WEDNESDAY May 15th
1 Corinthians 1:30–31
‘And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”’
As we turn to the second of our four words today, we come to righteousness. I start by using the words of a song, ‘He is all my righteousness, I stand complete in him and worship him’. Remember, I mentioned last week about what comes to mind when we consider what we are ‘in Christ’, I referred to being a new creation, here in Christ because of his righteousness I am complete! You are complete.
The opposite to being righteous is to be unrighteous, and that is what we all are in the eyes of God outside of Christ, our biggest efforts towards righteousness fall short and are as Isaiah says like filthy rags and the reason being that we are sinners, cut off from God, and thus as such all fall short of the standard he demands. And not one of us from out of ourselves could do anything about it, but the good news concerning the message of the cross is this, there was one who lived sinlessly, he lived up to the standard that God demands and was able to stand in the gap as it were and become the substitute and the propitiation for our sin. The righteous and holy Son of God gave himself as a ransom for us as sinners, and God accepted the sacrifice that he made, therefore we do not have to strive to earn salvation, we simply come by faith to the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we believe in all he has done for us, his righteousness is imputed or counted to us, we are declared as righteous. Romans 4:3-5 ‘For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness.” Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness’.
So, we are not made righteous because of anything that we have done, but purely according to what Christ has done for us. Christ has become our righteousness. What we could never do, he has done for us and on our behalf. Therefore, by faith we are saved, and again in the letter of Paul to Rome, Romans 4, it says, ‘[Abraham] grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteous.” But the words “counted to him” were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification’, (verses 20-25). To be justified means that God has declared us as not guilty, he declares us as righteous.
Paul will have the final word, and what he says for himself stands for you and me as well, ‘and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith’, Philippians 3:9.
‘He is all my righteousness; I stand complete in him’.