Have I been misunderstanding Isaiah 64:6 all along?

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Question 1140

For as long as I can remember, Isaiah 64:6 has been the go-to text in evangelistic preaching for showing that even our best efforts before salvation are worthless to God. “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags,” we’d quote, and from there explain that human morality, charity, and religious works cannot save us because they’re all tainted by sin. It’s been used in countless sermons on justification by faith (including by me), in explaining why we desperately need Jesus, and in showing the condition of unsaved people.

But what if we’ve been misusing this verse? Not the doctrine it’s supposedly teaching, which is sound and biblical, but the verse itself. What if Isaiah 64:6 doesn’t actually say what we’ve been making it say for generations?

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What Does Isaiah 64:6 Actually Say?

Let’s start with the text itself. The Hebrew reads:

וַנְהִי כַטָּמֵא כֻּלָּנוּ וּכְבֶגֶד עִדִּים כָּל־צִדְקֹתֵינוּ

Wanehi khattame kullanu ukhbeged ‘iddim kol-tsidqotenu

The English Standard Version translates it: “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”

The key phrase here is בֶּגֶד עִדִּים (beged ‘iddim), which literally means “garment of menstruation.” The King James “filthy rags” and modern translations’ “polluted garment” are both attempting to render this delicately. But the precise meaning matters enormously, because it tells us what kind of uncleanness is being described.

This isn’t moral filth or wickedness. This is ceremonial uncleanness under the Levitical system. Under the Law, menstrual uncleanness lasted seven days (Leviticus 15:19-24) and required no sacrifice. It was a temporary state of ceremonial impurity, not sin. A woman in her period couldn’t enter the temple or participate in worship, but she hadn’t committed any moral wrong. It was simply a fact of life that meant temporary separation from the formal worship of God.

Why does this distinction matter? Because if the verse is about ceremonial uncleanness rather than moral depravity, we need to ask what it’s actually saying in context.

Who is Speaking in This Passage?

The next question we need to ask is this: who is the “we” in this verse? This isn’t a statement about all humanity throughout all time. This is covenant Israel speaking, and they’re speaking during a very specific historical moment.

Look at verse 5: “You were angry, and we sinned; in our sins we have been a long time, and shall we be saved?” They’re talking about their current situation. They’re in exile. The temple has been destroyed. Jerusalem lies in ruins. The whole prayer from Isaiah 63:7 through 64:12 is Israel’s complaint during the Babylonian exile.

They’re essentially saying: “Lord, where are you? We’re your people but we’re in this terrible state. We’ve become unclean. Even our righteous acts can’t help us because we’re cut off from the temple and can’t offer proper sacrifices. You’ve hidden your face from us. Our holy city is a wilderness. Will you do nothing?”

Notice the complaint in verse 7: “There is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us.” They’re placing the blame on God for hiding from them. This is straight-up excuse-making.

God’s Response in Isaiah 65

This is where the interpretation becomes absolutely crucial. If you read straight on into chapter 65, you encounter what appears to be God’s direct response to this complaint. And He’s not agreeing with them. He’s refuting them.

Isaiah 65:1-2 states: “I was ready to be sought by those who did not ask for me; I was ready to be found by those who did not seek me. I said, ‘Here I am, here I am,’ to a nation that was not called by my name. I spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, following their own devices.”

God is saying: “You claim I hid my face from you? You claim no one was seeking me? That’s not what happened. I was there to be found. I had my hands spread out all day. But YOU weren’t seeking. YOU were rebellious. YOU were following your own ways.”

Then in verses 2-7, God lists their actual sins. Not ceremonial uncleanness or unfortunate circumstances, but real moral rebellion; idolatry, eating swine’s flesh, spending nights in tombs for pagan rituals, saying “Keep to yourself, do not come near me, for I am too holy for you” whilst engaging in abominations. Verse 5 says these people are “a smoke in my nostrils, a fire that burns all the day.” They provoked God’s anger not through ceremonial impurity but through deliberate sin.

The structure appears clear: Chapter 64 is Israel’s complaint and self-justification during exile. Chapter 65 is God’s correction of that complaint. Roger Forster and Paul Marston, in their work God’s Strategy in Human History, make exactly this point; God isn’t accepting Israel’s excuse that they’re merely ceremonially unclean and cut off from proper worship. He’s exposing their real problem; deliberate rebellion against Him.

The Prophetic Nature of This Passage

There’s an important detail we need to address: Isaiah didn’t live through the Babylonian exile. Isaiah prophesied during the 8th century BC, roughly 740-680 BC, during the reigns of kings Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. The Babylonian exile didn’t occur until 586 BC, over a century after Isaiah’s ministry. So what’s happening in this passage?

This is prophecy. Isaiah is anticipating what the exiled people will say in the future, and then delivering God’s response to that future complaint before it even happens. It is like saying, you are even further without excuse before you make the excuses!

Look at the evidence in the text itself. Isaiah 63:18 states: “Your holy people held possession for a little while; our adversaries have trampled down your sanctuary.” Isaiah 64:10-11 continues: “Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, has been burned by fire, and all our pleasant places have become ruins.”

These verses clearly describe the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem, events that hadn’t happened yet in Isaiah’s lifetime but would occur in 586 BC when Nebuchadnezzar’s forces destroyed the city and razed Solomon’s temple to the ground. This is prophetic anticipation.

