The statement, "All our righteousness is like filthy rags", is found in the middle of a Biblical poem in Isaiah (Isa 64:4-9). The saying has caused a deep struggle in many hearts. Does the statement mean that it's pointless us trying to do righteous deeds? Does it mean our righteousness has no value in God's eyes? No, it doesn’t.

In this study we put the "filthy rags" statement into context, looking at other statements in Isaiah about justice and righteousness. These passages show what the "filthy rags" statement is referring to.

The kingdom of Christ is upheld with righteousness

One of the themes in Isaiah is the promise of the coming Messiah (or Christ), and one of the marks of the Messiah is righteousness.

"Behold I lay in Zion a stone... and I will make justice the measuring line, and righteousness the level" (Isa 28:16-17). Righteousness is the measure used to lay the very foundation of God’s kingdom.

"A child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders... on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness..." (Isa 9:6-7, see 59:17). Righteousness is the principle by which the Messiah reigns.

Now if we live by this foundation principle of the kingdom of God, if we live justly and uprightly after the example of our King, will God repudiate our righteousness as filthy rags? It is easy to see that this could not be so. Christ-like righteousness cannot be like filthy rags to God.

God calls us to do good

A recurring feature of Isaiah is the pleading of the Lord for his people to give up their evil and turn back to righteous living.

The Lord says, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean, take away from before my eyes the evil of your deeds. Cease to do evil, learn to do good" (Isa 1:16-17). The passage goes on to say that if the people do this willingly and obediently, they will be rewarded and blessed (Isa 1:18-20).

Here’s another example: "Thus says the Lord, Preserve justice and do righteousness... How blessed is the man who does this..." (Isa 56:1-2).

Now if someone does what "truly the the mouth of the Lord has spoken", God will not liken what they do to filthy rags, will he?

God values righteous deeds

The next two verses express the Lord’s dissapointment in the holy city Jerusalem. "How the faithful city has become a harlot, she who was full of justice! Righteousness once lodged in her". Notice that the Lord delighted in the city when its people were faithful, just, and righteous. The city was not filthy in his eyes then, but only after it became idolatrous and immoral.

God names some of the deeds he delights in: "...to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house, when you see the naked to clothe him..." (Isa 58:7).

Now if a person lives sincerely, willingly, and obediently, in this manner, he is doing what God values, not what God regards as filthy rags.

What righteousness is like filthy rags?

What, then, is the righteousness that God regards as filthy rags? The Lord said, "This people draw near with their words and honour me with their lips service, but they remove their heart far from me (Isa 29:13).

The first chapter of Isaiah clarifies God’s reason for treating the righteousness of his people as filthy rags. They were a sinful and rebellious people (Isa 1:4-5). They are likened to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isa 1:10-11). Yet they offered to God multiplied sacrifices and prayers (Isa 1:11-15). They were hypocritical, insincere, two-faced. Whilst they continued to worship, they also continued to do evil, and so the Lord repudiated their false righteousness. It was like filthy rags to him, or as he puts it in another metaphor here, "Your silver has become dross" (Isa 1:21-23).

CONCLUSION

So we understand that the hypocritical unrepentant sinner who pretends to worship God while deliberately practicing evil, thinking that he can hide it from the Lord --he is one whose righteousness is like filthy rags because his righteousness is soiled by his sins which he has not turned away from, and which God has not forgiven that he might be cleansed (Isa 45:22-25, 55:6-12).

We also understand that the Lord’s response is quite different to a humble and upright person, who is zealous for the way of the Lord and sincerely follows it. God has covenanted through Christ that "sin shall be taken away" (Isa 27:9, Rom 11:26). When God bestows his gift of forgiveness on those who obey him, then God has made them righteous and they cannot then say, "All our righteousness is like filthy rags" for God does not bestow upon us filthy rags, does he? Rather one should say, when God has granted forgiveness, "I am honoured in the sight of the Lord and God is my strength" (Isa 49:5).

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