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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Dec 10, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 50.

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Editorial

By Editor

An Indivisible Righteousness

RIGHTEOUSNESS is the gift of God through Christ. By the acceptance of this gift we become partakers of the divine nature, and the divine character may be revealed in our flesh.
The righteous character of God was interpreted to the world in his Son, and the experience of Christ in the flesh testifies to the meaning of God’s righteousness as wrought out in a perfect human life.
The gift of righteousness to cover our sins is a gift of character, and the substitution of righteousness in place of sin is an exchange of nature rather than an exchange of deeds. The righteousness of Christ is not divided into ten specific parts, corresponding to the ten commandments; and forgiveness for the violation of any specific commandment does not come by substituting Christ’s keeping of that special commandment in the place of our violation of it. The righteousness of Christ is an indivisible character. No matter in what specific act sin may be revealed, it demands the righteousness of Christ as a whole to make satisfaction for it, and to render us faultless in the sight of God.
Thus it is the being of Christ rather than the doing of Christ which constitutes his righteousness, and the provision of the gospel is that we should receive Christ himself as our righteousness rather than any mere act of his.
It follows, from these considerations, that there is no such thing as a Sabbath-keeping righteousness, or a non-stealing righteousness, or a non-killing righteousness, or a non-coveting righteousness, to be received in certain quantities corresponding to the extent to which certain commandments have been violated; and we are not justified after breaking the fourth commandment, by the mere act of Christ in keeping the fourth commandment, and so of any other commandment; but rather we are made righteous, no matter what the specific character of the sin to be repented of may be, by the acceptance of the righteousness of Christ,—an indivisible righteousness,—a righteousness which is not the sum of certain specific right acts, but which is the very essence of the divine character,—that character which the Son shared with the Father before the world was, and which he has brought within the reach of sinful men by himself being made in the likeness of sinful flesh.
A proper understanding of these principles will save us from some incorrect reasoning and some false teaching concerning that great central truth of the gospel, the gift of righteousness for the forgiveness of sins.