St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans, refers to those who receive “the abundance of grace” and “the gift of righteousness” (Rom.5:17) which God in love bestows upon all who trust in His Son for salvation.
The Bible declares that no man can ever stand uncondemned in the sight of God, the Judge of all, unless he receives righteousness as the gift of God’s grace.
Quoting from the Psalms, the Apostle says in Romans 3:10; “It is written, there is none righteous, no, not one“. This is why Paul pitied those who continued to go about “to establish their own righteousness” (Rom.10:3). He knew that their struggle was utterly futile, that they needed to be saved (See Verse One).
Let us thank God that the Lord Jesus Christ took the condemnation and judgment of our sins upon Himself at Calvary so that His righteousness might be imputed to us by grace through faith. Regarding Abraham’s justification before God, the Apostle says: “What saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness” (Rom.4:3).
Abraham’s justification, of course, was based on the fact that Christ was to die for sin, but Christ’s death is now past; it is an historical fact. Thus righteousness is now proclaimed through Christ and offered to all as a gift. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom.5:8). “God hath made Him to be sin for us…that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (IICor.5:21).
But we must receive this righteousness as a gift, for “to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, HIS FAITH is counted for righteousness” (Rom.4:5).
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.