Enjoy and Experience Christ as our Objective and Subjective Righteousness Today

In order for us as believers in Christ to be awarded with Christ as our crown of righteousness in the next age, we must experience and enjoy Him as our subjective righteousness, as our lived-out righteousness in this age.

We need to have not only Christ as our objective righteousness for our justification before God but even more Christ as our subjective righteousness, our lived-out righteousness today. Amen!

The principle in the New Testament is that we are being rewarded with a fuller measure of what we already have.

If today we experience and enjoy Christ as our subjective righteousness, we will be rewarded with Him as our crown of righteousness in the next age.

But if we today do not live out Christ, if we don’t express Christ, and if we build up our own righteousness, we will not receive the crown of righteousness in the coming age.

Our reward is Christ Himself to a fuller degree, even the fullest degree of the enjoyment of Christ in the millennium age and for eternity.

Therefore, today we need to enjoy Christ, eat Christ, drink Christ, enjoy Christ, and experience Christ so that He will become our reward in the coming age and our eternal portion as the New Jerusalem. Amen!

The New Testament is clear that it is not enough for us just to be saved; it is very good, even vitally necessary, that we are saved, for this will ensure that we do not go to the lake of fire but will be with the Lord for eternity.

But there is the next age, the age of the kingdom of one thousand years, and our entrance into that kingdom to rule and reign with the Lord is dependent on our living today.

On one hand, praise the Lord, we are saved by the Lord, and our salvation is eternally secure; we are saved by grace through faith, and there’s nothing we can do to change that.

As long as we believe into the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, repent, and confess Him as our Lord, we are saved.

However, what about our life after our salvation?

Many Christians think that they can live the best they can, trying to glorify God through their talents or abilities, and they think that this will get them a reward in the heavens.

Some Christians today think that they need to preach the gospel to the whole earth to get everyone saved, and this will get them the reward.

Still, some other Christians think that they need to debate others and convince them of their sin and how wrong they are, for only the Bible is the unique standard of morality and ethics.

What the New Testament shows us, however, is that we need to run the Christian race with endurance so that we may finish triumphantly and receive the crown of righteousness at the Lord’s coming.

The Lord may not want us to do a great work outwardly for Him or change society to bring them back to the morals in the Bible, but He definitely wants us to enjoy and experience Him subjectively so that He becomes our life, our person, and our living for the manifestation of God in the flesh.

In a sense, it is not that difficult to do this or that for the Lord outwardly, but it is much harder to inwardly open to Him, check with Him about all things, be in His word in a prayerful way, and allow the Lord to deal with the different problems in us so that He may be expressed through us.

May we be those who cooperate with the Lord today for His inner working so that we may run the Christian race with endurance and triumphantly finish the course to receive the crown of righteousness upon His return. Amen!

Christ is our Objective Righteousness for us to be Justified before God at the time of our Repenting and Believing into Christ

How we thank and praise the Lord for saving us! It is by His mercy and grace that we have heard the gospel, turned our heart to the Lord, repented of our sins, and believed into the Lord Jesus!

This had nothing to do with our efforts, our zeal for God, or our desire to be better so that we please God; this had everything to do with His grace and mercy.

It pleased God to reveal His Son in us, and we are now believers in Christ (Gal. 1:16).

We were born not of the flesh or the will of man but of God to be children of God, those who are born of God (John 1:12-13).

Before we were saved, we were sinners, living in sin, falling short of the glory of God and estranged from the promises of God (Rom. 3:25).

But at one point, we believed into the Lord and repented of our sins, and we became children of God.

What happened at the time of our regeneration was truly marvellous, both on the objective and on the subjective side.

Subjectively, we received God in Christ as the Spirit to be our new life, the divine life in our spirit.

God came into us as the Spirit to be joined to us as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), and we were born of the Spirit to be spirit (John 3:6).

Wow, this is truly amazing, for now Christ is not only in heavens but also in us – Christ in us, the hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

On the objective side, as soon as we believed into the Lord and repented of our sins, God made Christ our righteousness.

We were justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. 3:24).

Before we were saved, we were unrighteous and unable to approach God, for He is righteous, holy, and glorious.

But when we believed into Christ, He became our objective righteousness for us to be justified before God.

