In Chapter 1 of his letter to the church in Rome the apostle Paul says …. “for in it (the gospel) the righteousness of God is revealed”. Jesus is God’s ‘rightness’. He is completely without wrongdoing because he was and is and always will be God. He always does what is right. The Law and the Prophets (the Old Testament writings) pointed to Him and now He has been fully revealed to us.

All mankind is naturally self righteous ……. trying to justify ourselves by what we do or what we have achieved. In this passage we see that receiving by faith, what Jesus has accomplished for us on the cross removes any need for a righteousness of our own. Its like a change of clothes.

Jesus laid aside His heavenly glory, took on flesh and then gave Himself up to an agonising death in order to give us God’s righteousness. It could be called an ‘exchange’ of righteousness. This offer is free to all people without distinction because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”