What is Christian “Righteousness?”

“Righteousness” (a right standing with the Father) in Christianity is “imputed” or “gifted” righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21) earned for us by Messiah’s sinless perfection as He kept the Law (Spiritual & Written Code) in perfection, honored the Father’s mandates concerning the “Spotless Lamb” (1 Peter 1:19) and subsequently provided blood atonement as per the mandates of Leviticus 17:11 (Matthew 5:17; John 8:46; Hebrews 10).

The Christian, “born again” by grace through faith in Messiah Jesus (John 3), does become a “new creation” by faith in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17) as the conscience of the Christian is redeemed and transformed, the spiritual law written upon their heart at conception (Romans 2:14-15) is enlivened and made new with understanding, enlivened comprehension, and made applicable concerning holiness via the redeemed conscience, that redeemed conscience used by the indwelling Holy Spirit through the daily process of New Covenant sanctification to produce “fruit” that honors the Father and promotes His Kingdom work within the Realm of Time (Galatians 5); this, with eschatological ramifications concerning the restoration of holiness to His Kingdom through the destruction of Satan’s works via Messiah via the Gospel via Golgotha (Matthew 7:15-20; Galatians 5; 1 John 3:8b).

Righteousness in the New Covenant is gifted by grace (unmerited favor) through faith to the one who believes in Messiah Jesus as their Lord who died for them (John 3; 2 Corinthians 5:21). This gifted righteousness provided by Messiah makes the Christian “positionally right” with the Father who agrees by New Covenant promise to forgive and forget the sin of the one so redeemed by faith in His Son (Hebrews 8:12) and through New Covenant promise, the Christian has eternal peace with the Father as a result of the Son’s obedience and work on the Cross; this, apart from the works of the Law or self-righteousness (Romans 5:1).