I. Introduction
In the simplest sense, that which is “righteous,” is that which is “right.” In Christianity, righteousness connotes specifically a state of spiritual approval of a person by Jehovah God, and Justification is that person’s means of attaining to this righteousness, to this being “right” before Jehovah God. Spiritual approval by God can of necessity extend only to a spirit completely commensurate with His own state of holiness, which holiness transcends everything manifest or perceived, be it physical or spiritual—here is Sanctification.
Life-giving righteousness was credited to Abraham on the basis of his belief and faith in God’s promises to him, which belief and faith was expressly manifested by his obedience to God’s voice (Gen 15:2-6, Gen 22:1-18). In like manner (Rom 4:23-24), such righteousness has been credited to believers on the basis of their belief and faith in God’s work of salvation for them, which belief and faith is here analogously manifested by their obedience to His calling voice of Salvation to them. One’s human nature may compel them to earn or work for their righteousness (spiritual approval, or “rightness”) quite apart from Jehovah God, who clearly alone benchmarks righteousness, through their various self-determined regimens of piety. But this can obviously only tarnish the righteousness God set aside for them, for that set aside righteousness is the righteousness of Jesus Christ (Rom 10:4), who is completely approved of by God (Mat 3:17 [testimonial at our Savior’s baptism], Mat 17:5 [testimonial at our Savior’s transfiguration]). The exceedingly good news is that this righteousness is an available gift given to those who crave it; it is given to those who understand that they will never be able to measure up to God’s required standards of righteousness (perfect unanimity with His ways as revealed by Jesus Christ) on their own, and know that they therefore need His help, His mercy, and His grace to measure up, all of which are imparted through the Cross of Jesus Christ. In the spirit of Abraham (Gal 3:8), obedience to the Gospel-voice of Salvation embraces this grace found at the Cross, with the attendant impartation of Christ’s righteousness, which impartation is tantamount to life; indeed, eternal life in the presence of Jehovah God (Rom 5:20-21). Christ’s holiness, which drives righteousness (it is the standard for approval), is a reflection of God’s ways. Salvation, which is life eternal in the presence of Jehovah God, demands such holiness, because Jehovah God can in no way fellowship with even a whit of unholiness, for once again there are inconsistency considerations at work in such a scenario (“A Letter of Invitation,” “Be Holy” for our motivations here). It therefore follows that this Christ-given righteousness is priceless, for they who embrace it by way of the Cross stand approved by God before Him, and thus attain to Jehovah God Himself (Rom 5:1-2), and therefore, at least, unto unbounded heavenly stock through their kinship to Him (Eph 1:3-6) [1].
The distinct attributes that give expression to righteousness, that garner God’s approval, are determined by the omniscient design of Jehovah God Himself of course. Along those lines then, God has determined that humankind’s righteousness is realized through faith. This faith finds expression in one’s faith in Him to redeem, faith in Him to sanctify, faith in Him to impart eternal life, and faith in His goodness (as we have said elsewhere, faith itself grows up out of belief—a particular kind of believing comes first: “A Letter of Invitation: The Mechanics of Redemption”). God’s gift—Abraham’s Seed—which is Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16), is the basis of this faith, and thus belief. By God’s determined design, faith in Jesus Christ registers a believer as a spiritual descendant of Abraham (Gal 3:7-9), and therefore joint heirs with him, through the qualifying righteousness of Jesus Christ, in the promises God made jointly to Abraham and our Savior. Faith in Jesus Christ is central to Salvation [2].
It is not hard to appreciate that this righteousness is to be negotiated with Jehovah God pronto, as soon as one’s mind understands, one’s heart convicts, and while one’s physical life persists, because without it, when one comes to the border of life’s journey, one will be found wanting for lack of a passport for entry to the better side (Jhn 3:16-18, Jhn 3:36 [note that “obeys not” so translated here in Jhn 3:36 is APEIQWN in the Greek text, which can have the sense “to believe not,” “to withhold belief” character map]).
This pulpit will Scripturally illustrate:
1. That righteousness is entirely a gift—righteousness cannot be earned by anyone, rather, it was earned for anyone.
2. The good news inherent in that gift; the basis of that good news.
3. How righteous faith is reflected—tangible metrics.
4. The Abrahamic Promise manifested—its Earnest and Seal.
II. Righteousness is a Gift
What is a gift? The Wiktionary defines the noun so:
Gift:
1. Something given to another voluntarily, without charge.
2. A talent or natural ability.
3. Something gained incidentally, without effort (Wiktionary: “Gift”).
Points one and three in keeping with the gist of Scripture concerning this are good definitions for our purposes, for the catalyst of righteousness—the holiness of Jesus Christ—that is, His perfect unanimity with the ways of God, which is graciously given to the believer—is precisely a gift in this sense. In the same sense, Abraham received righteousness outright as a gift; one must conclude that he became clothed in Christ’s holiness from that instant onward.
