Two Aspects of Christ being Righteousness to the Believers: Objective and Subjective

According to the New Testament, there are two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers: He is our objective righteousness before God to be justified before Him, and He is the lived out righteousness subjectively to be justified before God; we need to know and experience Christ in both of these aspects.

Lord Jesus, thank You for being our righteousness objectively covering us as our glorious dress before God. Hallelujah, when we repented and believed into Christ, He became our righteousness before God, and we are now justified before God! Praise the Lord! Oh Lord, may You be lived out of us today as our subjective righteousness daily so that we may be justified by God subjectively! We want to live Christ today as our subjective righteousness! Amen!

As believers in Christ, we need to seek to have the surpassing righteousness; we want not only the righteousness given by the law or by our human effort, but the surpassing righteousness which is of God and based on faith. We seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness; both of these are Christ.

According to the New Testament, there are four main aspects of righteousness.

First, righteousness is being right with persons, things, and matters according to God’s righteous and strict requirements. Not just being right with everything and everyone, but being right according to God’s requirements.

Even more, righteousness is the outward expression of the Christ who lives in us; He is in us as the Spirit who gives life, and He lives out of us to be our subjective righteousness, our lived-out righteousness. This is what we want to have day by day.

We want to seek God’s kingdom and His righteousness; we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. We want Christ to be lived out of us in our daily life.

Third, righteousness is a matter of God’s kingdom, for righteousness is the very foundation of God’s throne. So when we have righteousness, when Christ is lived out in us as our subjective righteousness, we are in the kingdom of God. Praise the Lord!

Finally, righteousness is being right with God in our being. The Bible says that we are becoming the righteousness of God in Christ.

Wow, we are becoming the very righteousness of God, for Christ is lived out in us to such an extent that we, human beings who were sinners but are now sons of God, are the righteousness of God in Christ! Praise the Lord!

Christ is our Righteousness both Objectively and Subjectively to Justify us before God

As believers in Christ who seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we need to see that there are two aspects of Christ being righteousness to us.

First, He is our objective righteousness covering us before God to be justified by Him, and second, He is our subjective righteousness as the Christ who is lived out of us for us to be justified subjectively before God. Amen!

God made Christ to be righteousness to us from God (1 Cor. 1:30). It is of God that we are in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God: both righteousness and sanctification, and redemption.

The first aspect of Christ being righteousness to the believers in Christ is that He is our righteousness for us to be justified before God objectively at the time of their repenting unto God and believing into Christ (Rom. 3:24-26; Acts 13:39; Gal. 3:24b, 27).

We are being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation place through faith in His blood, for the demonstrating of His righteousness.

He demonstrates His righteousness in the present time so that He might be righteous and the One who justifies him who is of the faith of Jesus.

We can never be justified by the law; we are justified only by faith in Christ, for by faith, God makes Christ our righteousness objectively.

Christ is our glorious dress before God, and whenever we sin, we can come to the Lord, confess our sins, and we are washed and cleansed from our sins (1 John 1:7, 9) and we are covered with Christ as our righteousness.

Christ is our beauty, given by God to us to be put on us as our clothing, our glorious dress; this is outward and objective, and we simply need to believe.

The second aspect of Christ being righteousness to the believers is that He is our righteousness lived out of us as the manifestation of God (Rom. 4:25; 1 Pet. 2:24a; James 2:24; Matt. 5:20; Rev. 19:8).

He not only covers us objectively before God but even more, He is our lived out righteousness, the Christ who lives in us to be expressed through us. On the one hand, when we believed into Christ, God clothed us with Christ as our righteousness.

On the other hand, by faith in Christ, He came into us to be our life and our life supply, and now He lives in us. Christ is not only covering us as our righteousness objectively before God to be justified before Him but even more, He wants to be lived out of us as our subjective righteousness!

