Faith Righteousness (Part 2, Conclusion)
By Ted Nelson, Pastor, Big Church Alive Wausau, WI www.BigChurch Alive.com BCAlive@ gmail.com

Receiving that righteousness starts with believing. If Jesus’ mission was accomplished, and it was, YOU ARE RIGHTEOUS IN CHRIST. If you believe that, you will not be able to live any kind of life you choose. If you believe it, you will confess it, thank God for it and live in step with the Spirit of Christ.

The power of righteousness comes alive in the person who believes he is righteous in Jesus. That person has a righteousness conscience. The person, on the other hand, who is operating law has a consciousness of sin. What we have awareness of grows in our life. Accordingly, the person aware of sin falls into more sin, the person aware of righteousness grows in a life of righteousness.

After explaining the exchange, Romans 5:12 gives this example: Sin entered the world through one man. Few people have trouble with this. We all know that we are sinners because of Adam. In him, we all became sinners. We were born with a sin nature. Now, before you got saved, I am sure you did some good things, but those good things did not make you righteous. You were still a sinner. It was your nature to sin. Despite your efforts, you always went back to sin - SIN WAS YOUR NATURE. Keep in mind, doing good occasionally did not make you have a righteous nature.

Because of the sin of Adam, the sentence of death was passed upon all men. You did nothing to receive the ability to die; you were born with that ability. Likewise, in Jesus, by His life we receive the gift of righteousness (Romans 5:17). Being born a natural birth guarantees us a sin nature, but being born a spiritual birth guarantees us a righteous nature by the gift of righteousness. Just as sin passed the judgment of death on all men, righteousness passes the life of God unto all men. The word for “life” in the original language is the word “zoe,” which according to the Biblio-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, is the quality of life of the one who gives it. Because we have Jesus’ righteousness, we get to participate in the zoe life of God. This life makes available to us, all that God has and is. And more importantly, it is a product of Jesus’ righteousness.

Romans 5:10 says it this way, “...being reconciled (exchanged) we shall be saved by His life (zoe).” The word “saved” means more than born again. It means healed, delivered, protected, made whole, made well, etc. The reason we have this complete salvation is that we receive His zoe. We receive His Zoe because we receive His righteousness. We receive His righteousness because of the exchange. Accordingly, it is all ours by faith.

You are righteous because you were born of God. Being righteous does not mean you never sin. It means you have a righteous nature. It is now natural for you to live a righteous life. Even though you may fall, you are not a sinner. As the Psalmist said, “Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.” (Psalms 37:24). Proverbs says it like this, “For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief.” (Proverbs 24:16).

When you had a sin nature, you did some good works occasionally. But those good works could not change your unrighteous nature to become righteous. Likewise, now that you have a righteous nature, when you fall, that cannot change your righteous nature to make you unrighteous. We were born into unrighteousness. Our works did not effect that state of being. Likewise, we are born into righteousness, our works will not effect that state of being.

This is not a permit to sin. A righteous heart hates sin. A righteous heart wants to please God. A righteous heart loves righteousness. And the heart is made righteous only by faith ( Romans 5:1, 10:10).

There is a fear in us that this belief will somehow make it possible for men to get by with things. Some could try to use this as a license to sin. Paul, Peter and John warned against and dealt with these same fears. There were groups in the early church that tried to abuse freedom. The Apostles dealt with the issue without abandoning this truth.

To abandon faith righteousness is to abandon the finished work of Jesus. Regardless of how sincere the motive, a departure from faith righteousness is a departure from truth.