1. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9).
According to the righteousness of God, the Lord Jesus was judged on our behalf. When we confess our sins, God is required to forgive us our sins because of the blood that the Lord Jesus shed while being judged according to God’s righteousness. According to God’s word in the Bible, He must forgive us because of His faithfulness. According to God’s act in righteously judging the Lord Jesus on our behalf, He must forgive us because of His righteousness.
1. “He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9).
Just as the righteousness of God requires Him to forgive us because of the redemption of the Lord Jesus, it also requires Him to cleanse us.
1. “Whom God set forth as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness, in that in His forbearance God passed over the sins that had previously occurred, with a view to the demonstrating of His righteousness in the present time, so that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26).
God has judged the sins of the saved ones in the ages of the Old Testament and the New Testament according to His righteousness through the Lord Jesus. In the Old Testament age God’s righteousness caused Him to pass over sins, and in the New Testament age God’s righteousness causes Him to justify those who are of the faith of Jesus. He exercised forbearance under the old covenant and justifies the believers under the new covenant because He is righteous. Both His forbearance and His justification manifest His righteousness. Man needs only to believe in the blood that has been shed by the Lord Jesus for him, according to God’s righteousness. In the Old Testament age the blood of the sacrifices was a type of the blood of Jesus Christ. God’s righteousness also requires God to justify those who are of the faith of Jesus, enabling man to obtain God through the Lord Jesus and causing God to be propitiatory toward man. Whether in His forbearing of man under the old testament or His justifying of man under the new testament, He is propitiatory toward man because of His righteousness and according to the requirement of His righteousness. His being propitiatory toward man matches the requirements of His righteousness. The vicarious death of the Lord Jesus satisfied every demand and fulfilled every requirement that God’s righteousness placed on us. His righteousness has resulted in our being accepted and justified.
1. “So also grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 5:21).
We who believe in the Lord Jesus receive not only forgiveness, cleansing, and justification through the righteousness of God but even eternal life, the eternal life of God. Although our receiving of the eternal life of God is out of God’s grace, it is through His righteousness. Without the righteousness of God, we could not receive the eternal life of God as grace. God would have no way to give us grace. His righteousness opens the way for His grace to reign and for His life to be given to us legally. The grace of God gives us the living water of eternal life for our enjoyment, but the righteousness of God is the pipe that enables this living water to flow into us. We must be justified in order to receive eternal life.
1. “The righteousness of God through the faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe” (Rom. 3:22; see also 1:17).
The righteousness of God is given to all those who believe through the faith of Jesus Christ; it is obtained by man through faith.
2. “Righteousness...which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith” (Phil. 3:9).
The righteousness that we receive through faith in Christ is the righteousness of God. This righteousness is obtained by faith.
3. “The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have laid hold of righteousness, but a righteousness which is out of faith” (Rom. 9:30).
Although the Gentiles did not pursue the righteousness of the law, they obtained the righteousness of God by faith in Christ.
4. “Because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to establish their own righteousness, they were not subject to the righteousness of God” (Rom. 10:3).
If man despises the righteousness of God and seeks to establish his own righteousness, he is not subject to the righteousness of God and will not obtain it. This is the situation of the Jews.
5. “If righteousness is through law, then Christ has died for nothing” (Gal. 2:21).
Man’s righteousness before God is not obtained by keeping the law but by faith in the death of Christ.
Both the faithfulness and the righteousness of God are eternally reliable. All the responsibility for our standing before God rests upon these two matters; they are like two hands that bear us before God.