It is because of who you are in Christ Jesus that you now live as God has called you to live. That is to live in the way of righteousness for which you have been created, redeemed, and sanctified by His Word and Holy Spirit; for the great salvation that your dear Lord Jesus has accomplished for you and for all people is not the abolishment of the Law, but its fulfillment. Not only does He keep all of the Commandments of God, but in doing so He also teaches you to do the same.
His teaching and His righteousness are not like those of the scribes and Pharisees. But it’s not that He dismisses the Law, which is the Word of God and the revelation of His good and acceptable Will. Jesus does not trade legalism for anarchy, debauchery, or licentiousness, as though sin and disobedience were now “okay.” He has not come to set you free from the righteousness of God, but to bring you into the glorious liberty and genuine righteousness of God’s beloved children.
The righteousness of which your Lord speaks — and for which He sets you free — is not some quantity of stuff to be purchased or sold, earned, or traded on the stock exchange. Nor is it a self-contained interior aptitude or disposition within you. There is no genuine righteousness that exists or happens in isolation from the Lord your God and the neighbors He sets alongside of you.
The righteousness of Christ Jesus is the right relationship of sonship with His God and Father in heaven. It is a relationship of faith and love, that is, to fear, love, and trust in God above all things, and, for His sake, to love your neighbor as yourself. Such living and loving proceed from within the relationship of sonship. Because you are a son of God in Christ by His grace, so do you live as a son of God by faith in Christ Jesus, sanctifying His Name in your words and actions.
This is the righteousness that the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished and fulfilled for you and for all people — from His Baptism to His Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection from the dead, even forevermore. His dying and His rising are the way and the means whereby you enter the Kingdom of heaven, and whereby you now also live with Him in His Kingdom in righteousness.
That means dying to yourself and your own self-righteousness, and rising to newness of life in Christ Jesus. And that is to speak of repentance and faith in the forgiveness of sins, which is not a mental exercise or a do-it-yourself program; it is to give attention to God’s Word, to make use of the Means of Grace, to remember and return to your Baptism by contrition and repentance, by confessing your sins and receiving Holy Absolution, and to receive and remember the Lord with thanksgiving in the Holy Communion of His holy Body and precious Blood. And all of that is not the end, but the beginning — the daily new beginning — which emerges in a new way of life.
To affirm that your righteousness before God is by His grace alone in Christ Jesus — by faith in His Gospel — is not to say that it may be kept hidden away in your heart. Indeed, it cannot be. No, the righteousness of faith before God is manifest in love before your neighbor. It is foolish to suppose that a Christian disciple of Jesus could be or live otherwise.
To refrain from love, to neglect your duties, to ignore or disobey the Commandments of God, is to deny and disavow your very identity as a child of God — like salt that is not salty, or water that is not wet. It is to disown your Father and His Family, to run away from His Home, and to set yourself outside of His Kingdom and His righteousness in Christ Jesus. It is to lose everything.
Where you have disregarded the Commandments of God, as though He had no authority over you; where you have hidden yourself away from your neighbors and their needs; where you have been concerned with lighting only your own path and progress, rather than enlightening your neighbor and glorifying your God and Father in Christ — I tell you now: Repent. Return to the Lord your God, and live before Him by faith in Christ Jesus, to the praise and glory of His Holy Name.
If you are a Christian, live as a Christian. As you are baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ — baptized into His Cross and Resurrection — die to yourself, to your sins, and to the passions of your fallen flesh, and rise with Him to live unto righteousness as a child of God. And where you have not lived as a Christian, repent of your sins, return to the significance of your Baptism, and believe the Holy Gospel, that for Jesus’ sake you are fully forgiven and righteous before God.
It is by the mercies of God in Christ Jesus that you are His own dear child, named with His Name, anointed with His Spirit, a member of His household, and a royal citizen of His Kingdom. That is who and what you are, by the grace of God, through faith in the Lord Jesus. And the simple fact is that who you are and how you live belong together, hand in glove. The righteousness of your life is an exercise and expression of the righteousness of your relationship with God in Jesus.
This is how and why it is that repentance and righteousness both result in new behavior, in keeping with the Commandments of God. In Christ Jesus you are a new creation, a new person, a new man, woman, or child — not in isolation, not independent of other people, but within your relationship with God, and so also in a brand new relationship with all of your neighbors. You think and speak and act differently, because, by the Word and Spirit of your God and Father, you have the heart and mind of Christ Jesus. It is no longer you who live, but Christ lives in you.
This is truly an amazing new reality, which you could not accomplish or achieve for yourself. It is given to you by the gracious adoption of God. You do not storm the gates of heaven with your good works, but you do good works of faith and love because the one true God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, has called you to be His own, has brought you into His Home, and has established you within His Kingdom of grace. Indeed, not only do you live with Him, but in Him; and He now lives and moves in you.
The Commandments of God, from the greatest to the least, describe this Life of God in human flesh. It is the Life of His children, of His people, of His family, on earth as it is in heaven, because it is the Life of Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son, for you and for all. It is the Life that is lived in His Kingdom, in which you now live by His grace through faith in His Gospel. It is a Life that can be seen, which fills the whole House with the Light of Christ to the glory of the Father.
What shall your new Life in Christ look like? Instead of using and manipulating your neighbor, set her free and serve her. Instead of hoarding what you have and contriving to get more and more from your neighbor for yourself, share what you have, and use whatever God has given you to care for the people around you. Instead of entertainment and personal pleasure, invest yourself in your relationships and in your actual callings, where God has stationed you. Befriend and benefit your neighbor, rather than avoiding her. Provide for both body and soul, with tangible gifts of money, food, and clothing, and with forgiveness for those who trespass against you, rather than holding grudges and harboring bitterness. Be at peace with all people. Let your gentleness and kindness be evident to all. In the confidence of Christ Jesus, sacrifice yourself in order to serve others.
The great Mystery of His own Cross and Sacrifice is the culmination of His divine righteousness, the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets. It is the righteousness of God Himself, acting entirely in Love, in accordance with His own divine nature and the very Being of the Holy Trinity. It is the righteousness of perfect faith and love on the part of the Son for His Father — not hidden away within the inner Life of the Godhead, but manifested in His own Body on the Cross.
In this way He keeps the Commandments of God and brings them to completion, and He catechizes you to live in the same way: Not that you become the Savior of the world, but that you are crucified and raised with Jesus, and that you live now in righteousness and purity, in faith toward God, and in love for your neighbor. His teaching and catechesis are by instruction and example, to be sure, but more than that, they are the living and active Word of His Cross, whereby He puts you to death and brings you to life in Himself. His Cross, therefore, is not only your crucifixion, but also your Atonement and Redemption, your Reconciliation with God and neighbor, and your Righteousness forever in His bodily Resurrection from the dead. You live, because He lives.
This same Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is your Righteousness and Sanctification, who goes before you through death into life; indeed, He goes with you all the way. He has opened up the way for you to enter the Kingdom of heaven. Not only that, but He has become the Way, by which you have access even now to the Holy of Holies, to the Mercy Seat, and to God the Father. So do you live as a child of God by faith in His forgiveness, by His Word and Holy Spirit. And the same Lord Jesus Christ, who goes before you into Glory, also guards and keeps you on your right and on your left, and as your rear guard, to preserve you steadfast in His Righteousness and Peace, unto the Resurrection of your body and the Life everlasting of your body and soul in Him.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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