Tim Maas Supporter Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

The righteousness of God referred to in this verse is the perfect righteousness, or holiness, or sinlessness, that God Himself possesses, and that He demands of human beings in order to be able to have eternal life in His presence.

Prior to Christ's incarnation, the means that God provided of achieving this state of righteousness was through perfect obedience to the Law that God gave to Israel through Moses.

With the completion of Christ's attainment of this perfect obedience (of which no one else had been or could be capable) during His earthly life, followed by His sacrificial death on our behalf and His subsequent resurrection, the means of attaining the perfect righteousness demanded by God changed from obeying the Law to accepting by faith the salvation that Jesus had gained for humanity. (This change was foreshadowed in the Old Testament through passages such as Genesis 15:6 -- prior to the giving of the Law -- when Abraham believed God, and God credited his faith to him as righteousness, or Habakkuk 2:4, which said that the righteous person shall live as a result of his faith.)

God still demands holiness as a condition for obtaining eternal life in His presence, but that holiness is now gained through faith in Christ, rather than by works or by obedience to the Law.

March 13 2016 • 2 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Jack Gutknecht Supporter ABC/DTS graduate, guitar music ministry Baptist church

This is an interesting question! 

How does God save people? The answer Paul gives relating to the how can be summarized as both negative and positive. First, God does not save anyone by good works (Romans 3:27-28). 

But, and this is the positive: He does save people by grace through faith in the blood of Christ (His sacrifice) (Romans 3:22, 24-25).

Law righteousness is a reward for works. Gospel righteousness is a gift through faith.

March 24 2021 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report