Devotion 9

Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness. – Romans 4:3

During my devotion yesterday I revisited Romans 4, then I read more about 'Justification by Faith' and came across a topic on the difference between ‘imputed righteousness’ and ‘inherent righteousness’.

Inherent Righteousness would be good things you do for God or good things God does in you, which is not the ground of your justification. God does not declare you righteous because He has transformed you into a good person or because you have done good works to earn righteousness before Him.

Instead, you are declared righteous before God on the basis of someone else's righteousness, Christ's, that God lays to your account and gives you credit for. Imputed Righteousness is something that is external to you and is given to you by someone else.

It is hard not to ask for credits for the good things we see in ourselves or we do to others. Many times I’m self-justifying, based on the progress I made in character formation, acts of forgiving or loving... Once again I should remind myself of Ephesians 2:8-9:

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast.”

& Philippians 3:9(b):

“... not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ – the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.”