Bible Truth Foundations
Part 1 of 3: New Life in Christ
Please begin by answering this question honestly in your own words.
When you think about standing before God, do you feel you measure up? What do you base that feeling on?
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
This verse describes an exchange. Read it again and note what moves in each direction.
The central idea of this lesson
God does not ask you to improve your own righteousness until it reaches His standard. He gives you His own righteousness as a gift, received through faith in Jesus Christ.
What does it actually take to stand before a holy God? This is not a question many people stop to think through carefully. The common assumption is that God accepts people who are good enough, or at least better than most. But that is not the standard the Bible sets. Look at what Paul writes in Romans:
Romans 3:21–23 (NKJV)
But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.
The phrase "fall short of the glory of God" is not a mild shortfall. God's glory is the full expression of His own perfect character. The standard required to enter His presence is not a slightly improved version of what we are. It is the righteousness of God Himself. No human being has ever produced that through their own moral effort, and no human being ever will.
Note
"All have sinned" means without exception. Not "most people" or "obviously bad people." Paul is writing to a mixed audience of Jewish and Gentile believers, and he includes everyone in this statement. The religious person who has kept the outward law and the person who has made no such attempt are in the same category before God: both have fallen short of His standard. This removes any basis for comparison between people. No one has grounds to look at another person and say "at least I am not as bad as them" when the required standard is God's own righteousness.
There are two fundamentally different kinds of righteousness described in the New Testament. Understanding which kind is being offered changes everything.
The first kind is the righteousness of man: the moral record a person builds through their own behaviour, religious observance and effort. Paul calls this his "own righteousness, which is from the law" in Philippians 3:9. He knew this kind of righteousness well; before his conversion he had pursued it with exceptional dedication. And yet he counted it worthless in comparison to what Christ offered.
Philippians 3:9 (NKJV)
And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.
The second kind is the righteousness of God: not a righteousness you build up through performance, but a righteousness that comes from God and is received through faith. Paul's whole ambition was to be found in Christ possessing this second kind, not the first.
Going Deeper
The word translated "righteousness" throughout these passages is the Greek dikaiosyne, and the word translated "justified" is from the same root: dikaioo. Both carry the sense of being in right standing, declared or constituted as meeting the required standard. This matters because it shows that justification (being declared righteous) and righteousness (the state of being right before God) are two facets of the same reality, not separate events. When God justifies a person through faith in Christ, He is not pretending they are something they are not; He is constituting them as genuinely righteous in Christ. The question is not "have you improved?" but "in whom are you found?"
The key scripture for this lesson describes what theologians call the great exchange, and it is worth reading slowly:
2 Corinthians 5:21 (NKJV)
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.
Notice the two movements in that sentence. Christ, who had never sinned, was made to be sin on our behalf; He took what was ours. In return, we become the righteousness of God in Him; we receive what was His. This is not a transaction between equals. It is a wholly one-sided exchange in which the sinless party absorbs all the liability and the guilty party receives all the standing. There is nothing in this verse that requires the person receiving the righteousness to have earned or deserved it. The only connection the verse describes is "in Him." The righteousness is God's own righteousness, and it becomes yours by virtue of your position in Christ.
Caution
A common misreading of this exchange is to think that Christ merely covered over sin without dealing with it, making God politely overlook what is still there. That is not what Paul is saying. The language is more radical: Christ was made sin itself, absorbing its full legal consequence, so that what is credited to the believer is not a covered-over sin record but genuine righteousness. Paul uses the same logic in Galatians 2:21 (NKJV): "I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain." If your own moral effort could have produced adequate righteousness, the cross would have been unnecessary. The fact that God sent Christ to do what the law could not do is itself the strongest possible statement about the inadequacy of human effort.
The consistent language of the New Testament around righteousness is the language of receiving and gift, not earning and achievement.
Romans 5:17 (NKJV)
For if by the one man's offense death reigned through the one, much more those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.
Paul calls righteousness a "gift." A gift, by definition, cannot be earned. If you could earn it, it would be a wage. The same point is made through Abraham, the founding example of faith in the Old Testament:
Romans 4:3 (NKJV)
For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."
The word "accounted" means credited to his account, imputed. Righteousness was not something Abraham produced through his behaviour; it was something credited to him on the basis of his faith. And Paul's argument in Romans 4 is that Abraham functions as the pattern for all who believe, not just as a historical individual. What was true for Abraham on the basis of faith is true for every person who believes.
