If God counts someone righteous they ARE righteous, period, regardless of your disbelief — there is NONE of YOUR performance caveat of… “whether you are righteous or not” to it!
Just as I expected… absolutely NOTHING relevant in answer to the unmissable, unmistakably CLEAR and straightforward texts of Gen 15:5; Rom 4:2-3. Like so many texts before, are these to be annexed and excised to the Paidion chopping-block of awkward and inconvenient texts because they run a hole right through the middle of your “righteousification” doctrine? For those following, here they are again…
Belief + Accounted = put INTO right-standing… God’s equation NOT man’s.
As highlighted above… this is where you get tricky in slipping words into supposed texts (to give an air of authority or authenticity) that actually are NOT there. Rom 2:6-10 is simply about the consequences of DOING good or evil… blessed or dire. But Paul was NOT TEACHING YOUR ‘lifelong righteousification’ doctrine, or as you like to claim… “…the position that I described and which Paul took…” — FALSE!
THAT hasn’t been what you’ve been saying at all BUT rather… the lifelong process of righteousness — there’s a mile of difference between ‘righteousness’ and that of ‘salvation’. What IS a lifelong process is SANCITIFICATION for the believer… big difference.
In the mosaic of the Old Covenant… Israel as a nation WAS redeemed. Of those redeemed certain ones were ‘called’ — dedicated and sanctified — the Aaronic priesthood. This priesthood SERVED before God and to the rest of the redeemed.
In the big picture of the New Covenant… Humanity HAS been reconciled. Of those reconciled certain ones can be ‘called’ — dedicated and sanctified — the priesthood of Believers. This priesthood SERVES before God and to the rest of the reconciled.
ALL that you have been banging on about could be better explained as… the lifelong process of the sanctification of believers who hopefully work the works of righteousness, but not TOWARD your GOAL of achieving final “righteousification”. NO… such works of righteous service are toward God and others.
NOT everybody in Israel was “called” to serve and yet everyone was redeemed. NOT everybody in humanity is called to serve and yet everyone has been reconciled. Jesus said it best…
The OT account of Gideon is a prime example of this principle in play. Israel was God’s redeemed people AND YET out of her certain ones were called for a redemptive task of deliverance. This entailed the whittling down and choosing of the called ones to a certain refined number. Now, NONE of those REJECTED from that redemptive task became thereby evil, lost or reprobates, NO — they were simply not chosen to that specific redemptive calling. Thus… “many are called, but few are chosen”.
The point being… ?? They weren’t TRYING to become something — they understood already who they were, quite apart from their works.