6.9 You are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus

In the Old Covenant, righteousness had to be attained through keeping the law perfectly (Deut 6:25). It is the righteousness of man because it was to be attained through man’s effort. No one succeeded in 1,500 years. It was the blood of animals that covered their sins till Christ came.

In the New Covenant, righteousness is a gift (Rom 5:17, Eph 2:8). It is not something that we can earn. It is called the righteousness of God because Jesus kept the law and gave us His righteousness (Rom 10:3, Phil 3:9). It is given by grace and received by faith.

(Rom 3:21-26, NKJV)
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

Few Christian understand that righteousness is a gift from God. Many Christians are still trying to attain to righteousness through their own performance. Their sense of acceptance by God is based on their effort, but they always feel that they don’t measure up. They feel spiritually dry, burnt-out, guilty with condemnation, etc.

Jesus saved the sinners by giving them grace. Through His death on the cross, His gift of righteousness has been imputed to all who believe in Him. Today, we when we understand that righteousness is a gift, we will have confidence because we know that it is based on His performance instead of ours. We will also be eternally thankful because we received what we did not deserve. We will live a life of worship and thanksgiving – singing of the amazing grace of our Savior.

Let us now go one step further on our understanding of righteousness. On the cross, there was a divine exchange between Jesus and us. All our sins were imputed to Him to the extent that He became sin. And all His righteousness was imputed to us to the extent that we became the righteousness of God in Christ.

(2 Cor 5:21, NKJV)
For He [God] made Him [Jesus] who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him [Jesus].

This is truly mind boggling. Man in his un-renewed mind will find this verse too impossible to comprehend. Today, there are still churches that officially address their people as “poor sinners”. But this is not how God sees you and I. He sees us in Christ – and we are the righteousness of God in Christ.

When we truly believe how our Father sees us, and when we start seeing ourselves in the same way, everything changes. Our faith is energized. We walk in the power of His Spirit, we have new desires from God, and we experience empowerment from Him.