In Paul’s early work as a missionary he attended a Jewish synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia. After the Scriptures were read, he was given an opportunity to say a few words:

Rising to the occasion, Paul expounded upon the Scriptures, explaining the historical journey of the people of Israel. These people, he said, were freed from Egyptian bondage by the "high arm" (the power) of God:

Many years earlier, when God had chosen Moses to lead Israel out of Egypt, He made sure they knew who He was by revealing to them His name:

To accomplish His purpose, which was to save His people Israel out of Egypt, Yahweh brought a series of plagues upon the land. The final plague was that of death, from which Yahweh spared Israel by the blood of the "Passover" lamb that they put on the door posts of their houses:

Yahweh did not remove Israel from Egypt before the plagues, but only after the final plague. He thereby showed them His power by miraculously protecting them from death during that tumultuous time.

As Paul continued speaking to the Jews in the synagogue, he explained that Yahweh eventually made David the King of Israel and that Yahshua (Jesus) was raised up as the "seed" of David to be the Savior of Israel:

Even though the Jews had been reading the Scriptures on every Sabbath day proclaiming the Savior, most of them could not comprehend that He had come:

In their confusion, they had Him put to death, "but God raised Him from the dead:"

Just as the Passover lamb had been sacrificed in Egypt to spare the lives of the people of Israel, Yahshua the Messiah offered Himself as our Passover sacrifice. Paul explains:

Paul knew and taught what many of us have yet to learn. The law of Moses, while showing us our need for a Savior, cannot justify us for our sins. We can only be justified by faith that Yahshua is the Savior who offered His life as the sacrificial payment to purchase the forgiveness of our sins:

Yahweh counted Abraham (Abram) as righteous simply because he believed in Him:

Yahweh counted Abraham as righteous long before He gave the law to Israel through Moses. Abraham was not an Israelite, nor was he a Jew. He was the grandfather of Israel, whose other name was Jacob. The descendents of two of Jacob’s sons, Judah and Benjamin, represented the Kingdom of Judah, and are sometimes called the "Jews." Therefore, Abraham’s righteousness had nothing to do with being of Israel and it hand nothing to do with being a Jew. His righteousness was given to him because of his faith in the promises of Yahweh.

Centuries after the law was given to Israel, the leaders of the Jews who claimed to keep the laws of Moses actually added their own traditions and commandments to them as supposed conditions for salvation. Yahshua said that their worship was in vain:

If righteousness could be acquired through the flesh, then Paul would have reckoned himself to be among the most righteous of all. His credentials seemed spotless:

However, Paul said all of this meant nothing! Those things that he previously thought were of great importance toward his salvation, he now counted as loss:

It doesn’t matter, Paul said, whether we are a Jew (an Israelite) or a Greek (a Gentile). Our fleshly pedigree has nothing to do with our salvation, for it is given to everyone that believes. Our righteousness comes from God, who justifies us in Himself by making our wrongs right in His eyes. His only condition is that we must believe Him. If we are justified, then we are "just" and we live by faith:

Paul learned that he had no righteousness of his own. He concluded that righteousness is of God and that he could only receive it from Him by faith. He needed to believe the promise that the Messiah died for his sins, which He confirmed by demonstrating His power over death through His resurrection!

The great deception for all of us, as it also was with the unbelieving Jews, is to think of ourselves as being righteous because of what we either do or don’t do. This self-righteousness prevents us from seeing our desperate need for a Savior and for the righteousness of God. Submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God requires humble repentance for our sins, as we believe they are completely paid for through the sacrificial death of Yahshua the Messiah:

Keeping the laws of Moses, and the added traditions, could not save the Jews from their sins. How much less could salvation come to us through the created laws and traditions of a new religious system, which many call "the church?" Are we still vainly trusting in our own goodness? Or have we finally submitted ourselves to the righteousness of God?