By Doug Mamvura
Righteousness is the key word in Paul’s epistles. It is a gift (Romans 5:17-19). You don’t have to fast to be righteous.
It means the ability to stand in the Father’s presence without the sense of fear, condemnation, or inferiority. Here is a promise of it. Isaiah 54:13-14: “And all your children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness shall they be established: you shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near you.”
The greatest blessing of the new creation is to be established in righteousness, to acquire a righteousness consciousness. We have a sin consciousness. Sadly, most ministers of the Gospel are the ones who cause this by preaching intimidating messages about sin instead of focusing on the goodness of God which turns man to repentance (Romans 2:4).
What a sense of victory, of freedom would be ours if we knew that we were the righteousness of God and were established in that fact. Sin consciousness has made slaves of the human race. It has destroyed the initiative in multitudes. It has been the oldest and most persistent enemy of faith. You cannot have faith in the Word when you are under condemnation. You see righteousness means the ability to stand in the presence of God. What would sonship be worth if we did not have righteousness?
The Father would have no pleasure in His children because they would be shrinking, cowardly, fearful beings. The children would never enjoy the Father’s presence. No redemption would be worth the name that did not include righteousness. No new creation and sonship would be worth the title, if righteousness did not become a part of it.
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The objective of the redemption that God wrought in His Son was to make man righteous. That was the ultimate objective of the Father. He dared to make His Son a substitute for the human race. We were bankrupt, sold out to the adversary, hopeless. Ephesians 2:12 describes it, “That you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.” Hopeless, Godless, but here, God now lays upon His precious Son the iniquities of us all.
He not only paid the penalty of our transgression, but He conquered our enemy and master, Satan, and stripped him of his authority; then made recreation a possibility on legal grounds, Now God can give to man eternal life, His own nature. He drives out of man the old nature, the old self; and He gives him a new self, a new nature. Man becomes a new species as one transforms, (2 Cor. 5:17).
The old man that is recreated is the human spirit. Then God renews his mind, bringing it into subjection to this recreated spirit. The new man gains the ascendancy over the senses, or the physical body, and becomes a master of himself in Christ. This new man now has become the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Cor. 5:21). “Him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” You see, we become righteous by receiving a new nature. Israel had righteousness reckoned to them, set to their account, but the new creation has God Himself as their righteousness.
Romans 3:26. “That he himself might be righteous and the righteousness of him who has faith in Jesus.” Not only does the Lord Himself become our sponsor and our righteousness, but in I Cor. 1:30 we read, “But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who was made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.” Now we are sure He is our righteousness, because God made Him to be.
If language means anything, we have a legal right now to stand in the Father’s presence just as though sin had never been. II Cor. 9:10 is now clear. “And he that supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness.” Jesus said, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” The vine is righteous and the branch is the righteousness of the vine.
Therefore, the fruits that the vine would naturally bear through the branches, will be called the fruits of righteousness. Those fruits will be the same type of fruit that Jesus bore in His earth walk.
We bear another kind of fruit. We lead men to Christ, which gives them eternal life. We can lead men into the depths of the knowledge of God’s righteousness that He wrought in Christ for them. We can do things for men’s spirits that Christ could not do. You see, He had not yet died and paid the penalty for our sins, making the new creation possible.
We can have this spiritual fruitage in Christ. This being established in righteousness gives us a foundation on which to stand and a reliance in our outlook on life. You see, man has always been a servant of the Devil, a cringing slave. This new creation, with this righteousness, makes him a master. He is no longer a subject of the adversary. He is now a master. He does not talk of his weaknesses and failures, but rejoices in his new found ability to make the heart of the Father glad.
Now he is to act as though he knew he was righteous. He is to take advantage of the fact that he is the righteousness of God. He has a standing invitation to come into the Throne Room and visit with the Father at any time. Hebrews 4:16. “Come boldly unto the throne of grace.” He knows he is the righteousness of God, just as clearly as that young woman knows she is married to her husband after the ceremony is performed. She holds the place of wife in their home. The two have become one.
This new creation knows that he is the righteousness of God, and that he has the legal right to the use of the Name of Jesus. He knows the Name has all authority. By his union with Christ, he has become not only an heir to the authority in that Name, but he has become a present holder of that authority. He may use it now. When Jesus said, “All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth,” that authority was for the new creation, not for Himself. This righteousness makes a man actually one with Christ.
It has given to man a creative ability, a dominating spirit. He is an overcomer. He is a master. The new love life of the Master has taken possession of him. He has become an actual Jesus man. He takes Jesus’ place on earth. He is not like the men under the Old Covenant. They had limited righteousness. He possesses unlimited righteousness. They had righteousness reckoned to them. This righteousness is imparted to him; it is the very nature of the Father. We have become righteous by the new creation. This new wonderful righteousness makes us fit companions of Jesus, and will fit us for our eternal fellowship with the Father through the ages. This is really the genius of redemption. The miracle of the new creation. Now dare to think of yourself as being exactly what the Father says you are. Dare to go into the Father’s presence with fearless joy, making your request known to Him. You see, He is your Father, you are His child. In the name of the Redeemer, you have access to the Father’s presence at any time. “Whatsoever you ask in my name, I shall give it you.” We are not honoring our place as sons, or our standing in righteousness unless we take our place. Let us make the Father, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit proud of us.
- Dr Doug Mamvura is a graduate of Charis Bible School. Feedback: drdoug@corporatemomentum.biz or Twitter @dougmamvura