Righteousness and Life

What is assured to the believer in Christ?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16.

What is revealed in the gospel?

“For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.” Romans 1:17.

What has Christ brought to light through the gospel?

“But it has now been revealed through the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who has destroyed death and has brought immortality to light through the gospel.”

 2 Timothy 1:10. 

How closely are righteousness and life united?

“In the way of righteousness there is life; along the path of immortality.” Proverbs 12:28.

What does he find who follows after righteousness?

“He who pursues righteousness and love finds love, prosperity and honor.”

Proverbs 21:21. [Life]

Grace, the Spirit, and Righteousness

Through what does grace reign unto eternal life?

“So that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Romans 5:21.  

What is the very life of the Spirit?

“But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” Romans 8:10.

God’s Commandments and Righteousness

What are the commandments of God declared to be?

“May my tongue sing of your word, for all your commands are righteous.” 

Psalm 119:172.

What did Jesus declare God’s commandments to be?

“I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.” John 12:50.

Christ, Life, and Righteousness

What does the prophet Jeremiah declare Christ to be?

“In the days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.” Jeremiah 23:6.   

What does the Lord Christ declare Himself to be?

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No man comes unto the Father except through me.” John 14:6.

What did Christ indicate as essential to eternal life?

“Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments.” Matthew 19:17. 

Note - The righteousness of God, which is obtained by faith in Christ, brings with it life of God, which is inseparably connected with righteousness; and the life of God, which is bestowed upon man as a gift through his faith in Christ, is a life of righteousness – the righteousness, or right doing, of Christ.

How Life and Righteousness are Received

How is righteousness received? 

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through the one man, how much more will those who have receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:17. 

How is eternal life bestowed?

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Romans 6:23.

“Christ is the source of every right impulse. He is the only one that can implant in the heart enmity against sin. Every desire for truth and purity, every conviction of our own sinfulness, is evidence that His Spirit is moving upon our hearts.

“Jesus has said, ‘I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ Christ must be revealed to the sinner as the Savior dying for the sins of the world; and as we behold the Lamb of God upon the cross of Calvary, the mystery of redemption begins to unfold to our minds, and the goodness of God leads us to repentance. In dying for sinners, Christ manifested a love that is incomprehensible; and as the sinner beholds this love, it softens the heart, impresses the mind, and inspires contrition in the soul.

“It is true that men sometimes become ashamed of their sinful ways, and give up some of their evil habits, before they are conscious that they are being drawn to Christ. But whenever thy make an effort to reform, from a sincere desire to do what is right, it is the power of Christ that is drawing them. An influence of which they are unconscious works upon the soul, and the confidence is quickened, and the outward life is amended. And as Christ draws them to look upon the cross, to behold Him whom their sins have pierced, the commandment comes home to the conscious. The wickedness of their life, the deep-seated sin of the soul, is revealed to them. They begin to comprehend something of the righteousness of Christ, and exclaim. ‘What is sin, that it should require such a sacrifice for the redemption of its victim? Was all this love, all this suffering, all this humiliation demanded, that we might not perish, but have everlasting life?’” E.G. White, Steps to Christ, pg. 30.

There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; 

And sinners plunged beneath that flood

Lose all their r guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see

That fountain in his day;

And there may I, though vile as he,

Wash all my sins away.

Thou dying Lamb! Thy precious blood

Shall never lose its power,

Till all the ransomed church of God

Are saved, to sin no more.

E’re since my faith I saw the stream

Thy flowing wounds supply,

Redeeming love has been my theme,

And shall be till I die.

There is a nobler, sweeter song,

I’ll sing Thy power to save,

When this poor lisping, stam’ring tongue

Is ransomed from the grave.