Righteousness Through Christ: Why We Cannot Save Ourselves

Why Christians Cannot Earn Righteousness

Does it make you as uncomfortable as it does me, when someone says Christians should be righteous? A righteous Christian is one who keeps God's commandments. But what are they you say? We think it must be a list a mile long of do's and don'ts. Rules to follow like a play book.

But no, Jesus tells us the greatest commandments: to love God above all and to love others like yourself. But just because they are few does not make them easy. In fact, Scripture tells us that none of us have kept God's commands perfectly. That is why righteousness cannot come from ourselves.

Many people spend their lives trying to feel worthy before God. We compare ourselves to others, try harder to be better people, and carry guilt when we fail again. Deep down, many of us fear we will never truly be good enough. That is why the righteousness of Christ is such good news.

The only way you or I can be righteous is to be clothed with Christ's righteousness. We know this because we are told there is "none righteous, no not one" (Romans 3:10). The only true righteousness we can have comes through Jesus Christ, the only sinless man who ever lived and the perfect sacrifice for sin. It is not our righteousness that God sees but His Son's when we belong to Him.

Righteousness Comes Through Faith in Christ

Where does this righteousness ultimately come from? From faith. Paul explains in Romans that righteousness is received through faith, not earned through human effort. And what is faith? Hebrews 11:1 says "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hope in Greek does not mean what it means to you and I today.

Today it has the idea of being lucky. I hope something happens means that it may or may not but we sure wish that it would. In Greek, hope means that you are waiting with expectation for something you know will happen. Faith is our evidence. And faith comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). This is why Paul connects faith directly to our justification before God.

Justified by Grace Through Redemption

"for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed," Romans 3:23-25

Paul says we have been justified, at no cost, by God's grace through redemption. Paul packs several important truths into these few verses. To be justified is to be changed in status, from guilty to righteous.

And what did we have to do or pay for this to happen? Paul says nothing. That is not to say there was no cost, but it was a cost that we did not have to pay.

Now the grace of God is not earned. If it could be earned, it would no longer be grace but payment for works. We cannot do something to receive His grace. It is quite simply a gift through redemption.

Interestingly, even the modern legal understanding of a gift reflects this principle. A true gift involves three things: the giver must genuinely give it, not merely lend it; the giver must surrender control of it to the recipient; and the recipient must actually accept it. In a similar way, God freely offers His grace through Christ, but we must still receive it by faith.

What Redemption and Propitiation Mean

To be redeemed means to be ransomed. We are bought out of slavery to sin by the death of Jesus on the cross. God sent His Son to this world to die for us so we could be redeemed by His blood. We are brought into a right relationship with God and rescued from the wages of sin—death.

Redemption can sound like a difficult theological term, but the idea is actually very simple.

Imagine it this way, if you pay someone's bond to get them out of prison you have redeemed them. It was your gift to them. They did not earn it. Perhaps they were even guilty of the crime they were charged with. But you secured their freedom, most likely because you loved them.

Why would God do such a thing? Because this was the only way to restore the broken relationship of humanity to their Father. Since Adam and Eve, no one, not one person has been righteous enough to have this relationship restored (Romans 5:12-19). Only God Himself, becoming truly man while remaining fully God, could bring about this reconciliation; a family reunion between God and His children.

How Jesus Became the Perfect Sacrifice for Sin

Paul says that Jesus is our propitiation. Jesus is a sacrifice that turns away God's anger. In ancient times man brought the sacrifice to God to turn away His wrath. For example, on the Day of Atonement the Old Testament high priest would offer sacrifices to God for the sins of the people. But here, it is God who brought the sacrifice, not man. Humanity could never provide a sacrifice sufficient to remove sin completely.

The sacrifice was with blood. Jesus Himself tells us in Matthew 26:28 that His blood was poured out for the forgiveness of sins. No longer was it the blood of lambs or bulls, but the blood of God's own Son.

Paul says this is all done, "through faith." This is how we receive the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice. Faith is not just acknowledgement that Jesus exists. There is a difference between belief and true faith. Jesus tells us the devils in Hell know that. It is trusting in Him as Savior and relying on His finished work for forgiveness and salvation. His atonement brings about our reconciliation with God and will change your heart.

God’s Justice and the Gift of Grace

This entire process demonstrates God's righteous judgment. God did not ignore sin or pretend it did not exist. He is just in all things. Sin must be punished and and at the cross it was. Yet God provides a way of escape, a way to become righteous where no righteousness exists.

Paul says that God "in His forbearance God passed over previously committed sins." In the Old Testament era, he explains that our merciful God did not immediately execute the full judgment those sins deserved, but looked ahead to the cross where judgment was ultimately poured out on Christ. This forbearance is seen in God’s patience throughout history.

God is patient even when He is provoked. Israel sinned again and again but God's punishment was delayed to give them an opportunity to repent. He sent many prophets to warn them of what would happen. Even now He delays His return, not wanting anyone to miss the opportunity to repent and turn to Him.

All of this was a demonstration of God's righteousness. It was the purest form of justice. In this way He justified those who had faith in Jesus. There was no other way. Only those who have been made right through the blood of His righteous Son could live eternally with a righteous God.

This righteousness is never something we produce through our own efforts. Good works cannot create it, and they cannot replace it. But when a person is made right with God through Christ, that gift does not remain hidden. It begins to shape how they live, not as the cause of salvation, but as the result of it.

When we talk of God's free gift of salvation, for us it was just that. But that free gift came at a great cost. When we speak of our righteousness or that someone has become a righteous person, we are not saying that they have done it themselves. We are saying that the righteousness of Jesus has become theirs. God sees His holiness and calls it ours. We can never deserve such a gift and that is why it is called grace.