RIGHTEOUSNESS BY FAITH

Scripture

For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

Devotional

In our previous study, we learnt that the Gospel is the power of God. It’s the message that declares that through Christ, you’ve been justified, made righteous, and brought into oneness with God. The Gospel shows you what God has done, who you have become, and what now belongs to you in Christ. This produces faith in your spirit.

God deals with men on the basis of faith. He brings men into righteousness, not because they qualified by works but because of faith. Consider something remarkable in Hebrews chapter eleven. The Bible lists great men of faith: Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc.

But right in that list, it also says, “By faith the harlot Rahab perished not...” (Hebrews 11:31). A harlot; yet she’s included among the heroes of faith. Why? It’s because she believed; she heard about the God of Israel, saw His representatives and believed that something had happened (Read Joshua 2:1-22). She aligned herself with God’s people, and when Jericho was destroyed, she and her household were preserved.

It wasn’t her works that saved her; it was her faith. She didn’t run into the lineage of the Jews. This is the power of righteousness by faith. When it’s imparted to your spirit, everything changes. You’re no longer defined by who you were or where you came from but by what you’ve received.

In the Book of Romans, Paul unfolds this progressively. He shows the legality of righteousness, how God made it available through Christ, and then reveals its impartation into the human spirit. So, you’re not struggling for God’s acceptance. You’ve been accepted in Him.

Live with the assurance that you’re accepted, justified, and established in God, not because of what you did but because you’ve embraced, accepted and received the righteousness which is by faith in Jesus Christ: “...that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith” (Philippians 3:8-9). Hallelujah!

Prayer

Dear Father, I thank you for the righteousness revealed in the Gospel. I’m conscious that I’ve been brought into the Kingdom by faith, not by works. I walk in boldness, fully assured of my acceptance and right standing in Christ, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.