Christ Our Righteousness
One of the great majestic names of the LORD God is “The
LORD Our Righteousness” (Jer. 33:16).
Jesus Christ is our righteousness (1Corinthians 1:30). We
do not and cannot attain a right relationship with God in our own righteousness
because our self-righteousness is as filthy rags. We are guilty sinners in the
need of a perfect righteousness (Rom. 3:23; Jer. 17:9; Mark 7:20-23).
When we speak of Christ our righteousness, we are using a
great forensic term referring to our acquittal by God. All that we have as
Christians we have received as a free gift of God through Jesus Christ. We are
justified once and for all by grace through faith in Christ. It never has to be
repeated because it is a non-repeatable event. When we are untied to Christ, we
have a righteous and holy standing before God. We are “in Christ.” We have a
vital union in Him. We enjoy a right relationship with God because of the
finished work of Christ on the cross. Christ is the basis of our perfect
acceptance with God (2 Cor. 5:21).
God has robed us with the perfect righteousness of Jesus
Christ. He is the basis of our acceptance with God.
Godet said, “It is the act of grace whereby God removes the
condemnation pronounced on the sinner, and places him relatively to Himself, as
a believer, in the position of a righteous man. The possibility of such a
Divine act is due to the death and resurrection of Christ.” His death is the
foundation of everything God does for the sinner.
The apostle Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:12 that we are
through the atoning death of Christ declared righteous before God. This
“righteousness” of God in Christ is that quality, which is ours when God acquits
the believer, based upon the finished all-sufficient death of Christ (Rom.4:
22-25). God acquits the believer for Christ’s sake, not ours.
This righteousness, like justification, is always
forensic. God is Judge, and we must stand before Him. We can only plead guilty
because we are guilty. God treated Jesus Christ as if He were the guilty
sinner, and deals with the believing sinner as though he or she were righteous.
Christ did not deserve the curse; we did. The imputed righteousness of Christ
to the sinner is a demonstration of the wisdom of God. It is a display of His
justice, mercy, grace, love, and power as would never enter into the mind of
men. It is a manifestation, “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men” (I Cor. 1:25).
The cross and the resurrection is the power of God unto
salvation. Let us glory in the cross of Jesus Christ and God’s saving grace.
Because our right standing with God is His work, He alone
can get all the glory. God pronounces the verdict based upon whether we have
accepted or denied Jesus Christ as our Savior. Man cannot satisfy the Judge
unless he is righteous. There is no denying of the fact that no man is
righteous before God. No man can produce the righteousness God requires. It
has to be given to him if the sinner gets it. Under these circumstances, his
faith is counted to him as righteousness (Rom. 3:23; Gal. 3:26). Christ Himself
becomes the righteousness we need (2 Cor. 5:21). God the Righteous Judge views
us not as we are in our sinfulness, but in Christ. He is our perfect standing
before God. It is only the righteousness of Christ that can possibly satisfy
the perfect demand of the law of God.
Christ is our righteousness; none other will satisfy God.
Selah!
Message by Wil Pounds (c) 2006
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