The righteousness
of God means the righteousness which God _requires_; the righteousness
of _Christ_ means obedience to His precepts, and conformity to His mind
and character. True, if I obey the Gospel, my obedience is my own, but
the _law_, or the righteousness _prescribed_, is Christ's. It is when
men make a law of their own,--when they set aside God's law, and put
some other law in its place, and expect God's blessing in consequence of
obeying that, that they trust in their _own_ righteousness. And in all
such cases men's own righteousness, in God's sight, is "as filthy rags."
But hearty, loving obedience to God's _own_ law is never regarded by Him
"as filthy rags," but as a rich adorning. Real Christian goodness is, in
the sight of God, "of great price."
"Than gold or pearls more precious far,
And brighter than the morning star."
Christian obedience is a sacrifice with which God is well pleased: "To
do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is
well pleased." He alone trusts in the righteousness of Christ who hears
Christ's words and does them,--who cultivates Christ's mind, and lives
as Christ lived, and who, in doing so, expects, according to Christ's
promise, God's blessing and eternal life.
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