He does this by first coming into us as our life and our everything; as we enjoy Him, experience Him, and allow Him to live in us by living in the organic union with the Lord (Gal. 2:20), Christ is lived out of us as our subjective righteousness for us to be justified subjectively before God.

This is something inward and subjective, and it has to do with our daily living before the Lord.

On the one hand, God justifies him who is of faith of Jesus; this is altogether by grace and free, by faith. It is not according to our works, so that no one can boast; it is by grace and through faith that we are justified before God.

We put on Christ through baptism as our garment, and we are justified by Him, for God sees us in Christ.

There’s nothing we can or should do to be justified before God; we just believe into Christ and put on Christ as our righteousness before God. Hallelujah!

But we need to go further and have Christ lived out of us as the manifestation of God, our subjective righteousness, for our subjective justification.

This is what the Lord speaks of in Matthew 5:20, a righteousness that surpasses that of the scribes and of the Pharisees.

We cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens unless our righteousness is a surpassing righteousness, Christ lived out in us.

We need to have a certain kind of behaviour that is not out of the works of the law or striving, but Christ living in us.

Objectively, Christ is our righteousness before God; subjectively, Christ is our righteousness lived out in us, the manifestation of God.

These two aspects of Christ as our righteousness are typified by the two garments of the queen spoken of in Psalm 45:13-14.

Solomon had a queen who had two garments; the first corresponds with the objective righteousness, which is for our justification, and the second corresponds to our subjective righteousnesses, the lived out Christ, which are for our victory (Rev. 19:8).

This subjective righteousness, even the righteousnesses of the saints, is our wedding garment seen in Matthew 22:11-12.

We need to not only understand, appreciate, and apprehend the two aspects of Christ being righteousness to the believers but even more, have Christ lived out in us as our subjective righteousness.

May we bring this matter to the Lord in prayer and allow Him to live in us for the manifestation of God!

Lord Jesus, thank You for being righteousness to us, the believers in Christ. Hallelujah, Christ is our righteousness both objectively before God for our justification and subjectively by being lived out in us! Amen, Lord, we praise You for being our objective righteousness before God. Thank You, Father God, for giving Christ to us as our righteousness by our repentance and faith in Christ! Wow, we are justified before God objectively at the time of our repenting unto God and believing in Christ, and now Christ is our glorious dress, our righteousness! Praise the Lord! Thank You, Lord! Thank You for being in us as our life and life supply to live in us and be expressed through us. Oh Lord, be lived out of us today as the manifestation of God. May we have Christ lived out in us as our subjective righteousness today. Amen, Lord, may we be justified by God subjectively as we allow Christ to live in us and be expressed through us! May we have the righteousnesses of the saints, our wedding garment, for us to be part of the bride of Christ attending the wedding feast! Amen!

Christ Died for our Redemption, the Spirit Enlightens us to Repent, and God receives us in Christ with Love

Our God is a God of love; He loves us, He wants us to be His sons, and He wants to dispense all His riches into us.

However, God is also righteous; He cannot override His righteousness because of His love.

This is why in Luke 15 we have not only the parable of the prodigal son, which shows us the love of the Father for us; we also have two other parables.

The three parables in this chapter show us how the Triune God – the Father, the Son, and the Spirit – work together to reach out to man, gain man, bring man back to God, and qualify man to enjoy God with all His riches.

God the Father is full of love and very rich; He is the loving and caring Father who wants to give us everything He has.

When the prodigal son asked for his share of the estate, the father just gave it to him. And when the prodigal son left, the father waited for him, most likely every day, until he returned home.

When the prodigal son returned, the father didn’t even need any apologies; he embraced the son, loved him, covered him with the best robe, laid a feast before him, and received him back.

This shows us the love of God the Father toward us; His heart is full of love toward us, He always receives us back, and He is looking forward to our returning to Him.

There’s no condemnation in our Father for us; He wants to give all his riches to us and He opens His house for us to dwell in, enjoy what He is, and be His sons. How wonderful!