God made Christ our righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21).

This is shown in the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15; he wandered away from his father, squandered his possessions and lived in dissolution, but when he returned with a repentant heart, the first thing the father did was to cover him with the best robe.

This best robe is Christ as our objective righteousness. Christ is our objective righteousness for us to be justified before God at the time of our repenting unto God and believing into Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27).

This happened in the spiritual realm, and again, it has nothing to do with our merits, our efforts to please God, or our work; it is all of God and of Christ.

Just as Abraham believed God and this was considered to him as righteousness, so at the time of our believing into Christ, as we acknowledge that we are sinful and need the Lord as our Savior, God made Christ our righteousness objectively.

Now we can fellowship with God in Christ and because of Christ, because God sees us in Christ.

Because we believe into Christ, we are covered by Christ as our righteousness.

God’s Christ is our righteousness – He is our beautiful and glorious dress, qualifying us to stand before God and fellowship with Him.

This is all by the grace of God and through faith in Christ.

Though this happened initially in our Christian life, when we believed into the Lord Jesus, we today can still experience Christ as our righteousness objectively whenever we repent and apply the blood of Christ.

Day by day we sin and commit trespasses, for we do not yet constantly live in our spirit, one with the Lord.

So we return to the Lord under His shining, and we repent of our sins, believing that His precious blood cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7, 9).

By faith, Christ becomes our righteousness before God and we can go on with the Lord.

This is the first aspect of Christ as our righteousness – Christ is our objective righteousness before God to justify us and cover us as our glorious dress.

Lord Jesus, we praise You for becoming our righteousness objectively before God at the time of our repenting unto God and believing into Christ. Hallelujah, God’s Christ is our righteousness, our glorious and beautiful robe covering us before God! Amen, Lord Jesus, we believe into You and we take You as our righteousness today. We acknowledge that we still sin and commit trespasses; oh Lord, cleanse us with Your precious blood. Apply the blood to our being again and again and be our righteousness before God. How much we need You as our objective righteousness covering us before God as the best robe qualifying us to come forward to God and enjoy His riches! Amen, Lord Jesus, we do not want to improve ourselves or do many good works so that we may be pleasing to You; we simply take You as our righteousness before God and we want to live one spirit with You today. What a glorious dress we have: Christ as our objective righteousness for our justification before God!

Christ is our Subjective Righteousness as the Living out of Christ in us for the Manifestation of God

Having Christ as our objective righteousness is wonderful, but we need to realize that there’s one more garment, Christ as our subjective righteousness, which we need to have.

For us to be awarded with Christ as our crown of righteousness in the next age, we must experience and enjoy Christ as our subjective righteousness in this age; He must be our lived-out righteousness today.

There are two aspects of righteousness, both of which are Christ in different aspects enjoyed and experienced by us.

We already have Christ as our objective righteousness before God by believing into Christ, but we need to also have Christ as our subjective righteousness as the living out of Christ in us for the manifestation of God.

We see this second aspect in Phil. 3:9, where Paul said that he wants to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness which is out of the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.

Paul used to be found by others in the Jewish religion, having the righteousness given to him by obeying the law.

But now he realized that this is worthless, for only the righteousness given to him by God matters, and this is by faith in Christ.

So he wanted to be found in Christ, not in the law, and to live by faith, not by keeping the law.

Paul did not want to have righteousness given to him by his works according to the law but the righteousness which is out of faith, Christ living in him for the manifestation of God.

We do not have to try to fulfil what the law says so that we build up our own righteousness; we need to simply live out Christ as our subjective righteousness in order to have this second garment covering us. It is by faith in Christ.

Faith issues from our knowing and appreciating Christ; faith is simply Christ Himself infused into us through our appreciation of Him.

He becomes our faith, and by faith we are brought into an organic union with Christ.

The righteousness which is out of God and based on faith is the righteousness that is God Himself lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ.

In other words, Christ is our subjective righteousness as we live out Christ to manifest God.

The basis is faith; we don’t try to live Christ or express Him but remain in an organic union with Him so that He may live in us and we may live by faith (Gal. 2:20).

By faith we receive and possess the righteousness out of God, the highest righteousness, which is Christ (1 Cor. 1:30).

