Him, by Jesus being willing to be led by The Spirit of The Father .The Father wants to do the works in us,..as we also are led.

Thoughts,
elizabeth

One of Jesus' often spoken phrases was, "He that hath an ear to hear let him hear." By this He implies that some will hear things and receive them inside, others will only hear the words but will not respond to it. It is in the same spirit that He says He comes to call on sinners, there will always be those who do not acknowledge their sin.

Professional counsellors see this all the time. "I don't need any help, the other person does!" Gracious Jesus does not force Himself on anyone who doesn't want Him, so His words are rooted in the choice of grace He offers, not in the presumption that some are floating around with no sin on their accounts.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, but not all are willing to follow the path of repentance that leads to the glory of God.

The words of the Savior are right, just, and completely free to be ignored... for a while. In the end, every knee will bow.

so when Jesus said he came to save sinners, not the righteous, the righteous were simply sinners who were aware of their state?

I guess the verse would make more sense to me if it read "self-righteous" instead of just righteous.

I think a lot of people (most) think that the verse means that Jesus did not come to save those who are already saved (i.e., righteous) but it is not clear that anyone was actually "saved" as we use that term when Jesus spoke those words.

The title of this thread is misleading: " I did not come to save the righteous...”

If we discuss the issues as they really stand, we get a different discussion altogether. If we take what the Bible says and not a reconstructed version of it, we get a clear picture that leaves no room for any confusion:

Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Mar 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

Luc 5:32 I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

He came to call sinners to repentance:
G3341
μετάνοια
metanoia
met-an'-oy-ah
From G3340; (subjectively) compunction (for guilt, including reformation); by implication reversal (of [another’s] decision): - repentance.

When true repentance happens, the rest of God’s promises open up to the person, and the state of wickedness is changed to this:

1Thes 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Thes 5:24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

THANK GOD FOR HIS FAITHFUL PROMISES!!!

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Jesus calls sinners to repentance. There can be no salvation without repentance. When true repentance happens the very idea of offending God's love for us is such a repulsion that we automatically reject the temptation to be so brutal and ungrateful!!!

If a person is still a pig at heart, he keeps wallowing in in the filth of sin. If Jesus is living in a person's heart ... Jesus doesn't wallow!

I am not sure if it clears up the confusion.

It is still not clear who Jesus meant by "the righteous."

There is only One who is righteous and makes sinners righteous.

There is only One who is Holly and makes sinners Holly as He is Holly.

There is only One who has ears to hear and gives sinners ears to hear.

There is only One who gives true repentance as He needed no repentance but knew From the Father the sinner does.

Colossians 1:27-29 To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.

Who's working? "We strive according to His working, which worketh in me mightily." Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

In Christ: Phillip

Dear Philup,

Col.1:26,..Christ in you,the hope of glory...like you said and
Paul says,it is a mystery,...to be made manifest to His saints (that we may comprehend this mystery )

Paul says," We strive,according to His working,which worketh in me mightily."

So we think about ,..Christ is in us ,..born in us,...

Christ ALIVE,...( The resurrected Lord in us ) to rule,be Lord in us.." The
Hope of Glorifing Him "

We DEAD,..The cross ,...not my will but,..Him working,...Him working,...working,....like you said in the above Scripture,.He worked in Paul,...
Allowing The Lord to command His work in Paul and in us.

"The Hope to bring glory to Him."

Is that the way you see this?

Lovingly,
elizabeth

Yes Elizabeth,

We are the Hope of His Glory and ours.

Amen

Birthed of our Father' Incorruptable Seed, The Hope of Glory by Christ in you and Christ in me.

This is why the Comforter, Teacher is come, to reveal this mystery.

In Christ: Phillip

Bible quotes these words of Jesus in 3 different places- Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32, and Matt 9:13. All these were answers given to Pharasees who tried to point out the mistakes of others. They classified certain group of people as sinners and did not want to associate with them. This means they are considering themselves as perfect. The moment I start noticings others shortcommings and call them sinners, I have no more need of Christ Jesus.

