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The gift of righteousness

“… much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17)

Yesterday, we read some verses from Romans 5 that stressed that all humans could share in the gift of God. Today, let’s focus on verse 17, where Paul writes about “the free gift of righteousness.” What does this mean?

God is righteous. He never does anything wrong or sinful. If people are to be in His presence, they must also be righteous. But nobody is! (see Romans 3:9-10). This lack of righteousness excludes us from God’s presence.

Romans 5 speaks about “the free gift of righteousness.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains what this gift entails: God made Jesus Christ become sin in our place and counted His righteousness ours. Therefore, Jesus Christ was forsaken by God the Father until He had paid the price for human sin. Still, we are invited to spend eternity in God’s presence, as if we had never committed any sin and had always led a righteous life. That is not ‘fair.’ We do not deserve to be treated as such. It’s pure love from God’s side!

Do you agree that you don’t have any righteousness of your own?