Righteousness

Romans 3:24-26

The religious world talks much about the "righteous works" of men and "personal righteousness," making salvation, at least in part, to be conditioned upon man's works. Many who vehemently denounce justification by works, with equal vehemence, preach that sanctification and heavenly rewards are conditioned upon and determined by works of personal righteousness. I have a question: Can sanctification and heavenly glory be separated from salvation? If we understand, as the Bible certainly teaches, that sanctification is essential to salvation and that heavenly glory is the ultimate end of salvation, then to make these things dependent upon the works of the flesh is to teach salvation by works. Such doctrine we must never embrace, or tolerate. The Word of God never speaks of man's personal righteousness, except as "filthy rags" (Isa. 64:6). When the Bible speaks of righteousness it is always in reference to one of the following four things:

1. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD (Rom. 1:16-17). God's righteousness is the rightness of his whole Being. All that God is, does, requires, and accepts is right, because God is righteous. "Righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne" (Psa. 97:2).

2. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW (Rom. 2:26). The law of God can never produce righteousness. But it does reveal and require righteousness. It reveals the righteous character of God and demands perfect conformity to its righteous precepts.

3. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST (Rom. 3:21-22). The righteousness of Christ certainly speaks of the absolute perfection of his nature as God. But it also speaks of his perfect obedience to the law of God as our Representative and his satisfaction made to Divine justice by his death as our Substitute. The righteousness of Christ is that righteousness which he accomplished for his people, by which we have access to and acceptance with the holy God.

4. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF FAITH (Rom. 10:6). This is the righteousness we receive by faith in Christ. It is the righteousness of Christ which is imputed to every believer. Faith does not produce or accomplish righteousness. But faith receives righteousness as the free gift of God in Christ, without works.

Don Fortner