In referring to Abraham's faith, Paul notes, "That is why his faith was 'counted to him as righteousness.' But the words 'it was counted to him' were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. Romans 4 is sometimes referred to as the imputation chapter as it speaks about this issue in detail. When we believe in Jesus, we confess our sins and receive His forgiveness: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). This is why the righteousness of Jesus is needed. If we all sin, cannot be right before God on our own, and the consequence of our sin is death and eternal separation from God in hell, our only hope is an outside source that will make us right.
#WHAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS MEAN BIBLICALLY FREE#
Romans 6:23 teaches, "the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Why is this important? Romans 3:23 notes, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." No one is good enough to stand before God based on his or her own righteous actions. In other words, the righteousness of Jesus is given to us when we believe in order to make us right before God. Imputed is a form of the word imputation that means to designate an action as reckoned or given to a person. His perfection is necessary because sin separates people from God. When it does and we give unreservedly, we're not just acting to demonstrate our love for the recipient of our generosity, we're also acting to show our love and appreciation for God, and to reveal Christ's love to others.What is imputed righteousness? Why does Christ's righteousness need to be imputed to us?Ĭhrist's righteousness refers to His perfect state of being. Our love for one another should follow this pattern, it should inform the how and what of our giving. God's love for us is displayed through the gifts that he gives us - His Son, mercy, salvation. But we're not driven to give primarily because of an expectation to receive (2 Corinthians 9:6) but because we have already received (John 3:16). Take again the example of the widow, it doesn't make financial sense for her to give away more than she can afford, but she does anyway.Īs Christians we can give without restraint because we know that God will take care of us and reward us abundantly. "Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly our under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver," (2 Corinthians 9:7)Ī lot of the time generosity doesn't make sense on the surface. If we're trying to be more generous, it might help if we think less in terms of a figure and more in terms of what plans or purchases we'll have to sacrifice as a result. In contrast, those who gave offerings in material excess of the widow's had given so that all could see but they had not given to the point where doing so was truly a sacrifice for them. She didn't hesitate from giving all that she had to live on because she had faith in God's promise to provide.
#WHAT DOES RIGHTEOUSNESS MEAN BIBLICALLY HOW TO#
Her act is one which isn't just an example to us of what it means to give your all to others but how to give your all to God.
The widow, a woman herself in great need, was also a great giver. A large monetary donation may appear to others to be the most generous gift, and a much smaller contribution overlooked but God sees the significance of a gift even when others don't. It's more about giving your all than it is about giving so all can see One of the lessons that we learn from the story of the widow's offering (Mark 12:40-44, Luke 21:1-4) is that generosity cannot be quantified. So what does it mean to be truly generous according to the Bible? The almost constant glare that we have on one another's activities can distort what it means to be generous for us as Christians. The way that Jesus lived his life and the examples that he gave of righteous giving show us that when it comes to being generous, we shouldn't hold back. In some cases we convince ourselves and others that we've been generous when we know that it was well within our capacity to give more. We might be cautious about how much we give in an attempt to safeguard ourselves against hard times that we're experiencing or anticipating.
Parting with our money, time and even old clothes can seem such a struggle at times. Think about the most generous person that you know? What makes them such an inspiring giver? In what ways do they embody biblical teaching on generosity?
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