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Q: How are you righteous before God?
A: Only by true faith in Jesus Christ.1 Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them,2 and am still inclined to all evil,3 yet God, without any merit of my own,4 out of mere grace,5 imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ.6 He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me,7 if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.8
1 Rom 3:21-28; Gal 2:16; Eph 2:8, 9; Phil 3:8-11. 2 Rom 3:9, 10. 3 Rom 7:23. 4 Deut 9:6; Ezek 36:22; Tit 3:4, 5. 5 Rom 3:24; Eph 2:8. 6 Rom 4:3-5; 2 Cor 5:17-19; 1 Jn 2:1, 2. 7 Rom 4:24, 25; 2 Cor 5:21. 8 Jn 3:18; Acts 16:30, 31; Rom 3:22.
This is the beauty of the one true gospel, that our righteousness is not our own, but is a gift from God. And beyond that, it does not claim - as, it seems, many tend to believe - that this gift gives us the ability to be righteous, our own selves working in conjunction with the sanctifying work of the Spirit to produce a semblance of righteousness, and upon these grounds we are declared innocent.
No!
This is again confusing justification with sanctification. Our justification is not given to us on the basis of our sanctification; rather it is, itself, the basis of our righteous standing with God. And this standing is not based on our own work, but on the perfect work of Christ, which has been imputed to us, and now belongs to us as part of the holy "transaction" which was purchased at the cross. The righteousness by which we are to be judged in the last day is truly not our own. It never was, is not now, and will never be had with any merit of our own!
And this, my brothers and sisters, is the unsurpassed JOY of the true gospel of Jesus Christ!
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