Righteousness: Connecting with God and One Another - Part 1

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  Ephesians 2:8,9

So the first thing we need to do is understand righteousness by faith. What is righteousness? As I continue to look up every instance of the word "righteousness" in the Bible, I am discovering that it means something much more than the definition with which I grew up as a Christian: right-doing. 

In defining it as right-doing, we have caught the creature by the tail. The tail end of righteousness is right-doing, but the heart of righteousness is connection--connection with God. Over and over in my word study, the word "righteousness" appears in a context centering around the same three things: God's overwhelming greatness, our overwhelming weakness, and a saving connection that God desperately desires and sacrificially offers to us. Ellen White referred to Jesus as "Christ our Righteousness." 

Righteousness at its heart is not an object, perfect record, or ability to behave that Christ gives us. Righteousness is Christ Himself. We desperately need to be near God the Father because He is our only Source of life. Christ is the glue that sticks us where we need to be. Christ is the Glue that connects us with God the Father.
--Steven Winn