We have already seen that a saved person should know a few things. First, he should know that he is a son of God. Second, he should know God's righteousness. Third, he should know the righteousness of Christ and that Christ has become the believers' righteousness. Now we want to consider the difference between the righteousness of Christ and Christ as our righteousness. There is a big difference between these two things, and we must differentiate them clearly.
Most people think that after we become a Christian, everything of Christ becomes ours. But the Bible does not say that we are saved by the righteousness of Christ or that the righteousness of Christ has become our righteousness. The phrase the righteousness of Christ is only used in 2 Peter 1:1, in reference to Christ's own righteousness. Without the righteousness of Christ, we cannot have a Savior. Christ is the Savior because He is righteous. But His righteousness is only related to Him. The righteousness of Christ qualifies and enables Him to be our Savior.
When we read the Bible, we should not change what we read. We should not be satisfied with vague concepts and answers. During the past ten or more years, I have often asked others two questions: By what righteousness are we saved? By whose righteousness do we come to God? Many people could not give the proper answer. They would say that they are saved by the righteousness of Christ and that they come to God through Christ's righteousness. This is absolutely wrong. Let me put it this way: The righteousness of Jesus was the qualification which the Lord had before God when He was a man. This righteousness has absolutely nothing to do with us. We are not joined to the Lord in His walk in this world; we are joined to Him on the cross. Everything that the Lord did on earth has nothing to do with us. We must remember that a grain bears many grains only after it has fallen into the ground. Christians were joined to Christ at His death, not at His birth. When Christ was born in Bethlehem and lived on the earth, men could only follow Him from afar. They could only say, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" (John 1:29). Only when we come to Romans 6 do we see that we are joined to Him in the likeness of His death and resurrection (v. 5). Therefore, a Christian does not become righteous in the eyes of God through the righteousness of Christ, but through Christ Himself. We are saved through receiving Christ Himself.