Isaiah is prophetically giving us both sides of a future conversation. Chapters 63:7-64:12 represent what the exiled people will say; their complaint, their excuse-making, their claim that they’re merely ceremonially unclean through no real fault of their own. Chapter 65 is God’s response to that future complaint, refuting their excuses and pointing out their real sins.

This prophetic framework is entirely consistent with much of Isaiah 40-66, which biblical scholars widely recognize is largely addressed to the exilic and post-exilic community. Isaiah is speaking into their future situation, giving them God’s word for circumstances they haven’t yet experienced but will.

This actually strengthens the interpretation we’ve been discussing. When we read “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment,” that’s Isaiah prophetically speaking on behalf of the future exiled generation who will make this excuse. It’s not Isaiah’s own assessment of humanity. It’s not even God’s assessment. It’s the excuse the exiled people will make, and God’s response in chapter 65 is already prepared: “I was ready to be found, but YOU were rebelling.” – Indeed we are told beforehand in Isaiah 55:6 “Seek the LORD while He may be found”

Isaiah 64:6 is a prophetic quotation of a complaint that God is going to correct, not anything to do with the salvation problem.

The Doctrine Itself Remains True

However…and this is a big HOWEVER! Admitting we’ve misused a verse doesn’t mean that the doctrine is wrong. The teaching that human works cannot save us, that our best efforts before salvation are tainted by sin and insufficient for justification, that’s absolutely biblical and clearly taught in Scripture. We’ve simply been using the wrong proof text.

We have numerous clear, contextually appropriate passages for this doctrine. Romans 3:10-12 states it plainly: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” That’s a universal statement about humanity’s sinful condition, drawn from Psalms 14 and 53 to show that both Jews and Gentiles are under sin.

Romans 3:20 adds: “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Our works don’t justify us before God. They reveal our sin.

Romans 3:23-24 continues: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Jesus the Messiah.” Everyone has sinned. Justification comes by grace, not works.

Romans 4:4-5 explicitly teaches: “Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness.” Salvation isn’t earned by works but received by faith.

Ephesians 2:8-9 states categorically: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Salvation is entirely God’s work, not ours.

Titus 3:5 reinforces this: “He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit.” Even works “done in righteousness” don’t save us.

Which, by the way, does mean that genuinely good works can be done by unsaved people. The problem with using Isaiah 64 was that it made it seem that it was impossible for that to happen. Yet, people give selflessly, even saving someone’s life whilst losing theirs. That, I think, is a pure good. But, it is not enough to do some good. It does not balance things out.

Philippians 3:8-9 records Paul’s testimony: he counts all his impressive religious credentials as σκύβαλα (skubala); literally “dung” or “rubbish”, “in order that I may gain Jesus the Messiah and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Jesus the Messiah.” His own righteousness, even as a Pharisee doing everything right according to the Law, was worthless for salvation.

These passages actually teach what we’ve been trying to use Isaiah 64:6 to teach. They’re clearer, they’re in proper context, and they’re specifically addressing the question of salvation and justification. We don’t need to force an Old Testament complaint to carry New Testament doctrine.

Good Deeds Before Salvation

And to continue about good that unbelievers can do…

God accepts certain deeds from people who weren’t yet believers. Matthew 10:42 mentions that even giving a cup of cold water to a disciple will be rewarded. Acts 10:4 records that Cornelius’s prayers and alms “ascended as a memorial before God” before he heard the gospel and was saved.

These passages do show that God notices and responds to human actions. But crucially, none of them teach that these acts save the person or justify them before God. Cornelius’s good deeds got God’s attention and led to him hearing the gospel, but Acts 10:43 makes clear he still needed to hear about Jesus and believe: “everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins.” His good works didn’t save him, but God honoured his sincere seeking by sending Peter to tell him how to be saved.

Romans 2:14-15 speaks of Gentiles who don’t have the Law but “do by nature what the law requires,” showing the law is written on their hearts. But Paul isn’t saying this saves them. Romans 3 goes on to demonstrate that despite any good works, “all have sinned” and all need the redemption that is in Jesus the Messiah.

Human beings can do things that are genuinely good in a relative sense, and God can respond to those actions. But none of those good works can justify us or remove our sin. We’re still sinners in need of a Saviour.

Where This Leaves Us

We need to be honest about what Isaiah 64:6 actually says and doesn’t say. It’s not a universal statement about all human works before salvation. It’s Israel’s complaint during exile that they’re in a state of ceremonial uncleanness, which God appears to refute in chapter 65 by pointing out their real sins; deliberate rebellion, not unfortunate circumstances.

Should we stop using this verse in sermons about salvation? Yes, we should. Not because the doctrine is wrong, but because this particular text doesn’t teach that doctrine. We’re called to rightly handle the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15), and that means using passages according to what they actually say in their literary and historical context.

Again, we say: “Context, context, context”.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

Bibliography

• Forster, Roger T., and V. Paul Marston. God’s Strategy in Human History. Revised ed. Eugene, OR: Wipf & Stock, 2000.
• Motyer, J. Alec. The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993.
• Oswalt, John N. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.
• Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah, Volume 3: Chapters 40-66. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.
• Walvoord, John F., and Roy B. Zuck, eds. The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 1985.