Galatians 2:16b says, “We also have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.” The expression “the faith of Christ” shows that our faith comes from Christ. We are justified by the faith of Christ. The faith of Christ is actually Christ Himself, who has entered into us as our believing element and ability. Such faith is reckoned to us as righteousness by God (Rom. 4:22-24). Therefore, genuine believing is to believe into Christ by His faith. He is the source, the cause, of our faith (Heb. 12:2).
According to our natural man, we do not have any believing ability. We do not have faith by ourselves. It is when we read the Bible or hear a gospel preacher preaching this all-inclusive Christ according to the Bible, that the Holy Spirit causes us to see the revelation of the all-inclusive person and work of Christ through the word of the Bible. That is, by showing us the divine scenery, the Holy Spirit causes the knowledge and appreciation of Christ to be generated in us, thus producing in us the trust in Christ. This is Christ’s infusing Himself into us to be the faith in us. This faith is reckoned by God as the believers’ righteousness. God reckons this kind of faith as a righteous deed. In ourselves we do not have any righteousness, and before God we do not have any righteous deed. But if we take God’s word, stand on it, and obey it, and if we believe into His Son Jesus Christ, God will count this kind of faith as our righteousness. Therefore, we simply need to repent and call on the Lord, saying, “O Lord Jesus, I believe in You.” God will regard this as the highest righteousness, and we shall be justified by God. This is a matter of our being justified objectively by faith.
When we are justified by God’s grace, through the redemption in Christ Jesus, and by believing into Christ, we receive the righteousness of God (Rom. 3:22; 1:17; Phil. 3:9). Romans 3:22 says, “Even the righteousness of God through faith of Jesus Christ to all those who believe.” Hence, when we believe by the faith of Jesus Christ, we not only are justified by God, but we also receive the righteousness of God. The righteousness of God is what God is, God’s attribute, with respect to justice and uprightness. God is just and upright. Whatever God is in His justice and uprightness constitutes His righteousness. Furthermore, all that God is in His justice and uprightness is actually Himself in His acts and actions. Since God is also embodied in Christ (Col. 2:9), the righteousness of God is simply Christ. Therefore, when we receive the righteousness of God, we receive Christ Himself as our righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Just as He is righteous before God and justified by God, so we are also righteous before God and justified by God in Him.
Romans 4:25 says, “Who [Jesus]...was raised because of our justification.” This shows that the resurrection of Christ proves that we are justified; it is an evidence of our justification. The death of Christ fully fulfilled and satisfied God’s righteous requirements so that we may be fully justified by God through Christ’s death. Christ’s resurrection was God’s vindication and approval of His work, and it was also a sign of His universal success. His rising up from among the dead was a sign indicating that what He had done prior to His death was successful and that it has an eternal efficacy in His resurrection. Therefore, His resurrection proves that His death has satisfied God forever, and that through His death God can fully justify us. Hence, Christ’s resurrection is an evidence that we have been justified by God.
John 16:10 says, “And concerning righteousness, because I [Christ] go to the Father.” Therefore, Christ’s ascending to the Father after His death and resurrection is also a proof of the believers’ justification. Stanza three of Hymns, #20 says,
Father God, Thou hast accepted
Jesus as our Substitute;
Judged the Just One for the unjust,
Couldst Thou change Thy attitude?
As a proof of perfect justice,
At Thine own right hand He sits;
He, as Thy full satisfaction,
Righteously Thy need befits.
Thus, the resurrected Christ who sits at the right hand of God is also an evidence that we have been justified. The redeeming death of Christ as the ground for God to justify us has been fully accepted by God and has fully satisfied God. And, as a proof of this, Christ has been resurrected from the dead and has ascended to the right hand of God, thus demonstrating the fact that God has justified us through His death.