Self righteousness happens when a person defines good and evil for themselves.
It is righteousness sourced from human reasoning, cultural values, personal preference, or religious systems rather than from Yehovah’s revealed instruction.
In other words, it is doing what is right in one’s own eyes.
That is exactly what Yehovah consistently condemns.
When people replace His instruction with man made standards, selective obedience, or spiritual shortcuts, they are no longer submitting to Him. They are asserting themselves as the authority.
That is self righteousness.
Obedience to Torah is not self righteousness because it does not originate with us.
We did not define righteousness.
We did not design the standard.
We did not set the terms of the covenant.
Yehovah did.
Walking in His instruction is humility, not pride. It is submission to His authority rather than confidence in our own judgment.
Scripture never describes obedience to Yehovah as self righteousness. It describes rejection of His instruction as rebellion.
In covenant terms, righteousness simply means right standing and right conduct within the relationship.
Just as faithfulness in marriage is not self righteousness, obedience in covenant is not self righteousness.
A faithful spouse is not trying to earn marriage by loyalty. They are honoring the marriage they already belong to.
Likewise, obedience is how covenant loyalty is lived out.
The moment someone says, “I believe, but I do not need His instruction,” they have created an alternate path to righteousness.
That is the root of self righteousness.
It shifts authority from Yehovah to self.
Yehovah’s way says, “Walk as I have instructed.”
Self righteousness says, “I will decide what faithfulness looks like.”
Only one of those is covenant submission.
The Spirit does not replace Yehovah’s instruction. He writes it on the heart.
This ensures that obedience flows from relationship rather than external pressure.
Not forced.
Not performative.
Not self defined.
But aligned.
Self righteousness is creating your own standard.
Covenant righteousness is submitting to Yehovah’s standard.
One exalts self.
The other honors Him.
That is why obedience is never the problem in Scripture.
The problem is always whose authority is being followed.
Judges 21:25
Proverbs 14:12
Jeremiah 31:33
Ezekiel 36:26–27