What does the phrase I am the righteousness of God in Christ means?

Question:What does the phrase I am the righteousness of God in Christ means? I heard that you should people repeat this over and over when you find yourself doing anything evil. What does it do for you?

Answer: I’ve never heard of Christians saying that you should repeat this over and over. Christianity isn’t really the religion to prescribe mantras, however if it helps a person to remember and focus on the Word of God, then do it by all means. We know that the Word of God is living and breathing and never returns void.

So what does it mean? When you accept Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, and are born again, you apply His death on the cross as your punishment for your sins. In essence, His punishment becomes your punishment, His sacrifice becomes your sacrifice. Therefore, His death, even though He was sinless, becomes your death for having been a sinner. All sin deserves death, and Jesus pays this fine on your behalf.

Baptism, is an outward expression of an inward act of faith in Christ. It is symbolic of the old sinner dying and rising cleansed “into Him”. A Christian is baptized “in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” The three are the one God (Holy Trinity/Godhead) and it is God who is doing everything that saves or gives righteousness, therefore He gets all the glory. A person is adopted spiritually by the Father, accepts Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and is filled with the Holy Spirit and sealed by the Spirit until the day of redemption.

The righteousness of God, in Christ, means that you are justified, declared righteous because you have had your sins cleansed by Jesus. This is both all of your past sins, and all of your present and future sins (that you’ve repented for and/or are covered in God’s grace for). Additionally, you can appeal to God as your Father, just as Jesus did. And you also have the seal of the Holy Spirit  (of God) in you acting upon you (if you let Him) to guide you, lead you, and counsel you towards righteous living and godliness for the rest of your life. This process, called sanctification, is the Holy Spirit purifying you of evil, hurt, pain, wicked desires, inclination to sin, and inclination to live to satisfy your own flesh, rather than the Spirit.