How do you know what is the right thing according to God?
Through His grace which teaches us.
Tit 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,
Tit 2:12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;
We are to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, to live soberly, righteously, and godly NOW.
Look at what Paul wrote...
Gal 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
Gal 5:17 For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
Gal 5:18 But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
Gal 5:20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
Gal 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
Gal 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Gal 5:23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.
Gal 5:24 And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.
Gal 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
The natural result of walking according to the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, being gentle, goodness, faith, meekness, and being calm. We are at peace if we are in this state.
Therefore, however lengthy an argument you try and make to the contrary, you are saying a person is righteous before God if they obey His commands.
Of course we have to obey God's commands. The commands we find in the teachings of Jesus. We must do everything Jesus taught. We FOLLOW Him and obey His teaching. That is the road to life. Jesus leads the way. The result of doing that will be MANIFEST RIGHTEOUSNESS IN US.
Paul taught that it is the Spirit of life IN Jesus Christ that sets us free from the law of sin and death. Paul connected this to a WALK AFTER THE SPIRIT whereby RIGHTEOUSNESS IS FULFILLED IN US.
Rom 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.
Rom 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh:
Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
There is nothing abstract or positional about it. It is the REAL DEAL and we EXPERIENCE IT.
The Apostle Paul says righteousness comes apart from the law by faith in Christ, from first to last(the whole of your Christian life Rom 1:17
Righteousness comes apart from EXTERNAL RULES AND REGULATIONS like the Mosaic Law. That is what Paul is speaking of. Paul is not teaching DO NOTHING and TRUST. That is absurd. Look at this...
Gal 5:4 Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
Gal 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.
The "righteousness of faith" manifests because "faith works by love."
It is not hard to understand. The reason you don't understand it is because you don't want to, you are emotionally attached to Penal Substitution and do not want to examine it honestly.
The problem with your teaching is this:
The power of sin is the law(or the penalty attached to the law if you break it to be exact) 1Cor15:56
The power of sin is in the law because one cannot sin unto death without KNOWLEDGE. Sin unto death involves a rejection of life, a turning from God. If one is ignorant of right and wrong one cannot sin unto death. Adam died the day he sinned because he violated "thou shalt not" and thus turned away from God.
The penalty of sin is simply being "dead to God" because one cannot sin without turning away from God and such an act permanently defiles the conscious. It is impossible to stand before a just and holy God without the condemnation of guilt. God in His mercy has provided a means to extricate us from this predicament.
You preach the penalty remains for the Christian, thereby putting the since in the position Paul was in Rom ch7
Again it is YOU who are saying that, not me. You view the Bible through the lense of Penal Substitution in the context of the "penalty for sin" being equivalent to a "fine." It is an incorrect way to view these things.
Sin kills us spiritually. One sin kills. God cannot forgive people who are in a rebellious state thus there has to be a means to extricate an individual from an ongoing sinning/rebellious state. The means to save one from this state is via the Spirit of life IN Jesus Christ and the associated purity of heart.
We die to sin in repentance whereby we STOP serving sin, we are then raised up to newness of life by the power of God wherein we serve righteousness via the Spirit of life IN Jesus Christ. This is salvation FROM sin.
I know it sound like "another gospel" to you and that is because it is. What is being taught today in the church system is NOT the gospel. It is a very insidious and effectual counterfeit. The Bible warns us that such counterfeits would come and we ought not treat such warnings lightly.
The penalty of sin, brings great fear of sin, and fear of sin brings much allurement to sin. Hence, Rom 3:31, Rom 7:5, and Rom 6:14
The fear of JUDGEMENT ought to bring great fear. If one does not approach God in the correct manner by the blood of Christ in repentance and faith then one is doomed to eternal ruin. Don't be one of them. FEW will be saved, not MANY. I am telling you what FEW will tell you. What you believe is preached all over the place, on TV, on the radio, from the pulpit, in seminaries. By all means take comfort in numbers but I would beseech you to dig deep and be very careful in what manner you hear.
Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and FEW there be that find it.