It’s easy for us to think of salvation as being a free gift of grace, but righteousness is often a different story. Yet righteousness before God comes exclusively as a free gift from Him as well. Here’s how Paul puts it: “… those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ.” (Romans 5:17). Truly magnificent, isn’t it? But as wonderful as this is, it’s merely the starting point in our walk of faith.
The question is how the reality of God’s righteousness, having now become our own, plays out in the believer over the course of his life. What about our old nemesis: sin? How is it that God can allow our ongoing struggle with sin to exist right alongside the awesome position of righteousness we now have in Christ? The incredible gift of God’s grace has everything to do with it! In Christ, God has actually caused us to die to sin itself.