Brother Zac Poonen once said that the Jurdgment seat beongs to God. The moment we start judging others we are only saying to God that "Get up from your seat, there is a flaw in your judgment. Now let me sit and judge these people".

We should be careful not to associate with so called believers who call on the name of our Lord but live in a deny him in their life. Paul has clearly warned the Corinthians of such assocaiation. One needs wisdom to distinguish both.

I tend to agree with you Sree regarding the passage I was talking about; When Jesus said "righteous" he was referring to the Pharisees, but with His tongue planted firmly in cheek. They were anything but righteous, especially self-righteous.

In fact this may be a time when Jesus was using a little sarcasm.

I believe the best way to read that is to understand that Jesus was implying the "self-righteous". He spoke in a few different ways towards those who in their own estimation had a right-standing before God based on works, self-righteousness or even natural birth-right.

-He compared the sick (sinners) with the well (self-righteous)Those who are well have no need of a physician. In other words they did not submit to the diagnosis prescribed and therfeore saw no need to be healed.

-He compared the blind (sinners) with the seeing or those who claimed to be able to see (Pharisees, religious elite, scribes)

See below verses. John Chapter 9

True Vision and True Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?”[e]

36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”

38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

39 And Jesus said, "For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.”

40 Then some of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these words, and said to Him, "Are we blind also?”

41 Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.

One last comment regarding the original verse in the original post - Jesus said that He "did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." My wife and I were talking about this verse last night, and one thing that stood out to us was that Jesus plainly says that He came to call sinners to repentance. Jesus came preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and He was the very Word of God - so if God the incarnate Son brings the message of the Gospel of the Kingdom to us, and it can be summed up in calling sinners to repentance, how is it that we as the Church have drifted so far from this initial message of Christ. How close are we to His original message? Are we too taking up that mantle and calling sinners to repentance? Are we preaching repentance? Are we calling sin "sin"? If our message does not include calling people to repentance, then is it even the Gospel of Christ we are proclaiming? A Gospel without repentance is one of the primary inroads for spiritual deception.

Excellent post, TKC.

I think we have indeed drifted from the simple gospel.

I am guilty of this, I was telling our small group last week that my wife is a much better "witnesser" than me because she has a knack for keeping it simple while I feel the need to answer peoples' objections and therefore get sidetracked.

As AW Tozer says in the Revival Hymn compilation, we don't need to go around making excuses for the gospel.

Quote: """True Vision and True Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, "Do you believe in the Son of God?”[e]

36 He answered and said, "Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?”

37 And Jesus said to him, "You have both seen Him and it is He who is talking with you.”"""

This is the true version of what repentance unto salvation truly is;

38 Then he said, "Lord, I believe!” And he worshiped Him.

Revealed to this blind person by Jesus Christ Himself in the flesh.

Now it is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit because of the Spirit of Christ that is birthed in us.

Our true repentance is; "Lord I believe". These are the ones Jesus came to save, not those that questioned Him and made of Him coming from the Devil. These are the self righteous ones He came not to save, unless they repent and believe.

In Christ: Phillip

Matthew 21:31- Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you."

The Pharasees rebuked Jesus for eating with Tax collectors and sinners. But here Jesus said the so called sinners are entering the kingdom of God ahead of them. How did this happen? How did those whom Jesus called righteous did not enter the kingdom?

If we consider our sins as an ocean that seperates us from God then Jesus is the only bridge that we can use to cross this Ocean and reach God's kingdom. The prostitues and Tax collectors knew the depth of their sins (Ocean) hence they know they cannot swim over it. So they are readily accepting the bridge (Jesus) to be saved from sinking in this ocean. But the Pharasees and self righteous, do not see their sin as an ocean. They justify themselves by covering their sins with their external holiness. Such people rejected the bridge. They thought they can easily cross over this pool of water (their sins) and enter the kingdom of God. The truth is our sins are deep as ocean for all of us no matter how we have lived on this earth, Jesus alone can connect us to God.

It is one of Satan's most effective weapons, to keep sin in effect but hidden from view. The phrase "slaves to sin," has been replaced with "living an alternative lifestyle."

Wise the Psalmist, "Search me O God and see if there be any wicked way within me!"