Relative to point 1 in the definition: The holiness that drives righteousness for the believer is given to them voluntarily by God, without charge. Without charge means that nothing is owed God in return. It is just a short step to connect this to God’s grace—clearly our God’s gracious heart is reflected in the salvific gift of righteousness through Jesus Christ (Rom 4:6-8, Rom 5:16-21, 2 Cr 5:21, Eph 2:4-8). One cannot help but be awestruck when contemplating what is going on here; the implications for eternity.
Relative to point 3 in the definition: The believer’s righteousness is gained incidentally, entirely without effort on their part (Rom 4:5, Gal 3:2-5). But note the word incidental, in the sense that it is incidental to something, and we know that something is the faith that grows up out of belief in Jesus Christ, and His salvific work which brings about the believer’s righteousness ultimately. And this is not much to ask—clearly faith is not a hard charge at all—God couldn’t have made it easier for us to attain His approval. Our Father’s grace is magnificently reflected in this priceless gift of righteousness—that is, we see in it His yearning to bring us up to His standards of spiritual approval in that He did all He could to make it valid and doable. How satisfying it is that righteousness ultimately comes to us as a divine gift and not through our mundane “works,” for it is clear that if it did come through the latter, then the standards so attained would be much less than perfect, as also the mindset of the standard-setter would be betrayed to be less than perfect. That it comes as a divine gift is a testimony to the divine purposes that motivate sanctification and its attendant Salvation; indeed, is yet another testimony in a vast mosaic of evidences to the deity of the Sanctifier. Who but God would expect literal perfection from us, yea, and make it achievable Himself? It is the charlatans that would expect less up front.
III. The Good News
Not much on the human plane is free, and that which is free for the most part is highly transient and quite limited in value. Sure, that limited value may once in a while be very great, but still it is limited; it is always bounded somehow if you will. By contrast, the gift of righteousness has eternal worth, and is invaluable. Already its eternal quality makes it tremendously valuable, but it is invaluable because it is the passport to Salvation—life eternal in the presence of Jehovah God. There can be no better news than an available gift like that, especially seeing that it is available simply for the asking so to speak (simply through believing in Jesus Christ puts it more succinctly, and such belief finds expression by a transfer of all trust to Him). That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the best news that humankind has ever heard, for in the Gospel is manifested God’s declaration of this gift, His promise concerning it (more on that below), and His self-binding claim regarding it. With respect to the latter, He has bound Himself by His Name’s honor to hold up His end of the offer. Now, He did not have to swear by His Name outright to do this since He is deity—any utterances He makes are tantamount to an oath, therefore any of the large number of proclamations concerning Jesus Christ and our Salvation both in the Old Testament and in the New are tantamount to an oath on His part concerning the same, and Scripture is literally full of these oaths, beginning already with Genesis 3:15. There are way too many to list here—the curious reader may wish to peruse our “Letter of Invitation” for more. What we find in the Gospel, specifically, at the Cross, is precisely the exercise of His (self-binding) claim regarding the gift of righteousness, and so tangential to His prime objective at the Cross (Redemption) He also proves Himself trustworthy in the further matters yet to be consummated regarding Salvation.
If God grants us righteousness for free, it would appear that somehow He overlooked the unrighteousness—which translates to His disapproval—that attends sin (disobedience to Him), sin that affronts His honor and glory (affronts His Name, His very essence). This would be true except that the free gift of righteousness—which translates to God’s approval—indeed cost us nothing…but it did cost something. It cost God something; something very great. Someone had to make a payment along the way here, for payment was due, for He also, long before He came in the person of Jesus Christ, uttered an oath that ‘the wages of sin is death’ (Gen 3:8-19, Eze. 18:4; cf. Rom 6:23), and that someone was Jesus Christ, acting sacrificially on behalf of the Godhead. The basis of our unearned righteousness is the redemptive payment made by Jesus Christ when He paid our sin debt (paid for our unrighteousness) on the Cross—Jesus paid for our unrighteousness by offering Himself as an invaluable counterbalancing-payment. We see here the real basis for this gift’s value—it is not entirely that we may gain something invaluable from it (Salvation), but precisely that our Father gave up someone invaluable for it (our great Savior Jesus).
IV. Faith Reflected
(Hab 2:4)
Peter walked and talked with our Lord real-time. He came to know Him, and ultimately to believe in His claims. At Caesarea Philippi, when our Lord asked: ‘Who do men say that I am…’, Peter’s answer reflected his faith in our Lord—Peter was convinced that Jesus was the Christ. His lips betrayed his convictions about Jesus (Mrk 8:27-29). Paul gave us many lessons in reflected faith. He came to count all things earthly as rubbish in comparison to the surpassing knowledge of Jesus his Lord—Paul’s reflected faith so often exhibited the Lordship of Jesus; reflected His exceeding worth above all else, a valuation reflected in Paul’s priorities (Phl 3:7-10). Those verses in Philippians exhibit an intense faith; a solid faith. When one reads those verses one can really feel Paul “digging deep” to attach himself to our Savior. That…is faith reflected (contrast Mrk 8:38). Faith is also reflected in obedience to the Gospel (Rom 6:14-16, Col 3:5-6). Faith is further reflected in the fruit it produces. One’s fruit-bearing is a highly tangible measure of faith. This fruit can come in many forms, but Scripture gives us its key properties (Fig. 1, Gal 5:22-23, Col 3:12-14). The dynamic that drives a living faith is the transfer of all trust to Jesus Christ; in the end, that is a living faith’s signature.
