The Result of True Righteousness will be Peace. (Part 1)

 As I continue to review the Jehovah’s Witness ‘Pursue Peace’ Convention, here we have Brother David Schafer who is described as a helper to the Teaching Committee.

As I begin, it may be helpful to mention that this week I spoke to some Witnesses at their cart, and the ladies had clearly been listening to this talk, as they almost quoted verbatim some of the things here mentioned.

Brother Schafer begins with a common Watchtower trick. He takes a verse completely out of its context, so that it will appear to support what he wants to teach. The verse in question was Isaiah 32 verse 17 in the New World Translation:

The result of true righteousness will be peace, And the fruitage of true righteousness will be lasting tranquility and security.

Firstly, let us consider the context of this verse. From chapter twenty-eight through to thirty-nine of Isaiah, we read that Jerusalem has been delivered with numerous warnings. The people are told that they shouldn’t be trusting foreign nations to help them, rather they should be trusting in God alone.

The admonitions are then followed by some encouragement and hope, as peace is promised through the coming Messiah.

Though Judah will experience much sorrow and loss, a time is coming when a king reigns in a new Jerusalem that will never pass away. Those who reside in this kingdom will be forgiven of their iniquity forever. Verses 16-20 of Isaiah 32 speak in poetic form about the future peaceful kingdom of God.

Now with the context considered, let us see how Brother David Schafer handles this verse. Before reading it, he informs his listeners that the verse speaks about peace being the result of something. He then asks: ‘If peace is a result, what is its causes?’

As he reads the verse from the NWT, he makes sure to emphasise the word ‘true’. Peace, he says, does not come from righteousness, but from ‘true’ righteousness.

I have read Isaiah 32:17 in several different translations, and even tried to check the Hebrew, and none of them have the word ‘true’ in the text. For example, in the ESV the verse reads:

And the effect of righteousness will be peace,

and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

If the word ‘true’ is not there, Brother Schafer has nothing upon which to hang his message, because he wants to contrast the ‘so called’ righteousness of many with the ‘true’ righteousness of Jehovah’s people.

Schafer says that true righteousness does not allow you to live as you choose and to believe what you want. To do so would fail to show true appreciation for peace and all that Jehovah has done to make it possible.

So, if peace is a result and behind every result is a cause, what then causes peace?

THE CAUSE

Brother Schafer told his listeners that if they want peace, they must pursue righteousness and ‘true’ righteousness is to follow Jehovah’s standards.

In making this statement Schafer throws everyone, except Jehovah’s Witnesses, under the ‘righteousness’ bus, for surely, they alone follow Jehovah’s standards. He took a further swipe by saying that an ‘unrighteous person cannot be at peace with God’. I agree with him. Where we would disagree is upon how a person becomes righteous.

For Jehovah’s Witnesses, righteousness is achieved through a partnership. This can be best summed up in the phrase, ‘do your best and Jehovah will do the rest’. Schafer, like many who believe that salvation is dependent upon their good behaviour, confuses justification with sanctification. He acknowledges that we are imperfect human beings prone to err, and that we need Jehovah’s help, but he appears to see righteousness as a moment-by-moment condition. When I am being faithful and obedient, then I am righteous, but when I am unfaithful and disobedient, then I am unrighteous.

This is where it is difficult to speak to Jehovah’s Witnesses. We can agree that we should seek to be obedient to all that God has revealed to us but, because they believe that their obedience makes them righteous, they believe that they can be ‘accepted’ one day and ‘rejected’ the next.

The equation for Jehovah’s Witnesses is Faith in Jehovah + Works (Obedience to Jehovah’s standards as taught by Jehovah’s organisation) = Righteousness, whereas the Bible teaches that Faith in Jesus’ death and resurrection = Righteousness. The Apostle Paul says that this is the gospel that saves (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and that righteousness has nothing to do with works (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 4:1-5).

THE IRONY

Schafer later quotes Romans 10:3, completely oblivious that, though Paul is here speaking about his fellow Jews, it is also speaking about Jehovah’s Witnesses:

For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness.

As if to prove the point, he went on to say:

‘In order to be viewed as righteous we have to trust that Jehovah sets the standard for what is right and wrong’

‘We must prove by our speech and actions that we agree with Jehovah’s standards and obey him.’

Note that when he says that they must agree with Jehovah’s standards and obey him, he really means that they must be obedient to all that the Governing Body says.

Schafer next asks his listeners to turn to Isaiah 48:17-18

This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, the Holy One of Israel: “I, Jehovah, am your God, The One teaching you to benefit yourself, The One guiding you in the way you should walk. If only you would pay attention to my commandments! Then your peace would become just like a river And your righteousness like the waves of the sea. (NWT)

Though, in its original context this is speaking to Israel, he applies this to modern day Jehovah’s Witnesses, after all this is what ‘Jehovah’ says.

He says that paying attention to Jehovah’s commandments will result in two things:

1) Our peace will become just like a river.

2) Our righteousness will be like the waves of the sea.

But there will be no peace for the wicked (Isa.48:22), those who do not heed Jehovah’s ways.

How is a person made righteous before a Holy God? 

This is what I speak about in Part 2.