As Filthy Rags?

 “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away” (Isaiah 64:6). It’s an oft quoted verse, or at least partially quoted. But it’s clearly speaking of Israel as having been unfaithful in her covenant with Yahweh, and that before the coming of Christ. It is referring to a particular matter in history, not a condition of all saved people throughout their lives and throughout history.

When you then turn to Romans 3, which is a parallel to it, you see the same thing. Paul is speaking of a condition of all peoples before the work of Christ has had bearing upon their lives, even moreso, before the work of Christ was accomplished. Paul even seems, in chs. 2 and 3, to be taking Isaiah 64 and applying it not only to Israel but to all people. All people, whether they had the Law or not, were subject to the penalties that come in violating it. And so the passage has to be read redemptive-historically, or maybe better, covenantal-historically. It’s a misappropriation to jump in and pull out this notion of works as filthy rags and apply it to all the works of all Christians, ignoring the context. Beyond this, such an application would have to ignore Romans 6-8, in which Paul makes it clear that living in sin is not the normal state of a redeemed man. A Christian’s works are not all as filthy rags before God, but rather are generally pleasing and acceptable to God. To suggest this is not true would be to cast doubt upon the work of God in salvation. The general direction of all Christians is to walk in holiness and obedience to God’s Law, with sin being an exception in ones life. If that exception ever seems to become the rule, it’s at that point that his salvation comes into doubt.