Self-righteous according to dictionary.com is to be confident of one’s own righteousness, especially when smugly moralistic and intolerant of the opinions and behavior of others.

This is the worldly definition of self-righteous, or at least one of them which is a harsher than some others. The word smug is used in this one and is missing in other sources. Intolerant is also used in this definition and absent in others. A strong abrasive definition often brings home strong resentments to the reader, as it should. No one likes to be called self-righteous.

What is missing in all definitions is the one definition required to complete our understanding. It assumes we all have the same understanding of what the word righteous means. In worldly terms and understanding it means to be right. That thought falls short in what the spirit has to say on the matter.

Philippians 3:8-10 English Standard Version

⁸ Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ ⁹ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— ¹⁰ that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,

The Blue Letter Bible renders this bible usage of the term righteous in a broad sense: state of him who is as he ought to be, righteousness, the condition acceptable to God, the doctrine concerning the way in which man may attain a state approved of God.

The way that we may stand upright before God is to be in Christ by faith. That is righteousness.

Romans 7:15-18 English Standard Version

¹⁵ For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. ¹⁶ Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. ¹⁷ So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. ¹⁸ For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

Once we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives the desire to do right is the will that abides in our hearts. Christ who reigns from within our hearts. Our will is selfless, it hears and believes our Lord. Obedience on the other hand is a function of the mind which is still flesh and vulnerable to attacks from without and within.

This issue of living with sin is difficult to accept since we, meaning our self, has been sanctified and separated from the consequences of sin. Self now abides in Christ and is the will that agrees with Christ our Lord and Savior. John tried to express it in terms we might understand.

1 John 1:5-6 English Standard Version

⁵ This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ⁶ If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.

Practicing the truth is obedience of faith and as Paul points out so painfully, we do not always practice what we preach. Walking in darkness is going our own way and not allowing Christ to lead us in truth. It happens because the mind, which is flesh, being subjected to influences, will sometimes make back choices.

If we justify those choices we become self-righteous.