Part 2 of 31 from "Christ our Righteousness".
By Carl Oluf Rosenius.
(1816-1868)
Translated from ekris.net
“And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace” Romans 11:6.
Therefore it’s as Luther says: No sin is able to weaken the grace and righteousness which the believers possess with God, and no good works can increase that. As long as they continue in the faith in Jesus, God sees them in him – his only begotten Son – equally righteous and perfect at all times.
If the righteousness of Christ wasn’t always a perfect righteousness, I might never know how much piety I myself had to carry out in order to fulfil the demands and goals of the law.
In the Word we see, ´That a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law`. And there we find, that if you by faith remain in Christ – puts your heart’s trust in him only – then you are equally righteous at any time before God – in your strongest as well as in your weakest moments.
Whether you stumble and fall into sin, or you receive grace to be victorious and do good works.
Whether you flare up in anger, or you get strength to be patient in the trial.
Whether your heart is cold as ice, or it overflows with love.
Yes, whether you laugh, or cry – you are always equally righteous before God – in Jesus.
Horrified all common sense and feeling protest against words like these! After all this is irresponsibility! That thought is so ingrained with all of us, that works must mean something for our salvation and our righteousness before God.
But, ´if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!` Galatians 2:21b.
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Translation Gert Gravgaard
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In Danish and in English as pdf-files here.
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