Righteousness is a term that’s bantered about a lot in Christianity. Righteousness is integral to the gospel message and the finished work of Christ.
Yet to some, righteousness is still a bit mysterious, like a mystical commodity that you obtain, gain, and lose through various means.
In order to understand and get the most from what Christ has given to us, we need to know what it means to be righteous, and specifically to what degree we are righteous.
Join me today as we explore righteousness; what it means, and how we can accurately “measure” our righteousness today.
Defining Righteousness
If you gather a typical group of Christians into a room and ask them one-by-one what righteousness means, you will probably get a range of different answers. Many people associate righteousness with works and performance, and herein lies the first major issue.
If you believe that your righteous standing is somehow connected with your current performance and works, then Jesus is eliminated from the equation. Trusting on your own performance leads to nothing but pain, heartache, and curse, according to scriptures such as Jeremiah 17:5.
But what is righteousness exactly? Is righteousness some mystical divine commodity to be bought, sold, obtained, and lost through hard work or effort?
Or perhaps righteousness is a state of mind; something to be pondered and contemplated.
In scripture there are two types of righteousness described: righteousness of man (self-righteousness) and righteousness of God (divine perfect righteousness)
These two types have their own quality: the righteousness of man being imperfect, incomplete, and wavering, while the righteousness of God is complete, perfect, and reliable.
Most people assume that only Paul spoke of his self-effort being as filthy rags in Philippians 3:3-9, however the idea is found much earlier in scripture, way back in Isaiah 64:6.
Romans 4:5-8 describes righteousness as being judged innocent by God; having all of your sins and trespasses removed, and not set to your account. Furthermore, verses 13 through 17 of the same chapter of Romans 4, tells us that this righteousness comes by faith and belief in Jesus Christ alone— not by any work which mankind produces.
The Quality of Your Righteousness
Now that we know what righteousness is and how it comes, let’s look at the quality of your righteousness in more detail. This topic is a sticking point for a lot of people, due to the rash of religious ideology among Christians.
Even among those who profess righteousness by faith, it can be challenging to combat the religious legalistic thoughts that creep into our minds. Whenever we perceive a sin, or some measure of failure on our part, often our minds will revert back to religiosity, and legalism, and we begin to entertain the idea of somehow losing righteousness. These thoughts can be quite frightening and damaging on various levels. But are they true?
It’s crucial to understand that the quality of our righteousness in Christ is entirely different than it was in the beforetime. Under the Old Covenant Law of Moses, perfect performance was required, otherwise man would be cursed unless the appropriate sacrifice was offered.
The old covenant was centered on man’s behavior, and required nothing less than absolute perfection.
In contrast, the new covenant of grace in Christ is centered on Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross for all humanity. The only requirement under this new covenant is to believe and receive. And I know that phrase has picked up some negative connotations from those on the outside, but the crucial aspect to consider before we rail against it too much is “what are we believing and receiving?”
The primary answer is we are believing and receiving the sacrifice of Christ for us, the removal of the old identity of sin and death, and we are receiving the new identity in Christ, divine righteousness, and our position in His kingdom and family.
As we’ve studied previously, Romans 8:32 tells us that all things are given freely, with Him. We are never told to seek after the other things, but to seek our union with Him, because that is the place of safety and life.
The reason for this security is again the quality of the righteousness which Jesus Christ gives. As Hebrews 10:1-4 makes clear, the sacrifices of the law were too weak and utterly incapable of cleansing sin and making us perfect. However, Jesus accomplished what the Law could not.
This is more than just covering sins for a short time, as the bulls, goats and other sacrifices did under the Law… but Jesus accomplished a complete removal and transforming of our spiritual identity; to the point where you are not even that old identity of sin any longer.
Living in the Righteousness of Christ
As Paul details in Romans 6:6-8, our old identity of sin was crucified with Christ on the cross, and we are now new creations in Him. And verses 12-14 continue on to say that we are to present ourselves not in sin, but as those who have been delivered from death to life. In other words, we should not be going to God and appearing before Him with the mindset or identity of a sinner— to do so would be to disregard what Jesus has accomplished for you.
Rather, we should be appearing to God with thankfulness and joy, because we have been entirely redeemed by Christ with His perfect righteousness upon us.
Once we truly realize that Jesus has given us His very own righteousness, we can answer the question of how righteous are you? As righteous as Jesus is! Not because we’ve earned it, but because He has given it to us a a gift.
Be blessed!