Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:21; Col. 3:4; John 11:25; 1 John 5:11-12
Ⅰ
To the believers Christ is righteousness—1 Cor. 1:30; Phil. 3:9; 2 Cor. 5:21:
A
Christ Himself is our righteousness, for God has made Christ, the embodiment of God, our righteousness—1 Cor. 1:30.
B
Christ is both our objective and subjective righteousness—Rom. 3:24-26; 4:25; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8:
１
As our objective righteousness, Christ is the One in whom we are justified by God—Rom. 3:24-26:
ａ
Objective righteousness is the Christ we received when we believed in Him in order to be justified by God—v. 26.
ｂ
In Christ as our objective righteousness before God, we are justified, approved by God according to the standard of His righteousness—Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27.
２
As our subjective righteousness, Christ is the One dwelling in us to live for us a life that can be justified by God and that is always acceptable to Him— Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8:
ａ
Subjective righteousness is the indwelling Christ lived out of us as our righteousness in our daily living—Gal. 2:20; Phil. 1:21a; Matt. 5:20.
ｂ
When we live this Christ and express Him, He becomes our daily right-eousness—John 6:57b; Phil. 1:21a; Rev. 19:8.
ｃ
As believers, we need not only to receive Christ as our righteousness objectively but also to live Him as righteousness subjectively—Luke 15:22-23.
ｄ
The subjective righteousness in Philippians 3:9 is God in Christ becom-ing our daily living, a living that is right with God and man:
⑴
We should not live in our own righteousness, the righteousness that comes from self-effort; our own righteousness is the expression of ourselves, the living out of ourselves—v. 9.
⑵
The living that is right with both God and man is God in Christ as our expression in our daily living, God in Christ lived out through us—1:20-21a; 3:9.
ｅ
The Christ who is our subjective righteousness is our life (Col. 3:4); He is the One whom we live and express as righteousness; this is the sur-passing righteousness mentioned in Matthew 5:20.
C
Christ as our righteousness is related to the believers' experience and enjoy-ment of Him; the more we contact Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him, the more righteous we become in Him—1 Cor. 1:30; 10:3-4; 6:17.
D
We need to be reconciled to God to such an extent that we become the right-eousness of God in Christ—2 Cor. 5:18-21:
１
Not only are we justified by God (Gal. 2:16)—we actually become the right-eousness of God—2 Cor. 5:21.
２
In resurrection Christ comes into us as life, and as life He lives within us to constitute us into the righteousness of God—Gal. 2:20.
３
The phrase in Him in 2 Corinthians 5:21 denotes union with Christ, not only positionally but also organically in resurrection; in the organic union with Christ we are made the righteousness of God.
４
To become the righteousness of God in Christ is to become right with God in our being; this is to have an inner being that is transparent and crystal clear—an inner being in the mind and will of God—v. 21.
Ⅱ
To the believers Christ is life—Col. 3:4; John 11:25; 1 John 5:11-12:
A
Colossians 3:4 speaks of "Christ our life":
１
Christ is God and also life; the life which is God, the life that God is, is in Christ—John 1:4; 1 John 5:11-12.
２
The Lord Jesus said that He is life and that He came so that we may have life—John 11:25; 10:10.
３
He who has Christ has life, and Christ now dwells in the believers as life— 1 John 5:11-12.
B
Life is a person, Christ the Son of God; since the divine life is a person, we should contact Him, love Him, experience Him, enjoy Him, be one with Him, live Him, and express Him—vv. 11-12; John 11:25; 14:6; 1 Cor. 6:17; Phil. 1:20-21a.
C
The fact that Christ is our life is a strong indication that we are to take Him as life and live because of Him—John 6:57b; 14:19:
１
We should live Christ in our daily life in order to experience the univer-sally extensive Christ revealed in the book of Colossians—1:15-19; 2:2, 9, 16-17; 3:10-11.
２
If we take Christ as our life and live Him, then all that He is and has attained will not remain merely objective to us but will become our subjective experience—1:27; 3:4.
D
The life of God is the life of Christ, and the life of Christ has become our life and thus is subjective to us to the uttermost—v. 4; John 5:26:
１
It is impossible to separate a person from the life of that person, for a per-son's life is the person himself; thus, to say that Christ is our life means that Christ has become us and that we have one life and living with Him— 14:6a; Phil. 1:21a.
２
With Christ as the believers' life there are three characteristics:
ａ
This life is a crucified life—Gal. 2:20.
ｂ
This life is a resurrected life—John 11:25.
ｃ
This is a life hidden in God—Col. 3:4; Matt. 6:1-6, 16-18.