I'm Always Right...and So Are You

How Grace Frees Us from Our Righteousness

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it?

-Romans 6:1,2

In the book of Romans, Paul unpacks the good news that Jesus died for us, ‘while we were yet sinners’. After expounding on the gift of justification by faith, he anticipates the likely question of whether we should ‘continue in sin’ to increase the freely given grace of God. He considers whether the law of God still matters for daily living or whether we now have a license to live as we please. Freedom in Christ does not mean we can do whatever we want. Nor does it mean that all we want to do now is delight in God…all the time…no matter what. Though I truly wish the latter was possible in this life, grace ultimately means that the I who wants to 'do what you will' (Gen 3:5) has died.

Writing to the Galatian churches, Paul proclaims, "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live..." and yet the I Paul references here is the 'good' I...the morally righteous I, whom Paul tells us in the book of Philippians, excelled at an outward version of keeping the law. Perhaps you can relate…I know I can. In my own life, the greatest distractions from seeking to know Christ, flow not so much from the obvious vices and evils the flesh is predisposed to pursue, but rather from an over-reliance on what we would consider ‘godly living’ - i.e. a consistent prayer life, regularly memorizing Scripture, applying Biblical principles to life situations, etc. While such endeavors can serve to help us to better understand our identity in Christ and the riches of our heavenly inheritance, we can also easily confuse these disciplines as the essence of our righteousness. And there is no greater cause for life-draining misery than the campaign to be right - i.e. the quest to be good. I know this from experience…

Contrary to the gross caricature many portray, grace does not give us an alleged 'license to sin'. Being under grace means we have died to sin. We can no longer bear its fruit no matter what we do or how we live. The good fruit of righteousness is now and ever shall be completely dependent on God's doing in Jesus Christ, not on our assumed adherence to the law. In fact, we have died to the law and are now free…but not free to be lawless…free because we have kept the law in Jesus Christ. Grace does not mean 'we can do whatever we want now'. Grace means Christ did whatever God wanted...and imputed this righteousness to your account. Under grace, you have everything you need because you stand forgiven of your incessant need to be right. Isn’t it nice to be right about something for once in your life?