THE GIFT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS #7

God's gift of Gospel righteousness ' his declaration of legal acquittal - is identical for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

Standing on our own two feet in the presence of God the just Judge, we are all guilty: we have all sinned in the past, and we are all still sinners who sin in the present. None of us could be acquitted. None of us could be declared 'not guilty'. We all incur God's just judgment and condemnation.

But in his gift of 'righteousness', in his gift of legal acquittal, our legal standing in the presence of God does not depend on us. It depends on Another. Our acquittal is unrelated to our personal efforts, it is unrelated to our personal legal rightness. It is entirely unrelated to us, and is therefore the same for all.

All who believe in Christ are equally sinners. And all who believe in Christ are equally justified.

As the Bible says, there is no difference on two counts:

1. because we are all sinners, and
2. because we are justified freely by his grace

'Justification' and 'righteousness' translate the same Greek word. When Paul teaches that we are justified freely by God's grace he is teaching that God's gift of righteousness is given as a free ' unearned, unmerited, undeserved ' gift. There is no such thing as degrees of righteousness among Christian believers ' every person who believes in Jesus Christ is declared not guilty by God as a free gift. There is no such thing as a Christian who is more acquitted than another; there is no such thing as a Christian who is more righteous than another. 

Christians stand in the presence of God, not depending on their own pitiful handful of 'righteousness', but trusting in the free gift of God ' the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ ' which is credited to all who believe.

Scripture: Romans 3:22-24