Christ Our Righteousness

The second consideration from 1 Cor. 1:30 is “Christ became to us…righteousness.” This truth can be traced back to the Old Testament, where, for example, David acknowledged that his righteousness was not found in himself: “Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!” (Psalm 4:1). In Jeremiah, we even find this as a name of God (Jehovah-Tsidkenu, “the Lord our Righteousness – see Jer. 23:6).

In the New Testament we see the fulfillment of this blessing—the righteous and holy Son of God who perfectly kept God’s Law that we could not keep (James 2:10; Galatians 3:10). He has taken upon Himself all the guilt and sin and punishment that were upon us, and has clothed us with His robes of righteousness. “[God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (II Corinthians 5:21). “For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19). What a gift!

Robert Murray McCheyne penned these words in his hymn “Jehovah Tsidkenu”—

My terrors all vanished before the sweet name,
My guilty fears banished, with boldness I came
To drink at the fountain, life-giving and free,
Jehovah Tsidkenu is all things to me. 

The comfort and assurance that “Christ is our righteousness” should have a real impact on our daily living as children of God. Since it is Christ’s righteousness, not our own feeble attempts, which makes us accepted in God’s sight, we never have to come to Him in fear, but instead may come boldly to His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:15-16)! Let us gratefully say with the apostle Paul, “[I am] found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9).

One of my favorite expressions of this truth is found in the 60th question of the Heidelberg Catechism… “Q. How are you right with God? A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Even though my conscience accuses me of having grievously sinned against all God's commandments and of never having kept any of them, and even though I am still inclined toward all evil, nevertheless, without my deserving it at all, out of sheer grace, God grants and credits to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never sinned nor been a sinner, as if I had been as perfectly obedient as Christ was obedient for me. All I need to do is to accept this gift of God with a believing heart.”