The righteousness of the believers who are found in Christ is Christ Himself, who is lived out of them to be their righteousness. Christ is the righteousness by which we have been justified by God (1 Cor. 1:30). The more we gain Christ and live in Him, the more this Christ, who is our righteousness, is expressed before God and men. In this way we will be found by others in the righteousness which is Christ Himself lived out of us.
When Christ lives Himself out from us, He lives the righteous life in us. Titus 2:12 says that “we should live soberly and righteously and godly in the present age.” This indicates that we need to live a righteous life through Christ. This is to live Christ as our righteousness and to be found in Him that we may be justified by God.
In the continuous experience of God’s redemption, the believers are also justified out of works that issue from the divine life through their living the divine life. James 2:24 says, “A man is justified by works and not by faith only.” To be justified by faith is for the receiving of the divine life (Rom. 5:18); to be justified by works is through living the divine life. Since the living is the issue of life, to be justified by works is the issue of being justified by faith. Abraham’s offering of Isaac and Rahab’s receiving of the messengers and sending them out are works that issued from their living faith (Gen. 22:9; Josh. 2:1, 21; 6:23). A living tree surely brings forth fruit. Being justified by works is not inconsistent with being justified by faith. The latter is the cause, bringing forth the former; the former is the effect, the outcome and proof, of the latter.
When we live the divine life, this living will produce works. Then in our living, we will be justified out of works, not only out of faith. To be justified out of faith is mainly objective, whereas to be justified out of works is subjective because the works are the issue of our living the divine life.
The believers become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21b). This means that we are righteous not only in our acts and deeds but even righteous in our being. God’s desire is not simply to gain a group of people who are righteous; rather, He wants to gain a group of people who, before God, the devil, the angels, and demons, are the righteousness of God. Being righteous before God is one thing, but being the righteousness of God is another. By being constituted with Christ, the righteousness of God (Rom. 5:19b), we become the righteousness of God in Him.
Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Christ did not know sin in an experiential way by contact or personal experience. Nevertheless, Christ died on the cross not only for our sins but was also made sin, because God made Him sin on our behalf. We are not only sinful; we are sin, a constitution of sin and the embodiment of sin. Therefore, when Christ became our Substitute, dying for us, God considered Him not only as One who bore our sins but even as sin. In resurrection, Christ entered into us to be our life, and this life living in us constitutes us to be God’s righteousness. When Christ took our place, He was made sin for us; now He is constituting us, making us God’s righteousness in Him.
“In Him” means being in union with Christ, not only positionally but also organically in resurrection. We were enemies of God by becoming sin, which came from Satan, who rebelled against God (Col. 1:21). Christ was made sin for us on the cross by becoming one with us through being incarnated in the flesh. Through His death on the cross He was condemned in the flesh as sin for us by God that we might be one with Him in His resurrection to be God’s righteousness. Thus, in the organic union with Christ, we become the righteousness of God. We become not only righteous but even the righteousness of God; we become not only righteous persons, but also the righteousness of God itself.