THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LAW IS FULFILLED IN US

"Do we then make void the law-through faith?--God forbid: yea, we establish law" (Rom. 3:31) .... "What the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:3-4). The law demanded the death of every transgressor. And that penalty of death was executed upon us and satisfied in the person of our Substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his sin-atoning death at Calvary. But how is the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us? Is it by our works, either before conversion or after conversion? Certainly not! Our best works are only filthy rags in the sight of God.

The righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord lived in perfect righteousness as a man upon this earth, fulfilling every requirement of God's holy law. God required of man perfection, perfection of heart, perfection of thought, and perfection of life. A holy God cannot and will not accept less than perfection. Our Lord Jesus Christ established perfection, righteousness, for us as our Representative before God. The God-man, our Representative, brought in an everlasting righteousness for us, such as God required. Now, believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, that righteousness, the very righteousness of God, is imputed to us; and the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us.

Jesus Christ is "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS". We have no righteousness but his righteousness; and his righteousness is perfect righteousness. The Lord God looks upon his Son, and says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased." And he looks upon every believer in his Son (God always looks upon his people in Christ), and says, "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." If we are in Christ, God is pleased with us for Christ's sake. By faith in him, we fulfill the very righteousness of the law.