The only fight the believer is called to fight is “the good fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). To win in this battle of faith, you MUST have a sound understanding of righteousness. Failure to understand righteousness is a major enemy to faith. So today we are going to define “Righteousness.”
“…For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:16-17).
What is righteousness? It is the quality of being righteous or just. According to the Scriptures, to be righteous means “to stand before God without any sense of guilt or inferiority, as if sin never existed.” It means to be absolutely perfect and without sin.
There are three types of Righteousness: 1) God’s righteousness, 2) Self-righteousness, and 3) The doing of righteousness.
This type of righteousness is not your own, depending on what you do. It does not depend on what you have done, but on what Christ has done.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith (in the finished work of Christ); and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).
Apostle Paul said, “And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Many are ignorant of God’s Righteousness. Apostle Paul said, “For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth” (Rom. 10:2-4).
In Romans 3:24 we see that God’s righteousness is “through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” This type of righteousness is “imputed” to those who believe in the finished work of Christ and not to those who work.
“And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform. 22 And therefore, it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead” (Rom. 4:21-24).
This kind of righteousness is “counted” to those who believe in the finished work of Christ and not to those who work.
And God brought Abram forth abroad, and said, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. 6 And Abram believed the Lord; and God counted it to him for righteousness” (Gen. 15:5-6).
“Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted (imputed, granted) to him for righteousness” (Gal. 3:6).
That the righteousness of God is “counted or imputed” to believers indicates that it is not native to believers, but it is granted to them by God the Father.
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. 6 Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works” (Rom. 4:4-6).
What is imputed righteousness? Imputed righteousness proposes that “the righteousness of Christ is imputed to believers, that is, treated as if it were theirs through faith in the finished work of Christ.” This acceptance is also referred to as “justification” – just as if you had never ever sinned.
There is dual imputation involved in “justification.” In this, God the Father imputes (credits) my sin and guilt to Jesus Christ who bears that sin and guilt and pays the penalty in full.
In turn, God the Father imputes (credits) the righteousness of Christ to me so that in Christ I am declared by God the Father to be righteous on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Here is what happens: When you believed in and received Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, your sins were totally forgiven, and you were legally declared righteous by God the Father.
When you receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, God the Father imputes (credits, grants) the righteousness of Christ to you.
When you believed in Christ, all your sins were forgiven by virtue of the Cross. You were declared righteous in Christ and that’s what you are now.
Basically the normal man has 2 problems: 1) He is under the guilt and condemnation of sin, and 2) He is under the power of sin, or he is a slave to sin.
But when Christ died for us on the Cross and rose again from the dead, that condemnation of sin was removed from you forever, if you believe in His finished work on the Cross at Calvary.
You are now righteous and accepted in Him, and God the Father sees you as lovely, without any spot, wrinkle or blemish. So the condemnation problem was removed from you.
But regeneration took care of the power of sin in your life, and you can now stand before God the Father without any sense of condemnation whatsoever.
“There is now therefore, no condemnation on your life because you are in Christ, and you do not walk according to the suggestions of the flesh, but according to the dictates of the Holy Spirit who is now dwelling in your spirit-man” (Rom. 8:1-2).
You are also no longer a slave to sin because the Holy Spirit has regenerated your heart, you now have a new nature and you walk in the newness of life. So those two problems have now been taken care of in your life.
That is not to deny the fact that though you may sometimes struggle with sin, but you are no longer under its power, because you have been empowered to overcome sin.
There is a huge difference between struggling with sin and slavery to sin. When you struggle with sin, you are wrestling with it, and you have the power to say no to it, by saying “It is written.”
In Matthew 4, you see how Jesus struggled with temptation, and He overcame the struggle with, “It is written.” In Genesis 3, we see where Eve struggled with temptation, but could not overcome it.
In Psalm 119:11 the Psalmist said, “Thy Word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.”
“He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed (God’s Word) remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God” (1 Jn. 3:8-9).
“There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
What is that way of escape? That way of escape is God’s Word in your heart, with which you say no to that temptation.
When you are a slave to sin, you are compelled to commit that sin whether you like it or not (Rom. 7:14-25; NLT).
That Paul refers to “the gift of righteousness” is also clear from 2 Corinthians 5:21.
“For God the Father hath made Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him (Christ)” (2 Cor. 5:21).
The meaning of “God’s righteousness” is explained in 2 Corinthians 5:19, which refers to the forgiveness of sins.
“To wit, that God (the Father) was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them…” (2 Cor. 5:19).
God made Christ to be sin, even though he was without sin, so that believers would “become the righteousness of God.”
This verse also explains how God could grant the gift of righteousness to those who are sinners.
The extraordinary gift of righteousness is secured through Christ’s death on the Cross. God the Father “made Christ to be sin” so that those who are wicked could become righteous.
Did Christ at any point in His life become a sinner? The answer is a resounding no. Christ was never transformed into a sinner. Rather, He was reckoned or counted as a sinner so that believers would be reckoned or counted as righteous.
Here is what happens: When you become Born Again, God the Father dresses you gorgeously with a sparkling white robe of righteousness, a robe not stained, blemished or wrinkled.
God the Father puts on you the garment (robe) of righteousness. Job 29:14 says, “I put on righteousness; it clothed me.”
Revelations 19:7-8 reads, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. 8 For the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.”
Man is made righteous by faith in the finished work of Christ.
“For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17).
“Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:22-23).
“For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.4 Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:3-5).
“Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified” (Gal. 2:16).
“And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Phil. 3:9).
Paul maintains that it is not those who work but those who believe who are righteous before God (Rom. 4:4–5).
“Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned (counted, imputed) of grace, but of debt. 5 But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:4-5).
Indeed, no one can be righteous by works before God, for all have fallen short of what he requires.
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare His righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; 26 To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that He might be just, and the justifier of whosoever that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:23-26).
Righteousness by faith, then, must refer to the gift of righteousness given to human beings by God the Father.
Human beings are not justified on the basis of doing but on the basis of believing. It is God the Father that declares the ungodly righteous.
“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him (God the Father) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5).
Here is the truth: You are the righteousness of God the Father because of what Christ did for humanity on the Cross at Calvary. There is no condemnation on your life any more, and you are no longer a slave to sin!
Watch out for the next edition of Good News from the Pulpit!
- • Your friend: I. I. Madubunyi (Senior Pastor) @ the HQs April 19th, 2020!
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