This is as clearly stated as can be. Paul is using himself as the example of someone who has come to faith in Jesus and is not depending on anything else, no matter what that is.
He not only rejected his past accolades and credentials, thinking of them as disadvantages rather than advantages, but he found that God's arrangement giving him righteousness as a gift is better.
That shifts the definition of righteousness. The Old Testament foretold this in the book of Isaiah, chapter 53, where the bible says that Christ was bruised for our transgression (Isaiah 53:5).
And there is the concept of double jeopardy, where, since Christ has been punished for our sins with the judgment of death, we now come from death to life (John 5:24).
The wrath of God was poured on Jesus; He drank of the cup of the wrath of God. Remember, He had asked for the cup (of God's wrath to pass over him (Matthew 26:39).
He drank it, so that we would drink of the water of the river of life, of the river of God's delight (Psalm 36:8, Revelation 22:1, 17).
The motivation for all these happenings is God's love (John 3:16), wherein He took the initiative in Christ to rescue us and bring us to Himself. He broke the bondage of sin and freed us.
Sin is more than what we do; it is actually a spiritual state that we inherited from Adam and Eve, as we have been called dead in sin and trespasses (Ephesians 2:1-5). And not just our own, which is plenty, but as a condition we exist in and was native to us.
It was our default setting, the setting that we came from the "manufacturer," so to speak. Now righteousness is our default setting, because we are new creatures (2 Corinthians 5:17).
So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)
When righteousness is seen as only what we do, then we have comparison between individuals, which Paul calls in this verse, "my righteousness derived from the law."
It is a form of righteousness, but not before God. It is not something you offer to God that he accepts, because He sees us in Adam, the rebellious one. And Paul's perfect observance of the law, he calls a disadvantage, because then it blinds him to his real need for a savior, thinking he can save himself.
In a similar way, Paul said a partial blindness is afflicting the Jews (Romans 11:25), seeing that some of them do not believe even after the message was preached to them. It is partial because some of them are saved, including Paul.
When Moses preached to them in Egypt that God had come down to save them and they should follow his lead, they believed after seeing the signs and the wonders.
That was physical bondage.
But Jesus came offering the ultimate freedom, the freedom from spiritual death and sin (John 8:34)(maybe they were looking for political freedom), but they could not see their need for him, even though he also did many miracles, and was also sent from the Father.
He said if they believed in him, they would go from death to life (John 5:24), offering them freedom from death, but they did not believe. He said it is through him they can be free from bondage to sin, but they did not believe. He wanted to offer them freedom so that they would not serve sin, but they did not believe.
Paul said, in this verse, that salvation is not a call to do better, but it is counterintuitive and comes as a gift from God.
- This is righteousness that comes, that is not achieved.
- Righteousness that trains your eyes on Jesus and not yourself.
- The righteousness that is perfected in Jesus.
- Righteousness that is not based on your qualification, but on Jesus' qualification,
- Righteousness based on Jesus' credentials and not our own credentials.
- A righteousness that is received, not achieved, and just as sin was not just what we do, but a spiritual stat.
- This righteousness is apart from what we do, but a spiritual state.
- Righteousness that becomes the foundation of a new relationship with God, where the old is passed away, and not just old in time, but old in essence. The old man has died with Christ, and now a new possibility is opened before us to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).
What a glorious reality in Jesus! All glory to Him! That is why the only thing that needs to be done is to be preached to; we cannot arrive at this reality through reasoning. Rather, through believing the preaching of the gospel, we move from death to life, and the door of life is opened to us.
While some would mock, some would believe and become bearers of the life of God. That is the mystery of godliness (1 Timothy 3:16), where God brings you close to him through Jesus Christ. Halleluyah!
From Addiction to Freedom by Favour Oyinloye