Note
The word "imputed" or "accounted" is a banking or accounting term in both Greek and Hebrew. It describes transferring a sum into someone's ledger; crediting it to their account. When Paul says righteousness is imputed to the believer, he is saying it is genuinely credited to them, not merely noted as a symbol. The credit is real. The standing it creates before God is real. You are not merely treated as if you were righteous while actually remaining as you were; in Christ, righteousness is genuinely yours.
Romans 10:3 describes a particular failure mode that is worth identifying clearly:
Romans 10:3 (NKJV)
For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God.
The problem Paul identifies here is not wickedness; it is ignorance of what God offers combined with the effort to produce a substitute. The person who tries to establish their own righteousness is not submitting to God's. The two approaches are mutually exclusive. You cannot simultaneously be trusting in Christ's righteousness and trusting in your own performance. The moment you try to make God accept you through your behaviour, you have moved away from grace.
Practical Tip
A useful way to examine your own footing before God is to ask this question honestly: if I fell badly and publicly next week, would I feel that my standing before God had changed? If the answer is yes, your confidence is resting on your behaviour rather than on Christ's righteousness credited to you. Your behaviour matters for reasons of love, obedience and fruitfulness; but it is not the ground of your acceptance before God. That ground is Christ's finished work, and it does not move when you do.
Going Deeper
Titus 3:4-7 (NKJV) draws together several strands that are often treated separately: "But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Note that salvation, the Holy Spirit and heirship all appear in the same breath, all rooted in grace and mercy rather than works. Righteousness by grace is not merely a statement about forgiveness; it is the doorway to a whole new status, a new nature and a new inheritance.
Work through these on your own before your group meets. Type your answers directly into the table below. Your answers are saved automatically in your browser.
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| Question | My Answer | Group Discussion Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Read Romans 3:23. Paul says "all have sinned." What does that include, and what does it rule out as a basis for comparing yourself favourably with others before God? | ||
| Read Philippians 3:9. Paul describes two kinds of righteousness. What is the difference between them, and which one does he want? | ||
| Read 2 Corinthians 5:21. Describe the exchange this verse describes. What did Christ take? What did we receive? | ||
| Read Romans 4:3. Righteousness was "accounted" to Abraham. What did Abraham do to receive it, and what does that tell you about how righteousness works? | ||
| Read Romans 10:3. What does it mean to "seek to establish your own righteousness"? Can you think of any ways people do this today without realising it? |
These questions are designed for open conversation at any level of experience. There are no trick questions and no single correct answer.
Righteousness by grace is not only a theological position. It changes the ground you stand on every day. Consider what shifts when this truth is genuinely believed.
| Context | How I Apply This |
|---|---|
| In how you approach God | Because your standing before God rests on Christ's righteousness credited to you, and not on your most recent performance, you can come to God after failure with the same confidence as after your best day. Practise approaching God after a difficult day with the same openness you would bring after a good one. The ground has not changed. |
| In how you view other people | Romans 3:23 says there is no distinction; all have sinned and fallen short. If righteousness is a gift received by faith rather than a record built by effort, then no one in the room stands on higher ground than anyone else. Let that truth actively reshape how you think about people whose moral record looks worse than yours, and those whose looks better. |
| In how you handle religious pressure | When church culture or your own internal voice tells you that you need to do more, give more or be more in order for God to be pleased with you, return to Romans 5:17. You have already received abundance of grace and the gift of righteousness. Good works flow from that gift; they do not produce it. Identify one specific area where you are striving for acceptance rather than responding to it, and bring it before God this week. |
Tap each card to reveal the answer.
What is the great exchange described in 2 Corinthians 5:21?
2 Corinthians 5:21
"He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."
Christ took our sin; we received His righteousness.
What does it mean that righteousness is "imputed" or "accounted"?
It is credited to your account, like a deposit in a ledger. It is genuinely yours, not a symbol or a pretence. Abraham's righteousness worked this way (Romans 4:3) and so does yours.
What does Romans 3:23 say about who has sinned?
Romans 3:23
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Romans 3:23 (NKJV). No distinction; no exceptions.
How does Paul describe righteousness in Romans 5:17?
Romans 5:17
"Those who receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ."
Romans 5:17 (NKJV). A gift; received, not earned.
What are the two kinds of righteousness in the New Testament?
1. The righteousness of man: built through behaviour and effort, rooted in law. 2. The righteousness of God: given as a gift through faith in Jesus Christ. Only the second meets God's standard.
What does Galatians 2:21 say would be true if righteousness came through the law?
Galatians 2:21
"For if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
Galatians 2:21 (NKJV). Human effort cannot produce what only the cross could.