THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS
Christians fight over
doctrines far too often… and it’s not just about trivial matters. We even fight
over core truths of the faith. For instance, we fight over the definition of
Christ’s righteousness and the details of its transfer to us. I intend, in this
message, to clearly communicate my understanding of these issues so as to
provoke unity.
The righteousness of Christ
refers, chiefly, to his human righteousness. Christ was both inwardly and
outwardly righteous; He refrained from all sin and did all that the Father
asked him to do. Christ’s righteousness is put on our account when we fallen
humans repent of our own lack of righteousness and put our faith in his.
The exact language we use to
express these truths is less important than the fact that we do humbly depend
on Christ for our very life. I’m convinced that much of our fighting is over
semantics. We simply fail to truly understand our brothers and sisters. We
don’t listen and, therefore, don’t realize they are saying much the same thing
with slightly different words.
One reason why our movement
has sometimes been reluctant to use certain phrases regarding this doctrine is
that we have been afraid to encourage a lackadaisical attitude toward sin. The imputation
of Christ’s righteousness upon us is no excuse for not allowing the Spirit to implant
righteousness in us. Forgive us this fear and let’s unite together in service
of our great Master!
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