CHRIST OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS

“And be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:”

PHILIPIANS 3:9 (KJV)

Righteousness is a state of being right, or what we can also call “good”. Under the dispensation of Law, man was required to have his righteousness in place as a qualification for God’s approval and blessings, but under the dispensation of Grace, man is no longer required to possess a personal righteousness; rather he is required to possess a substitutionary righteousness by identifying with the righteousness of Jesus Christ through believing in him.

A major reason God had to do away with the dispensation of law was because the goodness of man as demanded by the law was inconsistent and couldn’t make him be in consistent peace with God. This moment a man is living right, the next moment he is in the wrong again: and with each offense, he attracted the punishment of the law except he atones for his sin. God figured out that if he continued relating with man this way, they might one day be consumed by the fury of his anger.

No one could have the image and nature of God under the dispensation of Law as majority of the people who were faithful to the law were hypocrites. This I meant by the fact that they did what was right externally, but they weren’t right internally.

When God considered these two reasons, he had to help man attain a righteousness that is independent of his works. The righteousness of Jesus Christ as obtained through his obedience to the death on the cross provided mankind with a consistent righteousness (right standing) with God that was independent of their good deeds or bad deeds once they believed and declared Jesus as their righteousness.

This revelation holds a lot for us as no longer can the devil win in condemning us for the bad things we do as our righteousness no longer counts save Jesus’ righteousness. Also, we can now become like the image of Jesus as God deals patiently with our shortcomings in a bid to give us the encouragement and opportunity to practice the life of righteousness that is in us. When we fall short of the nature of righteousness in us God does not get angry with us least we will not be encouraged to come boldly to his throne to receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need.