“But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”
Martin Luther once said, “When God's righteousness is mentioned in the gospel, it is God's action of declaring righteous the unrighteous sinner who has faith in Jesus Christ. The righteousness by which a person is justified (declared righteous) is not his own but that of another, Christ.”
I personally believe, righteousness in light of the new covenant only refers to the right standing that we have with God which is quite different from right living. In the old covenant, right standing with God could only be attained by right living. No one can be justified in the presence of God by their deeds. Isaiah 64:6 says, “all our righteous acts are filthy rags”. Right standing with God can never be attained by our righteous deeds. Only Christ can please God the Father and has become the cause of our right standing. When the Father sees us in Christ, He sees Christ and is completely pleased.
We have received this gift of righteousness through faith in Christ (Romans 5:17). The struggle we have with ‘right living’ is that we are working from the outside. Christ has given us the gift of righteousness that empowers us to live right from the inside. We no longer do righteous deeds because we want to become righteous, but because we have been made righteous by Him. The philosophy of this world works something like this, first prove your worth and then you become deserving. But God made us deserving first, and now we are called to live a life worthy of His calling (Philippians 1:27). Our righteousness is not based on what we do but on what Christ did and who He is.
Samuel Thomas (Sam)
Sam is a Christian minister who is serving the Lord in various capacities. He is working through Cross Impact and also involved with Crossway Church. He can be reached on samvthom16@gmail.com
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