self righteousness

⁹Now about certain persons who consider themselves to be just, while disdaining others, he told also this parable: ¹⁰“Two men ascended to the temple, in order to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a tax collector. ¹¹Standing, the Pharisee prayed within himself in this way: ‘O God, I give thanks to you that I am not like the rest of men: robbers, unjust, adulterers, even as this tax collector chooses to be. ¹²I fast twice between Sabbaths. I give tithes from all that I possess.’ ¹³And the tax collector, standing at a distance, was not willing to even lift up his eyes to heaven. But he struck his chest, saying: ‘O God, be merciful to me, a sinner.’ ¹⁴I say to you, this one descended to his house justified, but not the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled; and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.”

¹But accept those who are weak in faith, without disputing about ideas.

⁵And he saved us, not by works of justice that we had done, but, in accord with his mercy, by the washing of regeneration and by the renovation of the Holy Spirit,

¹⁹Therefore, let us love God, for God first loved us. ²⁰If anyone says that he loves God, but hates his brother, then he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he does see, in what way can he love God, whom he does not see? ²¹And this is the commandment that we have from God, that he who loves God must also love his brother.

³For, being ignorant of the justice of God, and seeking to establish their own justice, they have not subjected themselves to the justice of God.

⁸For by grace, you have been saved through faith. And this is not of yourselves, for it is a gift of God. ⁹And this is not of works, so that no one may glory.

¹²There is a generation which seems pure to themselves, and yet they are not even washed from their filthiness.

⁷For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of virtue, and of love, and of self-restraint.

⁶And we have all become like the unclean. And all our justices are like a rag of menstruation. And we have all fallen away, like a leaf. And our iniquities have carried us away, like the wind.

¹⁶And we know that man is not justified by the works of the law, but only by the faith of Jesus Christ. And so we believe in Christ Jesus, in order that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law. For no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.

¹⁹Do not defend yourselves, dearest ones. Instead, step aside from wrath. For it is written: “Vengeance is mine. I shall give retribution, says the Lord.”