THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS #17

The gift of righteousness or justification is the opposite of condemnation and judgment.

In Romans 5:12-21 Paul identifies a list of contrasts between what is true of us left to ourselves, and what it true for those who are united to Christ by faith.

Left to ourselves we are the descendants of Adam, in whose sin we were involved, and by whose sin we are all under the reign or domination of sin, law and death. This death is the just condemnation and judgment on us as sinners who sin.

In union with Christ, the righteous one, we receive the gift of righteousness (justification), and are under the reign or authority of grace and life.

Through the sin and disobedience of the one man, Adam, death and condemnation came to all men. By the righteousness and obedience of the one man, Jesus Christ, justification and life come to all who believe in him.

Apart from Christ all men must relate to God under the principle of law and personal merit. United with Christ we relate to God always, ever and only under the principle of grace.

In the kingdom of Christ, of which every genuine believer is a member, the Bible tells us:

• Grace reigns.
• The gift of righteousness reigns.
• We reign in life.

Because grace and God's gift of acquittal reign, we are no longer under the law of sin and death which brings only condemnation. So great and impactive is the liberation and joy of this amazing gift of God that he tells us that we also reign.

No longer the abject prisoners of sin, law and death: but children of the King, already raised together with Christ to eternal life in the presence of God.

Scriptures: Romans 5:12-21; Ephesians 2:6.