<p>1:6 <i>And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless</i>- These words are applied to us all in Phil. 2:15; 1 Thess. 3:13. We are to have the serene spirituality, all down the years, of Zacharias and Elizabeth. Zacharias was &quot;blameless&quot; in God's sight, even though in this very period of his life he was in some ways lacking faith that his prayers would be answered. Paul talks of being &quot;righteous before God&quot; in Romans, perhaps also borrowing this language; and he argues that we have this status only by faith in imputed righteousness. For of ourselves, none can be right before God. Nor of course can any man apart from the Lord Jesus claim to walk in the Father's laws &quot;blameless&quot;. In God's sight / presence no man is justified (Ps. 143:2). It could be that this status was applied to them through their faith in forgiveness, in the implications of the promises to David and Abraham, which Zechariah so well understood according to his song of praise at the end of this chapter.</p>