You Are Righteous
Faith righteousness is the cornerstone or foundation of the Gospel out-working through your heart and into your every day life. It is the sustainable source of the gospel being consistent as a lifestyle because it is a heart persuasion in the life, death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It focuses on His performance and not yours. It is accessed by believing within your heart and not based on accessibility through your own behavior. The Gospel (Almost too good to be true news) reveals or illuminates righteousness from faith to faith (heart persuasion in Jesus) and we live by faith because we have been justified in His righteousness.
Romans 1:16-17
16For I am not ashamed of the gospel [c]of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 17For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
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So what is righteousness?
Righteousness is right standing with God, peace with God, the innocent judgement (legal justification) of God, the divine approval of God. Thayer’s greek lexicon describes it as “the state of him who is such as he ought to be.” Strong’s exhaustive concordance describes it as “equity, (of character or act)” In other words, equity means to have the same value, dignity and worth as Jesus Himself in the eyes of God.
Those are audacious and blasphemous definitions to anyone in the religion of their own self righteousness, ego, and puffed up head knowledge, because it threatens their very efforts and performance with which their hearts justify themselves in their own estimations. Whatever is not faith righteousness is self righteousness. Faith righteousness is why the new covenant was made and is kept with Jesus and the Father and an offense that has caused many to stumble. (Romans 9:28-33) Faith righteousness is the root of Holiness not the fruit or an interchangeable definition with Holiness.
Even in reading those definitions of righteousness out loud it may stir up a contrary emotion in your heart, but it is how God sees you as a born again child of His! I encourage you to spend time contemplating, meditating, considering, and ultimately, fully persuading your heart of the reality that you are the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, from promises stated in His Word.
Faith righteousness is a gift (Romans 5:17) that causes you to have confidence towards God in your heart. A gift must be believed and received on a heart level to be experienced. Salvation is experienced from believing unto righteousness first, then speaking the same as (confession) what Jesus did as the Word of God being the will of God in your life. Faith righteousness is the only cure for condemnation and punishment for not measuring up from your own standards of performance and self effort. What you believe about righteousness determines where you get your sense of identity from! Righteousness is something you are, not just something you have.
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2 Corinthians 5:21
21For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Romans 10:10
10For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
1 John 3:21
21Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God.
Grace (God’s influence, power, and ability) reigns (works) through righteousness and the Spirit is life because of it.
Romans 5:20-21
20Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, 21so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Romans 8:10
10And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
Faith righteousness is how you enter the realm of God’s kingdom and people will pursue (follow after) you for it because they want what you have received by believing that they cannot attain by themselves. The Gospel is attractive because of it!
When you understand you are righteous by believing and not behaving it leads to living Holy (set apart from the worlds ways, and unto God’s ways) on accident better than trying to achieve it on your own merit! (Matthew 5:10-12)
His Righteousness is the most important thing we need to persuade our hearts of. The ramifications of faith righteousness are foundational, eternal, perpetual, and keep us rooted in Jesus in all areas of our heart no matter what we face on earth in this life!
You are Righteous!
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