We have pointed out that there is a certain requirement or condition for being found in Christ. This condition is that we do not have our own righteousness which is of the law, but that we have the righteousness which is of God based on faith. It may seem to us at times that we are found in Christ. However, there will be no reality in these times unless we fulfill the condition of having the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ. To repeat, we need to be found in Christ in the righteousness of God through the faith of Christ. The phrase “in the righteousness of God” used in the title of this message points to the fact that this is the condition of being found in Christ in reality. Thus, the crucial aspect of the condition is the righteousness of God.
At this point I would like to present a new definition, or interpretation, of righteousness as found in 3:9. In this verse righteousness signifies a daily living which is right with God and man. Speaking of his past, Paul says in 3:6 that “as to the righteousness which is in the law,” he had become blameless. Before he was transferred into Christ, he was a Pharisee blameless in the law. Paul thought that in his daily living he was right with man and God. Actually he was not right with God at all. The righteousness which signifies a living that is truly right with God and man must be a righteousness which is of God. The expression “righteousness of God” does not simply mean that righteousness belongs to God; it also means that this righteousness is God Himself. For example, the terms life of God, light of God, and love of God do not mean merely that life, light, and love belong to God. The life of God is God Himself. The same is true of the light of God and the love of God. God Himself is light and love. In principle, this is also true of the righteousness of God. Just as the life of God and the light of God are God Himself, so the righteousness of God is God Himself. Therefore, the living which is right with both God and man must be God as our expression in our daily living, God Himself lived out through us.
This becomes more clear when we consider what it means to speak of our own righteousness. Our own righteousness is the expression of ourselves, the expression of “I.” My righteousness is just the living out of me. But the righteousness of God is God lived out from us. It is God becoming our daily living and expression. When we love others, our love is God expressed. Furthermore, our humility is not mere ethical humility; it is a divine humility, God Himself living out of us. If we are to be found in Christ, we must be in such a condition that God is expressed through us and becomes our daily living.
When I was young, I thought that the righteousness in verse 9 referred to the righteousness God gives us through justification. However, for many years I sensed deep within that this was not the accurate meaning of righteousness here. One day I realized that the righteousness of God in 3:9 is actually God Himself becoming our daily living. If we would have this righteousness, we must have a living which is the expression of God. We must fulfill this condition in order to be found in Christ in reality.
How can the righteousness of God become our daily living? This can take place only through the faith of Christ. Just as the righteousness of God is God Himself, so the faith of Christ is Christ Himself. The faith of Christ is not simply something which belongs to Christ; it is actually Christ Himself. Only through the hearing of the Word can the faith of Christ become ours. Through the Word we are infused with the element of Christ. At the same time, we experience the function of the Spirit. The issue of this infusion and function is the faith which brings about an organic union between us and the Triune God. This faith, which is really Christ Himself, causes us to be organically united with God. In such an organic union we and God are one spirit. We live, and God lives in us. God lives, and we live in Him.
We should not think that we are in God but God is not in us, or that God is in us but we are not in God. On the contrary, there is a mutual relationship between us and God: we are in God, and God is in us. For this reason the Lord Jesus could say, “Abide in Me and I in you” (John 15:4).
By means of the organic union which joins us to the Triune God and makes us one spirit with Him, we have the righteousness of God. This righteousness of God definitely is not of the law. It is altogether of faith. In the organic union produced by faith we live out God, and God lives out from within us and becomes righteousness to us. When we are in this righteousness, we are in the proper condition to be found in Christ. The thought here is very deep. But if we see it, we would experience the highest aspect of God’s salvation and be rescued from all other things. May we all aspire to gain Christ and to be found in Him in such a condition.