V. The Promise
The indwelling (1Cr 3:16, 1Cr 6:19) of the third member of the Godhead, the blessed Holy Spirit, is the great and immediate realization of God’s promises to the believer; He specifically is the Promise (Act 2:33). In other words, God Himself is the Promise. This is very rational and highly consistent theologically. He is our Seal of Redemption (Eph 4:30), and the Earnest (2Cr 5:5) of the manifold blessings yet to be bestowed upon the believer (Eph 1:13-14; Gal 3:14). With such high stakes involved, that is, one’s eternal prospects, who but a fool would trust any other “earnest” but God? One cannot help but consider their own ultimate resurrection unto eternal life (“Children of the Resurrection”), and God the Holy Spirit shows Himself as the Guarantee of that here. It is He that empowers the believer to accomplish in their generation the things that God has called them to do. He empowers our walk, our talk, our thinking, in such a way that is befitting a follower of Jesus Christ. He is up close and personal day by day as we live out our lives, ever nearby to guide us toward more and more Christ-likeness. Over the years we have come to appreciate Him as the “Timeless Worker,” for as we have studied Scripture, His role as the divine Worker seems so apparent. Maybe this is an acceptable way to think about Him. It hardly comes as a surprise hat He would be the Promise, seeing all the work that He has done/is doing to prepare us and our environs for eternity (Tab. 1). It must be said though that our God is one God (Deu 6:4), and the Godhead, the Three in One, is truly the Timeless Worker. In regard to our Salvation, it is good to let Him do all the work—this would seem to be the way it was designed by Him—He did/does all the work, while we trust Him, and grow in our love, appreciation, and faith for/in Him (“Great and Grand Worker Divine”).
VI. Concluding Comments
This pulpit was written around the premise that righteousness is a word that is all one-sided, in that it comes to us from the Bench of God as an expression of His approval of our spiritual walk before Him. The holiness of Jesus Christ (express unanimity with the transcendent [sanctified] ways of God) drives this righteousness; it is the standard of approval. Somehow, one must attain to this holiness, and the faith born of believing in our Savior is how—God has bound Himself by oath many times over that it shall be so for the believer. Clothed in Christ’s holiness one stands before Jehovah God fully approved; right; righteous. The title of this pulpit was chosen to reflect this fact.
Along the way we pointed out that righteousness is a gift. God designed it so, and labored to make it so—He graciously paid for the very spiritual approval He Himself demanded so as to legitimize it as a gift (care must be taken not to lose sight of the redemptive aspect here, for Redemption clears the way for approval and is understood to be inherent in the gift). What we see is that as a gift it is free only insofar as it cost us nothing, but it cost Him dearly. It is the price He paid for it that makes this gift invaluable; that makes it viable tender for said approval. The blood of Jesus Christ does this. One can appreciate that it is His blood that graces our faith to make the latter so valuable a currency as to evince God’s approval concerning us. It would seem that our Savior’s blood and our faith have been fused in the divine plan of Salvation. The implications of that fusion are staggering—small wonder that (righteous) faith can move mountains (Mat 17:20).
We pointed out that a gift like that is truly good news. In the Gospel is contained Jehovah God’s basis for this gift (the Cross), and His conveyance of the Promise attending it. We noted that our God bound Himself by oath many times over in this declaration. That is, He made utterances as to His faithfulness regarding it beforehand, and then on the Cross proved His faithfulness at great pains; it only follows that He will be faithful in regard to His promises to the end—here is where one’s faith must shine a little.
We said that righteous faith is ( or is not) reflected by one’s walk (a living faith), inescapably so through one’s priorities, obedience to the Gospel, and fruit-bearing. A living faith is driven by the transfer of all trust to Jesus Christ, which transfer presupposes belief in Him first of course.
We noted that God Himself, in the person of the Holy Spirit, is the surety of His promises to the believer concerning their salvation. In Jesus’ physical absence, and until He returns to gather His own, the Holy Spirit labors to guide us into ever deeper realizations concerning our Savior (Jhn 14:16-18, 26), for our ultimate destiny in the divine plan is to become like Jesus Christ. Everything in God’s program that relates to our relationship with God turns on Jesus Christ.
Praised be your Name great savior God. How good it is that we have you.