Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
There has been a lot of teaching about this verse that sets forth an understanding that misses the critical point of this passage… be made righteous. It has been referred to as pointing to our “positional” standing in Christ, but that’s not what Paul is talking about here. If you keep this verse in context it is clear that he is referring to something else… “practical righteousness.”
This is where the rubber meets the road for the bride of Christ. This is where she is to “work out” (live out) the righteousness she has been given… the righteousness of Christ. This is the practical out-working of His righteousness in our daily lives. This is the working out, not of the salvation we have been given, but the sanctification we have been given.
God has placed His perfect righteousness inside us in our new spirit; our renewed spirit.
1 Cor 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:
These three – righteousness, sanctification, and redemption – have been given to us. But to just know that we have them isn’t enough. As His bride we want something more, we long for His holiness to become a part of us. We want Jesus to be formed in us. Why? Because that is God’s “perfect will” for His children.
Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.
Remember, the word predestinate (proorizo) means to determine before hand or ordain; it does not preclude free will. That is to say, God determined that those who become His children will be conformed (summorphos) or fashioned like the image (eikon) or likeness of His Son. And that image is Jesus’ character, which is the revealed character of God. That is working out our sanctification, revealing the righteousness of Christ that we were given the moment we were saved. He has “made” (kathistemi; appointed, ordained, set) us to become like Jesus.
That process involves practical righteousness. Righteousness has to become more than theory for us. It has been ordained to become an active, practical reality in our life. This is what Peter meant:
2 Peter 1:3-4 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
That’s the key; that we might be partakers of the divine nature because we “have” escaped the world’s corruption. We have been saved, therefore we are to partake of the divine nature we have been given. We are to “practically” walk out that nature as we become spiritually mature, as the character of Jesus we hold inside works its way to the outside by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Why? Just to make us better? No, so the world can see and be blessed by the Glory of God that is in us as it is released.
There is a process from regeneration to sanctification. We have been given both, however the first is what opens the door to living out the second. For the bride of Christ, it is inconceivable that the life of Jesus that is planted in her will not produce works of righteousness. We can’t allow Jesus’ righteousness to lie dormant in our heart, we must allow the Holy Spirit to bring our inward life and our outward life together through the cleansing of our heart. We must allow our positional righteousness to become practical righteousness.
Let Paul sum that up for us in his words to the Ephesian church:
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
Workmanship is poema; we are God’s poems that were written in the righteousness of Christ. We were ordained for good works and our number one good work is to become like Jesus… so others can be blessed in reading the poem God has written in our life!
Jehovah Tsidkneu… The Lord is our righteousness.