The Apostle Paul had the right attitude about self-righteousness — dung. Yes, that’s right. Dung is another word for crap and sh?t. Paul wasn’t being crude for shock value. He was telling the truth about anything that smells like “my own righteousness.” Sadly, so many professing Christians get saved by grace and then get trained right back into a self-righteous attitude faster than you can say “Pharisee.”

Man has a natural bent toward self-righteousness. Add in personal preferences, religious traditions, and a misuse of Scripture, and you’ve got a recipe for a judgmental spirit that parades around as “discernment.” Don’t let anyone fool you — that’s not righteous judgment. It’s the stench of the flesh trying to take credit for what only Christ accomplished.

Look at Paul’s own resume before he met the risen Christ on the road to Damascus:

“Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee; Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:4-6 KJV)

Paul had it all. Bloodline, circumcision, perfect law-keeping (in his own eyes), religious zeal — the whole package. If anyone could boast in the flesh, it was him. But after seeing the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, here’s what he says:

“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” (Philippians 3:7-9 KJV)

Dung. That’s how Paul viewed every bit of his former religious resume. Why? Because he had been given a new standing — in Christ. Not improved flesh. Not better performance. A brand new creature.

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 KJV)

Have you ever noticed how quickly new believers get pulled back under performance-based Christianity? Someone gets saved by simple faith in the gospel of the grace of God (1 Cor. 15:1-4), and before long they’re being told they need to “get right with God” by doing this or stopping that. They start measuring spirituality by outward rules instead of by the finished work of Christ. That’s not growth — that’s going back to the “dung” of self-righteousness.

Paul warned the Galatians about this very thing. They had begun in the Spirit by the hearing of faith, but false teachers were trying to perfect them in the flesh:

“Are ye so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3 KJV)

If Paul counted his blameless law-keeping as dung, what makes us think our little list of “Christian standards” is any better?

Too many believers hide their self-righteous and judgmental attitude behind Christ’s words about judging righteous judgment (John 7:24). But when there is no clear Pauline instruction on a matter, judging another man’s servant is out of bounds. Paul is blunt about this in Romans 14:

“Who art thou that judgest another man’s servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand… But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? … Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.” (Romans 14:4, 10, 13 KJV)

Christian culture is not the standard. Just because someone doesn’t dress like you, listen to the same music, or keep the same man-made rules doesn’t mean they’re carnal or “not right with God.” That kind of thinking reveals more about our failure to rightly divide and rest in grace than it does about them.

Remember, under grace we have liberty — not so we can sin, but freedom from the yoke of bondage (Galatians 5:1). The flesh loves rules because rules let us compare ourselves among ourselves and feel superior.

"For we dare not make ourselves of the number, or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves: but they measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Corinthians 10:12 KJV)

But Paul says:

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.” (Galatians 6:15 KJV)

The new creature walks by faith in what Christ has already done, not by trying to manufacture his own righteousness. Our motivation isn’t “I have to do this to stay accepted by God.” It’s “Christ has already made me accepted in the beloved” (Ephesians 1:6), so now I can walk worthy of that calling out of love and gratitude.

"To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." (Ephesians 1:6 KJV)

Glad to be among God’s misfits — those who know they have nothing in the flesh to boast about. Thank God for His grace each and every day! The more we see the excellency of Christ, the more the old religious dung pile loses its appeal.

Final thought: Are you still striving for acceptance from God by your performance, or have you already been found in Him with a righteousness that is of God by faith? One path stinks. The other smells like sweet savour to God.

Stand fast in the liberty. Count it all dung. Rest in the new creature you already are in Christ.

© 2023 Edward R. Cross Revised April 30, 2026