When we have Christ as our subjective righteousness, we can testify one with Paul, For me, to live is Christ (Phil. 1:21).

Day by day we need to take Christ as our objective righteousness before God by faith in Christ, and we also need to remain in the organic union with the Lord so that we may live Christ as our subjective righteousness.

We need to not only be justified by faith in Christ but even more, experience Christ as our subjective righteousness daily, even to become the righteousness of God.

This means that we become the same as God in His righteous nature and in His righteous life.

There’s a mingling here, an incorporation, and a constituting work going on in each one of us who love the Lord and experience Him day by day.

We no longer want to be found in our own righteousness given by working out the law – either the law of God or a self-made law according to the Bible; we want to be found in Christ, having the righteousness which is of God and based on faith.

We want to be justified not only outwardly before God by faith in Christ but also by living out Christ for the manifestation of God so that we may have Christ as our subjective righteousness.

We put on Christ as our objective righteousness, our glorious dress to cover us, and we are acceptable to God righteously, outwardly.

Also, we take Him as our life and person, living Him and being one spirit with Him in our daily living, so that He may be lived out of us as our subjective righteousness.

This is a matter of our daily living.

Daily we need to not only take Christ as our objective righteousness by faith in Him but even more, live one spirit with the Lord so that Christ may live in us and we may manifest God in our daily living.

Lord Jesus, we want to live one spirit with You today. We take You as our objective righteousness covering us before God so that we may be justified before Him by faith. We want to live in our spirit today so that Christ may live in us as our subjective righteousness. Amen, Lord Jesus, may we be found by others in Christ, not in the righteousness given by the law but in the righteousness which is of God and based on faith! Hallelujah, we can live by faith today so that God may be manifested through us! Yes, Lord, live in us today and be manifested in the flesh to become our subjective righteousness. We do not want to have our own righteousness which is out of the law but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith. Amen! May God Himself be lived out of us to be our righteousness through our faith in Christ! Amen, Lord, may You be expressed through us as we live by faith.

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 1, “Crystallization-study of the Epistle to the Romans,” ch. 5, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Fighting the Good Fight, Finishing the Course, Keeping the Faith, and Loving the Lord’s Appearing in Order to Receive the Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness (2024 ICSC), week 5, Receiving the Kingdom Reward of Christ as the Crown of Righteousness.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The Fine Linen Garment is the Righteousnesses of Christ Lived Out through Us, article via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Our need to know Christ subjectively, a portion from, The Centrality and Universality of Christ, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – God’s Christ – my righteousness, article in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – How Christ Becomes Wisdom to Us from God as Righteousness, Sanctification and Redemption, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – Our righteousness and our conduct, a portion from, Christ our Righteousness, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – God’s Righteousness as the Power of the Gospel, via, Living to Him.
  – Christ our Righteousness and Light of Life, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ becoming our righteousness, a portion from, Christ our Righteousness, Chapter 1, by Watchman Nee.
  – Sinners, Enemies, and Sons of God in Romans, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – 2 – The Ministry of the Spirit and of Righteousness (2), From chapter two of The Ministers in the Lord’s Recovery – Genuine Ministers of the New Covenant, via, Shepherding Words.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – God’s Christ, who is my righteousness, / My beauty is, my glorious dress; / Midst flaming worlds, in this arrayed, / With joy shall I lift up my head. / Lord, I believe Thy precious blood, / Which, at the mercy seat of God, / Forever doth for sinners plead, / For me, e’en for my soul, was shed. (Hymns #295 stanzas 1-2)
  – No condemnation now I dread; / Jesus, and all in Him, is mine! / Alive in Him, my living Head, / And clothed in righteousness Divine, / Bold I approach the eternal throne, / And claim the crown, through Christ my own. / Bold I approach the eternal throne, / And claim the crown, through Christ my own. (Hymns #296 stanza 5)
  – Then Christ when He comes with the kingdom from God / Will to us grant His kingship to share as reward; / Thus the Lord will His righteousness thru us maintain / And His wisdom to heavenly powers make plain. / For this the Apostle pressed on at all cost, / For the Kingdom assured that he would not be lost; / ’Tis for this he charged others, Be true to the Lord. / That the Kingdom might be unto them a reward. (Hymns #947 stanzas 5-6)