- Righteousness is knowing and doing what is right. We receive righteousness from Christ. We receive forgiveness for sins, yes, but we also receive His Spirit to be overcomers. We receive the Spirit to overcome sin.
- Jesus came to take away sin. His blood cleanses us from all sin, from all unrighteousness. Those are all references to 1 John.
- We are clothed in Christ’s righteousness, so that God sees His perfect Son when He looks at us, but He also transforms us into His image.
- When we are objects of wrath, before we come to the cross of Christ, we are slaves to sin. When we find Christ and the power of the resurrection in our lives, we become slaves of righteousness. We are compelled to do what is right. Our conscious demands it.
- Proverbs 11 has a lot to say about the benefits of righteousness.
- Righteous delivers from death. Sin is death, so that makes sense! Sin separates from God, so righteousness keeps us near God, another way it gives us life and spares us from death.
- Righteousness keeps our way straight. A straight way prepares the way for Jesus. That sounds like a good thing to have.
- The righteous are delivered from trouble, while the wicked walk right into it. The Lord keeps the righteous. He keeps His own and the wicked one will not touch him.
- The righteous know when to keep their mouth shut, which spares them many troubles in and of itself.
- A whole city is blessed when the righteous dwell there.
- There is a sure reward for the righteous, which might go with this other verse, that we are a delight to the Lord when we do what is right, when we are blameless before Him.
- We are also assured the blessing of our righteousness is passed onto our children and they are delivered too.
- The promise of the righteous is not just for the future; it’s for today. We are “repaid on earth.”
