Understanding Our Righteousness in Christ (Excerpt from Andrew Womacks Article on

Whose Righteousness)

The word righteousness has become a religious clich that has lost its meaning to many people.
Even Christians are confused about what righteousness is and how to receive it. This has left our
society without a clear understanding of what it takes to have a relationship with God. This is
reflected in our nations moral collapse. Its imperative that we get back to the basics of
righteousness.

Righteousness and its counterpart, righteous, appear 540 times in 520 verses of the Bible. In
contrast, faith, faithfulness, and faithful are only used 348 times in 328 verses. This means
that there are 1.5 times as many scriptures about righteousness as there are about faith.
Righteousness is important.

A laymans definition of righteousness is simply, right standing with God. Righteousness is the
condition of being in right relationship with the Lord. This can only happen through TOTAL faith
and dependence upon Christ. There is no other way, and there is nothing we can add to our faith
to obtain right relationship with the Lord (Rom. 11:6).

One of the things that blinds people to a true understanding of righteousness is confusion about
how we become right in the sight of God. It is commonly thought that our actions are the
determining factor in Gods judgment of our righteousness. Thats not true. There is a relationship
between our actions and our right standing with God, but right relationship with God produces
actions, not the other way around. That is to say, we are not made righteous by what we do.

Righteousness is a gift that comes from the Lord to those who accept what Jesus has done for them
by faith (Rom. 5:17-18). The gift of salvation produces a changed heart that, in turn, changes our
actions. Actions cannot change our hearts. Its the heart of man that God looks upon (1 Sam. 16:7),
and we must be righteous in our hearts to truly worship God (John 4:24).

The mistake of thinking that doing right makes us right is the same error the Pharisees made.
Religion has always preached that if we clean up our actions, our hearts will become clean too.
Jesus taught just the opposite (Matt. 23:25-26). Its through a changed heart that our actions
change. The heart is the issue. Actions are only an indication of what is in our hearts. Actions are
the fruit the heart produces.

Modern-day Christianity often puts the emphasis on actions instead of issues of the heart. This is
reflected in Christians excessive efforts to legislate change in peoples actions instead of changing
their hearts by the preaching of the Gospel. Its the Gospel that contains the power of God, not
political action groups (Rom. 1:16). Laws only affect actions. The Gospel changes hearts. Once
hearts are changed, actions change.

Contrary to popular belief, Christianity does not promote receiving justice from the Lord. Praise
God for that! The Lord has a much better plan. We get what we believe.

I once developed pictures in a photography studio for a living. People would come into the studio
to look at their proofs and say things like, This picture doesnt do me justice. I never had the
nerve to say this, but I often thought, Lady, you dont need justice, you need mercy.

Thats the way it is with God. We sometimes call for justice but thats not what we need. As the
Scriptures say, All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;
and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all (Is. 53:6). Again, in Romans 3:23 the
Scriptures say, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous,
no, not one (Rom. 3:10).

The wonderful plan of salvation is that those who put their faith in Jesus and what He did for us
get what He deserves. On the other hand, those who do not put their total faith in Christ will
ultimately get what they deserve. Believe me, that is not what they want. Religion has subtly
instructed people to trust in their own goodness instead of Gods. This will never work. For all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom. 3:23).

The Biblical story of the handwriting on the wall illustrates this point (Dan. 5:1-31). Belshazzar
was the king of Babylon. His father, Nebuchadnezzar, had conquered the nation of Israel and
brought all the wealth of the temple, along with most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, back to
Babylon. During an extravagant feast, with 1,000 of his lords in attendance, Belshazzar chose to
toast his gods using the golden vessels from the temple in Jerusalem, which was in open defiance
of the God of Israel.

The Lord moved swiftly and dramatically by creating an image of a mans hand, with fingers that
wrote on the wall in front of Belshazzar and all his guests. Belshazzar called on all his magicians
and wise men to decipher the writing, but none could. Then the queen reminded Belshazzar about
Daniel who had interpreted the dreams and visions of Nebuchadnezzar when no one else could.
Daniel was summoned and the writing explained.

The message from God revealed that Belshazzar had been weighed in the balances and was found
wanting. Therefore, his kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians. This came to
pass that very night. Belshazzar was overthrown, and Darius, the Mede (Persian), took control.

If we were weighed in the balances against Gods righteousness as Belshazzar was, we too would
come up short. Gods righteousness is always more in quantity and quality than ours will ever be.
Our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to Gods righteousness (Is. 64:6).

Someone might say, Thats not fair. No one can compete with Gods righteousness. Thats
exactly right! However, Gods righteousness is the standard by which everyone must be measured.
So then, how can anyone be saved? The answer is that no one can be saved, if they are trusting in
their own righteousness. We all must have a righteousness that exceeds anything we could ever
produce through our own effort. Thats where Jesus enters.

Jesus was in right relationship with God as no one else can be. He is the Son of God. He is God
manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). He is holy and pure and without sin, yet He became sin for us
(2 Cor. 5:21), through no wrongdoing on His part. He took our sin in His own body on the cross
(1 Pet. 2:24). Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him
stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised
for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed
(Is. 53:4-5).

In return for Jesus taking our sin, those who put their faith in Him get His righteousness instead of
their own. Its not our actions that make us acceptable to the Father. Its our trust in Jesus that
imparts the righteousness of Jesus into our born-again spirits that makes us in right standing with
God.

Those who dont understand this righteousness, which comes from God as a gift, become frustrated
trying to establish their own righteousness through good works (Rom. 10:3). It wont work. Its an
all or nothing situation (Rom. 11:6). We must trust completely in what Jesus did for us to obtain
right relationship with God. Any trust in our own goodness will void the atonement Christ made
for us (Gal. 5:4).

This is precisely the condition of millions of people in the body of Christ today. They receive
salvation by putting total faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins, but then they return to
believing that the Lord still relates to them on the basis of their works, even after their salvation.
Thats not true.

Colossians 2:6 says, As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.
That means if you were saved by putting faith in Gods grace alone, then you maintain that
relationship in the same way. Some people sing Just As I Am Without One Plea when they are
born again. They need to sing this song all the way through their Christian lives.

Failure to understand this truth is at the root of all guilt and condemnation. Satans only inroad
into our lives is sin. If we understand our right standing with God on the basis of what Jesus did
for us, and not by our own actions, then Satans power to condemn is gone. Those who live with
a feeling of unworthiness are not trusting in Gods righteousness but are looking to their own
actions to obtain right standing with God. That will never work.