But this love of the Father is based on the redemption of the Son; the first parable in Luke 15 speaks of the shepherd who went and looked for the lost sheep.

Christ as the Shepherd came and laid down His life for His sheep; He died on the cross to redeem us, and He put us on His shoulder to bring us back to the sheepfold, to the Father’s house.

The prodigal son didn’t just return to the father; it was Christ as the Shepherd who went and sought him out and brought him back.

Because of the Son’s redemption, the Father can receive us in love, cover us with Christ as our righteousness (the best robe covering the prodigal son) and give us the riches of Christ as our enjoyment for us to live in the Father’s house, the church life today.

The Spirit is like the woman who lost a coin, lights a lamp, sweeps the floor, and searches for the coin until she finds it.

The Spirit lights up the lamp of the word of God, sweeping into our inward being to find us, and He does not give up until He finds us.

Then, when the Lord shines through His word enlightens us and causes us to come to our senses, we realise that in the Father’s house there are riches for our enjoyment, so we rise up from our situation and condition and return to the Father.

The Father receives us based on the redemption of Christ, and we are covered with Christ as our righteousness.

The Holy Spirit enlightens us of our sins, causing us to be convicted concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.

When we return to the Father’s house, on the Lord’s shoulders in love as the good Shepherd, there is no more sin to be taken care of: we can simply enter into the enjoyment of Christ.

Because of the Son’s seeking and dying for us and the Spirit’s sweeping and lighting up of the lamp, God’s righteousness was manifested, and now we can enter into the enjoyment of Christ. Hallelujah!

The two aspects of Christ as righteousness to the believers are typified by the best robe and the fattened calf in Luke 15:22-23.

The best robe signifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to us, the believers in Christ, to cover us outwardly as our objective righteousness before God.

The fattened calf typifies Christ as God’s righteousness given to us as our life supply for us to live out God in Christ as our subjective righteousness. Hallelujah!

Thank You, dear Lord Jesus, for coming in love to seek us out, find us, and die for us on the cross so that You may bring us back to the Father’s house. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for lighting the lamp of the word of God and sweeping in our inner being to cause us to come to our senses and desire to come back to the Lord. Thank You, Father God, for loving us, waiting for us to return, and welcoming us back in love! How wonderful it is to be loved by the Father, sought and redeemed by the Son, and enlightened by the Spirit so that we may return to God and His house to enjoy all His riches! Amen, Lord Jesus, we take You as our righteousness, our glorious dress, even the best robe that covers us before God to be accepted and justified by God. We take You as our life supply to live out God in Christ as our subjective righteousness! Amen, Lord, You are our objective and subjective righteousness for our justification before God! We seek You as our surpassing righteousness!

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 on this topic, 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, Crucial Aspects of Matthew 5 through 7 (2025 September ITERO), week 8, Seeking First the Kingdom of God and His Righteousness – day 5.
• 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)
  – All I have in Adam is but sin and death, / I in Christ inherit life and righteousness; / When in flesh abiding, Adam I express, / But when in the spirit Christ is manifest. / When I am in Adam, though I may not sin, / Unto death, a sinner, sentenced I have been; / When in Christ I need not righteously to act, / I’m already righteous, justified in fact. (Hymns #593 stanzas 1-2)
  – Once as prodigals we wandered, / In our folly, far from Thee; / But Thy grace, o’er sin abounding, / Rescued us from misery. / Clothed in garments of salvation / At Thy table is our place; / We rejoice, and Thou rejoicest, / In the riches of Thy grace. / Thou the prodigal hast pardoned, / “Kissed us” with a Father’s love; / “Killed the fatted calf,” and made us / Fit Thy purpose to approve. / “It is meet,” we hear Thee saying, / “We should merry be and glad; / I have found My once-lost children, / Now they live who once were dead.” (Hymns #43 stanzas 2-3)