The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1911, Page 81

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Che Lutheran Pioneer,

A MISSIONARY MONTHLY:

PuslisHED BY THE EvanGenicaL LutneraN SynopicaL CoxFERENCE oF Nori AMERICA.
R. A. BISCHOFF, Epiror.

Entered at the Post Office at St. Louis, Mo., as second-class matter.

Vol. XXXILI. Ss

Christ, the Rock.

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness ;
- Midst all the hell 1 feel within,

On His completed work I lean.

On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand,

All other ground is sinking sand.

no ee

The Righteousness of Christ.

God’s Law requires righteousness, perfect right-
cousness; but we are unrighteous, wholly unright-
eous, sold under sin. Of the children of men it is
written: “There is none righteous; no, not: one.”
And, “There is no difference, for they all have
sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” So
man is just the reverse, the opposite of what the
Law wants him to be. The Law requires righteous-
ness, and we are unrighteous; it demands holiness,
and we are unholy. ‘Therefore we are condemned
by the Law. For it is written : “Cursed is every one
that continueth not in_all things which are written
in the book of the Law to do them.” “The wages of
sin is death.” “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
As sure as God is God, punishment must follow sin.
Where, then, shall the condemned soul flee for
refuge from the terrible curse that the holy God
has laid upon sin?

The Gospel tells us of the righteousness of Christ
with which we can stand before God and be eternally
saved. What is this righteousness of Christ? It is
the righteousness which Christ secured for us by
His perfect obedience to the Law of God, fulfilling
all its demands and bearing its curse in our stead.

As our Substitute, Christ was made under the
Law and fulfilled for us all righteousness in His

r. LOUIS, M0., NOVEMBER, 1911.

life of holiness. What we sinners could not do, He,
the Holy One, did for us. And He did it all, all
that the Law demands. He left nothing undone.
His obedience was a perfect obedience. Of Him the
Father said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I
am well pleased.”

Christ was obedient to the Law also by bearing
its curse in our stead. God laid upon Him the iniq-
uity of us all, and made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us, that we might be made the righteous-
ness of God in Him. “Christ hath redeemed.us from
the curse of the Law, being made a curse for us,”
says the apostle. It is a full redemption, for Christ’s
obedience was a perfect obedience. He was “obe-
dient unto death, even the death of the cross.” He
suffered all the punishment of our, sins, He paid
the whole penalty of our transgressions.

What Christ did and what Christ suffered was
tlie fulfillment of the Law for us. He, the Son of
.God, is the Lawgiver. He is above the Law, not
subject to the Law. But He was made under the
Law for us, to meet its demands and to suffer the
curse in our stead. Thus He, by His perfect obe-
dience in His holy life and bitter sufferings, secured
for us, for every sinner, a perfect righteousness,
a righteousness without the least spot or stain, a
righteousness which avails in the sight of God. |

This righteousness of Christ is revealed and
offered to all sinners in the Gospel. It is this that
makes the Gospel joyful tidings and the power of
God unto salvation. Hence the Apostle Paul says:
“T am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ; for it
is the power of God unto salvation to every one’ that
believeth. For therein is the righteousness of God
revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, The
just shall live by faith.” ‘The righteousness of God,
that is, the righteousness which avails before God,