We’ve all been wired to seek the best in life. As human beings made in God’s image, we automatically look to improve our circumstances. With this in mind, how we improve them matters greatly. Depending on ourselves is risky because of our own imperfections and human frailties, but trusting God in this area brings vastly better results.
Righteous by Faith
Our righteousness and salvation are areas in which religion has done us a great disservice. Under the old covenant, they came by hard work and rule-keeping; however, many of us were never taught that we’re no longer living under that covenant. We’ve heard more about the Ten Commandments and Moses than the very covenant Jesus died to give us. When we finally slow down and look at what God actually said, we learn that our righteousness is no longer about what we do, but about what we believe. “Jesus told them, ‘This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent’” (John 6:29, NLT).
Paul emphatically declared that the grace of Christ is the only genuine gospel. Unlike the law, grace takes into account our flaws and shortcomings, but mixing law with grace cancels the power of righteousness Jesus gave us. Paul wasn’t preaching a human message, but revelation straight from Jesus, who was grace and truth in human form. When he warned the Galatians about turning to another gospel (Galatians 1:6-9), he was warning them about drifting back to the law.
The End of the Mosaic Law
Before Jesus, the law harshly showed people their sins, shortcomings, and their inability to ever measure up. It was never designed to be followed, but to point people to their need for a Savior. “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster” (Galatians 3:24, 25). The law was holy and good, but nobody could keep all of it—not Adam, not Israel, not the kings, not the prophets. The problem wasn’t the law, but us.
In response, Jesus came and established the new covenant, which changed everything. “But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second… For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:6, 7, 12). God changed His “Thou shalt not” commandments to “I will” promises. No striving is required; our part is simply to believe what He said.
Promises of Forgiveness and Mercy
God’s promise to give us mercy for our unrighteousness and to forget our sins is the very center of righteousness and salvation today. We aren’t forgiven because we earned it, but because Jesus paid for every sin, past, present, and future. When we believe this, something supernatural happens on the inside of us.
A shift has taken place. Under the old covenant, righteousness meant performing perfectly; under the new covenant, it means believing that God meant what He said. This gives us peace of mind because we’re reassured that God is pleased with us even when our behavior is less than perfect. “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Under the law, obedience meant rule-keeping, which didn’t require faith; by contrast, under grace it means believing in Christ and His finished works. Paul called this “obedience to the faith” (Romans 1:5). The focus is now on faith, first. What we believe will eventually impact what we do; when we believe right, we live right.
No More Self-Effort
Being more conscious of our failures than of Jesus gets us nowhere. We try to pray more, fast more, and strive harder, hoping our performance will finally qualify us. However, striving is a leftover mindset from the law. Righteousness doesn’t grow out of striving, but out of resting in what Jesus already finished.
Understanding that God has forgiven us completely makes sin-consciousness lose its grip. We stop hiding from God the way Adam and Eve did, and we start running toward Him. In that freedom, He writes His laws on our hearts and minds; not laws of performance, but desires shaped by His Spirit. He becomes our God, and we become His people from the inside out.
The Power of Forgiveness
Some fear that teaching this kind of grace gives permission to sin, but Scripture says the opposite. Grace reminds us of our righteousness and brings out the traits of godly character, such as virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, kindness, and love. The person who lacks these qualities is the one who has forgotten he was purged from his old sins.
Genuinely believing our sins are forgiven empowers us. That’s why Jesus could tell the woman caught in adultery that her sins had been forgiven and to go and sin no more. Her empowerment to change didn’t come from condemnation, but from mercy. Righteousness that comes by faith always produces transformation.
A Transformational Relationship
When we count on our forgiveness, salvation becomes more than a ticket to heaven; it becomes daily life with God even before getting there. We stop coming to Him with guilt and start coming with boldness. We stop thinking sickness or lack is punishment. Instead, we believe He’s truly our God who leads, heals, delivers, and provides for us.
This kind of righteousness also changes how we relate to others. Instead of measuring ourselves by how well we keep rules, we measure ourselves by how well we believe Jesus. Instead of beating ourselves up when we stumble, we remember the debt has already been paid. Instead of judging others, we invite them into the same grace that we enjoy.
Salvation has become simple; believe in Jesus, the one who fulfilled the law we couldn’t keep. His blood really did cleanse us once for all, His Spirit really does live in us now, and God really is present in every situation. We’re now free to live boldly and joyfully.
