Who Are The Righteous?
"For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begins at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear?" (I Pet. 4:17-18.)
The two questions posed by Peter are rhetorical in nature. The answers to them are so obvious that they are not intended to elicit an expressed answer. While the answers are indeed obvious it is nonetheless true that many people are either not aware of them due to confusion and ignorance of Bible teaching, or are prejudiced against accepting the obvious truth by former religious teaching or perhaps personal opinion. It is, therefore, necessary to emphasize the serious implications of these two questions.
Passing by the first question in verse 17 for the moment and going to the second in verse 18, it is implied that the ungodly and sinner shall not be saved. If the righteous are the saved, then the unrighteous (the ungodly and sinner) are lost. Now this poses no problem to most people for nearly all agree that the unrighteous will be lost. The confusion arises as to who the righteous are, for again nearly all people claim to be among the righteous regardless of their religious belief and practice. Who are the righteous of I Pet. 4:18?
Righteousness, A Matter Of Revelation
"For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth: to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written the just shall live by faith." (Rom. 1:1617.) The righteousness which God attributes to man is revealed in the gospel of Christ. When a man is in the gospel he is righteous before God because therein is found the righteousness of God. The thought throughout the book of Romans is salvation by the gospel of Christ which is a system of faith. Hence, "... the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith." Salvation requires faith on the part of man (i.e., obedient belief Rom. 10:17, Gal. 5:6) in the faith (i.e., the delivered form of doctrine, or the gospel Jude 3, Rom. 6:17-18) and continued faithfulness thereto (i.e., loyalty to Christ in the gospel I John 1:7, Rev. 2:10). When men fail to obey the gospel of Christ they reject the righteousness of God. Paul said the Jews had not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God. But the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel of Christ. It can therefore be concluded that these Jews were not righteous because they had not submitted themselves to the will of God as revealed in the gospel of Christ. Rom. 1:16-17, 10:1-4.
Righteousness, A Matter of Obedience Righteousness is gained by submission to the will of God. (Rom. 10:2-3.) Submission to the will of God means obedience; without obedience to God no one is righteous, and without righteousness no one is saved according to our introductory text. "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death, or obedience unto righteousness? But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness." (Rom. 6:16-18.) The introductory text states that the righteous shall be saved, but the righteous are those who obey the gospel for Paul said the Romans became servants of righteousness when they obeyed from the heart the delivered form of doctrine. ". . . he is the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him." (Heb. 5:9.)
Righteousness A Matter of Regeneration
"If ye know that he is righteous, ye know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of him." (I John 2:29.) Christ told Nicodemus that a man must be born again to see the kingdom of God. (John 3:1-13.) He was not talking about physical rebirth, but rather spiritual regeneration. Man is given a pure and righteous spirit in birth, (Eccl. 12:7, Heb. 12:9) but that spirit dies when man sins. (Ezek. 18:20, Rom. 5:12.) If man's spirit is to live again, it must be by being born again, and Christ said such spiritual rebirth is by water and the Spirit. The water is the element in God's plan of spiritual rebirth from which man comes forth in the act of baptism. The Spirit, working through the word, is the element by which man is begotten in the spiritual rebirth. (James 1:18.) Hence, when one is taught by the Spirit, through the word, and obeys that teaching through baptism he is then regenerated a new creature by being born of "water and the Spirit."
Man is made righteous when he submits himself to God's plan of regeneration. One is not righteous by virtue of his own good works or anything else except God's cleansing power in Christ. (II Cor. 5:20, Tit. 3:5.)
The righteous then are those who have submitted themselves to the revelation of the gospel by obedience to its terms, which obedience brings regeneration by the power of God in Christ Jesus. Such are those who shall be saved.
Now to the question of verse 17. If the righteous are those obedient to the gospel then it seems clear that the fate of those "that obey not the gospel of God" must be the fate of the unrighteous. How can anyone refuse to obey the gospel of God and yet consider himself a righteous man? The fate of the unrighteous, or those who do not obey the gospel is clearly set forth in the scriptures. "And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power;" (II Thess. 1:7-9.)
Why turn from the obvious answers to Peter's questions? There is no need to face the destruction awaiting the disobedient It can be avoided by facing instead the truth contained in the two questions just discussed by obeying the gospel while there is time.