Can Christ himself be ours, and we not have his righteousness? No, blessed be God! when I have Jesus, I have him with all that he has and is. And as Christ becomes mine by faith, so also does his righteousness. Our righteousness then, primarily, is Christ himself. So the Prophet calls him: "The Lord our righteousness." So St. Paul teaches: "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth." "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption." The fact simply is that our faith lays hold of Christ with all that he is and has, and of course also of his righteousness, and the whole Christ is ours—not half a Christ, or a divided Christ—not a shadow, but a substance—not a sham or a delusion, but a reality.

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