THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS #13

There is an intimate and essential connection between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the gift of righteousness.

Without the resurrection the concept that Jesus Christ died in our place to pay for our sins, and so obtain the forgiveness of sins, is invalid. Without the resurrection, Christ's death is just another human death, the end result and the just judgment of God upon the individual's personal sin.

Christ's resurrection validates all of his claims about himself and confirms the validity of his offering himself as our substitute before the judgment seat of God. Having no sin of his own he could bear the punishment for our sins, and come through death into resurrection life.

This is the power of the resurrection of which Paul speaks: it is the power of the removal of judgment and condemnation. Death is left behind. Judgment is left behind. Condemnation is left behind. As Paul states: Christ 'was delivered to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification', that is, for our 'righteousness' ' our acquittal before the judgment seat of God.

This is the power of the resurrection: that those who believe in Christ are at this very moment living and accepted in the very presence of God; that those who believe in Christ are at this very moment, in a permanent present state of reconciliation with God; that those who believe in Christ are credited with his righteousness, and are thereby liberated from ever again having to depend on their own righteousness.

The person who believes in Christ is in touch with this amazing power: that he stands free and uncondemned in the presence of God, because of the gift of righteousness; that he is now free from ever again having to justify himself in the presence of God; and that he is now free from the perceived necessity of condemning others.

This resurrection power, by which we are declared righteous, is the power that will enable us to live as Christ commands us to live: loving as he loves, forgiving as he forgives, showing mercy as he shows mercy, crediting to our fellow-believers the same free declaration of acquittal that God has credited to us.

Let us live in the power of this resurrection. Let us live as those whose debit balance has been cancelled, and to whose credit all the righteousness of Christ has been recorded.

Scriptures: Romans 4:20-25; Ephesians 2:4-7; Romans 5:10-11; Colossians 3:1-3; Philippians 3:4-11