Romans 10:3
For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
The verse describes Israel, the Jews and the Pharisees as ignorant of God's righteousness, going about to establish their own righteousness by works, religious forms and personal effort instead of submitting to God's righteousness and relying on the merits of the One to whom their sacrifices and ordinances pointed. In that self-righteous condition, lacking God's Spirit and grace, they observed ceremonies rigorously and added human requirements to God's commands. This formalism obscured the principles of the Decalogue and the truths represented by the symbolic service, and burdened even those who sincerely desired to obey.
Their refusal to submit was joined to pride and a hope of righteousness and deliverance on their own terms. They sought freedom from national enemies and worldly dominion rather than redemption from sin and holiness. Their false ideas about the Messiah's character and mission kept them from honestly weighing the evidence that He was the promised Redeemer.
Against self-made righteousness the verse sets God's provision: the perfect righteousness the law requires is offered as a free gift through His Son. His shed blood atones for sin and His obedience is accepted on behalf of believers. Those who receive Christ receive God's life and love, which transform them into His likeness. The Holy Spirit renews the heart to bear the fruits of the Spirit, writes God's law within, and enables believers through grace to obey and to walk as He walked.
Trusting in self-made righteousness and setting one's own standard instead of submitting to God's righteousness forms character by mere human will, misrepresents Christ's perfect character, and deceives self and others. Such persons are not accepted by God, may lead others astray, and will share the deceiver's reward. Seeking to establish one's own righteousness can persist in one who professes to believe the truth and the Bible and claims to be sound in the faith, yet such a person is to be feared and cannot be trusted as a Christian. It shows itself in boasting, self-sufficiency, self-applause, self-flattery, lip service, standing on personal worth, favoring one's own virtues, falsely estimating one's merits, and overrating poor finite work, tainted performance and blemished obedience. It does not elevate a person at all before God and is an offense to Him.
The self-righteous person remains a probationer whose future welfare depends on an aroused and alarmed conscience leading to repentance before God and faith in Christ as the only One who can cleanse sin's defilement. It is the Holy Spirit's work to reprove the world and the self-righteous. God may permit self-boasting for a time during which others are deceived, but He reads the purposes of the heart, never makes a mistake, and can establish truth and righteousness directly opposite to self-righteousness. The verse therefore calls for self-righteousness to be put away by submitting to and accepting Christ's righteousness by faith.